by Ronie Kendig
“No.” She pushed to her feet. “I’m not here to vet your girlfriends.”
“But she’s not my girlfriend. Yet.”
Kasey sighed. Men. They never got it. “Not my problem.”
“Kase.”
A strong, deep voice drew her around. Special Agent Levi Wallace stood in all his six-foot-four glory. Dark hair. Broad-shouldered. Clark Kent’s long-lost cousin. When they’d first met, he’d given her butterflies and sweaty palms. She still found him crazy-attractive, but . . .
She smiled. “Hey.” Attraction or not, Levi was one of her closest friends.
A lone, dark look from Levi sent D’Angelo scurrying away. “He bugging you about girls again?”
“Yeah,” she said as a leggy blonde sauntered down the aisle to the cubicle where D’Angelo pretended to be busy. “Anyway, what’s up? You have lunch yet? Want to grab a latte?”
“You should eat real food and drink real coffee.”
She shrugged. “I should also get a real life, but since that’s not happening . . .” Again she glanced at D’Angelo and friend. There was maybe some physical attraction there.
“I’m supposed to escort you to the White House.”
The words jolted Kasey back to Levi. “What?” She scowled. “Why would you need to escort me? Galen’s my brother-in-law.” Even if her sister had died, making the president a widower, Kasey still had a niece behind the fence and white columns.
With a one-shouldered shrug, he cocked his head. “Got the order a few minutes ago. You’re due there in twenty.”
“Twenty!” She grabbed her purse. “Did they forget about DC traffic?”
He grinned as they headed to the elevator. “I’m Mario Andretti, remember?”
“Ha.” She checked to make sure she’d brought her phone. “I remember saying you were a kamikaze with a car. Not someone as notoriously revered as Mario Andretti.”
“Same difference.” In his field car, Levi hit the lights.
“Cheater,” she mumbled.
“You were summoned by the president. I’d call that an emergency.” He grinned, sailing around vehicles and through a red light.
Summoned by the president. Why would Galen send for her? They’d had an agreement to keep their lives separate. She wanted her own life. Which made it nice being married to a Navy SEAL and taking his last name, getting that much farther from the spotlight. At least for twelve months, until Duarte died on a mission, ripping apart her life and heart.
Of course, for celebrations with her twelve-year-old niece, Evie, she and the president spent time with his parents and hers. And holidays. But that was it. She didn’t need more of Galen Russell in her life. He served to remind her of too many painful memories.
“Hey.” Levi shot those blue-green eyes at her. “Maybe after this meeting we could grab an early dinner, then make it to Community for service.”
She smiled. “Sounds perfect.” Attending church helped cleanse the heaviness that soaked her after the daily immersion of cases dealing with death and darkness.
He returned her smile. “Good.”
The White House had two checkpoints—one outside before they parked that had an explosives-detection dog walk the car, and then one to enter the White House. As they cleared the latter, a Secret Service agent emerged from a side door. His face brightened. “Levi.” He extended a hand. “Good to see you. How’s the family?”
She’d almost forgotten both she and Levi had connections to the white-pillared house on Pennsylvania Avenue. Levi’s brother had been with President Montrose’s security detail in Nigeria three years ago and was kidnapped along with the former president’s wife. The First Lady had survived, but President Montrose had been taken to Syria by the terrorists. He hadn’t come home.
“Doing good. Thank you, Paul.”
“Agent Cortes.” The agent bobbed his head to the side. “They’re waiting.”
Not only waiting, but they. Who? And what was going on? Escorted to the Yellow Oval Room, Kasey tried not to squirm in her navy skirt and blazer. She was visiting her niece and brother-in-law, that was all. Nothing odd.
Except the heavy security detail.
And the summons.
As the door to the main living area opened, Levi extended a hand toward the office and gave her an affirming nod. That he’d noticed things were off, too, gave her little comfort as she entered.
At a window, Galen stood rubbing his jaw. He turned and buttoned his jacket. “Haven.”
She crossed the room and hugged him. He’d never been willing to call her Kasey. Though her full name was Katherine Haven Cortes, she’d always gone by Haven, since she and her mother shared first names. Duarte had dubbed her “KC” after they married, which easily morphed into Kasey. After he died, she’d clung even more tightly to the nickname. “How are you?”
“Stressed. Tired.” His smile was feeble, his words even more so. He shook Levi’s hand. “Agent Wallace.”
“Mr. President.”
Galen motioned to the sitting arrangement. “Please. Have a seat.”
“This is all very formal,” Kasey said, noting he took the lone chair. She lowered herself to the thick sofa cushions, glancing at last year’s photo of her niece. “How’s Evie? Ready for London?”
His expression was strained. “More than. She’s got a thing on her phone that tells her exactly how many seconds are interfering with her escape.”
She managed a smile. “I bet.” Okay. She couldn’t do this. Couldn’t do fake. “So why did you ask Levi to bring me here?”
The door opened, then closed. Footsteps crossed the padded carpet, ushering Barry Attaway into the discussion. At his arrival, Kasey had to work to keep her irritation concealed.
Galen scooted forward in his seat. “I won’t beat around the bush . . .” Doing exactly that, he hesitated. “What I am going to tell you must stay in this room.”
Ignoring Barry’s nod, Kasey focused on her brother-in-law. “Understood.” It was weird to have Levi here, but since he was a special agent in charge and had a higher security clearance than she did, she shrugged off his inclusion in this mysterious meeting.
Galen looked at the floor. “There’s no easy way to say it, Haven.” He met her gaze with eyes so similar to a pair she’d adored years ago. “I was informed two days ago that my brother is alive.”
She started. Sucked in a breath as her mind caught up with his words. Shook her head as if she’d been struck. “Cole? He—wh—how—” She sounded like an idiot, so she clamped her mouth shut. “How? I don’t understand.” Tears stung her eyes. “We buried him.”
Levi moved closer, his arm draping her shoulders.
She shrugged it off and slipped to the edge of the sofa, staring at Galen. “How is he alive?”
“Most of this is classified, Agent Cortes,” Barry said, inserting himself. “Just suffice it to say that Cole Russell, legally, does not exist. Cannot exist. Not in any public record. His pardon will be sealed.”
“What pardon? Wait—never mind.” She held up a hand. “Where is he? How—what happened?”
Galen sighed, darting a look to his chief of staff. “We don’t know where he is.”
She saw it in their glances. Heard it in what they didn’t say. “What do you know?”
“Haven,” he said, again using her middle name, a ploy no doubt to corral her anger. “There are things I can’t tell you about Cole—”
“What can you tell me?”
“Kase,” Levi whispered in warning at her tone.
Galen hunched forward. “I know you always had a soft spot for Cole.”
Barry snorted. “Soft spot? She constructed her whole career to prove he wasn’t guilty.”
“No. No, you two don’t get to turn this back on me, Galen.” Angry tears burned the back of her eyes, defeated only by a cloud of confusion and frustration. “Why are you telling me this? To yank my chain? To warn me?” Because he’d always acted like Cole was the bad guy. The troublemaker. “Wh
y were we told he was dead? If he didn’t die in prison, where has he been? How did he get out?” She couldn’t erase the mental image of his flag-draped coffin at the very small, very private burial she’d attended, hugging herself tight on that wintry afternoon.
“He wasn’t supposed to return to the U.S., but—”
“He’s coming back.” There was too much hope in her words, she knew, but she couldn’t help it.
“For revenge,” Barry said, his tone seething.
Kasey sniffed. “Cole is a better man than that.”
“When was the last time you saw Tox Russell?” Barry challenged. “He’s not exactly the hero you believe him to be.”
Heat infused her cheeks, her embarrassment betraying her. But that sparked her irritation. “Really? Then why are you willing to grant him a pardon if he’s guilty?”
Another exchanged glance between Galen and his lackey. “Because a pardon is what it’s going to take to get my brother to work with us.”
“Work with you on what?” Kasey asked. “Where is he?”
“Unknown.” Galen rubbed his knuckles. “But we expect him. Soon.”
She narrowed her eyes, sorting his words. “So he’s not coming willingly.”
Galen snickered. “Oh, I guarantee he’s coming willingly.”
Why would he return if they told him not to? It’d been three years . . . Revenge. Barry said he was coming for revenge.
“You ticked him off,” Levi said.
The words drew Kasey’s attention. Yes, that made sense. But if Cole was coming after them . . . “What did you do?”
Galen’s gaze was so much like Cole’s, yet nothing like it. “He’s coming after me because he thinks I set him up.”
“But you didn’t?”
Galen shook his head and looked away. “They baited him.”
So Barry Attaway was the true culprit. That, too, made sense, because Galen would never do anything to bring Cole back into his life.
“Can I speak to you privately, Mr. President?” Kasey asked.
Barry let out a huff and headed to the door. “I’ll wait outside.” Levi looked at her warily and moved to stand behind the couch.
In terse silence they waited for the subtle click of the locks. Galen sighed, his shoulders heaving. “Please, Haven, I need—”
“You once blamed Cole for Brooke’s death.” She stared into his eyes. “Do you still believe that?”
He dipped his head, rubbing his knuckles hard. His jaw muscle popped. Lips went taut. “I recently learned where he was the night . . . the night she died.” He shook his head. “He couldn’t have been in two places at once.”
“I don’t understand.” Her sister had been brutally beaten to death in their Arlington, Virginia, home by an intruder. Kasey had never understood why Galen thought Cole had killed her.
“Brooke shouldn’t have been home that night. She had a fundraising gala—”
Kasey sniffed a laugh. “She always had a gala.” Her sister lived for luxury and high society. It’d been bred into her.
“True. But she was at home. And . . .” His face screwed tight in consternation. “Cole knew a detail he shouldn’t have known—at least, I thought so. He justified it with some mention of tactics. But he also apologized to me.”
“Apologized? For what?”
Galen shook his head. “I don’t know. Guards said our time was up and took him away. I didn’t get to ask him again, and it never left me.” He let out a sigh. “But with the information that has come to light, I know he wasn’t at the house with her that night.”
“So you know he was somewhere else?”
Hesitating, Galen considered her. Then nodded.
“Where?” Brazen move but she couldn’t not ask.
A soft smile pushed aside his momentary lapse into grief. “Sorry, I can’t tell you.”
“Had to try.” She hugged herself. “Look, I know you two didn’t speak, even after Evie’s birth, but . . . Cole never would have hurt Brooke. Especially not in such a brutal way. He loved her.” As much as it pained her to admit.
Galen looked forlorn. “But she wasn’t his to love.”
“But he did—does. And he has a code.”
“You weren’t there the day fists and curses flew.” Galen straightened. “Haven, whatever you felt for him—all these years you’ve worked with the Bureau to prove Cole wasn’t guilty . . .”
Embarrassed, Kasey dropped her gaze.
“He’s not that man anymore, Haven. He’s a trained killer.”
“Operator. A trained Special Forces operator.” It still angered her the way he talked about Cole. “And I have a hint of what that type of man is like. I married one.” She tried to calm herself, but this . . . “Galen, he was—is—your brother.”
“Who has been hiding for the last three years. I don’t know who he is, where he’s been. And with the training he has, with the way he took down a man—” Galen bit down, obviously not intending to mention that. “We can’t trust who he’s become.”
“And yet you’re offering him a pardon, despite his having been charged with disobeying lawful orders, Dereliction of Duty under Article 134, and then there’s the involuntary manslaughter under Article 199 for his negligent actions leading to the death of the president.”
Galen’s eyebrow winged up.
Embarrassment rubbed at her cheeks. “He was facing the death penalty—”
“Which they virulently fought.”
She sighed and flicked a wrist at him, wanting to move away from her intimate knowledge of Cole’s case. “What happens when he returns?”
Galen studied the tip of his polished shoe before looking up at her. “Why do you want to know?” he finally asked.
“You’re sending him on a mission.” As soon as the words escaped, Kasey felt the tendrils of an idea coiling around her mind.
“What you need to know,” Galen said, “is that in light of the ambassador’s murder, there is now a credible, deadly threat against America and her allies that must be stopped. It’s a mission perfect for Tox.”
“You mean, it’s a mission where you need someone who’s already dead, so you can wash your hands if something goes wrong.” Anger churned wild and hot through her veins. Kasey could hardly remain in place. Her calves twitched, demanding she stand and walk out. But she had a better idea. “You’ll want an expert trained in deception.”
“Haven—”
“Put me on the team.”
“No way.”
She had never been a particularly forward person. Until it came to something she really believed in. Like Cole. “Put me on the team, or I go to the media with this.”
“A threat like that,” Levi muttered from behind, “could land you in custody.”
Kasey didn’t dare pull her gaze from Galen. “You said you don’t know where he’s been or who he is. My skills can help figure that out. This mission is important or Attaway wouldn’t be dragging Cole back from the dead, right?”
Galen’s eyes widened a fraction. “You’ve never cared for Barry.”
“Mm,” she said with a lift of her shoulder. “You should wonder about that, considering my expertise.” She brushed away a strand of hair. “Attaway drew Cole out. Which was dangerous—you both admitted that. So whatever this is, it’s big. Important.”
Galen sighed.
“Cole might have skills for combat, but I have skills for life. I can be an asset to the team.” Maybe even to Cole.
“Levi? You agree still?”
Kasey flinched. “Still?” She frowned at Levi. Then it hit her. “You knew about this?” Suddenly, everything roiled into the perfect storm. She turned back to Galen. “Wait. You . . . you wanted me in on this.” It was too incredible to believe. “You’re using me. That’s why I’m here. You knew with my fondness for Cole I’d want to be a part of this.”
“Don’t give me that much credit.”
“Barry.” The one person willing to put everyone at risk but himself�
��and Galen, since it guaranteed his job. Attaway knew her mother’s younger brother had gained a new, powerful job. Pardon attorney. “You want me to recommend to my uncle to give the pardon.”
“If you think he should be pardoned.”
5
— Day 4 —
Jebel al-Lawz
Air. She just needed fresh air. And light. Air and sunlight.
Tzivia Khalon shifted, her boots suctioning against the mucky earth of the underground cistern. Squatting, she waddled back against a wall of stones. Perfectly placed to protect the well. The south-facing wall had collapsed and revealed the miktereths. But this one, the stones placed perfectly one atop the other was . . . different.
Tracing it, she imagined the hands that had placed the stones. Labored to protect a water source in the forbidding terrain. Someone thousands of years ago. Infused with the humbling realization, she sighed.
“Tired already?”
She glared at Noel. “I’ve been down here four hours.”
“Got you beat by two.” He swiveled around with his sieve to work another dump of silt.
“Didn’t realize it was a competition.”
“Of course it is. If I stay here and you go topside, you get to deal with the Ministry of Health and I don’t.”
She groaned. She hated being up there with health organizations breathing down their necks. “How’s Basil?” The intern had developed boils after joining her in the subterranean area, then couldn’t get rid of a nagging cough. He was the first of several at the dig site to fall sick.
“Not good.” Noel headed toward the tunnel entrance that led to the sorting tent. “Keeps slipping in and out.”
“Has WHO showed up?” That morning Dr. Cathey had warned her they were inbound.
“No idea,” Noel said. “You know, the more agencies that get involved, the more likely we’ll get shut down.”
“Don’t jinx us.” But that was why she was down here working, not defending her actions topside. She had too much of a temper. That was better left in Dr. Cathey’s hands. She dropped back against the wall, allowing the hands of history to support her.
Beneath her weight, a stone shifted. Put her off balance.
“No!” Tzivia flung out a hand to break her fall. Mud splashed her face. Squished between her fingers. “Augh!”
