When Levi came in, his eyes searched for and found her first. He looked like a cable wound too tight as he came up to her. “Ready to go?” he asked.
She nodded.
“I have all of your things in your booth already. Max is keeping an eye on it.”
“Thank you.” She hoped he wouldn’t try again to dissuade her from going. If he did that here, her parents would pile on. To her relief, he took her hand, nodded at her parents, and led her out of the room, leaving Selena and Ace to follow.
They parked in the lot set aside for vendors. Selena stayed with them as Ace wandered off to do her thing. K-9 Units were checking out the booths and each vendor.
While they waited to get through security, Levi turned to Zaida and said, “I reconfigured your booth.”
“You did what?”
“I had to fortify it.” He stepped close and lowered his voice. “If there’s an active shooter or fucking claymore unleashing its payload near you, you need to have some cover.”
Zaida was grateful he’d done that. They got through the security checkpoint and went straight to her booth. Levi had set up two wide pillars of black shelves at both front corners of her booth. Originally, she’d had two tables there set up so people could walk around them. People could still walk around the bookshelves. And all of her paraphernalia regarding the foundations she wanted to feature was nicely arranged on the shelves.
“Why change from the open tables to bookshelves?” Zaida asked.
“Because in the center, behind the clustered bookshelves, are a couple rows of sandbags. It’ll give you and anyone in your booth some cover to duck behind.”
Instead of the two folding tables set up side by side at the back of the booth, he’d put up two smaller tables separated by another tall column of bookshelves. She walked over to those tables, knowing she was going to have to rearrange her books and signs and little giveaways. But her foot collided with something under the table. She lifted the table skirt and found a dense stack of sandbags there.
She looked at Levi. He lifted both brows. The look he gave her made it clear that if she didn’t like it, he’d physically remove her from the fair.
She said nothing, just continued her exploration. In the far back, there was another setup of small tables, sandbags, and a sandbag-filled column of bookshelves.
“You don’t know what direction an attack might come from,” he said. “There’s space under the tables for several of you to take cover. If shit breaks loose, you get down.”
“You’ve reduced the size of my booth by about a third. Fewer people will fit in here.”
“Fewer people crowding around you is a happy thing for me today.”
Zaida couldn’t help the tears that filled her eyes. He’d made her a mini fortress—he hadn’t been kidding about that. She went over to him and set her hands on his waist. “Thank you. I feel much safer now.”
His nostrils flared as he released a long breath. He nodded. “I added sandbags to Abdul’s booth too.”
Zaida caught his face in her hands. “You’re a good man, Levi Jones.”
“If I were a good man, you wouldn’t be here.” He took a little sting out of those words by pulling her into a hug. He kissed the top of her head. “Let’s get your booth set up how you want it before the hordes descend on the fair.”
The first afternoon of the county fair was well attended and went off without a hitch. Zaida’s translators were there, greeting visitors. She’d told them about the security features Levi had given them.
Ace and Selena actually had fun talking romance novels with booth visitors. They filled in for her and her translators when any of them needed a break. Zaida was grateful she was never left on her own. She’d sold some books, had several opportunities to talk about the literacy foundations she was featuring—it had been a great start to the weekend.
But now, it was nearing the time she’d promised to shut her booth down.
People milled about in chaotic patterns that Zaida could tell stressed Levi. None of the fair goers showed any signs of stress. Some debated the need for SWAT on fairground high points. Some said they felt they were in a prison, but most were thankful the proper security measures had been taken to ensure their safety.
None seemed to know the truth of the threat hanging over their heads.
She went to the opening of her booth where Levi was. There was something strange in his eyes when he looked at her…something like dread.
“Thank you for today,” she said as she set her hands on his folded forearms. “I sent the translators home. I’m going to start shutting the booth down.”
“Are you pleased with the event so far?” Levi asked.
“I am. It’s been great seeing my friends become so animated when they talk about their work with our foundations. You’d be surprised how empowering that is.”
Levi’s lips moved into a smile as he stroked her cheek with his thumb. His gaze held hers. “Can I get you something cold to drink? Something to eat?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Selena just made a run for us.”
He caught her hand, just the tips of his fingers against hers, but before he could speak, he jerked back. His eyes focused away from her. He frowned, then tapped his ear and said, “Copy that.” He took her arm and led her deeper into her booth. “Sorry, I have to go,” Levi said, not so much to her as to her guards. As soon as Ace and Selena surrounded her, he took off.
“No worries,” Selena called after him. “We’ll be here having fun. Catch up when you can.” Selena smiled at Zaida, and Ace gave him a wave.
Sheer panic paralyzed Zaida. She sent Selena a questioning glance, but the fighter shook her head. There were civilians milling around near her booth. None of them could talk.
She couldn’t get the look Levi had had off her mind. This was bad. Very bad. She made short work of locking things up. She took her money box and a few papers. When the booth flaps were lowered and tied up, she let Ace and Selena rush her off.
“Wait!” Zaida stopped, but the girls strong-armed her along.
“No waiting,” Ace said.
“But we need to get Abdul.”
“The agents with him and Jamal are already getting him out of here,” Selena said.
Max met Levi with his bike. Took little time to cross the fairgrounds. The event center’s op room was almost military grade, and it was full of top emergency response brass from the county and state…and with Jack and his crew, federal level, too.
Jack must have cleared Levi and Max as part of the team; no one balked at their joining the group.
A man wearing a stained pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a faded blue cotton shirt was pacing wildly around the room. “Finally, are you gonna listen to me? I’m telling you something’s not right.”
“Mr. Powell,” Jack said, “please start at the beginning.”
Mr. Powell looked at Levi and Max. “I own a few gas stations up in Wyoming. Small deals. They do okay. A couple of friends and I went in on the new one just up the street. It was supposed to open today. I called a few times to see how things were going. My partner said everything was great, but he was too busy to talk. I called at noon to get the morning’s tally. The numbers he read off didn’t make sense for the day he should have had, especially with the county fair right here. I came down from Wyoming today to see if he needed help, and I find the station never opened at all. In fact, there are barricades up with handwritten signs saying it wasn’t open.
“When I went in to the store to question him, he looked terrified. I only saw one other guy there. Someone from the city inspection crew. They’d found a safety violation and had shut the station down.”
“And that’s bad because…?” Levi asked.
“Because all of those inspections had already been completed. We were ready to go. Everything was a go,” Mr. Powell said.
“I showed him the photos of the group we’ve been tracking.” Jack spread them out on the table. Both he and Mr. Powell poin
ted at one guy. Suhair Rashid.
Levi shut his eyes, relieved they’d finally caught a break. He looked around the room. “Wasn’t this gas station checked in this morning’s sweep?”
“It was,” Jack said. “The police cleared it. No one was there. And there were no vehicles he could see.”
“They must have come in afterwards,” Levi said. “They’ve been lying low an entire day. They could have taken action at any point, but they didn’t.”
“They’re waiting for dark,” Max said.
It was nearing dusk now.
“Right,” Levi said.
Mr. Powell shoved his hands into his hair and squeezed his head. “I’ve been telling this story all day. See something, say something. Well, I fucking did and no one’s doing anything. And now you tell me my gas station is being held by a known terrorist. He’s going to kill my friend.”
Levi looked at Max. “I want Greer on those cameras now.” When Max stepped aside to talk to Greer, Levi set a hand on their informant’s shoulder. “Sir, I know you’ve told others all of this before, but tell me again everything you saw.”
“He and my partner were both sweating bullets. That man had a heavy accent. He was wearing a jumpsuit.” Mr. Powell closed his eyes. “He had a headset on, like, um, a phone headset.”
A schema of the gas station was up on a big screen. The gas station was a sprawling setup with a main office and store combination that was flanked on both sides by separate gas bays for cars and larger ones for RVs. It also had two separate wash stations, one on the RV side, one on the car side.
“Show me where they were when you saw them,” Levi said.
Mr. Powell walked over and pointed to the cashier station in the store. “Here.”
“Do we have a live satellite image of the site?” Levi asked. One of the ops room technicians brought up an image. The place looked vacant. No vehicles were anywhere in sight.
“All right. We’re going in there,” Levi said. “This is what we’ve been waiting for. We have until nightfall.”
Mr. Powell looked from one to the other of them. “Until night for what?”
Levi led the guy out of the office. “Sir, your persistence has potentially saved a lot of lives. I need you to stay here in case we have more questions.” Levi pointed to some seats in a waiting area, then shook the guy’s hand. “Thank you.”
Back in the office, the group had convened around the station’s schematics.
Levi had Max dial Greer and put him on speaker. “Do we have confirmation that the drones are on the gas station premises?”
“Negative,” Greer said. “Only the external cameras are still functioning, but I was able to crack their security footage for the day. The station’s manager arrived at five a.m. He was followed shortly after by what must have been our tango. They both went inside. A few minutes later, a pickup truck towing a flatbed arrived and backed into the first wash bay on the RV side. After that, men came out of the bay and set out the blockades at the station’s entrances. There’s been some movement between the bay and the office—the men go into the office building and return. No one’s left the premises yet.”
Levi looked at the schematics as Greer talked. That first wash bay was constructed for big but non-commercial trucks, things like RVs and livestock trailers. It wasn’t an automated wash bay; it just had a hose mounted on one of the side walls for manual washing. It did have garage doors that covered both entrances.
“Their hostage is still with them,” Greer said. “We did identify his vehicle as that belonging to the station’s manager. They parked it inside one of the other RV bays. The inside cameras have all been shot out. I saw the flatbed in the wash bay, but there was a tarp over the back, so I couldn’t get a clear view before they trashed the camera. I’ve counted six men in the wash bay.”
Levi watched the live exterior video feed. All the overhead doors in the three wash stations were down. He looked at the county fair rep. “They’re going to unleash hell once the fireworks start. Delay the pyrotechnics until my word.”
The man stepped aside and dialed a number on his phone.
“Commander,” Levi said to the man leading the SWAT team, “get your guys into position here and here. With spotters. Our tangos are going to release those drones under the cover of the fireworks display. Watch for them to come out of either side of that wash bay. If any make it out, they have to be taken down in this field, well before they reach the crowd.”
“We can storm the wash bay and take them out before they unleash their hell,” the commander suggested, itching for action.
“Negative,” Levi nixed that. “We’re still reviewing the security feed. They could have booby-trapped the hell out of that place. And even if not, they have some number of claymore bombs—at least six but possibly double that. If you send your guys in, these bastards will happily go to heaven and send you all to hell. Won’t be the big impact they were hoping for as far as civilian lives, but each of your guys has to be worth a hundred non-combatants to them.”
Levi shook his head. He and Max exchanged hard glares. “Get your guys in place, Commander. Max and I are the only ones going in.” To the rep from the county fair, Levi said, “We need the bomb disposal unit nearby. Not too close, we don’t want them to see it and take pre-emptive measures, activating their plan before we’re ready. The firefighters are already on hand because of the fireworks, so we’re good there. Have people in place to direct the crowds to the event buildings in case this goes south.”
“So what’s the plan for you two?” the SWAT commander asked Levi.
“We’re gonna ride Max’s bike up to the main office and go in, neutralize the lone guy in there, draw the rest of his team to us, then jam all wireless transmissions so they can’t get the drones off the ground. We’re not going to be able to communicate briefly. Your guys have to be ready to hit anything that comes out of that wash bay—drone or human.”
The commander agreed and left to get his team in place.
Levi phoned Rocco. Max’s whole team was on their comms, so Levi knew he didn’t have to bring Rocco up to speed. “I need you to send me a recording in Arabic. Something from the lead guy in the main office calling his soldiers to him in a high state of rage. At least two minutes of ordering his men to come to him, that he needs their assistance, forget the drones, come to him.”
“We don’t know what he sounds like,” Rocco said.
“Doesn’t matter. His men know his regular voice, but probably haven’t been with him when he’s screaming in panic. They won’t know your screaming voice from his. Send me that recording ASAP. I need it on my phone before we cut transmissions.”
“Roger that,” Rocco said before dropping the call. Three minutes later, it came in. Levi smiled as he listened to it. He could understand a calm, slow convo in Arabic, but not this—words were flying fast and furiously. Something about infidels and Allah.
While they were waiting for the SWAT commander to bring Max a wireless jammer, Levi stepped aside to make a personal call. Zaida picked up before the first ring finished.
“Levi? What’s happening? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He shouldn’t have called. Jesus, what was he going to say? That he loved her? And how would that sit if he was about to get himself blown up? “I just wanted to hear your voice. Where are you?”
“At my apartment. With Ace and Selena. Abdul got back to the hotel safely as well. When are you coming home?”
Home. Zaida was home to him. “Shouldn’t be long. Will you wait up?”
“Yes. Levi…I love you.”
All the breath left his lungs. He held the phone to his forehead, trying to figure out how she meant that. She was always telling someone she loved them—her parents, her friends, the women who worked for her. Love was something easy for her, something she handed out like baked goods.
“I love you, too, babe,” he said, telling himself he meant it however she meant it. He lowered the phone, staring
at it a long moment before disconnecting their call.
Max punched his shoulder. “Ready?” The bastard actually grinned. “Time for a ride.”
Levi looked at everyone in the room, gave them a nod, and followed Max from the room. Mr. Powell was still sitting in the waiting room. He jumped up when they came out of the office.
“We’re gonna get your friend out of this,” Levi said as Max went on without him.
The man shook his head. “I don’t give a fuck about the station. Do what you have to do. I can rebuild it. Just get my friend out in one piece. And don’t let anyone else get hurt.”
Levi nodded. “Copy that.”
It was nearly dark outside. He and Max exchanged glances as they jogged out to his bike. The ride to the gas station only took a couple of minutes. Max rode around one of the sawhorse blockades and went right up to the main office. They knew the door wasn’t locked because the crew never paused to unlock it when they went in to use the bathroom.
“Hey, bro!” Max boomed to the room in general as he eyed the wall of cigarettes behind the front counter. “Need some smokes.” He didn’t spare more than a fast glance for the owner who was tied to a chair.
The Middle Eastern man rushed forward. “We’re closed. You saw the signs—”
Max kept him talking for the seconds Levi needed to make sure there wasn’t more going on at the station than the claymore-carrying drones they were about to send off. He’d been half afraid they’d rigged the gas storage tanks to blow too, but at fast glance, Levi couldn’t see any detonation devices.
Rashid pulled a gun and pointed it at Max, but fell back with a bullet in his head before he could say another word. Levi holstered his pistol and grabbed his phone, starting Rocco’s recording playing at full volume. He tucked his phone up against the Bluetooth device the terrorist was wearing.
After that, shit broke loose fast. Two men slammed into the office. Max caught one and got him in a chokehold, incapacitating him fast. Levi fought with the other, throwing punches briefly before taking him down with a wrist hold that dropped him to his knees and broke his arm. Levi pushed him to the floor and kept a knee on his back.
Freedom Code Page 19
