“Nothing is going to stop us from getting our daughter,” he said harshly as he pulled out his phone in a decisive move. It was time to make that call.
**
At the Pentagon, General Carter stared at the phone as it rang. He could count on one hand, the number of people that had access to that phone number, and one of those was the president. He knew who was on the other end of the line, of course. He had waited for the call all day.
“It’s about time you called,” he said when he picked up.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing sending your people over to D.C.?”
“That prototype is important and you know it. Nothing must go wrong.”
“I don’t give a shit about the prototype or your damn reputation. You need to get one thing clear, if anything happens to my daughter, I am coming after you. Personally.”
The general narrowed his eyes. He did not like the boy’s tone at all.
“Are you threatening me, Wayne?” he asked softly.
“Threaten? Of what use is a threat when I can make good a promise? Remember? You taught me that yourself.”
Hearing his words thrown back at him, he sighed. The boy was too hotheaded for his own good.
“Before you go throwing threats about, you should think about what you’re saying.”
“The time for thinking is past. Call off your goons. You are not going to sabotage this mission.”
“So you are going to hand over the prototype to the Chinese?” He could not understand that sort of thinking. His country meant everything to him. He had given his entire life to serving his country and to betray it like that because of an emotion was something General Carter could not wrap his head around.
“I know you don’t understand my reasons and frankly, I don’t give a fuck. It takes someone with a heart to know why I’m doing what I’m doing.”
“You are too fucking sentimental.”
He heard the snort on the other side of the line before Wayne spoke.
“Yeah whatever. Just make sure you call off your dogs or I will not be responsible for my actions.”
After the call, the general leaned back against his seat and stared into space. He knew Wayne was hotheaded, but he had chosen him specifically because he was so damn intelligent. And also because he’d known exactly the right buttons to push to get the boy to cooperate. But the same reason he’d made such a good candidate was the same reason he was a ticking time bomb. He did not care what the boy said, there was no way they were going to let that weapon in the hands of the Chinese, or any other country for that matter.
He picked up the receiver and placed a call. After three rings, it was picked on the other side.
“Jade, what’s the situation?” He listened in silence with a grave expression then ended the call.
He leaned back against his seat, staring into space once more. Things were rapidly getting out of hand. It was time to move a few pieces in the game that was unfolding.
Chapter Twelve
Sunday, 5:45 pm
They sat in the black sedan. Each one of them still and strangely silent. Waiting. What for, she had no idea. But they all sat there, barely moving a muscle except for the incessant movement of their eyes as they scanned the perimeter.
Kendra stared out into the street. Well, it was more like she stared straight ahead at the cars lined up in front of her. She could feel her heart beating as she tried to hide her nervousness. Her gaze darted all around and she could not see anywhere to run to or to hide. Her plan to escape would have to wait a little bit more.
Not like she knew for sure how she was going to pull it off. Biting her lip in consternation, she cast furtive glances at the men in the car with her. She was sandwiched between two of them and she felt the heavy metal of their weapons poking at her shoulder. Then there was the driver up front and Peng Ho. They were dangerous people. She’d seen the ruthlessness in their eyes and it terrified her. If she had even a prayer of getting out of this alive, she would have to be really careful.
The timing would be crucial too. It would probably be when they got to wherever they were going. She hoped there were a lot more people than there were on this street. Maybe she could ask if she could use the bathroom?
“Are you ready to see your parents?”
Kendra focused her gaze on Peng Ho’s. He was seated on the passenger’s seat in front and had turned to look at her. She nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. We are going there soon.”
“What is the name of the place?” she asked hesitantly, not sure she would receive a reply.
“Lincoln Memorial.”
“Oh.”
Lincoln Memorial. It sounded familiar, but she could not place it. Kendra searched her memory for where she’d heard the name and then she remembered. President Obama had given a speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when he was elected. She remembered because she had just been taken from her parents and it was the first time the Cutts had let her watch TV.
Okay, so that gave her something to work with. She had an idea, a vague one at least, about where they were going.
“You ever been there?”
Kendra blinked in confusion. “Huh?”
“I ask if you know Lincoln Memorial?”
“Oh, no. No, I don’t.”
“You will like it.”
It almost sounded like he was ordering her to like it. Kendra shrugged.
“I just want to see my parents again,” she said, widening her eyes, hoping it made her look innocent and harmless, not like someone who knew exactly what they were planning. “I have not seen them in such a long time, you know…Do you think they will recognize me? I’m not sure I will know them when I see them. I was just seven when I was taken…did you know that? Of course you did. I bet it was all over the news. I wasn’t allowed to watch TV so I don’t know but I’m sure for a while there, I was totes famous. I don’t look the same though, so maybe they won’t know me?”
Peng Ho looked taken aback at her chatter, considering she’d only spoken a few words since they’d taken her. She blinked her eyes innocently, and tried to look both excited and anxious at the same time. It was not too hard to do. She was excited and scared. She knew what she was going to do, what she had to do. But she had no idea how it was all going to pan out.
Peng Ho’s eyes clouded slightly. He gave her a measured glance. “Parents always know their kids,” he said shortly, before turning back to face forward. “You’ll be with yours soon enough.”
He was lying, of course. Even if she had not overheard the instructions the older man had given, his body language would have given him away. In the last seven years, Kendra had learned to read the body language of the adults around her as well as those of their guests. It had come in handy a lot.
“It’s time,” Peng Ho said.
The men who had been so still and silent beside her suddenly came to life. They opened the door and all of them except the driver stepped out of the car. Kendra joined them as well. From the car behind them, four men also emerged and they formed a sort of barrier around her, with Peng Ho and another man she did not recognize leading the pack.
Kendra looked around. There were hardly any people around. Just cars. It looked like a sort of free parking area. She was beginning to despair when she noticed a woman riding towards them on a bicycle. Something about her seemed off to Kendra. She had white blonde hair and wore a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. Her clothes were simple. A skirt and blouse. She looked drab, but Kendra got the idea that beneath those clothes, the woman was not drab. As she cycled past them, she turned to look at them and her eyes met Kendra’s. A slight shock went through the girl in that brief instant where they held gazes, then the woman was gone.
Kendra drew in a large breath of air and let it out slowly. What had just happened? Who was that woman? She felt like she knew her somehow, like she’d seen her somewhere. But she could not remember ever meeting a woman like that. She ca
st subtle glances at the men with her. No one seemed to have noticed the exchange.
Her heart thumping in her chest, she walked on with the men. She had never felt so scared in her life. Not even when she’d heard the muted sound of a gun in the Cutts’ house that day. She was terrified then, but this was different. With each step she took, she felt like she was walking towards certain doom. This was probably how Marie Antoinette had felt as she walked to the guillotine, she thought with dark humor.
How was she going to outwit seven men? More than seven actually because she knew they had sent some others ahead and she knew that each of them carried a gun or maybe more than one gun.
Who was that woman? Was she just a random stranger? There were just too many questions. She took a calming breath and decided to focus on her surroundings. She would find a way to escape. She had to.
**
Emily circled around on her bike and once they were out of sight, she came to a halt. She placed her hand on her beating heart. She had seen her daughter. She had seen Kendra. It was almost too much for her to take in. She sucked in several breaths, then she touched the device on her ears beneath the blonde wig she wore.
“They are heading towards the Korean War Veterans Memorial.”
“Roger that.”
“I’ll double up and meet you.”
She took her hands off the device and strengthened her resolve. Now that she’d seen her daughter, nothing was going to keep her away from her little girl. She had finally brought in her crew, well, at least Drew and Ryan. No offense to Wayne’s Shadow Force, but something just wasn’t right there. Somehow, the other side always seemed to be a step ahead of them. And what was so frustrating was that she had no idea who the other side was or how many other sides there were. They were dealing with an enemy they knew nothing about and that put all their lives at risk.
This time, she’d finally done what she did best. Come up with a plan. Prototype or no prototype, she was going to get her daughter.
She hopped back on the bicycle and pedaled. It was time to put her plan in action.
**
5:55 p.m.
It was five minutes to the rendezvous and she needed to cause a diversion. She blended with the evening crowd, looking touristy in her soccer mom jeans and knitted top. The weather was a bit cool, so her jacket did not look out of place. It hid the fact that she carried a nine mm Luger beneath it. The firearm was designed to deliver maximum damage.
She scanned the perimeter and it was not long before she located them. They stood out like sore thumbs. Several Asian men with a young Caucasian girl. Did they not know that they would draw attention to themselves? She shook her head in disgust.
There was a young couple admiring the view. She stepped up to them.
“Sorry to bother you, dears, but could you please take my picture?” she asked in the frail voice she had perfected.
“Oh, yeah sure, ma’am,” the woman quickly responded. “Where would you like to stand?”
She knew what they saw when they looked at her. They saw an elderly Asian tourist in her sixties. Her curved backbone and wide hips lent credence to the look. Patting the sides of the short grey hair beneath the hat she wore, she smiled gratefully.
“Here would be perfect,” she replied, handing her iPad over to the young woman. It would give her a direct view of the Asians and she wouldn’t look odd standing there with her eyes fixed on them.
As the woman clicked away on her iPad, she noticed that the young girl with them was becoming nervous. Her eyes kept glancing this way and that, almost like she was looking for a way out. Very deliberately, she met the girl’s gaze. The girl returned her look briefly then looked away. Very slowly and casually, she turned back and looked at the woman.
The woman tilted her head slightly, almost imperceptibly, except the girl’s eyes briefly widened and then darted away nervously.
“Do you think that’s okay, ma’am?”
“Oh, that should do quite nicely, dear,” she said with a smile. “Thank you so much. I can show my grandchildren.”
“It was our pleasure.” They smiled back then drifted off.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw a man approach. She knew exactly who he was. Wayne Carter. He walked with determined focus, his eyes squarely on the girl in the midst of the Asian men. She frowned. A glint of sunlight on metal caught her eye and she shifted her glance slightly. There was nothing out of the ordinary, just people milling around the reflecting pool. She stared at the trees that lined either side of the pool and just when she thought there was no one there, she caught movement.
So, the girl’s parents had decided to prepare for anything? Smart. Then again, they could be anyone. She had a feeling the Asians had placed their gunmen in strategic parts of the park. From the fear she’d read in the girl’s gaze, she’d come to the conclusion that the people were not planning on letting her go. She scanned the info she’d committed to memory about the case and recalled that the girl’s foster parents had been fluent in both English and Mandarin. As well as several other languages. Which meant that she understood Chinese and would most likely have understood anything that was said.
But it was also foolish because anything could go wrong. Especially if she was right about the gunmen who were hidden.
She scrolled through her iPad, glancing at the pictures. They were actually quite nice, but her attention was not fixed on them. It was fixed on the group just a few yards between them. Wayne had walked up to where they were standing, and one of the men stepped up to him, giving him a hug. To the casual observer, it looked like a hug between friends, but she knew it was nothing more than a pat down. They must have been satisfied that he was not carrying any weapon because the man stepped back.
She placed the iPad in the bag she held across her arm. It was showtime.
**
Emily watched the old woman hobble towards where Wayne stood with Kendra and the Asian men. What the hell was going on? She touched her ear.
“There’s a civilian.”
“We see her,” Drew replied.
“Be on the alert.”
“Always.” This time it was Ryan’s voice.
They had agreed to split up. Emily had insisted on using her people to get her daughter while the Shadow Force crew would handle the Chinese and anyone else that showed up.
Just then, the old woman stumbled. She grabbed Kendra in an effort to right herself, then stumbled again. Before Emily could understand what was going on, she’d pulled out a gun and fired at Peng Ho. Pandemonium broke out as the Chinese man went down. The others hurried to pull their weapons but the woman took off, firing several shots as she disappeared out of view.
“Shit!” She heard Ryan’s shout.
“Get Kendra and Wayne!” she shouted the order as she ran forward.
In the confusion that ensued, Wayne had grabbed hold of Kendra and pushed her to the ground. Emily and the others ran out from their hiding places, their weapons drawn. Seeing them, the few Asians who were still standing turned and fled.
“Wayne, where’s Kendra?” Emily had scanned the perimeter and there was no sign of her daughter.
“I pushed her to the ground when the shooting began. She should be here.” Wayne looked around frantically.
“We need to get out of here before the cops arrive. Everyone split up. We need to find Kendra,” Emily ordered.
She tucked her firearm into the holster and broke into a run. She headed for the white building in front of her. Running up the steps, she was keenly alert of everything going on. The gunshots had set people in a panic and there were people running every which way. But she had her eyes trained to search for just one person. She got to the top of the building and ran inside. There was no sign of the girl there. Some instinct she could not identify had her running out once more. This time she made her way around the building. She had just turned a corner when she came to a halt.
Emily stood still, her heart thudding in her chest. The
n cautiously she took a step forward. Then another. But the girl stood still, standing in front of one of the large white pillars. Her eyes were trained on Emily and filled with fear. Something was very wrong.
“Stop,” the girl said, finally speaking.
Emily stopped moving.
“Are you Emily, my mom?”
Emily tried to speak past the lump in her throat but could not form the words. So she nodded instead.
Her eyes devoured every inch of the girl. From her hair to her face. She was going to be tall like her dad, but there was no mistaking who it was.
“I am Emily, your mom,” she said at last.
She saw the girl’s eyes fill with emotion. Then she blinked back the tears and her face was once more an emotionless mask. But Emily had seen the crack.
“Then you’ll have to come with me.”
Emily frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“There’s someone pointing a gun to my head right now. If you don’t come with me, she’s going to shoot and I don’t want that to happen. I’m kinda attached to my head.” The ghost of a smile touched her lips and was gone.
Emily’s heart melted at the attempt at humor. She’d heard the slight tremor in Kendra’s voice and knew that even though she appeared put-together, she must have really been terrified. She reached for her firearm but paused when she saw Kendra rapidly shake her head.
“Please don’t do that. She said you would and she would shoot us both if you do. Just come with me…please.” Her voice broke then.
Emily nodded and dropped her hand.
“Do you want me to walk towards you?” When the girl nodded, Emily slowly walked towards her. “What now?” she asked when she was standing right by her.
Kendra stared into her eyes and Emily saw the same hunger she’d carried in her heart for so long.
“Come with me.”
Kendra turned and Emily followed. Just then she heard a noise and reached for her weapon.
Silver Shield Security Box Set Page 110
