The Spy Who Saved Christmas

by Dana Marton

  Adams watched him for a long second, assessing. “Do you have a personal relationship with Miss Jordan?”

  “She’s the mother of my children.”

  “Have you had a sexual relationship with Miss Jordan while on this mission?” Adams clarified.

  “I don’t see how that’s your business.” The muscles in Reid’s jaw were beginning to tighten. He had no idea how to define what had happened between them. Couldn’t come to terms with any of that over the past two days. Memories of the time they’d spent together kept surfacing at the most inopportune moments to drive him crazy.

  “Do you realize the liability you subjected this agency to?” Adams was about gritting his teeth.

  Tension-filled silence stretched between them, Reid trying hard not to just get up and walk out and to hell with procedure. For the colonel’s sake, he would sit through this and play along if it killed him.

  Adams went back to his notes. “It says here that you took out one man before entering the building. He was talking to Jimmy Briggs.”

  That was the surprise of the day. Jimmy Sparks was actually Jimmy Briggs, Kenny’s second cousin—Kenny had confessed that morning in custody. Jimmy had been using the Sparks name in Hopeville as cover. The relationship explained why Kenny had advanced in the ranks despite his lack of aptitude. This close to the attack, Jimmy, now confirmed as the head of the cell, was relying more and more on family, the only members of his team he really trusted.

  “And you didn’t see Joey Briggs there?”

  Reid shook his head. Joey was Kenny’s middle brother. To have him and Jimmy loose somewhere out there left an uneasy feeling in Reid’s stomach. “Any idea where they were going to release the virus?”

  “According to Kenny, at the Parson Hill courthouse. That’s where his father was convicted.”

  Made sense. Kenny and his brothers’ main motivation was to bring down the government. Might as well start their crusade against government at the local level, where they also had a personal score to settle. And now that Reid knew that Jimmy Sparks was Jimmy Briggs, Kenny’s cousin, that explained a lot, too. Jimmy’s and Kenny’s fathers had received the death sentence together. “So Kenny is singing?”

  “We used his little brother as leverage.” Adams looked away, obviously feeling the hypocrisy since he had, at the beginning of the debriefing, faulted Reid for doing just that.

  “What else did he say?”

  “There was also supposed to be an assassination attempt at city hall during the mayor’s Christmas-morning speech tomorrow. According to Kenny, the guy who was supposed to take the mayor out was shot at the slaughterhouse. Kenny identified everyone from the crime-scene photos. We’re sending an undercover SWAT team to city hall anyway and have increased security and all that.”

  An attempt to assassinate the mayor. The mayor who had been the prosecuting attorney at the trials of the Briggs brothers back in the day. A half-formed thought cast a shadow over Reid. “Out of curiosity, what’s the governor doing for the holidays?”

  “How should I know?”

  “Two decades ago, the Briggs brothers, Kenny’s and Jimmy’s fathers, got the death penalty at the Parson Hill courthouse. The current mayor was the prosecuting attorney. The current governor was the judge.”

  Adams went completely still. “Kenny said something about the holy trinity of revenge. We figured it meant Jimmy, Kenny and Billy.”

  “Except there’s Joey Briggs, too. Still out there.” Along with Jimmy, able to execute the third prong of their revenge mission, if there was a third prong.

  Adams was already on the phone to the governor’s security detail. “So the security issues we discussed earlier might not be completely resolved,” he started. “Would you read me the governor’s schedule for the holidays?” He listened. “I see.”

  “What is it?” Reid asked when Adams had hung up.

  “The governor is doing last-minute Christmas shop ping at the North-East Philadelphia Mall as a publicity ploy to boost the economy.” He glanced at his watch. “Right about now. Then he’s taking off until the New Year.”

  Reid’s mind was churning furiously. That guy outside the slaughterhouse had refused to allow his wife to go to the mall with the kids. “What do we know about Joey Briggs?” he asked, then answered his own question. “Up until a few years ago, he was a normal guy. Worked all kinds of construction jobs, including demolition. Then he got caught up in Kenny’s circle.”

  “Demolition,” Adams said, scowling fiercely.

  “A three-pronged approach. The virus at the court-house. The assassination of the mayor. And a bomb at the mall for the governor.”

  Adams was dialing already.

  And Reid was running out the door. One of the last things Lara had told him was that she would be taking the twins to the mall to have their picture taken with Santa today. The North-East Philly Mall was the nearest one to Hopeville.

  THE MALL WAS PACKED because of the governor’s visit, news cameras positioned everywhere. If Lara had realized the place would be this mobbed, she would have made an effort to get here earlier. She pushed her double stroller past a row of gaily decorated stores on the mall’s upper level. The twins were quiet, happy as clams, thanks to their complimentary candy canes.

  Their pictures with Santa were carefully tucked into her purse. She’d gotten extras, for Reid and his mother, although she had no idea how to get in touch with either of them. She expected Reid would eventually call to work something out. He hadn’t yet. She held the pain of that inside. She wasn’t going to mope around. She wasn’t going to ruin Christmas for Zak and Nate. If her heart was breaking, nobody had to know about it.

  She scanned the store windows, wishing she could have afforded to put more people on her Christmas list. Maybe next year. Her business was growing slowly, but steadily. She had a good reputation. Word was getting around. Maybe before too long the lean years would finally be behind them.

  “Easy with the sugar rush.” She grinned at her boys, love filling her to the brim. Then she looked up—navigating a twin stroller in the crowd wasn’t easy—and…

  The only reason she recognized the man was because he was the spitting image of his brothers, Kenny and Billy Briggs. She didn’t remember the name Reid had said, but she was certain that the man coming out of the maintenance corridor, looking nervously around, was the third Briggs brother.

  A cheer went up downstairs.

  She looked over the liberally garlanded railing. The governor making a speech, giving his best syrupy smile to the cameras.

  The Briggs brother stopped to watch, hate distorting his face. Then his narrow lips tilted up in an evil smile.

  Every instinct she had told her that he wasn’t here to do his last-minute Christmas shopping. According to Reid, the group the Briggs were part of was not only antigovernment but antireligion and anticapitalist, too, rejecting all consumerism, which they saw as the rich sucking the blood of the poor. They basically held a grudge against everyone they perceived as ever having done them wrong.

  He glanced at his watch, then walked straight toward her, eyeing his watch again, picking up speed. He sure looked like he was anxious to get out of here all of a sudden.

  Where was he headed? She looked behind her, her eyes settling on the fire stairs that led to an emergency exit. The way he scurried forward reminded her of a rat running from a sinking ship.

  Which gave her a really, really bad feeling.

  She glanced around desperately. Saw a security guard at the top of the escalator. It would take minutes for her to get over there while pushing a double-wide stroller through the crowd of last-minute shoppers. And even if she did get to the guard quickly, would he believe her? She didn’t have time to convince him that something terrible was about to happen, although every instinct she had screamed it.

  Which meant she had to somehow get everyone out of the mall on her own. She did the only thing she could think of. She picked the twins up out of the stroller
and supported one on each hip, then ran for the escalator, yelling, “Fire! Fire! Get out!”, causing instant panic.

  If she was wrong, she’d be in trouble for raising a false alarm. If she was right, she might just save the life of every man, woman and child in here. “Fire!” she screamed.

  Then the Briggs guy was there, smashing his elbow into her temple, taking her down, then dragging her and the twins into that maintenance corridor with him. Nobody paid any attention to them in the stampede.

  “MOST EVERYONE WAS evacuated, but Joey Briggs has a couple of hostages, including the governor. By the time we called the governor’s security detail it was too late. There was such chaos, his team couldn’t get him out. Briggs is demanding a safe getaway and the release of his brothers from prison or he’ll blow up the building,” the senior FBI officer on the scene updated Reid. Adams had called ahead and let them know that Reid had valuable knowledge of the possible perpetrators. Apparently, when the governor’s life was on the line, past sins were quickly forgiven.

  “And we don’t think he’s acting alone,” the FBI officer went on. “When he gave his demands, there was a male voice in the background that seemed to be giving him orders.”

  “Jimmy Briggs?”

  “That would make the most sense.”

  Reid’s burn scars tingled on his chest. He wasn’t going to forget Jimmy’s face, backlit by the fire in the bakery, as long as he lived. He would have welcomed a face-to-face meeting with the bastard under different circumstances, but at the moment all he could think of was Lara and their babies.

  Her car was in the parking lot. He’d tried to call her cell. She didn’t pick up. He hoped against hope that Lara and the boys weren’t in there, that they had somehow escaped. But he couldn’t escape the dark foreboding that was settling on him.

  A man in a black SWAT uniform was running toward them. “There’s another complication, sir,” he reported.

  “What is it?” His boss barked the words at him.

  “The main gas lines servicing the north side of the city go right under the parking lot. If there’s a large enough explosion at the mall, all that propane could catch fire, too.”

  Had Jimmy Briggs known that, or was it just a happy coincidence? Reid swore under his breath.

  “If that gas line goes, it’ll take out a number of blocks surrounding the mall. You better start evacuations,” Reid told the senior agent. “I’m going in.”

  “Like hell you are. You’re here to provide intelligence only. The governor’s life is at stake. There’ll be no rogue missions here.”

  “Try and stop me.”

  The FBI man took a step forward, signaling to some of the SWAT team that gathered behind him. “I can and I will.” But a phone call cut off the rest of what he was about to say. “Yes, sir. Yes, sir,” he was saying, then put away his phone, dark thunder looming on his face. He signaled the SWAT team back. “You’re cleared to go in.”

  Thank you, Colonel, Reid thought as he took off running.

  THEY WERE IN THE MALL’S security office, the half-dozen attackers watching a wall of monitors, the half-dozen hostages tied to chairs, except for Lara, whose hands were left unbound so she could keep the babies quiet. When all hell had broken lose, every bad guy in the building had grabbed a hostage, Jimmy Briggs going for the prize—the governor. Apparently, they had planned for every contingency.

  She looked around at the others who’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Governor Ferriss looked a little worse for wear, his chin scraped. One of his bodyguards was with him and his forehead was bleeding. An older woman was mumbling prayers under her breath, one after the other. Two teenage girls hung on to each other in the corner, silently crying.

  “Look, the only way this could end well is if you let us go,” the governor’s bodyguard was saying, trying to negotiate not for the first time since they’d been brought here.

  “My definition of a good ending is you dead and me walking away.” Jimmy Briggs smirked at him, then went back to the monitor that showed the parking lot, which was rapidly clearing, except for the police and several SWAT teams. They were removing all civilians from the premises.

  “Listen to me, nobody has gotten hurt yet. You could still get off with a minor charge, maybe not even serve time, just probation,” the bodyguard lied through his teeth. Jimmy had kidnapped the governor. They weren’t going to let him go with a slap on the wrist.

  He must have known that because he said, “I ain’t goin’ back to jail.”

  The phone rang. He turned his back to the hostages to pick it up, the overhead lights glinting off his bald head.

  “I want a helicopter and a million in cash. I want all your men to clear the parking lot. I can see you on the security cameras, so don’t try to pull anything,” he said to whoever was on the other end.

  “I have the whole mall rigged with explosives. You don’t do what I say, I blow her up. You have an hour to get what I want.” He ended the call without waiting for an answer.

  He acted the man in charge, as if everything was exactly as planned, but there was plenty of tension around his eyes. He might have had a plan B in case a standoff like this occurred, but it wasn’t his preferred plan. Lara figured the original plan had been to set the bombs, get out, blow up the building with the governor in it.

  She’d messed that up. Immediate disaster had been averted. But she wasn’t sure if all she’d done was postpone the inevitable.

  Lara held Zak and Nate closer, burying her face against their warm little bodies. “We’ll be good and quiet for a little while, okay? Then we’ll go home. And guess what? Tomorrow morning Santa is coming.”

  “Sa sa,” Nate said, his cinnamon eyes all lit up.

  “Santa,” she corrected out of habit.

  “He he,” Zak said.

  “No TV here, honey. But when we get home, we’ll watch Henry Hero, I promise.” She made sure to keep her face averted from the bad guys in the room.

  Jimmy hadn’t recognized her so far. Of course, they hadn’t seen each other much back in Hopeville. Her butcher shop had been open for only two weeks before it had burned. And she looked different now. Gained some weight with the babies. Cut her hair short.

  He might also recognize the twins. He’d been in that slaughterhouse where they’d been held. She was counting on the fact that he was a guy, his mind too busy with evil plans to pay much attention to a couple of kids. He’d gone to that slaughterhouse to discuss business. It was entirely possible that he hadn’t even glanced at the crib.

  What would happen if he did recognize them, the boys or her? She’d been chewing on that for the last twenty minutes. She could tie him to a different identity. Was that important enough to him to kill her straight away? He meant to kill all of them anyway, what would that matter?

  Still, instinct told her to keep her head down and stay as invisible as possible. Extra attention from a deranged terrorist was the last thing she wanted. Not unless they were one-on-one and she had a cleaver handy.

  Because she wasn’t about to forget that this was the man responsible for kidnapping her babies. This was the man responsible for her shop burning down. This was the man responsible for burning Reid.

  “You have the whole mall up on those monitors,” the governor’s security guard said to Jimmy. “How come we don’t see any of your bombs?”

  “In the ventilation system.”

  The bodyguard didn’t look convinced. “How did you get into the ventilation system without any of these cameras seeing what you were doing? They have every square inch of the mall covered.”

  “Not the restrooms. That would be illegal.” Jimmy gave a superior grin.

  “Do you know how many tons of explosives it would take to do in a building of this size?”

  Jimmy finally lost his patience and whirled on the man, pointed his gun at the guy’s head. His eyes said, be quiet or be dead.

  The bodyguard pressed his lips together and leaned back in his chair
, exchanging a look with the governor. Lara prayed that they wouldn’t underestimate the attackers and try something stupid.

  Among the hostages, she was the only one who knew about Jimmy’s and his cousin Joey’s background. And she was willing to bet a year’s supply of filet mignon that they were exactly right about the amount of explosives.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Reid came in through the roof, straight into the ventilation system, and was met with a helluva surprise. Enough C4 was rigged all over the place to take down the building and then some, almost certainly setting off the explosion of the propane main line. The charges were distributed evenly throughout the vast ventilation ducts, from what he could see so far.

  The good news was, he was in the building and had the location of the bombs. The bad news was, although he wasn’t a complete novice, he wasn’t a bomb specialist. It would have taken him a day to disarm them all, if he was very, very lucky.

  And they definitely didn’t have a day, or even half of one. Only one hour was allowed by Jimmy Briggs. Out of that hour, Reid had already used fifteen minutes getting into the place unseen.

  Didn’t look good so far. But he was ready to do anything to get the hostages out, save them or die trying. The odds were pretty long on the die part. And there was a chance that Lara and the twins were trapped somewhere below him.

  He couldn’t stand not knowing how they fared, what they were doing. Walking away from them had sounded great in theory. He hadn’t realized until now that it was mission impossible.

  He got his cell out and texted, Bombs confirmed, vents, to the team leader waiting outside. He didn’t want to risk talking; the vent system would have carried his voice. They had a team of explosives experts as well as a robot, but they couldn’t get them onto the roof. It was one thing for a commando secret soldier who was trained in escape and evasion to get in. A whole team with their clumsy protective suits would never make it.

  He was alone in this.

  For the first time ever, the thought of that didn’t make him happy.