Mission--Memory Recall
Page 5
“My name is Captain Williams. I’ll be your pilot today. I’ve done preflight checks and filed our flight plan to Virginia. If you’d like to board now, we’ll be on our way.”
Bethany nodded and they headed outside to the tarmac. She was growing excited to be walking back into Langley with a catch like Marcus. Rick had said himself that he’d believed Bethany was chasing shadows, and she’d proven him wrong. She couldn’t wait to walk back into headquarters with a win in her column. Perhaps it could finally overshadow her epic failure in Afghanistan.
At the plane, she reached for her bag and stopped, realizing it wasn’t on her shoulder.
Marcus stopped, too. “What’s wrong?”
“My computer bag. I must have left it in the terminal. I can’t leave without it.” She turned and rushed back down the stairs. Marcus followed.
She’d just reached the bottom of the steps when an explosion rocked the plane, tossing them through the air.
Bethany landed with a thud against the pavement. She felt the heat on her back and the pain that ripped through her shoulder as she landed hard. The explosion rang in her ears as her head connected with the pavement, sending pain riddling through her. She groaned and tried not to move, but she couldn’t resist looking back at the plane. It was now a burning inferno.
As darkness seeped over her, she couldn’t help but think that their attacker had nearly won again.
* * *
Heat burned behind him. Marcus groaned and glanced around. The plane was ablaze and debris was falling from the sky. His ears were ringing as images began to flash through his head of gunfire and the night sky alight and the roar of planes overhead. He shook his head to clear it. He spotted Bethany a few feet away and realized her jacket was on fire. He rushed to her and stamped it out. She was unconscious, but breathing.
Cradling her against him, he glanced at the plane again. They would have been inside that airplane if Bethany hadn’t forgotten her computer bag. Thank You, Lord. He’d been watching out for them both. But what had happened? Was the explosion a simple mechanical failure...or had their sniper returned to finish what he’d started?
Bethany stirred in his arms and he stared down at her. “It’s okay, Beth. I got you.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him, then smiled and reached out, gently stroking his cheek. “Marcus.” She whispered his name then leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips.
He was stunned, unable to move or speak. But when she closed her eyes and fell back against him, he knew she hadn’t been fully aware of her actions. However, he was certain of one thing. She’d been glad to see him and she’d kissed him like she’d done it a million times before.
He glanced around. People were running from the terminal with fire extinguishers and emergency tools. Someone knelt beside them.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, but I think she hit her head.”
“The paramedics are on the way. Keep her still until they get here.” The first responder ran off to help with the fire.
Marcus stayed with Bethany until they arrived then reluctantly moved aside. She still had not regained consciousness and that worried him. They’d both been sent flying by the impact of the blast. Had she suffered a concussion when she’d landed?
One of the paramedics turned to him. “Sir, we need to treat you, too.”
“I’m fine,” he said. “Concentrate on her.”
“My partner is taking care of the lady. Please, you have a bad cut on your head.”
He reached up and touched his temple. His hand came back bloody. He hadn’t even noticed. Finally he conceded and allowed the woman to treat the few scrapes and cuts he’d sustained. He had been fortunate he hadn’t been hurt worse. No, he thought. Not fortunate. God had been looking out for him again, just as He had during his trek from Afghanistan back to the US. This was just one more example of how the good Lord continued to shield Marcus.
He spotted the sheriff and hurried over to him. “Sheriff, do we know what caused this yet?”
Sheriff Mills turned to him then nodded. “What are you doing here?” He glanced around. “Where’s Agent Bryant?”
“This was our plane. Bethany chartered it to go to Virginia. She was injured in the blast. The paramedics are with her now. Do we know what happened?”
“You tell me. You were here.”
Marcus rubbed a hand over his face. “We were getting on the plane when Bethany realized she’d left her computer in the terminal. We were going back for it. That’s when the explosion occurred. Do we know yet what caused it?”
“We’re just beginning our investigation, but I’d advise you not to leave town. I’ll have questions for both you and Agent Bryant.”
Marcus nodded and looked back, noticing they were loading Bethany into an ambulance. “I’m going to ride to the hospital with her.”
“Fine. Wait for me there.”
Marcus hurried over and hopped into the ambulance for the ride to the hospital.
* * *
Pain ripped through Bethany’s head and pulled her back to consciousness. She felt something soft against her skin and realized she was in a bed before she even opened her eyes. The room was dimly lit, though a faint light streaming in from behind the closed curtains was enough for her to see with. She tried to pull her hand to her aching head but found her motion limited by IV tubes. She was in a hospital but she couldn’t readily remember why.
Then it all came back to her—the airport, returning for her bag, the explosion.
Marcus!
She jerked awake and spotted him stretched out in the chair by the bed. Relief rushed through her that he was okay. Then amazement. Why had he stuck around? He’d had the perfect opportunity to escape but hadn’t. He was sleeping soundly but she noticed the bandages on his head and neck. He’d been hurt in the explosion, but how badly?
He stirred, as if realizing she was watching him, opened his eyes and gave her a lazy grin. “You’re awake. How do you feel?”
“You’re here?”
“Of course. I’m not going anywhere.” He noticed her surprise and sat up. “I told you, Bethany, I want answers. I’m not going to run at my first opportunity to find them.”
He’d said he wanted answers, but that was before the shootings, the altercations and now this. What lengths would these people go to, to keep him from knowing the truth? “Even if someone will resort to blowing up an airplane to keep you from getting those answers?”
He pressed his lips together and gave her a pointed look. “Yeah, even then. I won’t be frightened away from discovering the truth.” He jumped to his feet and ran an annoyed hand through his hair. “In fact, the more they try to keep me silent, the more I want to know. What kind of people was I involved with that will shoot into diners or blow up planes?”
“How long have I been here?”
“Nine hours. You’re not badly hurt but you did hit your head and suffer some minor cuts and burns.”
She motioned toward his bandages. “And you?”
“The same.”
A sense of relief flowed through her. They’d escaped death once again. “We were fortunate.”
“No,” he said quickly, locking eyes with her determinedly. “Fortune had nothing to do with it. God was watching out for us both today.”
Bethany sighed. If he wanted to believe that, fine, but she wasn’t going to buy into that kind of thinking. God had left her a long time ago. She pushed back the blanket covering her and slid her feet to the floor.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting dressed.” She pulled at the tape securing her IV to her hand. Struggling to remove it, she couldn’t help thinking they must have used an entire roll.
He moved to her bedside. “You shouldn’t get up. The doctor said you have a slight concussion.”
“You’re in no condition to get up,” he insisted.
“I need to talk to the authorities to find out the status of the investigation. Who’s in charge of it?”
“Sheriff Mills. He said he would stop by later once you were awake.”
“Well, I’m awake now.” And she wasn’t going to speak with the sheriff while wearing a hospital gown. “Where are my clothes?”
Marcus motioned at a cabinet and she walked toward it. Pulling out her clothes, she went into the bathroom to change, ignoring every pound in her head and every ache in her muscles.
She dressed quickly, opened the door and stepped out, stumbling over her feet and falling right into Marcus’s arms. He caught her, sweeping her close in his strong embrace.
She swallowed hard as she stared into his soft green eyes and remembered the many months she had ached for his embrace when she’d thought he was dead. Her heart hammered so hard in her chest that it drowned out the pain in her head and body. She struggled to even catch her breath when she was this close to him.
She pushed back from him, trying to find some semblance of her dignity. She couldn’t deny her attraction to him, but she’d sworn she would not allow herself to fall prey to his cunning again. “I’m fine,” she said, her voice unsteady. He seemed so stable and so concerned and determined. But was it all just an act? She couldn’t take the risk.
“We...we need to go see Sheriff Mills and find out what’s going on with the investigation.”
The hospital door opened and the sheriff walked in. “I guess I’ve got good timing, don’t I?”
She took another step away from Marcus and felt her face redden as if the sheriff had just caught them in a compromising position. She also felt a rush of relief that at least he hadn’t walked in when she was in his arms. “Sheriff, I was just on my way to speak with you.” She forced her voice to a normal tone. “Do you know yet what caused the explosion?”
“We do. That’s why I’m here. The fire marshal discovered the remains of a bomb.”
Her heart fell. “A bomb? Really?” She had been hoping this was a simple case of an accidental explosion, a fuel leak or an electrical fire. She sighed, seeing the same resignation on Marcus’s face that she felt.
The sheriff continued. “The pilot didn’t make it out, but thankfully you two did.”
She nodded. “Yes, I left my bag in the terminal. We turned around to go back for it. If we hadn’t, we would have both been on the plane when the bomb detonated.”
She felt saddened for the loss of the pilot and wondered if he had a family who would miss him. “Before he boarded, the pilot stated that he’d done his preflight checks. How did he miss a bomb?”
“It was hidden under the fuselage. He probably wouldn’t have seen it when he checked the plane. The preliminary results on the explosive indicate that it was homemade and was likely placed on a timer set to detonate at a certain time.”
“That’s why it still went off even though we’d disembarked the plane,” Marcus stated. “He had no way to stop it.”
She sighed. “And being homemade means the perp used whatever he could find locally to make it.”
The sheriff nodded. “We’ve already started calling local hardware and warehouse stores to follow up on anyone who might have purchased the ingredients we’ve identified as part of the bomb. The manifest listed only two passengers on this flight. The two of you.” He pointed to each of them.
“Yes, that’s true,” she explained. “I chartered the plane last night to return us to Langley.”
“Who knew you were chartering this plane today?”
Bethany’s forehead crinkled as she tried to think back. She hadn’t told anyone about her plans and in fact had made them late last night. “Anyone from the airport could have had knowledge. Other than that, I don’t know.”
Sheriff Mills turned his gaze to Marcus, who shook his head.
“I didn’t tell anyone. Milo and Marie knew we were leaving, but I didn’t go into details about where or how.”
“Our preliminary investigation hasn’t turned up anything about the pilot that might indicate he was into something that could have gotten him killed. Right now we’re acting on the assumption that one or both of you were the targets.”
It seemed a logical conclusion given the sniper on the roof and the shoot-out at the jail. “Someone doesn’t want us returning to Langley,” she said, the idea truly beginning to take hold in her mind.
“It’s more than that,” Marcus retorted, locking eyes with Bethany. “Someone doesn’t want me to make it out of town alive.”
She was beginning to suspect he was right. But who?
Bethany swept a hand through her hair. “I need to update my supervisor about all that’s happened.”
The sheriff cleared his throat. “There’s just one more thing. Don’t leave town. I might have further questions for the two of you.”
“I’ll go back to Milo and Marie’s tonight,” Marcus said. “I’m sure they’ll want to keep Bethany here overnight for observation.”
“I’m not staying here,” she insisted. “I’ll go back to the house with you.”
Sheriff Mills nodded. “I’ll be in touch,” he said before turning and walking out.
Marcus stood. “I’ll give you some privacy so you can phone your boss.”
Her knee-jerk response was to stop him and not let him out of her sight, but she knew now that that was unnecessary. He’d had his chance to leave and he hadn’t. He’d stayed with her, even camped out in her hospital room to make certain she was okay after the explosion. His behavior seemed to belie the traitor she believed him to be. Did that mean his claims of amnesia were true and he really was searching for answers about who he was? And if that was the case, what would he do when he discovered he was a bad guy?
But Marcus and bad guy were two concepts she was having a hard time reconciling. It seemed to fly in the face of who he was or who she’d thought he was. In fact, until the moment she’d seen him walking toward her at Milo’s diner, she hadn’t truly believed it possible he was alive.
She dug through her bag, found her cell phone, thankfully undamaged by the day’s events, and dialed Rick’s number. He hadn’t answered last night and she briefly wondered if he would now, but to her relief he answered on the first ring.
“Rick, where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“Sorry, kid. I had an emergency meeting that couldn’t be stopped. How’s our soldier? I haven’t had an opportunity to follow up with the Marshals.”
“We couldn’t wait on the Marshals,” Bethany told him then explained all that had happened since they had last spoken. “I’m worried about our safety. Someone doesn’t want Marcus to return to Langley and spill what he knows.”
Rick’s tone grew serious. “I’m going to fill you in on something most people don’t know.” She heard him get up from his desk, walk across his office and close his door.
“Uh-oh. Sounds ominous.”
“The Agency has been investigating the possibility of a rogue agent recruiting soldiers for the enemy. It’s apparently been happening for a while but no one has been able to gather any evidence. Right now, it’s just a rumor, but it’s a reputable rumor.”
“You think Marcus is one of those soldiers who got recruited?”
“It’s possible, isn’t it?”
She couldn’t deny it was a possibility. Yet, again, it seemed to go against everything he was.
“Obviously, Marcus knows who’s after him.”
“He’s sticking to his amnesia story. He still claims he doesn’t remember.”
/> “I don’t know what kind of game he’s playing, but I suspect once we get him here, he’ll offer what he knows for some kind of deal. I’ve already informed the legal department. He’ll probably get a plea bargain if he comes clean. If we have a traitor in our midst, we need to know who it is and soon.”
Bethany shuddered at the thought that someone in the CIA could be working against them. A traitor in plain sight. And Marcus held the key to identifying him. “How should I proceed?”
“You have to get him to Langley for questioning, but don’t go through regular channels or involve other agencies. I’ll put the word out that you’re on leave and then you can make arrangements to quietly bring him in. We need to have answers about where he’s been and what he’s been doing. More importantly, if he can identify the agent who recruited him, we can finally bring that guy to justice.”
“I’ll do my best,” she said then ended the call.
Bethany suddenly felt the weight of the responsibility Rick had just placed on her shoulders.
She’d been operating alone on finding Marcus for two years and had been looking forward to having the weight of the Agency behind her now. Bethany sighed. She was on her own again in bringing Marcus in.
She closed her eyes and wished for someone to depend on. Once upon a time, she would have turned to God for strength and reassurance, but her relationship with the Almighty wasn’t quite what it used to be. Losing Marcus and then learning she’d been betrayed by him had damaged her ability to trust, and that included God. He could have warned her, showed her signs that Marcus could not be trusted, or at least have guarded her heart from falling for him. But He hadn’t. He’d allowed her to fall head over heels and suffer because of it.
That, she could not forgive.
Four
Marcus drove back to his apartment at Milo and Marie’s house. He looked at Bethany in the passenger’s seat. She should have stayed at the hospital, but she’d stubbornly refused. They’d had a close call but God had truly been watching out for them. He just wished he knew who was after him and why.