EDGE OF SHADOWS: The Shadow Ops Finale (Shadow Ops, Book # 3) (29 page)

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Rose said, taking his phone.

“Amen to that.” Her phone rang, and Billy answered it. “Special Agent Cavanaugh. We’ve got a problem, and I hear you’re the woman who can solve it. Ready to save the president’s life?”

<><><>

The
Merriweather
pulled alongside a large dredging operation anchored in a bay just west of Norfolk. Chase knew it was a bad omen when Teresa and her people didn’t care if he and the kids saw their faces, but the fact that they didn’t care if they knew exactly where they were…that made for an extremely short life expectancy.

From the way Jay and Eve clung to each other, they were figuring that out as well.

The dredger was large, at least seventy feet, with the hull of a boat but a flat foredeck that housed a cabin and the crane that lifted the cutting drill. In the rear of the ungainly vessel stood two large anchoring pylons attached to winches and wires to steer the cutting apparatus after it was lowered to the bottom of the bay. The cutter would chop up the sand from the bottom, suck it up via a high-pressure pump into a pipe, which traveled below decks along the length of the boat, driven into a flexible hose that would transport the slurry of sand and water and eject it at high speeds onto land several miles away.

He had to give Teresa credit for ingenuity. The dredger was simple to position and operate, would not stand out as a threat, especially not here in an area that required maintenance dredging, and it could deliver their toxin miles away, giving them ample time to escape. Genius.

And he had no way in hell of stopping them. His frustration must have shown in his expression because Teresa stopped on her way off the Coast Guard boat and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Cheer up, Chase. You’ll soon be with your lovely never-bride-to-be.”

She crossed over to the dredge and motioned for her men to bring him and the kids. “Put Chase and Jay downstairs with KC. I’m sure she’ll be wanting company by now.”

Jay balked at that. “No. I’m not going anywhere without Eve.”

Instead of hitting Jay, the nearest guard slammed the butt of his weapon against Chase’s injured ankle. Chase crumpled against the dredge’s railing, hopelessly off balance with one foot in the cast and his hands cuffed behind his back. He fell to his knees onto the grated metal deck.

“Stop it!” Eve screamed.

“No.” Chase grunted through the pain that blitzed his body. He somehow found the strength to raise his head and meet Eve’s eyes.

Jay stepped forward, placing himself between Eve and Teresa’s men. “She’s staying with us.”

Chase had never felt more proud of his brother. It should have been him standing there, weapons trained on him, protecting Eve. He pushed against his good leg, trying to somehow stand, tackle the men surrounding them.

Two of Teresa’s men hauled Chase up. Teresa stood before Chase, planting the muzzle of her pistol directly between his eyes. “Tell your little friends to stop being stupid.”

Past her, Chase saw another guard aim his own weapon at Jay’s head.

“It’s okay,” Eve said in a rush, stepping forward. “I’ll go with you. I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt them.”

Teresa smiled at that and crooked her finger for the girl to cross over and join her. Once Eve was beside her, Teresa wrapped an arm around her shoulders, running her fingers through her hair as if they were best friends. “I’m so glad to hear you say that, Eve. Because you and I, we’re going to have a long chat about your mother. You’re going to tell me all about Rose, and we’ll have a little surprise waiting for her when she gets here.”

Teresa led Eve away, the girl looking anxiously over her shoulder at Chase and Jay. Eve and Teresa climbed down the ladder to the deck below and vanished from sight.

The guards stood on either side of Chase, forcing him and Jay down the same ladder, their weapons nudging Chase anytime he slowed, his pain coming in unrelenting waves as he half-walked, half-hopped down the metal steps. Finally, both he and Jay were on the lower deck. There was a short corridor with several watertight hatches. The one directly across from the stairs had a window in it, and the sound of a pump engine coming from behind it. The machinery for the dredger, Chase guessed. There were also hatches leading to a maintenance room and one leading aft to the living quarters.

He couldn’t take it any longer. “KC!” he bellowed, throwing all his energy into it. “KC!”

Even if he never saw her again, she’d know he was here. That he came for her. That he’d never leave her behind.

The guards laughed and shoved them forward to a hatch in the bow, smaller than the others behind them. They undogged the latches locking the half-sized door and shoved Jay into the darkness inside. Chase heard a splash and a tiny cry.

KC! He didn’t need the guards’ urging to send him stumbling over the hatch and into the tiny, low-ceilinged compartment. In the scant light of the open hatchway, he saw KC huddled on the floor, surrounded by steel drums. Jay was sprawled out on the floor beside her, sputtering in the water that came up several inches.

Before Chase could reach either of them, the door slammed shut, and they were trapped in impenetrable blackness.

Chapter 30

Turned out the Secret Service got a bit anal when it came to a federal fugitive talking about a potential presidential assassination. But after a few minutes of Billy laying out his case, Alice Cavanaugh came on board.

“I’ve got to get the president off that grandstand,” she said.

“Of course. But we can’t be sure about Senator Payne’s involvement, and we can’t tip her off. Everything has to look normal up to the last minute. I’ll meet you at the gate.”

“I’ll get some additional chemical sniffers out into the field. Oh, and Price, you should know something about me.”

“What’s that?”

“When it comes to the president’s safety, I shoot first and ask questions later. So one twitch that makes me think you’re up to something—”

“I’ll be sure to leave my twitches at home. See you in ten.” Billy hung up. “She’s some piece of work,” he told Rose. “Did you get everything you need from Hollywood?”

“Yes. His friend is going to check out any boats that match the
Merriweather
’s description—I guess they use a lot of that size here in port, so it might take awhile.” She slipped past him into the rear of the van and gathered gear for him into a Molle bag: a gas mask, antidote kit, and respirator with fifteen minutes of air. She hesitated and handed him a second antidote kit. “Keep this one on you.”

Billy exchanged his suit jacket for a tactical one and secured the kit into one of the inside pockets. “Hollywood’s friend understands the need for stealth? We can’t tip our hand or they’ll release the toxin.”

“Yeah, she got that. She’ll be calling in the SEALs to make the tactical strike. Tried to get me to turn myself in. When I refused, she suggested I stay put until everything’s over. The manhunt is still on, and I guess the buzz about me is that I’m armed, dangerous, unstable and pretty much should be shot on sight like a rabid dog.”

He knew how painful it was to sit on the sidelines, especially with her daughter’s life at stake. “She’s right, you know.”

“Careful or I’ll give you rabies.”

He wrapped an arm around her, pulled her tight, and kissed the top of her head. “You need to stay safe. So you can be there for Eve. I’ll stay in touch, let you know what’s happening.”

“This sucks, Billy.” Her voice was filled with uncharacteristic resignation. “It just really, really sucks.”

“I know. But it'll be all right. We’ve got the upper hand, now.”

She shuddered.

“What’s wrong?”

“Superstitious, I guess. Felt like someone walking on my grave.”

He tilted her face up to his and kissed her. “Better?”

She nodded. “Do me a favor. Activate the GPS on your phone so I can keep an eye on you.”

He activated the tracking app on both of their phones. Now they could keep track of each other, despite being separated. “If it stops for a long time over the MPs’ holding facility, will you smuggle me in a cake with a hacksaw?”

“Comes to that, I’ll break you out myself,” she promised. “We’d better head over to your meet with Alice. I’ll drop you off outside the gate and then find someplace to take cover.”

He hated to admit it, but her bad feeling about this was beginning to wear off on him. He was reluctant to let go of her hand long enough for her to get into the driver’s seat. Couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her behind. But there was no way in hell Alice could keep Rose’s presence on base a secret—not with all the press there and Rose’s face plastered all over the news.

When she pulled up to the curb a short jog from the naval base’s main gate, there was no time for any true good-bye. No time to say what was in his heart. All Billy could do was grab his gear and jump from the van, then give her a farewell salute.

First time ever that he’d gone into a mission feeling like his focus was divided. His duty was to the president and his country. But his heart was with Rose.

<><><>

Rose drove back to the park near the water. Seemed as good
a place as any to make her next move.

Not that she didn’t trust the Navy to locate one lone Coast Guard craft in the midst of an entire port bustling with activity. And certainly not that she didn’t trust Billy to save the president.

But she finally understood what the Preacher’s people—what Teresa—wanted. Best way to stop them was to give them exactly that. With a little surprise.

She carefully chose her gear. Changed from her fleece top and T-shirt into a polo top with buttons and then replaced the missing drawstring on her tactical jacket, the one she’d used as a garrote earlier. Felt like years had passed since this morning. Finally, she added her last antidote kit—fat chance they’d let her keep that, but it was good for a distraction as were her several concealed weapons. Then she made the call.

“Rose.” Teresa’s voice sounded almost jovial. “I wondered when you’d be getting around to me. Busy day you’ve had, killing my family and all.”

Rose still wasn’t sure if Teresa meant family as in blood or simply a shared obsession. Didn’t really matter. “I had no part in EZ’s death. Was he really your brother?”

“Half-brother. Our father chose different mothers to give us each the traits he wanted cultivated.”

How sick was that? “And the man EZ killed?”

“You mean the man you left for dead.” A pause. “He was my husband.”

Guess that upped the ante. “I want a trade. Me for my people.”

“Right. And you don’t care about the toxin? You’re content to just let me walk away, do what I want with it?”

Rose was relieved when Teresa didn’t mention Eve. Maybe she hadn’t heard her say Eve’s name after EZ died. “No. But that’s a separate negotiation. Right now we’re talking a straightforward hostage exchange.”

“You know that no matter what happens, you won’t get to take the easy way out? Die a martyr’s death, a quick death?”

“I know. But if it buys freedom for four innocent people, I’m willing to pay the price.”

“Innocent?” Teresa’s tone was skeptical.

“Me for them. That’s the deal. I see them go free, you do what you want with me.” If she’d been bargaining with the Preacher, it would have been a no-brainer. He’d readily have released her people in order to get Rose—then he would have immediately started scheming about how to take them back again so he could make Rose watch them suffer.

Her only hope was that Teresa was as twisted as her father.

“Deal,” Teresa said. “We’ll meet you at the Lafayette Pier in ten minutes. If you’re late, they all die.”

<><><>

“
You do know the ceremony began twelve minutes ago,
” Alice said as she drove them toward the pier where the commissioning ceremony was being held.

Not Billy’s fault that the MPs had wasted time practically strip-searching him, relieving him of his weapons and the personal protective gear Rose had assembled for him. He felt naked; it was the first time he’d be walking around in a crowd unarmed in decades.

The base was more than crowded; it was jammed with humanity. Seamen, their families, and civilians, all come to see the president bring the fleet’s newest vessel to life. That was basically the point of a commissioning ceremony, the crew running on board to breathe life into an empty steel hulk.

“But you already removed the president, right?”

She turned a glare on him. Talk about steel. “Whisked him and the first lady away as they were getting ready to climb on board. That way it was out of sight of the crowd and the cameras. The Navy muckety-mucks are giving their speeches now, and then Senator Payne will take over. She was cool with that since she’s the ship’s sponsor and had to make a speech anyway.”

“You have the TV cameras focused off the president’s absence?”

“Yeah, thankfully their placements are under our supervision, so we had a bit of leverage there.” She paused. “Don’t have to tell you what kind of fool I’ll look if there’s nothing here. The kind of fool that ends up on the unemployment line. Know what I mean?”