The Last Target (Love Inspired Suspense)

by Christy Barritt

  “Have you had any problems with it? Any volunteers who’ve been acting strangely? Any members of the military who became obsessed with the person who was writing them? Any suspicious letters that came across your desk maybe?”

  “There are people who hate the military so therefore they hate us, too. They’ve sent some nasty letters and emails. Once we even had people picketing outside our office in Virginia Beach.”

  “Did you save any of that correspondence?”

  “All of it.”

  “I’ll need to see it.”

  “No problem.”

  “Anything else? Any other people who have acted suspiciously? Even something that might not seem important could be.”

  She searched her brain for something that should set off an alarm. Nothing emerged. Sure, she’d had volunteers who’d dropped the ball and hadn’t followed through with their commitment. Sure, there had even been a couple of romances develop after volunteers became pen pals with their assignments. But no one in particular stood out as suspicious.

  She sat up straight. No one in particular except…

  Jack leaned toward her. “What is it?”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing.” She leaned back into the couch and waved away the thought.

  “Why don’t you let me decide that.”

  She licked her lips, unsure of the wisdom in even mentioning her thought. Then she thought of Aidan. She had to keep him safe, and to do that Jack and his men needed to explore every possibility. “There is one man who’s on the board for the organization. He has a bit of an edge to him. But—”

  “What’s his name?”

  Her face flushed. “George Anderson.”

  Jack’s stony expression seemed to shift for a moment. As quickly as whatever emotion it was passed through his gaze, his intense look returned. “We’ll look into him, just to be safe.”

  Her world felt like it was spinning. Could George be behind these attacks? It didn’t seem possible. “He served with my husband as a Navy SEAL. After Andrew died, George made an effort to help me out around the house some—trimming trees, cleaning gutters, things like that. But what possible connection could he have with this list?”

  “Rachel…”

  The way Jack said her name made her realize that he was holding something back, trying to protect her. It was too late to feel safe now. “Just tell me, Jack. You don’t have to beat around the bush. I can handle it.”

  “Rachel, there’s a good chance that whoever shot you at the park today missed on purpose.”

  Her heart seemed to skip a beat. “Why would they do that?”

  “Maybe because they know you. Maybe because they couldn’t bring themselves to hurt you.”

  She shook her head. “That still doesn’t make any sense. I’m not following you…”

  “Nobody else survived an attempt on their life. Only you. There’s got to be a reason for that.”

  “Nobody I know would be affiliated with Apaka.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.” She sounded more confident than she felt.

  Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Then maybe you know something. Maybe they want to keep you alive to get information that only you have.”

  “What information would I have? Information on how to write compelling letters to military personnel stationed overseas? How to potty-train a child? There’s nothing I know that they could possibly want.”

  Jack seemed to sense her rising anxiety. He placed his hand on her knee and waited until she made eye contact to speak. “I understand this is a lot to process, Rachel.”

  Rachel’s throat went dry and she stood. She only wanted to hug Aidan, to lock the door to their room and throw away the key. It seemed the only semblance of safety she could think of at the moment.

  But was it the situation that had her feeling flustered, or was it the jolt of electricity that coursed through her at Jack’s touch?

  It didn’t matter. Both were dangerous. She had to hold on to whatever security she had at the moment. She had no control of the terrorists. But she could get away from Jack Sergeant before she lost control of her fluttering heart.

  FOUR

  Aidan called out for his mother from the next room. Jack watched as Rachel’s face seemed to flush with relief. Maybe this had been too much for her. Maybe he should have waited until she rested some before asking the questions.

  Still, Rachel had a trouper’s attitude. She’d held up amazingly well considering the circumstances. Even the toughest person would crumble under the weight of what she’d just learned.

  “Let me get Aidan.” Rachel rose. “He may be scared not knowing where he is.”

  Jack wasn’t going to leave Rachel alone. Not right now. He planned on staying by her side as much as possible until the people behind the threat on her life were either dead or behind bars.

  Instead, Jack stared at the mess of notes in front of him. A mess of notes, but no answers. Just more ideas. Ideas didn’t seem good enough at the moment. Right now, he wanted answers. And he wanted to keep his promises, including one he’d made four years ago.

  He never thought this day would come, the day that he and Rachel would both become characters on the same stage. But here they were, thrown together in the most harrowing of circumstances. Not only had he been hired to protect her—a task he’d see to personally—but he was also fulfilling a promise he’d whispered to a man on his deathbed.

  That was all Andrew had asked of Jack before life had faded from him. Make sure his wife and baby were okay. He probably would have asked that of any of his comrades who had been there with him on his deathbed. Although Jack and Andrew had been friends, they hadn’t been that kind of friends. But Jack had been the one who was there to hear Andrew’s last desperate plea for his family. It was a shame that Andrew had asked the one person who was never supposed to have known him, though. Jack had been undercover, even used an alias while on assignment. Even worse, Andrew had been the main crux of his mission. The government had feared he’d been selling secrets to the enemy. Andrew had been cleared of those suspicions, but still, an invisible weight pressed on Jack’s shoulders at the thought.

  Jack heard Rachel talking in soothing tones to Aidan in the next room. He knew even before today that Rachel was a good mother. He knew she was patient and loving, yet disciplined and firm. Jack had seen her from his place in the background. Not very often. He hadn’t wanted to scare her by being a shadow in her life. But he kept tabs on her, made sure she was okay. He’d made sure to donate to Rachel’s nonprofit. He’d made sure she had no unmet needs. Everything had been going well, so smoothly…until today.

  He looked at his notes again. George Anderson.

  He remembered George from his time working alongside the SEALs team in Afghanistan. Had George and Rachel ever dated? Why did the thought of it make Jack tense?

  He knew—it was because George was a hothead and a hotshot. He wanted to do things that put the whole SEALs team and everyone else around them in danger.

  But was he a killer? Could he secretly be working for Apaka?

  Jack knew the reasons why someone would be lured into working for a terrorist organization. They would probably pay a hefty dollar for the right information about where the U.S. troops were headed next for battle. The traitor could have provided that information, taken a large sum of money and then gotten out of the military.

  Apaka looked just like anyone else. That’s what made them dangerous. They blended in. Many were homegrown. Their agents could be anyone.

  He glanced toward the other room and saw that Rachel was still occupied with Aidan. He picked up his phone and made a call to Luke.

  “Luke, I need you to look into someone named George Anderson. Find out where he’s been for the past six months, if he’s traveled anywhere. Look into his checking account. I need to find out if he’s our man.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He glanced back again and saw Rachel stroking her son
’s hair, a gentle smile on her face. For some reason, the image made his heart lurch. He looked away, staring at his notes again and remembering the conversation at hand. “How about the park? Did you find any evidence there? Any clues as to who the shooter was?”

  “I’m talking to the local police right now. Thanks to a call from the Department of Defense we’ve got their full cooperation. No one at the park seems to have seen anything, however, except a mass of people scattering for cover.”

  Jack replayed the incident again. Why hadn’t the shooter gotten Rachel? Why had he spared her after killing everyone else on the list? He was sure of one thing—it wasn’t an accident she was still alive. But he was also sure they weren’t finished with her yet. Now he just had to figure out why. In figuring that out, he may also figure out who was behind these attacks.

  His men had been working nonstop on this case since Jack had gotten the phone call yesterday from Vice Admiral Harris, his contact at the U.S. Department of Defense and Rachel’s uncle. He had analysts looking over the list, searching phone records, examining backgrounds. He had strategists plotting various ways to catch the men behind the attacks. He had security specialists figuring out ways to up safety measures here at Eyes.

  Yes, their headquarters were more closely guarded than the White House, as he liked to say. He hadn’t lied about that. But still, to not make mistakes, they needed to reevaluate, find any areas of weakness.

  Some of the best men at the Department of Defense and CIA examined that list after it had been discovered two days ago, and all had been unable to determine the links between the names. They could only hope that Rachel could provide some information that would give them a lead. Without any insight from Rachel, they might not ever figure out the reasons behind these murders. She was their source for answers…but Jack’s main concern was keeping her and Aidan safe.

  His thoughts went back to his final night in Afghanistan. He pictured the explosion that had rocked his world. He could see Andrew’s lifeless body. He’d pulled him from the Hummer and tried to revive him. It was too late. He was never supposed to have hit that improvised explosive device.

  Jack had been the one who’d told Andrew to go to Kabul. Jack had wanted to trail him, to see who he was meeting. He’d wanted to catch Andrew in the act of being a traitor. Instead, Jack had led him straight to his death.

  If Rachel learned the truth about what happened that night, how would she feel about Jack? She would never trust him. After all, how could she forgive him for the death of her husband and her son’s father?

  The thought pressed on him as he looked once more at the list.

  “Where are we, Mommy?”

  Rachel pulled Aidan into her arms. “This is where we’re going to be staying for a few days. It’s kind of like a hotel.” She couldn’t let anything happen to her son. She’d protect him, even if it meant staying here at the Eyes headquarters and abandoning her life.

  “Like the time we stayed at the beach and ate pizza and played in the waves?”

  Rachel smiled. “Yes, kind of like that.” Rachel wished she had a sweater to pull over her arms. She told herself it was the AC that had her quivering, but she knew the truth. Fear had invaded her and shaken her to the core. This all seemed like a nightmare that she needed to wake up from. The bandage across her arm proved that this situation was all too real, though.

  Aidan’s chin trembled. “Why did that man grab me from the slide?”

  Rachel’s heart panged, remembering her son’s expression during the ordeal, remembering how helpless she felt. “I know that was scary. He was trying to help, though. There was a bad man in the park, and the good guy was trying to keep you away from him.”

  “A bad man?”

  Rachel nodded.

  “I thought you said monsters weren’t real.”

  Her heart panged again. She didn’t know what to say. Instead, she pulled her son into her arms again and rocked him back and forth. Lord, I don’t have the answers…help me.

  She opened her mouth, hoping the right words would pop out, when Aidan sighed and proclaimed, “I’m hungry.”

  Hungry. Jack had mentioned something about food. Maybe a good meal would be a perfect distraction for both herself and Aidan. She rose and reached for his hand. “Let’s go get something to eat then.”

  Just seeing Jack on the phone in the next room caused the revelation about the list and the threat on her life to slam back into her mind. She studied him another minute, wondering again why he seemed familiar. Did Jack know Andrew? She felt confident there was something Jack wasn’t telling her. His eyes had taken on a haunted look when Andrew’s name had been mentioned.

  Perhaps Jack had been a former SEAL. Maybe it didn’t matter if Jack knew Andrew personally. SEALs—whether they knew each other or not—seemed to form an impenetrable camaraderie. They were closer than brothers. When one SEAL was lost, the whole community of special ops mourned for them. That had been evident at Andrew’s funeral.

  The day flashed into her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut, pushing the memories away. She didn’t want to go there. Not now. She didn’t want to think about Andrew and the questions she had about a few mysterious aspects of his life. She’d chosen to simply believe the best and put aside her questions.

  Jack looked up at that moment and smiled at Aidan. “How’s it going, buddy? Did you have a nice nap?”

  Aidan nodded and rubbed his eyes. “I’m hungry.”

  “It just so happens that I have some macaroni and cheese coming up for you right now. Do you like mac and cheese?”

  Aidan’s eyes lit up. “It’s my favorite.”

  At that moment, the guard knocked at the door and brought in several bags of food. He placed them on the coffee table that lay between them. Rachel helped Jack pull the food out and placed it before them. He’d ordered a variety, obviously not knowing what they liked. Rachel chose a ham-and-cheese sandwich for herself. She pulled the lid off of Aidan’s food and set it before him. He quickly dug in.

  “Does mac and cheese help you grow?” Aidan asked, looking at Jack. He already had orange, gooey cheese all over his lips and chin. “I want to be big and tall one day, just like you. Like a superhero.”

  Jack grinned. “Mac and cheese…the dinner of champions. That’s what I like to say.”

  Rachel raised an eyebrow. Today of all days she wasn’t going to argue about what her son ate. There were other issues to worry about. She took another bite of her sandwich, though she had to admit that nothing tasted good right now. She was just going through the motions, eating because she knew she had to in order to keep her energy.

  Jack turned his gaze back to Rachel, his eyes serious again. “As soon as you’re both finished, I’d like to show you around the headquarters. I hope you’ll be comfortable here. Just not too comfortable.”

  Rachel knew what he was getting at. She had to remain on guard at all times, even within the security of the headquarters here. They were dealing with terrorists. Jack didn’t need to spell it out for Rachel to realize the resources Apaka had. They’d do anything to finish what they started.

  Rachel shivered.

  Keep things normal, she reminded herself. She had to keep a cool head for Aidan’s sake. She cleared her throat. “From what I’ve seen so far, it seems like quite the setup you have here.”

  Jack’s gaze remained on her a moment too long. She almost felt like Jack could see right through the surface and knew her thoughts, her fears, her forced façade in front of her son. “I try to make it as much like home as possible,” Jack finally said. “For many of the men here, this is like a second home. It’s my only home, for that matter.”

  “Your family lives here then?” She was just asking to make conversation, she told herself. It was only fair that if she had to expose her entire life to this stranger then she should know something about him.

  His eyes seemed to cloud at the question. “No family. It’s easier that way.”

  Rachel nod
ded. “I’m sure.” She wasn’t sure how to take his statement. Was it easier this way because he didn’t like to be tied down, or easier this way because there was less pressure to divide his time? Maybe both? It didn’t matter. It wasn’t her place to convince him otherwise. And, in some ways, maybe it was easier for people in the military to be single. At least, that’s what she thought on her cynical days.

  Jack’s phone rang again. He looked at the screen before plucking it from his belt and putting it to his ear. His posture immediately went stiff. “Vice Admiral Harris. I understand. Yes, I will pass that on. Okay. Thanks.”

  Rachel tensed. What was the phone call about? Had they captured the person behind the shooting? Had someone else been hurt?

  Jack turned to her with serious eyes. “That was your uncle. He’s coming down to talk to you tomorrow.”

  “I thought he was out of the country.”

  “He was. He’s back now. He cut his trip short.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “The Department of Defense just received a letter for you. When they opened it, they noticed a powdery substance inside. After the powder was cleared of being toxic, they read the letter.”

  “And?”

  “It was a note to you from Apaka.”

  The blood drained from her face. “To me? With my name on it? What did it say?”

  “It said ‘We’re not done yet.’”

  FIVE

  Rachel shoved her sandwich aside and leaned back against the couch. Nausea roiled in her gut. Why did it feel like just when things couldn’t get worst, they did?

  “It’s our belief that Apaka doesn’t know you’re here,” Jack said in an obvious attempt to comfort her.

  “But they will, won’t they? Eventually. They don’t seem like the type to give up easily.”

  Jack’s silence spoke volumes.

  Rachel wiped the corners of her mouth, again trying to round up her thoughts. She glanced at Aidan and saw that he was preoccupied with a coloring page that had been placed in the bag with his food. “So, when did the first…the first…incident from the list…occur?”