Out of Time

by Monica McCarty

  “At ease, sailor,” Colt said, guessing Scott’s thoughts. “I fucked up my life once. I have no intention of doing it again.”

  Kate clearly didn’t like the turn of conversation and brought it quickly back to the threat against Natalie’s family. “I ran down the names that Dean passed on. There is one that sticks out.”

  Scott knew what that meant, and he could see from Kate’s expression that she was finding it difficult to accept what the facts were pointing to.

  “Someone connected to the general?” he asked.

  Kate nodded. “One of the men employed by Marino served under my godfather when he was the head of the Army Intelligence Support Activity.”

  Aka “the Activity,” which was a special ops intelligence unit.

  At Natalie’s confusion, Scott filled her in on what they suspected about General Murray. Her eyes got big really fast. “Are you serious? He has always been so kind to me—always going out of his way to say hello. And isn’t there talk of him being on the ticket as vice president in the next election?”

  Kate nodded. “That’s the rumor. Which could explain some things.” She didn’t elucidate and turned back to Scott. “I talked to Dean, and Marino had come up with the same person. It’s being taken care of right now.”

  Natalie looked back and forth between the siblings. She’d seen pictures of Kate so she knew they had similar coloring, but it was still strange to see those little nuances that a camera didn’t capture. Like the way Kate’s gaze leveled the same way as Scott’s when she had something important to say.

  “What do you mean, ‘taken care of’?” Natalie asked anxiously. “Is something happening at my parents’ house?”

  Scott was saved from answering by the phone. It was Baylor. When he hung up, he had the news he wanted to tell her. “Your parents and sister are safe. They have the guy who called you.”

  Natalie was visibly relieved, although not completely relaxed. “How do you know he was working alone? What happens if I don’t show up with the computer at the appointed time and someone else goes after my family?”

  “Marino is on his way to their farm right now to make sure there aren’t any more surprises. He is taking personal responsibility for this. And my senior chief is going with him. You can trust him, Nat. Baylor won’t let anything happen to them.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Natalie wasn’t convinced the threat to her family was over. Whoever was behind it was clearly in panic mode and trying to tie up any loose ends. She and her computer both qualified. If they could get to her family once, who was to say they couldn’t get to them again?

  She tried to talk Scott into going to Minnesota, but he wasn’t having any of it. “I promise you will see them soon, but not until we have this thing locked down. We’re close, Natalie. Just be a little more patient.”

  It wasn’t until she’d talked to her parents and sister, however, that Natalie relaxed. They assured her they were fine and being well taken care of; her parents hadn’t even realized there was a threat until it was over. Marino must have taken his private plane because he and Scott’s senior chief, Dean Baylor, arrived while she was talking to her sister.

  Natalie smiled, thinking how Lana had been going on about some new online computer game—

  “Oh my God,” Natalie said suddenly. Of course. It made perfect sense.

  She was sitting in the living room with Colt watching a baseball game—Scott had gone into Kate’s office with her to make a call—so he was the one who replied. “What?”

  “I think I might know what happened to my laptop.” Natalie fished around in her purse for Scott’s burner and called her mom.

  A few minutes later her mom called back. “You were right. It was under Lana’s bed. What do you want me to do with it?”

  “Give it to Dean and tell him not to let it out of his sight. I’m sure Scott will be in touch with him soon.”

  As soon as she hung up, Colt looked at her. “She found it?”

  Kate’s ex was a good-looking guy but kind of on the scary side. Except for the prime physical form component, he didn’t look much like a SEAL. Although from what Scott said, Colt wasn’t exactly a SEAL anymore and was working in some kind of black ops. Colt was the polar opposite of Scott’s clean-cut officer appearance—which pretty much went for Kate as well. Scott’s sister had that refined, elegant Grace Kelly look.

  Natalie wouldn’t have put Colt and Kate together but appearances weren’t everything, and something about Colt obviously spoke to both Kate and Scott. Natalie knew how much Colt’s friendship had meant to Scott and how his false accusations had stung. Colt had a lot to atone for.

  Maybe she and Scott’s former chief had that in common.

  Natalie nodded. “My sister had it. I should have thought of it before. Lana is special needs and loves computers, but she’s gotten into trouble before with games on the Internet so my parents are really careful. They have parental controls that prevent her from accessing certain sites and monitor her usage, which Lana hasn’t been too happy about.” Natalie smiled. “She’s slow, but not unsavvy. She figured out ways around the controls so my parents had to take the computer out of her room. She must have seen my laptop in one of the boxes and taken it.”

  “She sounds like a teenager.”

  “Pretty much,” Natalie agreed with a laugh. “I should tell Scott.”

  “Tell me what?” Scott said, coming back into the room with Kate.

  Natalie filled him in on the laptop.

  “That’s great,” he said. “I’ll have Baylor bring it back and Kate can have a look at it.”

  Natalie was surprised by his tempered reaction. “I thought you’d be more excited,” she said.

  “I am,” Scott assured her. “It will help prove that you tried to send a message when you found out what was going on.”

  “But?” Colt said, as it was clear there was one.

  “But even if Mick didn’t leave a trail on the laptop,” Kate explained, “we have some new information that leaves little doubt that my godfather was behind the leak. We found the link.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Scott’s suspicion had paid off. Brittany Blake’s friend Mac had called when he and Kate were in her office.

  “What link?” Natalie asked.

  “Between the general and you and Mick.”

  She looked taken aback. “But I barely knew General Murray.”

  “He knew you,” Scott explained. “He’d probably been watching you and the other kids brought to America in the program for some time, waiting in case you were ever activated. Remember when I mentioned the Illegals Program that was uncovered back in 2010?”

  She nodded. “The one that was the basis of the TV program.”

  “That’s right,” Kate said. “Guess who was on the national security staff when that plot was uncovered?”

  “Murray,” Colt said flatly, not missing a beat.

  Scott nodded. “The adoption program for the kids of Soviet ‘traitors’ was apparently connected to the Illegals Program. But as none of the kids had been activated at the time, its existence was pretty much kept under wraps and buried. Mac only uncovered a few references in the files because she knew what she was looking for.”

  “Jeez,” Natalie said. “So I was under surveillance not only by the Russians but by the Americans, too?”

  “We’re not sure,” Kate said. “Mac wasn’t able to find out much more. The idea was that not all the kids would be turned or utilized. They’d wait and see how they grew up and be given opportunities when possible. The kids wouldn’t be traditional sleepers or moles or Russian spies who are groomed in America; they would be typical Americans being forced to work as agents. They were a new brand of unaware asset, making them harder to track and uncover.”

  As Kate
was obviously having difficulty accepting the general’s involvement, Scott stepped in to continue. “My guess is that Murray kept knowledge of the program to himself and maybe a very few others. The theory being that if one of you were activated, he would have control. If you weren’t, the whole program would have been forgotten about and lost in the archives. Mac said that when it was originally conceived the program was much bigger, but unlike the Illegals Program, it never really got going after the fall of the Soviet Union. It was just there lying in wait in case it was ever needed.”

  “I feel like a spare tire,” Natalie said, taken aback by the whole capriciousness of it all. She’d been a widget in the machinations of two countries. “What about Mick?”

  “I suspect Murray got to him early on and turned him,” Scott said. “He was probably a double agent. My guess is that any information Mick gave the Russians, Murray knew about.”

  They all took a moment to process what that meant. It hadn’t been a Russian plot. The bad guy had been on their side.

  “It wouldn’t have been hard to turn him,” Natalie said, not hiding her bitterness. Scott alone knew why and instinctively put his arm around her. She might not need his comfort, but he was going to give it to her anyway. He loved how she settled in against him as if she belonged there. “Mick’s allegiance was to himself. If the general gave him the right incentive, he would have sold his mother to the highest bidder.”

  “Sounds like a charming guy. I’m doubly glad John Donovan had good aim,” Kate said, referring to the shot that had killed Mick and probably saved her life.

  Colt’s tight mouth suggested he might have something to say on that subject, but probably wisely he refrained from commenting.

  “So what now?” Natalie said. “Is the link enough to take to your commander to prove what happened to the platoon?”

  Scott and Colt exchanged a look. It was, but going to Commander Mark Ryan or Captain Trevor Moore wasn’t how this was going to go down.

  Twenty-four

  Kate saw the look exchanged between Colt and Scott after Natalie asked her question and immediately knew what they were planning. She’d been married to Colt for long enough to know how he thought—how men like him thought. They weren’t going to hand this off now without all the answers. SEALs didn’t leave a mission unfinished; they would see this through to the end.

  “No!” she said, glancing back and forth between them. “Whatever you are thinking, no!” She spun on her ex-husband, who looked a lot better than he had a few hours ago but was still pale from loss of blood. “You were just shot, for God’s sake! You aren’t going anywhere!”

  Natalie had obviously been around Scott long enough to figure it out as well. “You can’t be planning to confront him?”

  Scott’s jaw squared in a way that Kate was too familiar with. She knew when stubborn was setting in. He addressed Colt first. “Kate’s right. You should stay here. Baylor will be here in a few hours with the computer anyway, and I will call Donovan for additional backup. Spivak and Ruiz would want to be here but are too far away for me to wait. I want to talk to the general before midnight.”

  “Fuck you, Ace. There is no way I’m staying behind. These were my guys, too. I’m good to go.”

  Colt was one of the toughest guys Kate had ever met. He lived the BTF mantra—Big Tough Frogman. Kate knew he’d be “good to go” if every bone in his body was broken and he had ten bullets in him.

  Scott had clearly expected the reaction—as had she. Her brother shrugged, and then probably because he was still angry at Colt and knew how much it would piss him off added, “Just don’t get in the way.”

  Colt’s eyes narrowed, but he’d obviously realized he was being baited. His reply was more sarcastic than angry. “I’ll try not to let my hobbling around slow you down, Ace.”

  Scott turned to Natalie, who was clearly agitated with the direction the conversation was taking. “I promised you that I would keep you and your family safe, and this is the best way to do it. You have to trust me, Nat. I know what I’m doing.”

  If Natalie’s torn expression was anything, he was obviously asking a lot. Clearly she didn’t like the idea of him going into danger any more than Kate did. “But what if you are walking into a trap?”

  Scott shook his head. “He doesn’t know we are on to him. But even if he suspects, he’ll want to hear what we have to say, and we’ll be ready.” He smiled. “This isn’t our first rodeo.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Kate said.

  The reaction from Colt and Scott was instantaneous, with differing levels of crudity in the “not a chance” response.

  She waited a few minutes for the swearing and male overprotectiveness to calm down before replying, “It makes the most operational sense. I will call him and tell him we’re on our way over and need his help. I’ll say something about Natalie being in danger. That should get you in the door without any problems.”

  Scott gave Colt a look that Kate read easily enough: you better do something about this. Apparently her brother had decided that Colt had some kind of influence with her. Was it that obvious?

  Ever the tactician, her ex-husband had apparently realized that anger and threats weren’t going to get the job done so he decided to go with the “honey, let’s be reasonable” approach.

  The cajoling tone from him wasn’t something she was used to, and it wasn’t without effect. “That’s a great idea, Kate. You should definitely call him and tell him we are coming and need his help. The direct approach will keep him off guard and sneaking into the ancestral pile to confront him wouldn’t be easy with his security. But you don’t need to be at Blairhaven in person to achieve the same thing. You aren’t an operator and having you there will make our jobs more difficult.” He paused to let that sink in. In other words, your presence will compromise our safety. “I know you care about him and this is difficult for you, but it will be harder on him to have you there, too.”

  Damn him. She could fight anger, but not reason. “But if he’s guilty, he could be like a cornered animal.”

  She already suspected that the general was in panic mode and trying to cover his tracks.

  “Which is even more reason for you not to go,” Colt said evenly, looking into her eyes with an intensity she couldn’t turn away from. “We’re trained for things like this.”

  And you’re not. He didn’t need to say it.

  “So the women need to stay back at the castle while the men go off to fight,” she said, not without a little bitterness.

  He gave her a grin that melted her heart and some of her anger. “In this case, yes. I’d have it that way all the time if I thought you’d agree.”

  “Not until you agree to the same,” she said with a sugary smile.

  Colt just laughed.

  He might have won this time, but it wouldn’t always be that way, and they both knew it.

  * * *

  • • •

  Colt knew not to put too much hope in Kate’s agreement, but it was hard not to think that it meant something. That maybe they were on the same page for the first time. That maybe they understood each other now. That maybe there was a place for thought and consideration in the volatile emotional Molotov cocktail of their relationship.

  He’d been angry at her for running the morning after in the hotel, but he understood it. His reaction to the adoption papers had been reflexive and less than ideal, but she’d surprised him. He’d realized kids might be in the future, but he hadn’t realized how immediate that future might be, and it had jellied him.

  He’d needed time to get used to the idea.

  But she’d been dodging him too long and getting shot last night had put everything in rather instant perspective. The clock was running and there was no telling when it would run out.

  He’d planned to talk to her before he left, but it was Kate who cornered him as he w
as leaving the dining room where he, Taylor, Donovan, and the recently-arrived-with-laptop-in-hand Baylor had gathered for a makeshift op brief.

  This was Taylor’s mission, but they all had opinions. He listened and decided on the straightforward course of action to present Murray with what they had and see what happened—in other words, light the fuse and wait for the explosion. It was what Colt would have done. Sometimes there wasn’t time or room for subtlety.

  He supposed that could apply to him and Kate as well.

  “I want to talk to you,” she said.

  She turned and headed upstairs, which he took to mean that he was supposed to follow her.

  She went into the master bedroom that she used to share with her former fiancé. Just the reminder made Colt’s blood heat and teeth grit. He didn’t like being in here. It made him feel as if he were crawling the damned walls.

  “What is it?” he asked. “Did you find something on the laptop?”

  “Proof that Natalie did try to send a message, but not who intercepted it. Brittany called Mac and she is on her way over. I hope she can find something while you are gone.”

  Even if she didn’t, the general wasn’t going to know that.

  “All right.” Colt made the mistake of looking at the nice king-sized bed and his mouth fell in a hard line. “What else?”

  Kate’s composure slipped. She looked as if she was about to burst into tears. “What else? What do you mean, ‘what else?’! What’s wrong with you? I thought you wanted to talk but you’re acting like you can’t wait to get away from me.”

  Colt swore. Crossing the distance between them, he pulled her into his arms. “It’s not you; it’s this damned room. I don’t like thinking about you and Lord Percy in here; it’s driving me nuts.”

  He could feel her body relax against him. A small smile crept all the way up to her eyes, which started to twinkle. “Oh. I didn’t even think about it.” She tilted her head to study him in a way that made him want to shift his feet and pull on the neck of his shirt. “I thought you weren’t going to get jealous anymore.”