The Line: The Complete Series

by Nikki Rose

  “You should ride with him,” I told Hunter.

  “I’m not going to leave you to deal with the bomb all on your own.”

  “He needs one of us with him. I got this. You go.”

  Hunter hesitantly nodded and hurried out the door behind the paramedics.

  I turned back to Natalie with a new determination. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Hana

  I turned off the main road when I saw the sign for the large local shopping mall. It was the best option I could think of spur of the moment. I hoped I could get lost in the crowds even if he happened to decide to look for me there.

  I pulled in, choosing to park in the nearly full parking garage. I drove up level by level until I finally found an open spot. I pulled in, checking all my mirrors for signs that someone had followed me. Once I was convinced the coast was clear, I grabbed the twenty from my glove box, thanks to my dad for always insisting I kept emergency gas money in the car. I’d always thought it was a ridiculous idea. When would I ever not have my purse with cash or credit cards inside? But, at that moment, I was extremely grateful for my dad’s advice.

  I slipped the money in my pocket and climbed out, glancing around one last time before locking the doors and power walking toward the entrance.

  Several people walked in at the same time as me and I found comfort in losing myself in the crowd. I wandered the mall for an hour but my paranoia made it impossible to actually relax like I would usually do when window shopping.

  I browsed through the electronic store, turning back up one of the aisles, a man stood near the front entrance. My heart nearly stopped. His back was to me but his build was very similar to the man who was after me. His hair too. I held my breath. The way he was standing there was no way out without passing right past him. I couldn’t breathe. My heart raced so fast that I got dizzy from the blood pumping in my ears. I walked toward the back of the store where a lanky man with a friendly smile stood helping a middle-aged woman with her exchange.

  “Excuse me. I’m sorry to bother you but is there another way out of the store?”

  “I’m sorry? Another way out?” He looked at me suspiciously.

  “Yes,” I spoke impatiently, fearing the man would spot me. I couldn’t tell the guy the truth but I needed some explanation that made me seem a little saner. I took a breath and thought quickly. I remembered something from a TV show I used to watch which could work.

  “My ex is in the store and he’s not a good guy. I was hoping to slip out to avoid confrontation.”

  There. That was a good reason. Logical and believable. It scared me how easily I came up with the lie but it worked. The clerk smiled sympathetically and nodded. There’s a back door. This way.” He led me toward the back. I risked a glance back at the man and just then, he turned around and our eyes met for a moment. It wasn’t him. I let out a rush of breath followed by my legs turning to jelly.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. It wasn’t him after all.”

  “Okay,” the man seemed slightly annoyed but I was too relieved to care. I needed a few minutes where I could just relax and breathe. I’d been on edge for over an hour and it was taking its toll on me.

  I walked out of the electronic store and found a less busy but large clothing store. I spotted the sign for the women’s dressing rooms and nearly ran to them. I grabbed a random pair of shorts from the rack and slipped inside one of the rooms. Perching myself on the bench, I pulled my feet up, knees to my chest, and leaned against the wall. Finally, able to relax and let my guard down, I let out a loud sigh as I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. He’d never find me in there. In reality, the chances were pretty small that he’d think to look in the mall of all places. Even if he was looking through the mall for me, there was no way he’d look through every dressing room and find the one I happened to be in. I breathed deep, letting my heart rate finally go back to normal.

  I was startled awake by a loud knocking on the dressing room door.

  “Excuse me? Is someone in there? Hello?” It was a lady’s voice. How long had I been in here? I reached in my pocket for my phone so that I could check the time but remembered it wasn’t there.

  “Be right out. Sorry.” I grabbed the pair of hideously ugly shorts that were way too big for me and opened the door to an annoyed looking woman waiting impatiently on the other side. I offered her a wide smile.

  “They didn’t fit,” I said as I handed her the shorts and kept walking past her before she could ask any questions.

  I found a nice-looking older couple and asked them the time. I’d been in the mall for three hours. Surely anyone looking for me would have given up by that point. I needed to call Mason and find out where he was. I didn’t want to go home and find my attacker still there. What if Mason went home? Panic coursed through me all over again. What if Mason had gone home after the mission and found that man or worse if that man also had friends to back him up? Mason wouldn’t be expecting anything like that.

  I found a store that sold cheap prepaid phones, bought one, and immediately activated it so I could call Mason. I was lucky his number was easy to remember and so I dialed and let it ring.

  “Hello?” his voice sounded hesitant when he answered.

  “Mason?”

  “Shit, Hana?”

  “Yeah. What’s wrong?”

  “It’s her, it’s her,” his voice was suddenly far away and barely audible when he spoke like he was talking to someone else but then he turned his voice back toward the phone. “Are you alright? Where are you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I’m at the house. It looks like someone broke in. When I saw you weren’t here, I thought...” His words cut off like he just couldn’t bear to even speak his fear.

  “A man broke in. I managed to get to my car and get away. I was afraid he was chasing after me still so I pulled off and hid out at the mall. I figured he wouldn’t be able to find me easily in such a big, crowded place.”

  “That was very smart,” he let out a breath mid-sentence sounding very relieved.

  “I’m so sorry that I worried you.”

  “It's okay. I’m just glad you’re okay. Listen, I need you to come back to the house. Something’s happened.”

  My stomach dropped at the sound of his voice and my heart beat cranked up again. “Mason, what’s wrong?”

  “I’ll tell you everything when you get here.”

  “Tell me. Please? I’m heading to my car now.”

  “Okay but I need for you to stay calm and know everything is okay.”

  “You don’t sound like it. What’s wrong, Mason.”

  “James was shot.”

  “What? Why are you at home? Why are you not up at the hospital?”

  “I dropped off Natalie there once I could and Hunter is with him too. I just went back to the house to get you because you weren’t answering your phone but then you weren’t here. That’s when I got worried.”

  “Who were you talking to before? When you told someone it was me?”

  “I was on my other phone with Hunter. My secure line.”

  “Oh. Is everything okay? How’s James?”

  “He’s out of surgery but it’s still touch and go for now. The next few hours will be crucial but the doctors think he’s going to be okay.”

  “I’m almost to the parking garage now. I’ll hurry home and we can go from there.”

  I hung up with Mason and slipped out to the parking garage. Every person who passed had me tensing up, fearing they might be the man after me.

  I made it to my car and let out a sigh, letting my shoulders sag slightly. At that point it was just a matter of unlocking my door and climbing inside, then hightailing it out of there. I’d feel much better once I was back with Mason. I’d had quite the adventure without him and I hated every moment.

  Mason

  I paced the living room floor until I heard Hana pull into the driveway. She didn’t bother parking in the gar
age, we’d be leaving again soon anyway. I wanted to run out to meet her but I forced myself to wait for her in the open doorway. The minute she was within reach, I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms.

  “Damn it. I was worried about you. A million different horrible scenarios ran through my head while you were missing,” I held her tightly to my chest like I’d never let go.

  “I missed you too,” she looked up at me, her arms wrapped around me, her cheek on my chest right where she should always be.

  “I’m glad you’re okay. That was a smart move to hide out at the mall.”

  “I have my moments,” she smiled with so much affection that it made my heart swell.

  “Hana I lo—” I started but she started talking at the same time.

  “How’s James? Have you heard anything else?”

  “Not since I talked to you twenty minutes ago. Want to go up to the hospital to see him?”

  “Absolutely.” I could see her eagerness to check on James for herself and be near him, to check on him. I’d seen that they had somehow managed to build a good friendship over the short time they’d spent together. It meant a lot to me that she’d fallen in so well with my team.

  I led her to my car and helped her in before rounding to my side. It felt like it took forever to get to the hospital but I spent the trip asking her about her escape to the mall, wondering what she did to pass the time for several hours without money to spend. I couldn’t help but laugh when I found out that she slept in a dressing room half the time.

  We finally made it to the hospital and I led her straight to the second floor where James was in ICU but there was no one in the waiting room. No sign of Hunter or Natalie, or any of the other guys I’d expected to be there to support James’s wife who had already been through so much.

  “Where the hell is everyone?” I muttered more to myself than to anyone else.

  “Are you looking for the large group of men here for the patient in ICU room 2458?” a woman’s voice came from behind me and I turned to see who was talking.

  A petite young nurse smiled softly up at me and I nodded, “yes. There was a man and a woman who were supposed to be here with him.”

  “My boss arranged for them to have a private waiting room.”

  “That was very nice,” Hana said.

  The nurse squirmed slightly, “to be honest, I think it was because they were getting a little rowdy.”

  “Rowdy?” I raised my eyebrow curiously.

  “Yes, sir. Would you like for me to show you the way?”

  “Please.” I let her lead us, taking Hana’s hand as we followed her back to the new waiting area.

  Knowing my team, I shouldn’t have been shocked but when I walked into the private waiting area, I was surprised to see nearly every last one of our team members spread out around the room. Even Director Applegate sat at a small table playing cards with Rodrigues. The amount of comradery within my team brought a smile to my lips.

  “So, this is why they said things were getting rowdy.”

  Hunter stood up and met me just a few steps inside the door. He shook my hand and clasped my shoulder with his uninjured arm. “I’m glad you’re here, brother.”

  “Any news?”

  “No more than last time,” Hunter looked from me to Hana and smiled. “I’m glad to see you’re okay. You had us worried.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Is this the same hospital Chris is staying in?”

  “Yeah, I just got back from checking on him too. He’s eager to be released tomorrow and wants to come see James.”

  “Are they planning to release him tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. Caroline is headed back now that we got Petrov and she’s going to take him home tomorrow.”

  “Good.”

  “Is that her?” Hana nodded her head toward Natalie who sat quietly staring out the window.

  “Natalie? Yeah. That’s her.”

  “I almost didn’t recognize her from the video.”

  “I convinced the nurses to let her take a shower here in the hospital. They checked her out to make sure she’s okay, too.”

  Hana studied Natalie for a moment and looked confused when she turned back to me. “Her finger. It’s not bandaged or anything.”

  “I know. She said that they faked cutting her finger off for more impact.”

  “Why didn’t they just cut it off?”

  “Hana,” I scolded with some shock that she would say such a thing.

  “Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful. But, why go to all the trouble?”

  “They just wanted to scare James.”

  “I get that. But, wouldn’t that only make sense if they weren’t actually bad guys or something?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, it's just odd, I guess. I mean, they didn’t hesitate to shoot James so we know they aren’t against violence and we saw them smack her so it's not that she’s a woman or some crazy sexist ideal like that. So, why didn’t they just cut off her finger? Why stage the whole thing?”

  “I wouldn’t ask her that. She might take offense to you wanting to know why her kidnappers didn’t maim her.” Hunter looked at Hana as though she were a very complex puzzle he was trying to figure out.

  “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m thrilled that they didn’t hurt her. I’m just saying, logically it doesn’t make sense.”

  “She’s got a point,” I add to Hunter. “How many terrorists like them do you know who are hesitant to chop off a finger, an ear, heck even a hand?”

  “None,” he admitted.

  “So, they had to have a good reason.”

  “Let’s give her some time to deal with all this with James before we start questioning her.” Hunter said and I nodded in agreement.

  “Of course.” I noticed Mikey in the corner, nose in his laptop and noise cancelling headphones on his ears. “What’s he up to?” I motioned toward him with a tilt of my head.

  “He’s reviewing all the body cam footage. You know him, he doesn’t like big crowds so he’s trying to keep his mind off of it.”

  “What’s he looking for?”

  “Director has him trying to I.D. the guys in the videos so we can hopefully find out if there are still more players out there based on who they run with.”

  “Makes sense.”

  I patted Hunter on the shoulder and left him to talk to Mikey. I placed my hand on his shoulder and he jumped, clearly lost in his video but he pulled off the headphones.

  “Hey man, glad you’re here.”

  “Hey Mikey. You remember Hana?”

  “Of course. Hey.”

  “You find anything interesting?”

  “Not much unfortunately. I did I.D. a couple of the guys as mid-level Russian mafia members but no one high on their ranks.”

  “What’s this?” I picked up a small scrap of paper with Mikey’s scribbling on it.

  “Probably nothing. Just a word I didn’t recognize. I planned to look it up later.”

  “Glava,” I read out loud.

  “I remember that. I thought it was odd too because I didn’t know what it meant. I thought maybe it was a name? Someone commanding them?”

  “I’m not sure. I haven’t had a chance to research it yet. I wanted to get through the footage first.”

  “Chapter?” Hana said out of the blue.

  I stopped and looked at her puzzled. “What?”

  “It means chapter. Alternate meanings include head, section, chief, leader...”

  “How do you know that?” Mikey questioned with interest.

  “I did an internet search on my phone,” she waved her phone in front of us as if to say duh.

  “But that’s not the commonly used term,” Mikey added.

  “No. There are several others they’d use first. It doesn’t make sense.”

  Hana continued studying her phone intently, her brow furrowing, her lips pulling tight into a fine line as she focused. It was adorable. Then, suddenly, he
r face lit up and she looked up at me.

  “It’s a feminine noun for leader. The more common ones are all masculine.”

  “You got all that from your phone?”

  “You’d be amazed what all you can find out on there.” She smiled victoriously.

  “So...” I let that information sink in. “Their leader wasn’t Petrov.”

  “It was a woman,” Hana stated.

  “But there was only one woman—” I stopped myself and glanced over my shoulder at Natalie who was chatting with Hunter. “No. It couldn’t be.”

  “We were just talking about how odd it was that they faked cutting off her finger. It makes sense if she was really the one calling the shots,” Hana’s words made sense logically but my mind was having a hard time catching up. After all, we’d known this woman for years. Hell, she was James’s wife.

  “It couldn’t be. Why would she?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe to gain James’s trust? What better way to get info from the enemy than to literally be in bed with them?”

  “I just...we would have seen it.”

  “How well did you all really know her before James married her? How much do you really know about her other than what she’s told you?”

  I thought for a moment, still struggling to even consider the possibility.

  “She said she didn’t have any family. We met a couple of her friends at the wedding but that was about it. But, it can’t...” I looked back at Natalie again, trying to see some sign of what Hana was suggesting but I couldn’t see it. “We need to talk to the Director.”

  I left Hana by Mikey and casually walked over to the Director. “Sir?”

  “Hey, Mason.”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt your game but could I talk to you for just a minute?”

  “Sure. Is everything alright?”

  “Yeah. Everything’s fine. Just need to talk over a couple of things.”

  “Is everything okay? Is it James?” Natalie said, sitting up a little straighter like she was going to stand up but I held my hand up to stop her.

  “Yeah everything’s fine. This is completely unrelated. I just figured we’d take advantage of our time here while we wait.”