EDGE OF SHADOWS: The Shadow Ops Finale (Shadow Ops, Book # 3) (5 page)

She reached the bus just as KC did. “Where’s Lucky?” she shouted over the scream of sirens approaching.

KC spun around, then pointed to where Lucky and the kids huddled with a uniformed police officer behind the thick concrete walls in front of the Hirshhorn. He waved a thumbs-up, pointed to his ear, and shook his head.

Relief washed over Rose. Civilians safe, Lucky and KC safe—the only person unaccounted for was Billy. He was okay. He would've been away from the blast, she told herself. Except…he’d been running in that direction. She glanced around. No blood. No body parts. That had to be good.

“Any sign of Billy or the hostage takers?”

“Two subjects took off west,” KC told Rose as they jogged past the ruined bus. Rose kept scanning the scene, searching for Billy. “I couldn’t see where the third went.”

“What happened to the one here at the bus?” Rose asked.

KC spun around. “No idea. Maybe Lucky knows.”

Billy came racing around the far side of the carousel, gesturing for Rose to follow. Her footsteps faltered as she tripped over a piece of debris—the only outward sign of her joy at seeing him alive and unharmed. But inside, it felt as if new energy surged through her. Something indefinable to Rose, a feeling she refused to label, but that was much more than mere relief.

“Spotted them headed toward the Metro station,” he shouted.

Two Capitol Police cruisers pulled up, more on the way. The entire Mall would be locked down in minutes. Rose tore her focus away from Billy and concentrated on the job at hand. “KC, get Lucky out of here. I don’t want him out in the open more than necessary. We’ll regroup at Angelina’s.”

KC caught her breath and nodded, understanding without Rose needing to tell her that Lucky was the prime target of this attack. “Finally, a hot cup of coffee. See you there.”

Rose didn’t answer as she raced to catch up to Billy. KC would make sure Lucky escaped any media or police attention, get him back into the hands of the marshals. In the meantime, the only way she could salvage this disaster of an op was to catch a few of the bad guys and bring them in for questioning.

<><><>

Billy ran down the empty escalator leading into the belly of the Metro stop. It was a steep drop
, but other than a homeless man riding on one of the steps, his side of the escalator was empty. The other side, the one traveling up, was packed with commuters—eight o’clock rush hour.

The platforms came into sight. Rose’s footsteps sounded behind him. A train had just arrived, disgorging its mass of humanity. He scanned the crowd for movement onto the train and pushed his way against the tide heading for the exit.

They’d only have a minute or so before the train left again. He worked his way down the train, keeping an eye on the doors. Worst-case scenario, he’d hop on board and have the train locked down between stations, give him and Rose time to get a good look and a few words with everyone. They might not know what their suspects looked like, but they knew the voice of their leader.

The warning tone announcing that the train would be departing sounded. He turned to signal to Rose to board the train.

She was at the front, lunging toward the tracks. “I got him, Billy,” she shouted.

A woman screamed, Rose vanished from sight, and the train sped off, heading straight for her.

Billy ran, panic fueling his muscles even more than adrenaline. The woman still screamed for help. Not Rose, an office worker in hysterics, pointing to the edge of the platform. The train roared past, its occupants oblivious to the drama left behind at the station. Billy reached the woman, no time to even glance at her. He was too busy trying to see past the rushing train, searching for Rose. “What happened?”

“She—she jumped. Right in front of the train. She just—” The woman swallowed hard, turned away, eyes closed tight, as the final car passed by.

Billy didn’t have the luxury of denial. His stomach clenched with ice-cold fear, but he had to look.

“A little help here?” Rose called from the second set of tracks. Her face was smeared with oil and grime. There was a cut on her forehead, leaving a trail of blood down the side of her face and neck, but there was no sign of her quarry. The sound of a train arriving pulsated down the tunnel.

Billy couldn’t contain his grin as relief surged through him. He leapt down to help her cross the tracks to the other side. “You okay?”

“He got away, damn it.” Together they climbed a maintenance ladder, coming up on the platform opposite where they’d begun.

Transit cops now surrounded the hysterical woman. She pointed across the tracks to him and Rose just as the arriving train blocked their view. He handed her his handkerchief to wipe her face clean and took her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

<><><>

KC led Lucky away from the chaos, taking a winding path to the caf
é, making sure no one followed. No one except a lone man in a beige Taurus. US Marshal Jared Wright, from WitSec, watching their backs.

She felt better having someone she could trust behind her. Lucky said nothing to her, unusual because in the past, after the bullets flew, he became a chatterbox. Adrenaline hit everyone differently. Chase, God love him, would tear up—actual tears. Others vomited or got the shakes.

KC sometimes worried there was something wrong with her. Each time she’d had to kill, the only aftershock she’d experienced was a cold ball of numbness at the pit of her stomach. She’d tried to excuse her lack of response to the fact that, both times, she’d been fighting to save someone she cared for: Chase and then Lucky.

Today, it was just her and the man with the gun. She remembered the burn of fury when he’d snuck up in her blind spot and told her to leave her position on the roof of the food kiosk. He’d trained a Tec-9 on her. Not to mention that stupid shit-eating Anonymous mask grinning at her. Which really pissed her the hell off.

She’d shimmied off the roof, and as she made the final leap to the ground, all she could think of was Chase and his own goofy grin. No way in hell was she letting this man, this foul wretch of a man who dragged children here to use as cannon fodder, no way was she about to let this scumbag keep her from going home to the man she loved.

Not. Going. To. Happen.

The next few seconds were a blur—she couldn’t remember a single formed thought, just action and reaction. She’d dropped to the ground hard, making it appear as if she’d injured herself, drawing him close.

Then she’d leapt, twisting her body into his, wrenching his elbow, pulling tight on his trigger finger. His body absorbed his own bullets, then he twitched and fell, her weight on top of his, pinning him to the ground, not releasing the trigger until the magazine was empty.

Quick search for more weapons, ID, comms, and it was all over, faster than she could've made her morning coffee if she’d stayed home.

They turned the corner in front of Angelina’s. The sidewalk was filled with people ignoring their breakfast and pointing to the smoke coloring the sky over the Mall. Even more stood with their heads down, looking at the same scene via their phones, gathering tweets as intel.

“They said a truck caught on fire,” one man said.

“No, man, that was a bomb. Bet it was more of those guys like in Boston. We’ll show ’em.”

“That’s not far from the Metro, maybe—”

KC pulled Lucky through the crowd and around to the alley where Jared waited. The Marshal bounded from his vehicle and strode toward them. “What the hell, KC—”

To her surprise, Lucky intervened. “It’s okay, Jared. We can leave in a few minutes. Let me use your phone. Call Vinnie, though.”

For a moment, KC thought the Marshal would lock Lucky in the car and take off. His face was flushed yet also pale. His hands—no, his entire body—shook as he handed Lucky the phone. Lucky moved to the rear seat of the car.

“You took out the one at the front of the bus,” KC said, recognizing Jared’s agitation was about more than seeing his witness placed in danger.

He didn’t meet her eyes as he nodded. “Took me a few minutes to get there without being seen. I thought—” He shook his head as if rearranging his thoughts. “For a moment there, I thought I was too late.”

“I’d say your timing was perfect,” Billy Price said as he and Rose emerged from Angelina’s rear door. Billy made a beeline to check on Lucky.

Rose had a cut on her forehead, partially hidden by her dark curls. She dabbed at it with a man’s handkerchief, but it kept oozing.

“Thank you,” she said to Jared.

“Jared Wright, this is Rose Prospero,” KC made introductions.

“I remember,” Jared said. “We met when I was taking care of Chase Westin’s little brother, Jay.”

KC smiled at that. Jay was nineteen and as tall as Chase—he’d hate being referred to as a little brother who needed “taking care” of. But the kid had been in over his head, caught up in one of the Preacher’s arms deals. Without Jay needing her help, she would've never been there to meet Chase—or to save his life.

“Look,” Jared continued, puffing up as anger overwhelmed him. “I don’t like being kept out of the loop when it comes to one of my cases. I didn’t like it back in December, and I sure as hell don’t like it now, not when there are kids’ lives at stake and bombs going off and guys with goofy tiger masks that I have to shoot dead.”

KC stepped back from the Marshal’s vitriol, but Rose stood and took it. She seemed to understand it was best to let the man say his piece. Finally, he wound down, his color returning to normal.

“Again, thanks for the assist, Jared,” Rose said, offering her hand to the US Marshal. “I’m sorry things took a turn for the worse out there today.”

“You going to stop these wackos before they can blow up more school buses and kids?”

“That’s exactly what I intend to do.” Rose’s smile was twisted. “Might have to bend the rules a bit.”

“Not by using my witness as bait.” There was an edge of warning to his voice.

“No, sir. I wouldn’t dream of it. Take good care of Lucky and Vinnie, okay? They’re special people.”

His gaze met Rose’s, and he nodded his understanding. He touched his forehead as if saluting. “Yes, ma’am. You can count on me.”

Billy closed the car door on Lucky, double tapping it with his fist. They watched Jared and Lucky drive away.

KC turned to Rose. “I called Chase, told him I’m picking him up early from the hospital. Only question is, are we bugging out to a safe house or heading into the office, pretending it’s business as usual?”

Rose blew her breath out, and KC knew the question had been weighing heavily on her. KC had only been working with the Team for a little more than a month, and it killed her to think that one of their own could have betrayed them to the Preacher’s group. How must Rose feel after building the Team from scratch, in essence, creating a family?

“Take the day off,” Rose finally said. “Billy and I can take care of business while you take care of Chase. But I’d be prepared for anything.”

“Always am,” KC said with an enthusiasm she didn’t feel. Her gaze followed the trail of black smoke clearly visible against the pale winter sky. “We’re in a whole new ball game now, aren’t we?”

Rose nodded and said nothing for a long moment. “KC, watch over Chase—and his brother, Jay, as well. The Preacher’s people have made it clear. It’s personal now. No one is off limits.”

“Roger that.”

Chapter 5

Billy watched as KC took off and the Marshal drove away with Lucky, leaving him with Rose and a shitload of complications. First things first. “We’ll go to my place,” he told her. “It’s just a few blocks away, and we can get you cleaned up, figure out our next step.”

She was silent, her gaze fixed on the spot where the taillights on the Marshal’s car had vanished. Now that they were alone, her shoulders sagged and mouth dragged down in a frown, eyes narrowed in thought.

Did she realize that she never let down her guard like that for anyone else except him? Not that he’d ever tell her—knowing Rose, she’d tighten her emotional defenses rather than admit to any vulnerability. But after two years of working with her, it was a step in the right direction. He took her elbow, steered her in the direction of his townhouse, and they walked in silence.

“Billy Price, you are one of the last of the true gentlemen,” Rose finally said, holding his handkerchief to her forehead as he led her inside and down the hall to his kitchen. “Who even carries a real handkerchief anymore?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he swapped the bloody piece of silk for a bag of frozen spinach. “Remember the last time you were here?”

She grimaced. “Yeah. Offered you the job of your dreams. Look where that’s gotten you. Good thing you have your dad’s company to fall back on. Will you write me when they lock me away at Gitmo?”

“Not funny. And not going to happen.” Not if he had anything to do with it.

“They sent clowns, Billy. Freaking clowns.”

“Actually, anime,” he corrected while getting his med kit from the pantry.

She glared at him. “You think those kids caught in the crossfire or their parents would give a damn about the semantics?”