End Game

by Rachel Dylan

  “Close enough. Whelan has a team closing in, and this time there’s no chance they’ll get away.”

  Barnett raised an eyebrow. “How can you be so sure? She’s evaded others and continues to be a thorn in our side.”

  Patterson cleared his throat. “Because these aren’t the two hired guns we’ve been using. We called in help from Tehran. It’s the end of the road this time.”

  Barnett’s mouth hung open. “Iranian assets?”

  “Yes. They’ll find out what she knows and then close up all the loose ends for good. If anyone else is too close to the truth, they’ll find out through the interrogation, and then they will eliminate them. You’ve got absolutely nothing to worry about. Once the Feds are out of the picture, this will all just fade away. The CIA has too many skeletons to come after us. We’ll exert leverage if we need to, but this should be the end to this mess. And regardless, we’re airtight. With Cullen dead, there’s no one on earth who knows our secrets except us. We’re rock solid.”

  “You don’t think we should back out?” Barnett asked.

  Patterson laughed. “Rex, you realize that if we try to back out, we’re going to be the ones on the wrong side of the Iranians. We still have shipments to deliver. I’ll take my chances with the US government. Let’s just keep our heads down, and everything will be fine. Whelan’s a pro. He knows how to get things done.”

  “That he does,” Barnett replied. “But, Ollie, we’ve known each other for, what, almost fifteen years? What if Whelan decides that the two of us are liabilities? It’s like you said—the circle is so small now.”

  Patterson shook his head. “My friend, that is not going to happen. Whelan’s with us. He’s a rational, business-minded man. You have the connections to make other deals happen. That will be very useful in the future.”

  “With all due respect, I’m worried that you’re going to hang me out to dry.”

  Patterson’s face began to redden.

  “Uh-oh,” Izzy said. “I hope Barnett didn’t push too hard.”

  Jay held up a hand, urging her to wait.

  “That’s not true.” Patterson’s face was crimson.

  Barnett leaned in. “I just want to make sure we’re squared away. The two of us have gone through far too much over the years to be railroaded by a spook.”

  Patterson stood. “This will be wrapped up soon, and we can put this sordid ordeal behind us and get back to business. There are still many business ventures we can make happen as long as you don’t lose your cool.” He walked to the door and slammed it behind him.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-SIX

  “I’ll be ready to go when we get the call.” Bailey walked into the living room of the safe house. They’d come back to pack up and clear out. The wheels were in motion, and if everything went as planned, all the suspects would be in custody by the end of the day, and there’d no longer be a need to stay at the safe house. Given the threat level, Bailey had been ordered by the FBI to remain at the safe house until they were given the all clear, which they were expecting at any time. Marco had insisted on staying with her.

  A loud knock on the front door startled her. “No one should be here,” she told Marco.

  They both drew their weapons. Marco stood. “Let me check it out. If something happens, run out the back and don’t stop running, whatever you do.”

  She didn’t want to argue with him, but there was no way she’d just leave him in danger. She would back him up just as he’d done time and again for her. Letting him go ahead, she trailed slightly behind.

  “Who is it?” he asked at the door.

  “FBI,” a deep male voice said. “There are two of us at the door. It’s no longer safe for you here. There’s new intel about an immediate threat to your lives. We need to get you out of here ASAP.”

  “Who sent you?” Marco asked.

  “FBI and NCIS in conjunction with Layla Karam.”

  Bailey stood beside him. “How do we know you’re really who you say you are?” After falling for the Julian Mayfield stunt, she’d learned her lesson.

  “Agent Ryan, Layla told us to tell you that she is going to the Georgetown reunion and that you should go too. She said you would know what that meant.”

  Marco looked at Bailey, and she nodded. “They’re legit. No one else would know that we’ve been talking about that. And she’s telling us it’s okay to go with them.”

  “All right. I’m opening the door so you can come in.” Marco turned the knob and opened the door.

  Loud gunshots cracked through the air.

  One of the FBI agents standing directly in front of them fell to the ground. Bailey watched as the life left his body. She tried to process what was happening. The other FBI agent ran inside, and Marco slammed the door behind him.

  “We’re too late. They’re here,” the FBI agent said. “I’m sorry.”

  She didn’t understand what he meant. “Who is here?”

  “Back up from the door.” Marco pulled her away, not waiting for the agent to answer.

  “Men sent to kill you.” The FBI agent pulled his cell and started calling for backup.

  Marco still held on to her arm. “Basement.”

  “But then we’ll be trapped.” Lord, please help us. We need your intervention again to get through this attack.

  Marco shook his head. “If we go outside, we die. It’s that simple. We need to take cover and buy time.”

  Before they could take two steps, the front door was busted down. A group of armed men wearing black masks ran inside.

  “Don’t move!” one of them barked.

  As the words came out of his mouth, Bailey detected a slight British accent mixed with another she couldn’t place. Her heart raced as she tried to think of a way out.

  Marco lifted his hands. “No one has to get hurt here.”

  “Enough talking,” the man said. He was obviously the leader of the group. “Drop your weapons slowly. Place them on the floor. Any sudden moves, and everyone is dead.”

  Bailey looked at Marco, and she knew he was trying to figure a way out of this. At her count there were three good guys and five bad ones. Those weren’t good odds. There was already an FBI agent down at the front door.

  “You want me,” Bailey said. “I’m here. Let these guys go.” She slowly crouched down and placed her weapon on the ground.

  “Bailey, what’re you doing?” Marco snapped.

  She shook her head and took a step toward the ringleader. “I’ll go with you, but you have to let them go.”

  “What makes you think we’re in the mood for negotiation?” the leader replied.

  As the words rolled off his tongue and she looked into his eyes, her worst fears were realized. The FBI had been right. These were most likely highly trained men who killed and tortured for a living. “Then what do you want?”

  Without another word, the attacker shot the remaining FBI agent in the right thigh, and he crumpled to the ground with a loud groan.

  She rushed forward. “No! Don’t hurt anyone else—just take me.” She wasn’t above begging, if that’s what it took. The problem was that she knew that men like this were cold-blooded killers. They’d been sent here on a specific mission—one that obviously included taking her alive for questioning before they killed her. If the order had just been to kill, they would have all been dead already.

  The lead attacker grabbed her arm. One of the other men took ahold of Marco.

  “You’re both coming with us,” the leader said flatly.

  It was as she had suspected. Her bigger fear was that they would use her feelings for Marco against them. They’d both be tortured to find out what they knew before they died a miserable death. She closed her eyes and started praying, because only the Lord could help them now. They truly needed Him to act in a big way, but she still believed He could do it.

  “What’re you doing?” the man barked.

  “Praying.” She opened her eyes and looked directly into his fa
ce.

  “Your God isn’t going to help you now.” He pulled her toward the busted front door.

  Just as he pushed her through the opening, gunshots fired in rapid succession. The man beside her fell to the ground, but she still stood. Alive.

  Who was shooting at them now? She leapt back through the open door to take cover, then turned and looked for Marco.

  Another attacker right behind her was leveled by someone with an amazing shot. The fact that she was still alive and he was dead made her think that God had answered her prayer for help. The good guys had arrived. Thank you, Lord.

  “Marco!”

  She watched as a struggle ensued between Marco and one of the attackers. Marco had knocked the gun out of the man’s hands, and now they grappled and punched at each other, their arms locked around each other’s bodies.

  She no longer had her weapon, so she grabbed a gun off one of the dead men on the ground beside her and whirled back toward the fight. She raised the weapon, hoping for a clean shot.

  The man pulled a knife and reared back, aiming for Marco’s throat. Without taking another breath, she squeezed the trigger. She hit her target squarely in the temple, and he fell to the floor.

  The other two men, sensing the inevitable, had already run toward the back door. “We can’t let them get away,” she said.

  Marco grabbed his gun off the floor and was by her side as they ran through the house toward the back porch.

  But the two men had stopped short. Their hands were up. Bailey couldn’t see who had them cornered until she stepped to the side. “Izzy!”

  Izzy stood with her gun drawn, flanked by a couple of other NCIS agents.

  Jay jogged into the kitchen from the direction of the front entrance. “Are you two okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Marco answered, trying to catch his breath.

  Bailey threw her arms around Marco. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. They didn’t have to say anything to each other as she pulled back and looked into this eyes. A quiet understanding passed between them. They had survived.

  “We can give you all the details back at HQ,” Izzy said. “But we got Barnett to cooperate, and we have Patterson in custody.”

  “And Whelan?” Bailey feared the answer.

  “He’s being brought in as we speak,” Jay responded. “This entire operation is about to come crumbling down.”

  Marco grabbed Bailey’s hand and squeezed.

  “And Lexi is back at HQ, working as hard as she can on the legal ramifications of all this—so it was really a team effort,” Izzy said.

  Bailey smiled at her, proud of how she’d handled this impossibly difficult situation.

  “You did a great job, Rookie.” Marco patted her on the back.

  Izzy beamed. “I learned from the best.”

  After close to forty-eight hours of interviews and briefings, Marco and Bailey had finally been released.

  Marco had insisted on taking Bailey home to her apartment. While rationally he knew that the threat had been neutralized, he couldn’t let her go back to her place alone. Not after all that had happened.

  They walked into her apartment, and she let out a sigh. “It is so good to be home.”

  He followed her inside and did a quick security check. Everything seemed to be in order. The FBI had done a more thorough check last night of both of their places so they could go home in confidence. But after everything they’d gone through, he couldn’t help himself.

  “I guess it’s really over.” He took Bailey’s hand, and they sat together on the couch.

  “I’m still processing everything.” She paused. “And I’m beat. It will be nice to sleep in my own bed tonight. Do you really think we’re safe now?” She looked up at him with her bright green eyes.

  It was a question he’d asked himself repeatedly. “I do. The secret is out. There’s no more need to target our team. Whelan, Patterson, and Barnett are all in custody. And now that everything has been blown open, there is no reason for any foreign agents to be involved. The jig is up.”

  “But not before the Iranians got their hands on a substantial number of our weapons,” she said flatly.

  “It could’ve been worse, though. We have to remember that.” It was something he had to keep reminding himself as well.

  “And we still have to track down the professional hit men who were hired.”

  “The FBI has that squarely in hand.” They’d learned the initial questioning had indicated that there were two top-ofthe-line hit men behind all the killings. The initial three victims, plus Kappen and Cullen. One of them was also responsible for the attacks against Bailey.

  Bailey blew out a breath. “I know they told us to take time off, but I wish we could see this thing through to the end.”

  “We did our part. It’s time for us to let others step in and tie it all up.”

  “What do you think the chances are of the FBI finding those assassins alive?” she asked.

  “Slim to none.” Marco figured they were already dead— most likely by Whelan’s order. “But the FBI will find out. I’m certain of that.”

  “What are they going to tell the families?” she asked. “Given all the security concerns, I can’t imagine they will tell them the truth.”

  He shook his head. “No. They won’t. The government will try to keep this entire thing on lockdown. I just hope they get told something that gives them closure. They deserve that and so much more.”

  Bailey nodded. “It’s ultimately not our call.”

  The directors of both NCIS and the FBI had made that abundantly clear. It would be against the vital national security interests of the United States for the full story to come out.

  Marco had an extra-soft spot toward Kappen now. “Once Whelan turned, he started digging around and thought he’d found the perfect fall guy in Kappen. It’s a shame he got pulled into this because a CIA traitor targeted him.”

  “Another innocent man dead.”

  Silence hung between them for a few moments.

  Marco pulled her close to him. “You saved my life.”

  “You would’ve done the same thing. And I haven’t forgotten that you also saved mine.” She took a breath. “And the Lord was there for us, Marco. I may not fully understand why I’ve been spared, but I’m going to do the most I can while on this earth to fight for justice.”

  Her words touched him. “I’m right there with you. But we have to take things one day at a time.”

  “That’s all we can do.”

  He brushed a lock of blond hair out of her eyes. “This case was tough, but I have to think that after everything we’ve gone through, we’ll be able to get through anything.”

  She smiled. “I know. I guess life is going to seem boring in comparison.”

  “I say we start by going out on a proper date. How about dinner this weekend?”

  Her eyes brightened. “I’d love that.”

  EPILOGUE

  Bailey took a deep breath and drank in the humid summer air. Even her usually straight-as-a-board hair had a little wave to it as she stood on Director Mercer’s large boat. It was the perfect day to be on the water, and having her new and old friends around her made it even better. She looked over at Marco and gave him a little wave. He smiled at her while laughing loudly at one of Jay’s corny jokes. She was enjoying a moment to herself as she stared out at the water and basked in the warm breeze.

  The past month had been telling. Her life would never be the same after all she had witnessed. It had been terrifying and uplifting at the same time. She’d seen the worst in people, the death and destruction that accompanied evil. But she’d also felt God’s protective hand on her life. He’d never left her side, and her eyes had been further opened to some of the truths that she held dear.

  Given a traitor in their midst, the CIA had taken great lengths to keep the entire scandal under wraps. Whelan was currently being held at an undisclosed secure location. Bailey figured it was a bl
ack site. Since Whelan was an American citizen, he still deserved due process, and she had been assured he’d get it, but she doubted that would be the case. The Agency had a way of dealing with things that might not be completely constitutional.

  Multiple agencies working the case had found direct financial links between state-linked Iranian groups, Barnett, and Patterson. They’d transferred the money using a highly sophisticated shell game, but the dots were being connected. The Iranians had paid the two men directly for the arms deal, using offshore bank accounts. Then Patterson had to go back to the Iranian well to get more funds for Whelan once he was in the picture. The Iranians had then wanted additional shipments in return for the payoff to Whelan.

  As Bailey had feared, the dead bodies of the two assassins hired by Whelan were found by the FBI. Whelan had taken them out in his attempt to play cleanup. But little had he known at the time that none of it would matter. They’d also found wire transfers to a Cayman bank account in Ross Stanley’s name that connected back to Whelan.

  Patterson had been neck-deep in the operational details of the scheme and making the logistics work, including facilitating payment to the hit men. He was locked up in federal prison and would never see a public trial after working out a deal that would keep him behind bars for decades instead of facing the death penalty. Since Barnett had cooperated, his jail time had been reduced, but he would still serve a substantial sentence.

  Lexi and Izzy walked over to Bailey, arms linked. “Hey there. How’re you?” Lexi’s long hair hung loose and blew in the wind, a startling contrast to her usual JAG-approved bun.

  “I’m doing all right.” Bailey took a moment to soak in the sun. “How about you?”

  Lexi raised her sunglasses up onto her head. “I’m not going to lie. This has been a rough month. But I got to speak to Tobias’s family, and they don’t believe their son died in vain. They understand the security concerns and the classified nature of the situation, but I was able to share with them that information Tobias provided was key to us solving the case. And while that doesn’t bring him back, it’s a reminder to them of the type of man and patriot he really was.”