by Ali Vali
“It’s too early for deep thoughts,” Aidan said, sounding drowsy.
“I was going through my checklist, until you woke up and gave me something else to think about, since your nipples are rock hard.”
“Ha. That’s because you keep it cold enough in here to make penguins happy. Stop changing the subject and tell me why you’re awake at four thirty in the morning?” Aidan raised up on her elbows and squinted at the clock. “And I’m not giving you anything else to worry about—”
“I didn’t say I was worried about anything,” she said, putting her hands around Aidan’s waist and pulling her back down.
“Please, baby, I know all your moods, and I’m familiar with the worry side of you. It’s not your usual state, but you like to run the gamut every so often,” Aidan said, stopping to kiss her. “Spill it, Levine.”
“The first time we sailed, I thought what they were asking us would be like threading a needle in a hurricane in the dark.” The way Aidan was gazing at her made her stop a moment and inhale. “This time, they want us to walk in there and breach a place that probably has more security than where their leader lives.” She smoothed her hands down Aidan’s back to her ass. “I like planes for a reason.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, and I don’t think you should go.” Aidan seemed to be the one who was suddenly a bundle of worry.
“If I go and we get what we need, it means our freedom, sweetheart. Don’t lose sight of that.”
Aidan nodded, then rested her head on Berkley’s chest. “I know, but for once I want to be selfish. I want to keep you in one piece. It’s someone else’s turn to go into the belly of the beast, as it were.”
“Hopefully, by the time we get there Kim’s dogs will have gotten hungry, and that belly-of-the-beast thing will make total sense. Don’t worry about it so you don’t drive yourself nuts.”
“You drive me crazy,” Aidan said, and bit her on the chest.
Before she could flip Aidan over and enjoy the morning, the phone rang. “When we buy a house, can we skip a landline?”
“Sullivan,” Aidan said, nodding and listening for a few minutes. “Yes, sir. I’ll call Berkley, and we’ll be there in less than an hour.”
“Don’t tell me something else went wrong,” she said, sitting up when Aidan did.
“That was Jonas Chapman, FBI Director. According to him, whoever they sent to work with Agent Mosley broke Jeffery Chandler. He started talking about an hour ago.” Aidan combed her hair back and walked toward the bathroom. “What exactly do you think he meant by ‘broke him’?”
“This is a good time for the ‘don’t ask and hope they don’t tell policy.’ I don’t agree with enhanced interrogation, but the people in charge must think it’s warranted if the situation is bad enough. Chandler wants civil war, and he sent his kids to try to hurt you.” She stood in front of Aidan and took her hand. “If he’d done that, I would’ve taken him and everyone else with him apart myself, and I wouldn’t have stopped until every single one of them was dead.”
“How the hell do we trust anyone until this is over?” Aidan tugged her to the shower.
“We have a core of loyal people, so we’ll have to go with that.” The phone rang again, and Aidan groaned. “Yes,” Aidan said as she moved back to her side of the bed. “Hold on a minute.” She put the phone on speaker and motioned for Berkley to join her. “Go ahead, Drew.”
“Jeffery started talking,” Drew said.
“Director Chapman just called and told us. He said his second, Agent Mosley, was working with someone on the questioning, and they had a breakthrough.”
“What else did he say?” Drew sounded aggravated.
“He wanted us to meet them at the facility as soon as we can get there. He said there were some facts only Berkley could verify.”
“I have every faith in Jonas,” Drew said, and Berkley could hear the news in the background. “Like me, though, he’s invested in getting the people responsible for Peter no matter what needs to be done. The president was one of those guys who you could always count on and had your back. It’s why I took this thankless job, and why guys like Jonas have been fanatical about getting a foothold on finding these assholes.”
“What does that have to do with this morning?” Berkley asked
“You have to get from Aidan’s place to the facility Jonas told you about. Considering what happened on that ship, we can assume Chandler has someone watching you.”
“Chapman’s using us as bait?” Aidan asked.
“You’ve never been alone from the beginning, Aidan. Neither Peter nor anyone on the Security Council you’ve worked with wanted anything to happen to you.”
“I feel so much better,” Berkley said, and Aidan laughed. “We plan to meet the director and whoever rocked little Jeffery’s world, and if someone takes a shot at me, or especially at Aidan, they aren’t going to like what will happen next. I’ve already taken a couple of these bastards out, and I don’t mind upping my count.”
“That’s totally understandable. I just wanted you to know the score. Also, Peter will be placed in the rotunda for a day of visitation later this afternoon. Dress whites, ladies. We’ll be escorting Eva Khalid and her daughters, and President Michaels wants you both there as part of the honor guard.”
“Thanks for the heads-up, Drew,” Aidan said, and leaned against her. “We’ll be there this afternoon.”
“Who exactly did you have watching us?” she asked, not ready to forgive just yet.
“It turns out Special Agent Erin Mosley has a really good friend, Brenda, who’s also an agent. Brenda’s team has very discreetly watched over you for the last year, and her reports have included only any suspicious persons watching or remotely interested in you. We didn’t tell you so you wouldn’t give away that you knew she and her team were there.” Drew took a deep breath and blew it out. “The jobs you’ve chosen are ones you’ve excelled at, both of you. Eventually things might be different, but you’ve proved yourself enough that President Khalid and now President Michaels became very powerful guardian angels.”
“Thanks for that,” Berkley said. “But if it becomes a problem, I expect you to come to me, and I’ll resign. You leave Aidan out of it.”
“I do that, and Triton will rip my balls off, and Corbin will feed them to me. No one will ever know your name, but your actions will be the basis for change in the policy that no longer makes sense.”
“If anything, it’ll piss Chandler off,” Berkley said, and both Aidan and Drew laughed. “We’ll let you know what happens.”
Berkley drove, liking the light traffic. If someone was watching or waiting to attack, they’d be easier to spot. “What do you think about what Drew said?” Aidan asked.
“It was interesting, but right now I can’t cram one more thing into my head. I promised your father to never disrespect you, and I sure as hell won’t let anyone else do it.” She sped up and two cars kept up. From the type of sedan they were, it had to be Agent Brenda’s people.
“You’re right. Let’s not think about it since it doesn’t seem like a problem.”
Berkley took the long way to the address Jonas had provided. The place looked like a typical office building the federal government had thousands of, with a fence around the perimeter and sophisticated surveillance cameras. Considering what it was, only one guard was in the shack outside. The guy opened the gate for them as she drove up. Then as she and Aidan walked to the front door, Berkley noticed the guards with automatic weapons in the windows and on the roof.
“Captain Sullivan and Captain Levine,” Jonas said. “Thank you for coming. I think you can verify some of the information since Mr. Chandler sounds like an open book now.”
“Director Chapman, I’ll be happy to do that, but remember that things always go smoother when everyone is upfront.” Berkley squeezed his hand. “You get me?”
“I believe I do, and I gave President Khalid my word to be as covert as we could make it. If somethin
g had happened to either of you, he would’ve dumped a world of hurt on me. He liked you both and became very protective, even if he didn’t outwardly show it. Nothing in any report that has ever been written about your surveillance has included anything except possible hostiles watching you.”
“And you’ll keep it that way, right?” she asked, not letting go of his hand.
“You have my word.”
“Director,” an older guy said from the end of the hall. “We’re ready.”
“Berkley Levine.” She offered the man her hand.
“Walby Edwards,” the guy said, shaking Aidan’s hand too. “You two have kept me busy at Gitmo for some months, but right now Mr. Chandler is ready to talk to us.”
Berkley and Aidan stepped into the observation room, and from outward appearances Jeffery didn’t have a mark on him. If anything, the young man with a buzz cut actually looked despondent.
“What’s he said so far?” Aidan said.
“He won’t give up his father, no matter how pointed our questions, but he did admit that about ten percent of the military is committed to the New Horizons mission. That number seems high, but we can’t take any chances,” Erin Mosley said. “The most loyal are with Chandler, wherever he is, but the remainder are currently serving here and abroad.”
“So the only reason we’re here is to be a target for anyone trying to find this little son of a bitch?” Berkley said, and Aidan gave her a look as if trying to get her to calm down.
“Not quite, Captain,” Walby said. “After a session of questioning early this morning, he mentioned North Korea. It was the one slip he made, from what we could tell, and you were on the ground, though not by choice, so I felt it important you hear what he had to say. Since you may be headed back there, I thought you’d want to put it on your radar.”
“Are you sure his slip,” Berkley said, making air quotes, “wasn’t a calculated bit to make you stop roasting his testicles?”
“Funny, Captain, but we’re not in a James Bond movie.”
“Shame, since 007 always comes out on top,” Aidan said, and Berkley smiled since Aidan knew she loved Bond movies.
“Has he given up any locations?” Berkley asked.
“Not yet, but I’m going to leave agent Mosley here with one of my people to continue the interrogation. The next part of what we need isn’t here, so I’m headed to Gitmo to talk to Mr. Chil.”
“If he was their enforcer, he won’t break,” Berkley said. “Not easily anyway. On him, you might want to take the testicle-roasting equipment out of moth balls.”
“Tempting, but it’s amazing what sleep manipulation does for your conversation skills,” Erin said. “We’re going with the fact that Chandler may be in North Korea, and that any military personnel in the area might be compromised.”
“We don’t want to send you anywhere that might be loaded with people working against you,” Jonas said. “Considering how many military personnel are based in the area, ten percent isn’t acceptable.”
“If you think about the people in custody from the Jefferson and the men working with them, ten percent might be right,” Aidan said. “Have you gotten anything about something happening here on US soil?”
“The planes that attacked us on our return from North Korea haven’t left my mind. The area where they took off had room for a lot more than the ones that were downed,” Berkley said.
“That’s been our main goal after what happened to President Khalid,” Walby said as he flipped the switch on the wall, and Jeffery immediately raised his hands to his ears. “Our goal is to stop another attack here.”
“Can we share the North Korea part with the Security Council? There’s time to reposition satellites to maybe see something we missed.” Berkley kept her attention on Jeffery, who resembled every young guy who joined the marines, but at the moment he appeared to not like whatever was coming out of the speakers. “Was he enlisted before all this?”
“He was a marine,” Erin said. “And the president wants all this on a need-to-know basis. We’ll report this breakthrough directly to her.”
“Everyone keeps telling me we need to change the game and start playing offense, and if we do it right, we should start drawing some of these people out,” Aidan said.
“What do you have in mind?” Jonas said.
“To start a very public process every person who serves fears most. Mr. Chandler is technically not only a traitor, but a deserter as well.” Aidan stared at Jonas, and he nodded.
“That might be too tempting for Mr. Chandler to pass up. We’ll take care of it.”
“You’re going to have to move him before you do that,” Walby said. “It’s time to start treating these people for who they are and what they’ve done.”
“That I totally agree with,” Berkley said. They were still shooting in the dark, but she saw the beginning of a glimmer in the distance. “Now it’s time to bring our team up to speed.”
* * *
“Sir, are you sure?” Franklin Porche asked as he sat in his bedroom in the dark. At first he was honored when he heard Mr. Chandler’s voice on the other end of the line, but what he’d asked was making him question why he’d gotten involved with all this. “With the security surrounding the event, I doubt we’ll get out alive.”
“I have every faith in you, Major. With your elite training, this shouldn’t be that hard. We need to send a message that nothing is safe and changes are coming. If we want maximum effect, it has to be today.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll prepare the men.”
After the line went dead, he dropped to his knees to pray for guidance. Franklin agreed the country was headed in the wrong direction, but this move was not only suicidal but a huge mistake. They needed the public, or at least a majority of it, on their side, and this action could have the opposite effect.
“Meet me in the park close to the base in twenty minutes. We’ve gotten our orders,” Franklin said to US Army Sergeant Stephen Collins.
“Finally,” Stephen said and hung up.
“I’m so glad you’re ready to die,” he said to the empty room. It fucking sucked that at only twenty-eight, he was about to invite death to claim him. If he did meet his maker today, this would be the only thing that defined his life, since he had no family or children.
They prepared the combined unit of army and marines and were in position three hours later. All they had left to do was wait for the moment that would cause the kind of panic Chandler was after. They were in uniform, and so far no one questioned their presence since they looked like part of the day’s security. The mall area in front of the Capitol was starting to fill, and he tried to show no emotion every time Stephen glanced his way with a gleeful expression. This had to be done, but he didn’t look forward to killing civilians.
“This is fucking nuts,” Stephen said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “You got an exit plan once all this shit goes down?”
“If you did what I told you, all you need to do is blend in. Mr. Chandler said once we make it back to the muster point, he’ll take care of extracting us. This will buy us a spot at the main compound.”
“Let’s hope it’s that simple, because once we start there’s no turning back, and it ain’t going to be so easy blending in no matter how much the crowd scatters. Khalid was an asshole, but all these sheep loved him.”
“Heads up,” Franklin said into his radio when he heard the sirens. “We’re a go.”
It took another twenty minutes before they saw the hearse stop at the Capitol. Khalid would lie in state for the next day and a half, until he went home to be buried next to his grandparents who’d raised him. The honor guard of marines lifted the casket out, and Franklin waited until they were inside before he motioned for everyone to follow. If what Chandler had said was true, plenty of potential heavy hitters would be waiting to kiss this dead motherfucker’s ass. Those people were their targets and part of Chandler’s master plan.
“On my mark,” he said, and Steph
en moved with him. “Move,” he yelled, and chaos broke out as the firing began.
They entered the rotunda and opened fire, having no problem for the first minute since most of the marines who’d carried Khalid in were dead on the ground and the casket had pieces missing from their automatic weapons’ fire. Security arrived immediately and returned fire, taking out some of his men, including Stephen.
Franklin continued firing but touched the device at his throat and waited for a response. “Go,” he said, his adrenaline pumping as he took cover. It took less than two minutes to strip off his uniform to the shirt, tie, and slacks he wore underneath. All he had left to do was blend in with the evacuating crowd and drive off. The airstrip was two hours away, and his ride to Chandler would be waiting.
The explosives they had set that morning went off, really panicking the crowd, so he started running. This would definitely send a message as well as replace some of the people who would have been a problem to Mr. Chandler going forward. Outside, all he heard were sirens and screams, and he used the pandemonium to get clear, hoping most of his men had done the same.
He encountered no problems running the fifteen blocks to his car and drove slowly until he reached the interstate. The news coverage reported the carnage that had happened and how the entire city was going on lockdown. He had to get out before any footage from the scene was released and he was identified.
His cell rang, and it was a private number, but he couldn’t take a chance it was about his escape plans. “Hello.”
“Are you clear?” a woman asked.
“Yes. I’m on the interstate en route. You made contact with anyone else?”
“Keep your speed—you don’t want to get pulled over. The guard at the gate is waiting for you.” The woman sounded calm, though he was anything but.
He didn’t know if any of the forty men he’d led into the Capitol were still alive and he was abandoning them on the field of battle. That went against everything he believed in, but hopefully, like all the patriots who’d formed the country initially, he’d be remembered once the new order was in place. Chandler had promised him at least that.
