by Gabby Grant
Ana’s eyes widened.
“You stay right where you are,” she cautioned, inching back toward the exit.
Jesus H. Christ, she didn’t for a minute think...?
“Dammit Ana,” Mark said, his neck glands swelling, “you can’t think that I would--”
But the look on her face said, yes, she did. Ana Kane was scared senseless. Physically afraid of her own husband. And why not? Mark admonished himself. He’d been blowing hot and cold ever since they’d come in here. At once begging her to reveal her secrets, then cursing her for daring to say anything at all. It wasn’t Ana Mark wanted to pick up and slam into the nearest wall, it was Joe McFadden- or maybe the whole lot of bastards who’d started this entire mess to begin with. But, from the fear in her eyes, Ana couldn’t see that. Jesus Christ. Ana only saw Mark gunning for her. No God, not that. Anything but that. Mark was angry, confused, it was true. But he’d never laid a hand on a woman in his entire life.
“Ana,” Mark said, the reality ramming him in the face like a pair of brass knuckles, “wait...”
Ana pulled open the door. “When you’re ready to listen,” she said. “Really listen, Mark, and leave that temper of yours behind you- you know where to find me.”
***
“Is it under way?” Tom Mooney snarled into the phone. “Because you’re already three Goddamned days late.”
“You don’t need to worry about days,” the Arab cooed in response. “All in good time, Mr. Wolf. All in good time.”
“We have forty-eight hours before she blows,” Tom said. “Your men were supposed to already be in place!”
“We had a little complication to take care of first.”
“What complication?” Tom growled.
The line fell silent for just a moment too long.
“No worries, Mr. Wolf. All is under control. This New Year’s Eve is a celebration your nation won’t soon forget.”
Tom sat back in his chair satisfied. Yes, that was part two of the plan. A mass scale attack on the American public. Not so invasive that people would die. Al Fahd had assured him of that. But just threatening enough that they would be severely sickened- and scared to death they would never again be safe walking the streets of America. Not until they got somebody entirely new in charge. Someone with not only diplomatic experience but a sterling intelligence background as well. Someone who, unbeknownst to the public, would have secured millions of US dollars in Chinese financing for his upcoming political campaign.
“Good,” Tom said, “the time is ripe; the analyst scare worked like a charm.”
Al Fahd bellowed a grizzly laugh across the Atlantic. “Thank you for telling us where to find your nephew.”
“You will,” Tom said, slamming his fist into his desk, “keep our end of the deal.” The deal Tom had worked with Al Fahd and Sun-tzu involved immunity for his nephew. If all went down as planned, the other two had promised Joe wouldn’t get hurt.
Al Fahd coughed and, through the receiver, Tom thought he heard the striking hiss of a match. “But, of course, Mr. Wolf. But, of course... You just leave your nephew to me.”
***
Mark was sitting at the conference table, head in hands, when Danny Maupin from security burst into the room. “Everything okay in here, chief?” Danny asked, his eyes doing a clean sweep of the room. “Got a call from downstairs that a camera blacked out. Something about no picture...”
Danny’s voice fell off as his eyes trailed to Mark’s suit coat dangling from the surveillance camera.
“It’s alright, Dan,” Mark said, looking up. “Got everything under control.” But that was the biggest damn lie Mark had told in his life. His whole world was falling apart. He’d not only been unable to get a complete handle on the intelligence scare, he’d most assuredly condemned his marriage by acting precisely like the mad man Ana’d accused him of being. When all was said and done, Mark needed to be fricking grateful to McFadden for pulling Ana out of the rain-soaked forest. After two days of no food and water, coupled with exposure to the elements, Ana might not have survived the night.
Danny, who was fiftyish but already a grandfather, gave Mark a pensive look. “Sometimes it’s better to tell a woman how glad you are to see her first, and save the probing questions for later.”
Mark felt a hot river flush from his collar bone to his brow. Yep, he was a cool one, alright. As cool as a cucumber, and the DOS now had his whole stinking vegetable garden on file.
“Don’t worry about it, son,” Danny assured him with a wink from the threshold. Though he was only ten years Mark’s senior, his status as a grandpa made him seem much older.
“There are ways to make that blackout occur about ten minutes earlier. All the DOS really needs is the debriefing segment of your discussion.”
Mark looked over at the compassionate older man, unsure of how to thank him. Realizing that’s the sort of person he himself desired to be. Honorable. Worthy of Ana’s love. Not only her love, but her confidence too. And if she could no longer trust him with her secrets...
“It will all work out,” Danny assured him, lightly thumping the doorframe with his palm. “You’ll see.”
Mark only wished he could be so sure.
“Sir!” Colonel Roberts shouted, bursting into the room, “we’ve got trouble!”
CHAPTER 25
Joe McFadden awaited his fate in the tiny four-by-four foot cinder block cubicle. In spite of his dismal prospects, Joe tried to focus on the positive. Like the fact that he had probably bought Ana Kane and the rest of them a little more time. The rest of them, as strange as it would seem, including one First Lieutenant Carolyn Walker. Of course, that had been her Army rank back in Panama. A hard-nosed soldier like Carolyn was sure to have gotten promoted several times by now. Had surely made Major, possibly even Lieutenant-Colonel.
Whatever she’d been doing all these years, Walker hadn’t changed a bit. Even in the abysmal din of the cabin as Joe worked to divert Sun-tzu as the others scrambled to safety, Joe could sense that same green heaven in her eyes. Carolyn Walker was a looker alright- in that hard-assed, I can take care of myself, way. But she’d always been a strong one, always been intelligent, but not smart enough to avoid getting tangled up with Joe, he supposed.
Back in those days, Joe had been a different man. A man who had two concerns only, proving himself as a Marine and sanctifying that which lay beneath his fly.
Though he hadn’t thought about her in years, Joe couldn’t help but wonder how differently things would have played out had he met Carolyn now. Next to Ana Kane, Carolyn was probably the most dynamic woman Joe had ever known. Not that anybody could hold a candle to Ana. But Joe now understood that that precisely had been the problem. The Ana Joe had constructed in his mind was more than the physical countenance of her could ever be- at least to Joe. From the very beginning, in Costa Negra, he’d made Ana into some kind of goddess. Someone untouchable he could only hope to hold, but never hang onto. It had been a self-fulfilling prophecy, indeed. For just when her sorry-assed boyfriend had gotten out of the way, in stepped Neal to prove he was the better man. Better man for Ana at least. And, with grudging admission, Joe conceded that perhaps he was.
The problem with Joe and Ana was that they were too much alike in too many ways. Passionate, yes. But even the fiercest of passions needing grounding. Perhaps that’s what Ana had found in Mark.
Joe sighed and tried to scratch his beard stubble with his tethered hands, but it was impossible. Ah well, all his miseries had company. Might as well enjoy the fact that he even had fingers, while they were still attached. Joe wondered if Al Fahd’s threat had been hollow, but remembering the agonized screams of the others, doubted it sincerely. Severing sequential digits was a common interrogation tactic. Not one that lived up to the Geneva Convention, of course. But common, nonetheless, because it drew blood and hurt like the devil. Plus, it was one of those nasty little tricks that didn’t kill the victim, only convinced him to talk.
&
nbsp; Joe squirmed on his haunches, trying to recall his combat training. If he could remember to focus, he could strive to block out the pain.
Ah hell, who was he kidding? Joe McFadden didn’t like pain anymore than the next guy. But, Joe McFadden, he reminded himself with a deep swell of air that inflated his chest, was and always would be a Marine. A Marine with a purpose. The purpose of serving the great US of A, the rest of the god-forsaken world be damned. And he would serve that purpose to his dying breath- no matter how many fingers, toes... Joe swallowed hard past the tender swell in his throat…or other body parts Al Fahd took off in the process.
Keys rattled outside his block and the cell door turned.
The graying Oriental raised his brows and peered through the opening. “Mr. McFadden?” he queried with the cordiality of a nobleman.
“At your service,” Joe answered with a smirk.
The old man grinned, “Precisely what we’re counting on.”
***
“I want you to go and stay there,” Mark said to Carolyn, “at least until January second.”
There was no avoiding it any longer. The trouble Colonel Roberts had pointed to involved a major malfunction in the DOS operating system. Security operations in all DOS facilities had been compromised. Armed Green Berets had been posted at every critical location, blocking the entrances, guarding the pathways to every floor. DOS headquarters had become an “occupied state.” Yet, it still seemed too risky a place to keep their only daughter.
“Yes sir,” she said, looking uncertainly at Ana.
“I’m staying here,” Ana answered, stepping in closer toward Mark. “Here, where I’m needed.” And it was true. No matter what Mark said on the outside, on the inside he desperately needed Ana beside him. She knew him far too well to be fooled by his enraged bluster. He was afraid for them, all of them. This analyst scare was spiraling out of control and Mark felt a personal responsibility to make it stop. Though none of it was certainly his fault, Ana knew Mark blamed himself for not picking up the signs of the impending threat earlier. Plus, he was understandably upset about McFadden. Though all Ana’d been concealing was that one flaming embrace, Mark had sensed her minor infidelity. He knew her too damn well.
Baby Isabel’s eyes grew weepy as she held out her arms to her mother. “Ma-ma,” she whimpered through rose petal lips.
A tire iron twisted in Ana’s soul. “Better go,” she told Carolyn, knowing full well if she took the baby back in her arms, she’d never again be able to turn her loose.
Carolyn nodded and gently patted the baby’s head. “It’s alright, Isa. We’ll be seeing Mama again in just a little while...”
The baby looked from Mark to Ana with pained comprehension and burst into tears. “Ma-ma!” She wailed, trying desperately to squirm out of Carolyn’s grip, her arms flailing towards her mother.
Mark made a motion with his hand urging Carolyn to make haste, then blew the baby a kiss. “Be a good girl for Daddy. We’ll come to get you soon.”
Carolyn carted Isabel from the room, diaper bag swinging over her shoulder.
“They have protection assigned?” Ana asked, walking to the window. “People who’ll be with them every step of the way?”
“A whole SWAT team, practically,” Mark assured her. “Your father’s taking no chances this time.”
Ana nodded and bit into her bottom lip. What then felt so rotten about this whole scenario? It wasn’t just her calling to stay by Mark in his time of difficulty that tugged at Ana’s soul. There was something more. Something more than the undeniable weakness she still felt for the man standing beside her. Though she couldn’t sort through all her feelings now, Ana knew she would in time, as would Mark. In the meantime, the two of them had to stick together. They were a team, she and Mark. Together, they’d made the beautiful baby daughter Ana’d just turned over to another woman’s care.
Then, with a lightening bolt of clarity, it hit her. The tumult of emotions Ana was feeling had to do with more than just her family. In sending Isa off with Carolyn and choosing to stay at the DOS, Ana had sacrificed personal oversight of her child to a greater concern: her concern for the well-being of the nation and the safety of her good friend Joe McFadden.
Ana breathed hard but was unable to release the pain gripping her heart like a vise. It was worse than she’d thought: her concern had become triaged. As much as she loved them, her family no longer came first. The security of the nation was paramount. And those in the greatest danger were- at this moment- the most deserving of any meager assistance Ana could offer. Because, in so doing, in helping to eliminate the blight that threatened them all, Ana stood the greatest chance of ensuring everybody’s long-term safety.
Mark came and stood beside her, reading her eyes.
“We all do what we have to do, Ana. Isabel will be alright. I’m sure of it.”
“But what I just did,” she said, “goes against every instinct I have. Against everything I’ve always sworn I’d be.”
Mark slid an arm around her shoulders, and she was glad for his steadying warmth. “It’s only for a little while- until we get this thing licked. Besides, you know as well as I do, that when she’s apart from us, baby Isabel is less of a target.”
Ana looked down at the faded, government issue carpet, knowing he was right, but still unable to reconcile that admission with the badgering doubt hammering at her heart. “A long time ago, I swore-”
“None of us can see the future,” Mark said, enveloping her in his arms.
That was for damn sure, Ana thought, grateful for his embrace, thanking the heavens she’d not been left here alone to confront the stark reality of who she truly was. For, if there was anything Mark had proven, it was that he was a rock for her when she needed him. And she saw, in her heart, she needed him now. Needed him desperately. Ana wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, as her life-long convictions started to crumble.
If anyone had told her three years ago what she someday would become, she would have called him a fool. Worse than a fool. The notion, even as she stood here staring it in the face now, was incomprehensible still.
Ana burrowed her head in Mark’s shoulder, not wanting to see the wicked truth. But there was no escaping it. She was who she was and, from this point forward, there’d be no turning back.
Ana Kane had become her father.
CHAPTER 26
Albert Kane stared down at the report in his hands, hoping against hope that whoever had transcribed it had gotten it wrong. This one tidbit of information concerning Maria Gonzales Mark had failed to mention.
Yes, Albert knew about the blackmail and clearly connected it to the gas lighting that had been occurring at the Neal house. And, indeed, he’d imagined it connected to the larger scare mapped out in apparent accordance with his, Tom and Au Yang’s old plan. But never in a million years did Albert imagine one of the original three would have a hand in it. Not something so utterly sinister directed at America. Directed, for God’s sake, at my own family.
But it was right there in the report. The name of the man to whom Maria had funneled all her information. Though she’d never seen more than his back, she’d been intimidated by his eerie presence. His unarticulated command of the situation, his death grip on Maria’s spiraling-out-of-control existence. Though, she’d never heard him speak, she’d heard the other man, the driver, refer to him, but only by his code name.
El Lobo.
Albert slowly shook his head, thinking maybe he was getting too damn old for this business. Not Mooney. Thomas Lloyd Mooney, Albert’s best friend on earth since nineteen forty-nine.
Albert brought his hands to his withering hairline, thinking this couldn’t be right. Tom was not the traitorous type. What in the world could motivate him?
Albert spun his chair around to face the window, the US Capitol dome shimmering like a beacon in answer to his unspoken question.
Power? Didn’t make a goddamn shred of sense! How could Tom hope to gai
n power by destroying the national defense system, by wreaking havoc from the inside out?
Unless he had a way to distance himself. Completely disclaim involvement...and then, maybe step in to claim the glory by thwarting a last minute disaster?
Albert stood from his chair.
Tom wouldn’t. It was just too risky. And people had died, already. Innocent civilians and their families.
But that code name kept on coming back to him, crashing like a cymbal in his ears. El Lobo...
If only Albert had been able to reach Au Yang. But, try as he might, all his attempts to reach the Chinese man had failed. Since his return to China more than two years ago, Au Yang had dropped off the DOS radar. As far as Albert knew, the old man might not even still be alive. Still, the moment Albert had originally suspected enaction of their old Volcano plan, Au Yang had been among the first he’d thought to contact. The technological invasion hinted at a power with a high level of that skill. And, naturally, thinking of the Chinese, Kane had remembered Au Yang. An old ally, back his homeland, who might- merely for old time’s sake- be willing to share a bit of information... Wait a minute.
Albert turned from the window, shaking his head. It had been Tom who’d suggested the current analyst scare was a manifestation of Volcano put into play. Tom, that old gray bastard, attempting to distance himself by planting the seeds for a supposed solution. Tom, who’d insisted- out of concern Albert had fucking thought- on being updated on Albert’s progress. Had professed to worry about Ana. Tom, that wolf in sheep’s clothing “El Lobo,” who been known under their Volcano operation auspices as “The Gray Wolf.”
Albert spun violently and caught the tin waste can with his toe, smashing it across the room until it resonated against the opposing wall.
Damn! Nothing was as it seemed.
