Sanctuary Breached WITSEC Town Series Book 3

by Lisa Phillips

  Before Beth had come to Sanctuary, the mayor’s wife had been murdered. The grieving man had accused Andra, now the sheriff’s wife, of her murder. The frame job had been instigated by the previous deputy sheriff and the previous school teacher. The whole town had jumped on that bandwagon, accusing Andra of murder. It had escalated when her WITSEC file was stolen from the sheriff’s office and then plastered all over the meeting house. Andra had been an assassin in her former life.

  Andra and the sheriff had unraveled the conspiracy, but not before it took Andra from town. Later, she’d returned by choice…because they had fallen in love.

  “Nights were quiet.” Louis paused to sip his coffee. “Nothing out of the ordinary, no break in her routine.”

  Beth nodded. What would she say when she had to go home, finally? She and Sam were going to sleep under the same roof with a woman who was part of the organization that abducted Sam’s mother. He’d told her his mom was aloof, cold even, but no one deserved this. The usurper had duped them all, and the organization’s reach was impressive if they could hack every system known to man and replace someone’s picture. It was a hard cover to sell, but they’d fooled everyone.

  Beth had been here weeks. How much longer would it take? Beth needed answers, and not cryptic notes about help being here. Sam was the one who would help—once he got over the shock of what was going on. She’d have to tell him soon, if he didn’t figure it out for himself.

  Surrounded by friends it was like she had an army of help ready to battle for her. Beth hoped it didn’t come to that. She had to find a way to get another face-to-face. To persuade her note-writer to say where she’d hidden it, so they could all get back to their normal lives. The Mason brothers and Sam could find out who the people were who were after it.

  Beth and Sam would finally get to live as a married couple. A life her parents had died to give her. Not that it had been their end goal, but it was the result nonetheless. Beth couldn’t do more than live it to the fullest as an unexpected gift—a God thing.

  As long as they survived.

  The door swung open, and Nadia Marie strode in. Tall with dark hair, she looked like a striking version of Sandra Bullock. “I’ve looked everywhere in town.” She went straight to Frannie, followed closely by John’s wife, Andra. The former assassin and the town’s salon owner made an unlikely pair, but they were best friends. When Andra had explained how it came to be, she’d simply said Nadia Marie insisted…and then she hadn’t given up.

  Beth followed the two to the front counter so she could establish her plan to meet with the note-writer.

  Nadia Marie stood at the counter in her skinny jeans, leather boots, and a sparkly gray sweater that hung off one shoulder. Her hair fell in waves and curls that looked natural because they’d been styled that way. Her distressed gaze was on Frannie. “Did Dauntless come by here?”

  Frannie paused, a pen tucked behind her ear. “I haven’t seen him today.”

  Andra smiled at Beth but then said, “Dauntless is missing.”

  “Oh, no. How did he get loose?”

  Andra grinned. “That dog is too smart for his own good is how.”

  Nadia Marie huffed, apparently not disturbed by her friend’s obvious humor over the situation. “He’s been acting weird for days. I have no idea what it is. While I was in the shower this morning, he got out. My kitchen door was open.”

  Andra picked up as soon as her friend finished. “Dauntless figured out how to open the back door.”

  “And he chewed through the fence. All that’s behind my house are trees. I walked miles calling out, but there was no sign of him.”

  “I’m sure he’ll come back.” Beth wasn’t sure what else to say. She’d never had a dog. Her mom had been allergic.

  Nadia Marie shrugged. “He probably will.”

  Andra squeezed her friend’s shoulder. “Sooner or later someone will see him.”

  “How about girl’s night tonight?” Beth rustled up a bright smile. “Seems like we all need cheering up.”

  “What we need is juicy details now that this man of yours isn’t hogging you all to himself for days and days.” Nadia Marie sighed. The woman was, by her own admission, tragically in love with rancher Bolton Farrera. She probably did need a good romance tale.

  Beth smiled. “Let’s get all the girls together, and I’ll tell you about it. It’ll be fun.”

  “I’ll bring my stack of wedding magazines.” Frannie’s smile was shy. “Matthias and I set a date. Valentine’s Day.”

  Nadia Marie squealed. Andra laughed. Beth smiled widely, and the three older men got up to come and see what the fuss was about.

  As they each exchanged hugs with Frannie, a pang struck in Beth’s chest. Sooner or later she would be leaving. These people would go on with their lives, and she wouldn’t get to see them live their happily ever after’s. Their kids wouldn’t play together or go to school together.

  Michael slung his arm around her shoulder. “Why the long face?”

  “I’m just thinking.”

  “Everything will turn out like it’s supposed to.”

  “You think?”

  He nodded, solemn. “It did for Andra and then for Frannie. Why not you, too?”

  Beth knew plenty of reasons why not.

  **

  The dog circled once and sat in the cradle of his crossed legs. Sweat dripped down the man’s back. He’d pushed himself hard, probably too hard, but now was not the time to slack off. The respite of the past week had been unexpected, but had given him time to regain some of the strength he’d lost.

  The food he’d stolen from her fridge when he’d let the dog out sat heavy in his stomach, but he hadn’t eaten much. The rest he was saving for the next few days.

  Snow dripped from the branches all around him. Tucked away in his cover-blind, the sniper closed his eyes and listened to the rhythmic pants of the animal.

  He’d halfway figured the president was joking when he called. Not that President Thomas Sheraton ever joked about much. Their détente was based on a mutual acquaintance—one that had bound them in this, so when the gunnery sergeant got pulled in, the only option left was for him to get written off as missing in action. He got to live his life, such as it was now, while Billy got buried.

  Reassigned to some clandestine presidential detail. Not exactly the place he wanted to be.

  The untraceable phone rang. The gunnery sergeant moved only his hand, retrieved the phone, and put it to his ear without taking his eye from the sight. “Yes, sir.”

  No one else had his number.

  “Are you in place?”

  “All clear.”

  The door opened and two men strode into the room. The president followed, pulling off the curly wig to scratch his head. The tie-dye shirt and stonewashed jeans made him look like an aging stoner, a throw-back to war protests and bad music.

  “I’m counting on you, son.” The president hung up.

  Like he needed Sheraton to remind him of that? They both knew the stakes, and this was nothing if not highly irregular. Never in the history of the American presidency had anything like this happened. At least not to anyone’s knowledge.

  He supposed that was the point.

  Inside the room they all turned, sparked by some kind of indicator he couldn’t hear. One of the men strode to the connecting door and pulled it open. The president’s wife, Susan Sheraton, rushed in and launched herself into her husband’s arms. The gunnery sergeant had figured their affection to be fake, but it was good to know he was still capable of being surprised.

  The men protecting the president, part of his inner circle of secret service agents hand-picked for this irregular operation, all turned slightly, giving Thomas and Susan a semblance of privacy as they kissed. The love they had for each other was there in the locked eyes and the way they held each other, speaking close to one-another’s face. It was a desperate time, but what bound them together was the way they both felt.

  The
squeal of tires made him look.

  Chapter 9

  Sam sat back in the deputy’s chair and folded his arms. The day had dimmed outside. Evening rapidly approached as John filled him in on what had gone on while he’d been at Andra’s cabin for the week with Beth. “Why didn’t you get a hold of me?”

  John’s eyebrow rose. “You wanted me to interrupt you?”

  Okay, so the answer to that was seriously no. But that wasn’t the point. “Just play the tape.”

  “It’s a file.” John smirked, clicking his mouse. He turned up the speakers on his computer.

  A phone rang.

  “Yes?”

  “He’s here.” A woman’s voice; the one pretending to be his mom.

  A deep sigh rumbled through the speakers. “That is unfortunate.”

  “They’re watching me. All the time. I can barely breathe for all the people following my every move. It’s suffocating.”

  The man’s voice was measured. “If they have you under surveillance, why are you contacting me?”

  Silence. And then, “I need help.”

  “That much is clear.”

  Click.

  Sam said, “That’s it?”

  John nodded. “Ben traced the call to its destination point. All he found was an abandoned warehouse with a locked closet. In the closet was a computer that relayed the call somewhere else.”

  “So we’ve got a lead?”

  “Ben left a surprise on the computer, so his people can hack in without them knowing. We have to wait and see what it turns up.”

  “We need their identities. And my mother’s location.”

  “Ben is aware of that.”

  Sam paced back and forth. “We have to assume there’s some kind of plan in place.”

  “If we knew what they were after, we’d have a better idea.” John tapped his pen on the desk. “We could put pressure on Abigail, find out what she knows. She’s desperate now. Her plan is moot. She’s got nowhere to go, and she knows it.”

  Sam nodded. “Offer her a deal to get out if she tells us everything. Who these people are, what their plan is.”

  John snapped up his satellite phone. “I’ll call Grant.”

  Sam glanced at the clock. “Isn’t it late on the East Coast?”

  John waved away his concern. “He’s used to it.”

  Sam sat down in the chair and rubbed his rumbling stomach. Dinner would be good. Better than an interrogation that may or may not produce results. How good was this woman? The first sign her plan had collapsed and she’d broken protocol and made contact with whoever had sent her here. But if this woman pretending to be his mother told them who it was she’d been sent here by, or if Ben uncovered their operation himself, they’d be one step closer to making Beth—and the town—safer. What was food over that?

  Sam unlocked the screen on the tablet Ben had given him. He’d received a satellite phone also, like John’s. The tablet connected to the satellite internet the town used, though most residents didn’t have access other than through the library computers. Not a single one of them had a cell phone or any other device that connected to the internet. It was like the Stone Age.

  He went online and did a search for Tommy Locan and found a few more articles about the hero’s return. His Facebook page was more people thanking him for being so courageous. Sam wanted to be sick just reading it. The scene played over and over in his head. Peace and Wash on the ground. Swish’s head exploding.

  Anger roiled in him, and his fingers burned to log in on his real profile and post the truth about Tommy once and for all, for everyone to see. Tommy was a traitor, but no one would believe a dead man. A private message would do it. Ask Tommy if he was happy he’d betrayed his brothers for money. Blood money. But then his friend would know he’d won. That Sam had been bested.

  Sam hit the X before he ignored good sense and sent the message, but the nausea didn’t abate.

  He pulled up Tommy’s Twitter feed. More thanks for people’s support during this hard time. A picture of a cinnamon roll from Instagram.

  Sam tossed the tablet on the table. John winced. Whatever. Sam wanted to punch the thing, and he wouldn’t care if the screen shattered and cut his hand. He’d suffered enough already because of Tommy, what did one more wound matter? He would enact justice for his brothers, eventually.

  “Okay, thanks.” John hung up.

  Sam didn’t ask him what Grant had decided. It didn’t much matter, given the fact every day brought him one day closer to his end goal. God had used him plenty of times as His instrument of justice upon evil. One more time, even if Sam was caught up in it personally, wasn’t going to stain his soul any more than it already had been. Tommy would pay.

  John stood. “Grant said bring her in.”

  Sam nodded, but he didn’t get up. Something bothered him about that cinnamon roll. He pulled up the picture again and looked at the corner, the table beside the plate. The bottom of the menu.

  “What is it?”

  Sam ignored John’s question and peered closer. “Tommy’s in Colorado.”

  “Probably some talk show interview. A local station.”

  “Awfully close to the northwest for someone based in Virginia. Someone who’s terminally sick child is in Richmond.”

  **

  She’d shown up. Beth didn’t wait long before she made an excuse and dragged the woman into a quiet room at Nadia’s—just in case the dog showed up again.

  Beth turned and waited until she shut the door.

  She folded her arms. “I’m guessing this isn’t so you can tell me juicy gossip.”

  “Who is here?” Beth set her jaw. “Who is it, and how do you think they’re going to help?”

  “Everything will be okay now. I know it.”

  Beth said, “Sam is here. I know I’ll be okay. I’m worried about the other seven billion people in the world who may not be so lucky when the syndicate gets their hands on what you’re hiding.”

  She had the decency to flinch. “How nice for you, having your husband here to protect you. I’ve been on my own.”

  “Except for all the help my father gave you, lying to Grant Mason and hiding you here. Now it’s time for this to end. It has to be destroyed.”

  “No one will find it.”

  “They already have!” Beth sucked in a breath. “I can’t believe you would risk us all this way. Do you care so little for the people of this town that you’d put them in danger just to save face? You don’t want to destroy it, fine. Turn it over to the military so they can lock it in a basement at some unnamed secret facility. That’s the only way it’ll be secure.”

  Even before Beth finished, the woman was shaking her head. “We just have to hold fast. They’ll give up when they realize we’ll never turn it over to them.” Her hands curled into fists at her sides, her arms locked straight. “I won’t risk him getting his hands on it.”

  Beth gripped the sides of her head. Wanting to pull her hair out wasn’t all that inaccurate. “You won’t even listen to me? My mom and dad died for this. Because you won’t give it up.”

  “We knew the cost would be high.” A tear fell down her cheek, and she swiped it away. “We agreed.”

  Beth sank onto the edge of the bed. “They’re dead because of you.”

  It wasn’t blame, just the truth.

  She didn’t move, simply stood watching Beth while she bit her lip.

  “If we let them find it, so many more people could die.”

  “That’s why you need to tell me where it is, so Grant can get it out of here. They sent Abigail in to pretend to be my mother-in-law. These people know where you are.”

  “They don’t know I’m here.”

  “But they know I am. Sooner or later they’re going to figure out who you are. Or Sam will see you, and he’s going to know right away what all this is about.”

  “He can’t see me.”

  Beth figured that was because if he pushed her, she would cave. Sam would convi
nce her where Beth couldn’t.

  Beth needed to tell him, but the more people who knew, the greater the chance this would get out. Word would spread of what they were hiding and every crazy in the world would descend upon them to get their hands on it. That was a lot of people coming to Idaho. And not for the potatoes.

  “You can’t tell him.”

  They’d always been able to read each other. Beth sighed. “If you don’t tell me where it is, and I’ll point you out right now.”

  “He won’t be happy that you’ve been keeping secrets from him.”

  “You think he doesn’t suspect?” She was crazy. Beth was losing her mind trying to deal with this. Telling him was probably a good idea just for the peace of mind. “So does John. And Grant. Don’t kid yourself, thinking they’re clueless. You’re hiding, and yeah, you’re a great hacker who erased everything about herself and faked a whole life. The disguise is pretty good. But I can’t live like this. What would you do if Abigail hurt this baby?”

  It was her last card, but she was going to play it with everything in her. Even Beth’s child was only one small part of the catastrophe this could turn into.

  “Sam wouldn’t let her.”

  “You can’t assume everything will be fine. People are dying. Lives are in danger. Do what my father asked you to do years ago, and turn it over to the military.”

  “You think they’re above using this for their own gain?” She scoffed.

  “Then destroy it.”

  “No.”

  “Why not?” Beth stood, trying to whisper even as she yelled. “This could kill all of us.”

  She swallowed. Beth waited.

  Finally, she said, “It can’t be destroyed. It’ll kill us if we try.”

  And then she left.

  Beth stared at the wall until Andra knocked on the door. She peeked in. “Everything okay?”

  Beth nodded, but both of them knew it was a lie.

  “Come on.” Andra smiled. “Frannie just cut the cake.”