Fatal Threat

by Marie Force

  Sam had been shown to her room, which had a king-size bed, a television that received only movie channels—she’d checked that first thing—and an adjoining bathroom. The accommodations weren’t bad except for the lack of windows. This had to be what it felt like to be in a really nice jail.

  Her brother-in-law Spencer had arrived about two hours ago, clearly rattled after having been escorted from a business trip in Philadelphia to where his family was being held in DC. Angela had been so happy to see him she’d burst into tears and rushed into his arms.

  Scotty was in the main room playing video games with his cousin Ethan, so Sam took advantage of the opportunity to steal some alone time.

  Weary and out of things to talk about with people who wanted answers she didn’t have, Sam stretched out on the bed in the room she’d been assigned. She wondered what her MPD colleagues were thinking about how she’d been taken from a crime scene by the Secret Service. Freddie had to be taking it hard. He’d blame himself for not being able to stop the agents from taking her. When she got a chance, Sam would tell him there was nothing he could’ve done to change the outcome. The agents had been operating on the orders of the vice president, and nothing could’ve stopped them.

  She also wondered if they had any new information about the body in the river. Was it Ruby Denton? Would they be able to figure out what’d happened to her and get some closure for her poor parents?

  Sam hated being cut off from her life this way. It was a form of torture to someone used to being in the know at all times.

  Though she wanted to wait up for Nick, she couldn’t keep her eyes open and dozed off, only to be tormented by crazy dreams about being chased through an underground bunker. Water running in the attached bathroom had her sitting up on the bed, shaking off the feelings of doom from the disturbing dream. She bolted out of bed and was heading for the bathroom when the door opened to reveal her husband, stripped down to boxers, his magnificent chest on full display.

  Sam rushed to him, and he met her with arms wide open, lifting her up and into his embrace. She had never, in all her life, been so happy to see anyone as she was to see him, to breathe in the scent of home, to feel his strong arms around her, to know he was safe and sound and back where he belonged.

  Before she could ask any of her burning questions, he was kissing her with weeks’ worth of pent-up desire exploding between them, making the questions secondary to the need to reconnect with him.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, losing herself in the kiss. Then she was falling onto the bed with him coming down on top of her, heavy, strong and hard as a rock. Before she took total leave of her senses, she broke the kiss. “We need to talk.”

  “We will.” His lips moved on her neck, feeding the fire inside. “This first.”

  Whatever he needed to tell her would keep for a few more minutes.

  “Missed you so much,” he whispered as he made quick work of getting her naked.

  “I missed you too. I hated every minute without you.”

  “Same, baby.” And then he was surging into her, hot and strong and deep.

  Sam arched her back, gasping from the impact and the pleasure and the nearly painful need he aroused in her. “The door...”

  “Is locked. It’s okay.”

  She relaxed ever so slightly, knowing they wouldn’t be interrupted but still anxious about what he had to tell her.

  “You’re all tense,” he said when he was deep inside her, throbbing and pulsing with life.

  “You’re not?”

  “I have been, but I’m better now that I’m with you and everyone we love is safe. Give me fifteen minutes to have this, to be with you, and then we can deal with everything else.” He wrapped her up in his arms and rocked into her, over and over again until it wasn’t possible to think about anything other than him and the magic they created together. “Love you so much,” he whispered in her ear. “So, so, so much.”

  “Mmm, me too. Don’t ever go away again. I can’t deal with it.”

  “I can’t either. I hate being away from you.” His lips found hers in another hungry, desperate kiss.

  Sam clung to him, drawing strength from his love to face whatever had to be done to keep their family safe. With him here now, she was less anxious and afraid than she’d been earlier.

  “I was so scared something had happened to you.”

  He tightened his arms around her and picked up the pace, letting her know he was alive and well and home where he belonged. “I’m sorry you were scared. I never wanted that.” Reaching to where they were joined, he touched her right where she needed it most, drawing a sharp cry of pleasure from her as she came hard.

  “That’s what I’ve missed so much,” he whispered gruffly into her ear as he gave in to his own pleasure.

  Sam kept her arms tight around him and ran her fingers through his hair as she kissed him until her lips were numb, all the while wishing they were at home in their own bed rather than locked up in this underground bunker. She wanted to stay wrapped up in this moment with him so she wouldn’t have to face whatever had put them in this place to begin with.

  “Tell me,” she whispered when their breathing had returned to normal.

  “It’s bad.”

  “I’d already reached that conclusion all on my own.”

  He withdrew from her, moved onto his back and reached for her hand. “I wish I didn’t have to tell you this.”

  Sam’s stomach began to hurt, and her recently relaxed body was once again filled with tension.

  “Early this morning, my office received a letter. It was typed on plain white paper with no other identifying marks, and it spelled out in very specific detail that the vice president’s family had better be on guard because people were watching and waiting for their chance to teach us a lesson in humility.”

  Sam’s mind raced with questions and scenarios. “Did your staff save the envelope?”

  “They saved everything, and the FBI has it for further analysis. The postmark was smudged, so they couldn’t see where it originated. I was made aware of it twenty minutes after it happened and began making arrangements to come home right away. Due to some things that were going on there, it didn’t happen as quickly as I wanted it to, which made for some significant tension with my detail. I wanted out of there, but they needed time to put things together.”

  “You said they spelled out in very specific detail what would happen. What kind of detail?”

  “That’s the part I don’t want to tell you.”

  “You have to. I need to know what we’re dealing with.”

  “Come closer to me. Let me hold you.”

  She rolled into his arms, her head on his chest where the strong beat of his heart soothed her. “Just tell me. The not knowing is the worst.”

  He held her close, his lips sliding over her hair. “They said they would take someone who matters greatly to us and make them sorry they were ever born before returning them to us in pieces. They included photos of each of the kids that were taken in public places. Scotty at camp, Brooke at work, the others at the playground or pool. They wanted us to know they knew where to find them.”

  Sam gasped and her stomach turned from the horror he described. The thought of such a thing happening to anyone they loved was unfathomable. “Did they say why?”

  “No.”

  “Does the threat meet the MO of a group already on the Secret Service’s radar?”

  “Not completely. Parts of it are familiar to them, but other parts, like the mention of humility, were new. They’re thinking homegrown versus foreign.” Nick ran his fingers through her hair, the gesture so familiar that it was soothing even as she churned with thoughts and fears. “You’re shaking, Samantha.”

  “Did they specify that our imme
diate family was in danger?”

  “No, they only said someone who matters to us.”

  “There’re a lot of people who matter greatly to us who aren’t in this bunker or whatever you want to call it. Freddie, Elin, Gonzo, Christina, Jeannie, Terry, Lindsey... To name a few. What about them?”

  “We talked about that, and the decision was made to limit it to family members for the time being.”

  Pulling free of his embrace, Sam sat up. “The others need to be notified! If they want to get to me and everyone here is unavailable, they’d know to go after Freddie next. He at least needs to be warned!”

  “He and all the others you named, as well as some others you didn’t mention, are being warned as we speak.”

  “God, Nick, what the hell are we going to do? Stay here until we find whoever sent this letter? What if that takes months?”

  “I don’t know. All I knew for certain when I was told about the letter while half a world away from everyone I love was that I wanted you and Scotty somewhere safe. I wanted the other people we love to be safe. When the Secret Service offered this solution, I jumped at it. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  With the bedside light still on, she could see the toll the situation had taken on him in the exhaustion she saw in his eyes and in the grim set of his jaw. “Did you know this place existed before now?”

  “I’d been briefed about emergency operations, including this place, on the outside chance they were needed. I never expected we’d actually need it, and I’m sorry they let you think for even a second that something had happened to me. I didn’t authorize that part of it.”

  “The last time I was that scared was when you had the flu and wouldn’t wake up. You’ve got to stop doing this to me.”

  “I will. As soon as you stop doing it to me every time you walk out the door.”

  Sam forced a smile for his sake, sensing he needed it.

  “I hate that I’ve done this to us,” he said on a long sigh.

  “What do you mean? You didn’t—”

  “I took this fucking job and plunged us into a nightmare.”

  “You can’t take responsibility for this. You agreed to serve your country. None of the rest is your fault. If anything, it’s probably mine.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “If they’re dinging us for a lack of humility, they’re probably not talking about you.”

  “Stop. You’re nothing if not humble.”

  “I am not. I’m a mouthy gasbag who goes through life doing what I want when I want. The citizens who love you probably hate your wife.”

  “The whole world could hate my wife, and it wouldn’t matter in the least to me. I love her, and I wouldn’t want any other gasbag but her to be my wife.”

  Sam settled herself back in his arms, the only place she really wanted to be anyway. “Good answer, Mr. Vice President. Very politically correct.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “Trying to understand or rationalize madness is a pointless exercise. It won’t get us anywhere but frustrated.”

  “I suppose, but I still wish I’d never taken this job and made us targets for shit like this.”

  “I want to say something you’re not going to want to hear.”

  “What else is new?”

  Sam tugged on a tuft of his chest hair, making him gasp and then laugh.

  “What’s the thing I’m not going to want to hear?”

  “Let’s not hide out. Let’s go back to our lives with full awareness of the threat and not let them win.”

  “I knew you’d feel that way. In fact, I predicted to Brant that’s what you’d say,” he said of John Brantley Junior, the lead agent on his detail. “You carry a gun and can protect yourself if need be. Scotty and I have Secret Service details. But what about Brooke and Abby and Ethan and Jack and Ella? What about my dad’s little boys? Who will protect them if we don’t keep them safe somewhere until we figure this out?”

  “So we’re all stuck here for God knows how long?”

  “Hopefully, it won’t be for too long.”

  “But you don’t know that.” Sam got out of bed and pulled on a T-shirt that she’d found in a dresser full of clothes in her size. This whole thing was weird on so many levels. “I can’t stay here indefinitely. I have a new case and people depending on me.”

  “I’m depending on you, and I’d like to keep you alive.”

  “I can take care of myself, Nick. Let me out of here so I can help figure out who’s threatening us.”

  “No.”

  She stopped pacing and stared at him, incredulous. “No? That’s it? Just no?”

  “Just no. And before you can turn this into me abusing my so-called power, this is not coming from me. It’s coming from the FBI and the Secret Service. The director of the Secret Service came right out and said this is the only way they can guarantee my family will be safe until we know what we’re dealing with.”

  “You can’t keep me here! I’ll lose my mind! Is that what you want?”

  “I want you alive, Samantha. That’s all I want.”

  “I’m in Jeannie’s wedding next week. What do I do about that? She needs me right now, Nick. She’s fragile. You know she is.”

  “She has her family and Michael and the rest of your squad propping her up. She’ll be fine, and hopefully, this will be over in time for the wedding.”

  “Hopefully? If it takes longer than one more day, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

  He got up and went to her, taking her by the hand to lead her back to bed.

  She went with him, but not as willingly as she usually did.

  “I know this is awful,” he said in the tone he used when she needed soothing. “It’s awful for me too. You wouldn’t have wanted to see me when I heard about this threat while I was in fucking Iran. I know what it’s like to be out of your mind, because I’ve already been there over this.” As he spoke, he ran his fingers through her hair. “The thing I hate most about this job is that I can’t protect you and Scotty from people who’d harm you because of me. That’s a hard thing for me to live with.”

  “I don’t like when you tell me no.”

  “How often do I do that?”

  “Not very,” she said grudgingly.

  “Only when I absolutely have to.”

  “If I’m going to be kept prisoner here, I want to be in the loop. I want to know the details of the investigation. I need to feel like I’m doing something to get us out of here, or I really will go mad.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “I want to see the letter and the pictures they sent.”

  “They’re giving me copies of them in the morning so I can bring the others up to speed on why we’re here.”

  “My dad will need doctors and medication and...”

  “It’s all being taken care of. I made sure of it.”

  Sam exhaled and forced herself to try to relax and slow her racing mind.

  “There is an upside to this so-called imprisonment.”

  “What possible upside could there be to being held captive in an underground cement bunker in the middle of summer?”

  “Lots of time for this.” He flattened his hand on her thigh and dragged it up to cup her mound, sliding a finger into her. “And this.”

  She turned toward him, intending to protest, but he captured her mouth in a kiss that stole her breath and made her forget what she’d been planning to say.

  “Missed you so much,” he whispered against her lips as he continued to slide his fingers in and out of her, bending them to reach the place that set her off.

  Sam spread her legs farther apart to give him better access and opened her mouth to his tongue. He was right about one thing. If they w
ere going to be stuck here indefinitely, she was going to enjoy the reunion with her beloved husband.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  IN THE MORNING, Sam and Nick gathered their loved ones in the common area to explain why they’d been brought to the underground bunker. While the little ones played in one of the bedrooms under the watch of two agents, Nick filled in the others on what the letter said and what the FBI and Secret Service were doing to find the person who’d sent it.

  They had debated about whether to include Scotty in the briefing but had determined that he and Brooke were old enough to know the truth.

  “You must get threats all the time, Nick,” Spencer said. “What was so different about this one?”

  “Several things. First of all was the timing. It was sent to my office when the whole world knew I was in Iran, helping to negotiate the arms agreement.” He lowered his voice to add, “Second, and more important, were the photos included with the letter.”

  “What photos?” Tracy asked.

  Nick passed them around.

  Sam, who’d seen the images earlier, watched each of the adults as they realized who had been threatened.

  Angela brought her hand to her heart, her eyes darting around frantically.

  Spencer put his arm around her.

  “Dear God,” Nick’s dad, Leo, said before he passed the photo of his sons at day care to his wife, Stacy, who gasped.

  “Whoever sent the threat has been watching our family,” Nick said. “As you can see, they know where to find each of the kids.”

  Scotty stared at the photo of himself at baseball camp while Brooke did the same with the picture of her at work.

  “They were watching us?” Brooke asked in a small voice that tugged at Sam’s heart. After everything her niece had been through last winter, it was infuriating to see her scared again when she’d made so much progress toward putting her life back together.

  “I’m not telling you this to scare you, Brooke,” Nick said. “We thought it was only fair for you to know why you’re here.”