Chapter Twenty-four

Minutes, hours, the arbitrary measures of existence had no relevance for Cam. All that mattered to her was the woman inside the cabin. She, she was the touchstone, the focus, the foundation of Cam’s life. Until Blair was free, nothing affected her—not the cold, not hunger, not fatigue, not the pain in her bruised ribs or the cramps in her muscles from remaining motionless for so long. When she heard the crunch of footsteps on snow behind her, she didn’t turn. She kept her eyes and her weapon trained on the door that separated her from her world.

“Requesting permission to relieve Agent Hara,” Renee Savard said stiffly.

Cam glanced at her long enough to see that she carried an assault rifle. “Mac informed you we have a hostage situation?”

“Yes. He said you’d brief me on the details.” Renee stared at the cabin. “Egret. Is she injured?”

“Not so far.”

Renee drew a shuddering breath. “Mac said Paula was on duty.”

“Yes.”

“Do we know her status?”

“No.” Cam wanted to comfort her, but it wasn’t the time. For either of them. “But we think she’s injured.”

“Gunshot?”

“Probably.” Cam spared her another quick glance, taking in the pallor beneath her normally golden skin and her wildly dilated pupils. Her stress level was off the charts. “There’s a civilian inside too. Dana Barnett.”

“How long are we going to wait?”

“Not long,” Cam said grimly. “And I can’t afford to have an agent out here who I can’t trust to follow my orders.”

“I’m all right, Commander.”

“And if I tell you that Egret is your priority, your only priority?”

Renee gave a short, curt laugh. “Paula would kick my ass if I handled it any other way.”

“Take Hara’s place. Tell her she will lead the rear team and to check their positions. I want them as close as they can get.”

“Yes ma’am.” Renee pivoted, then stopped. “He doesn’t deserve to leave here alive.”

“I didn’t hear that. Take your post, Agent. Go.”

Silence fell. Sunlight glinted on the pure white snow and Cam blinked to clear her vision in the blinding glare. She agreed with Renee about Matheson’s fate, but she couldn’t give Renee permission to carry out an action that might later weigh heavily on her conscience—or at the very least end her career. Cam had no such concerns. Matheson had made it personal when he sent a team to assassinate Blair, and she would readily bear the responsibility for delivering justice.

Valerie leaned into the back of the lead Suburban and pulled out a flak vest. Mac had given her a thumbnail sketch of what had transpired when she, Renee, and Felicia arrived. She’d traveled from Manhattan in jeans and boots so all she’d needed to do was exchange her coat for a heavy black sweater she had packed in her luggage. She clipped her holster to her right hip and unlocked the ammunition compartment in the rear of the vehicle. She touched her com link. “Mac, have someone collect all the XM84s from the vehicles.”

“Roger.”

Straightening, she gripped her vest in one hand and a rifle in the other. When she turned, she found Diane, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, watching her. Despite her heavy, knee-length winter coat, Diane looked frozen. “You shouldn’t be out here.”

“I heard you were back.” Diane glanced down the slope toward the cabins. “I know you need… I imagine you… God, I can’t imagine what it is you need to do right now. I know it isn’t talking to me, but…”

Valerie quickly strode forward while shifting her rifle beneath the arm which held her vest, and pulled Diane against her. She kissed her, hard, almost desperately. Then she stepped back. “Mac told me you were all right and inside the lodge. I don’t have any time, darling. I need you to go back inside. I need you safe.”

“I love you,” Diane said urgently. “You understand me? I love you. Please, please be careful.”

“I love you too. I’ll be back as soon as we get our people out.” Valerie smiled softly. “Go back inside now. You’re cold.”

“I’ll see you in a little while,” Diane said, gripping Valerie’s hand. “I will see you.”

“Yes.” Valerie backed away, carefully securing Diane’s image in the private place deep inside that comforted her. Then she cleared her mind of love, of fear, of uncertainty, of anything that could distract or deter her, and went in search of Cam.

Cam made the call she knew had to be made.

“Lucinda Washburn.”

“Lucinda, it’s Cameron Roberts. You need to advise the president’s security detail to go to priority one immediately.”

“Why?”

“At oh seven thirty this morning Matheson killed an agent, shot another, entered Blair’s cabin, and took her hostage. I have no indication that this is a part of a larger operation, but we can’t discount it either.”

“Hold on.” After several seconds of silence, Lucinda returned. “A solitary gunman?”

“Yes.”

“What does he want?”

“I don’t know yet, but he clearly plans to negotiate for Blair’s freedom. I suspect he’ll want to talk to the president.”

“Is she hurt?”

“No,” Cam said gruffly, forcing the image of Matheson’s gun against Blair’s temple from her mind.

“I can have a strike team from—”

“No. I have teams in place. I don’t need more people. Right now he thinks he has the upper hand, and I want to keep it that way.”

“She’s the president’s daughter. We have to respond with force.”

“Don’t you think I know who she is?” Cam took a deep breath, trying to rein in her temper. “You can’t send me anyone more qualified than the people I have here. We’re all trained for this. Just make sure that the president is protected.”

“I intend to. I want updates. I can’t promise you anything else right now. The president and his security adviser will have to be notified at the very least.”

“I can promise you this,” Cam said. “I’m not letting anyone jeopardize Blair’s safety.”

“That may not be your call to ma—”

Cam clicked off her phone and shoved it into her pants pocket.

Stark clawed her way to awareness through a thick fog of pain. Her chest burned with every breath and her left leg screamed in agony. The bastard had shot her. Her heart couldn’t beat any faster, but a surge of sick apprehension washed through her. Blair. She groaned and tried to sit up. She managed to prop herself up a few inches.

“Stay still.”

Stark struggled to focus. Dana Barnett leaned over her, her mouth set in a grim line.

“Blair?”

“She’s okay,” Dana murmured.

Stark’s strength deserted her and she collapsed back to the floor. She tried to piece the fragments of images she could recall into a picture that made sense. A gunman had breached their line. Back door. She jerked at the realization that the gunman had to have taken out at least one agent. She groaned and struggled to rise again.

“Don’t,” Dana insisted. “Don’t give him a target.”

“What…what does he want?”

“Something I can do for you?” Matheson said from a few feet away.

“She wants to know what you want,” Dana said, keeping pressure on Stark’s leg as she looked over her shoulder at the man who stood equidistant between her and Blair. If they rushed him simultaneously, he would probably only be able to shoot one of them. However, she couldn’t be sure which one it would be, and she didn’t want to risk the first daughter being gunned down. She caught Blair’s eye and had a feeling Blair was thinking the same thing. “I told you I’m a reporter.” “I recognize your name now. You’re good.” “Then now is your chance to say what you want to say.” “First there’s a little business transaction that I have to take care of.” Matheson punched a number on his cell phone and waited a few seconds. “Phase One completed. I’ll await the call.”

He hung up, pocketed his phone, and leaned with his back against the stone fireplace, his gaze alternating between Dana and Blair. “Let me start by saying I’m a patriot.”

“Yes,” Dana said, careful to keep her tone neutral. “I can see that.”

“Cameron.” Valerie crouched down, her shoulder touching Cam’s. She rested her rifle against the boulder that provided them partial cover.

“Hello, Valerie.”

“How long has it been?”

“Thirty-two minutes,” Cam said without looking at her watch. “Is everyone secured at the lodge?”

“Yes. No secondary force?”

“None that I’ve seen. I have a feeling he plans to deliver her to whoever wants to use her as a bargaining chip. Otherwise, he would have taken her out already.”

“I agree. Up until today, his agenda has been assassination, not kidnapping.”

Cam registered the pressure of Valerie’s arm against hers and felt an infusion of strength—unsought but freely given. Her next breath came just a little easier. “Any ideas on who’s pulling his strings?”

“Foreign interests—probably working with Bin Laden, or allied factions.”

Cam’s stomach spasmed and she swallowed back a wave of nausea. She agreed. The stakes had been raised. Matheson was probably

exactly what he appeared, a deranged but clever domestic terrorist whose alliance with those with far more destructive allegiances had turned him into a lethal adversary. “Recommendation?”

“Two four-man teams, flash-bangs followed by rapid entry.”

“We have three hostages at risk.” What Cam didn’t have to say was that a rescue attempt would likely result in casualties. Even given the five to six seconds of overwhelming disorientation Matheson was likely to experience in the chaos created by a million candlewatt flash of light and a 175 decibel bang, he was certain to open fire. Probably indiscriminately. The assault team would have body armor, but none of the hostages would. “He’ll try to take them out.”

“If we let him leave here with her, her chance of survival drops drastically. Right now, he’s on our turf and he’s outgunned.”

“He’s counting on us not launching a counterattack. He’ll kill her if we do, and he knows we know it.”

Valerie said nothing. Cam wondered if she would make a different decision if the hostage Matheson was most likely to kill wasn’t her lover. She didn’t know. How could she? All she knew was what she felt right now. Helpless. Powerless. Afraid.

Blair listened to Matheson talk, her mind rebelling at the insanity of his diatribe. How could anyone believe that mass murder was justifiable for any reason, let alone love of God and country? She had to remind herself that of course he didn’t make sense, because he was a madman. The frightening thing was that he didn’t look or really even sound crazy, until she absorbed his message of hatred and bigotry. She shivered, not from fear but revulsion.

Dana was amazing, drawing Matheson out with her questions and attention. Somehow she managed to engage him, making him feel as if what he had to say was very important. As if he were very important. As Blair watched and listened, she could see Matheson warm to his topic. His voice and face became more animated. He was truly terrifying in his utter sense of righteousness.

As they talked, Blair realized that Matheson’s focus, even his body position, shifted more and more toward Dana. She had a feeling that Dana knew it too, and suddenly, she understood exactly what Dana Barnett was doing. Dana was making herself the target.

Blair suddenly feared Dana would try to draw Matheson’s fire to give Blair a chance to get away. She couldn’t let that happen. And it wasn’t just Dana she was worried for. Paula continued to bleed and appeared to have lapsed into unconsciousness again. They were running out of time. Time.

Cam wouldn’t wait much longer, Blair was certain of it. Cam would come for her, and when she did, she would be in danger. Too many in danger. Women she loved, men she respected, people risking their lives for her. No more. No more.

She took a breath, emptied her thoughts, prepared herself. She felt calm, at peace. This was right. As it should be. No one should stand between her and evil.

It was her fight, as it always had been. She was not going to let one more person die because of her. She would take him on herself before she let that happen. She eased along the sofa until she was poised on the end closest to him. The distance between them was about six feet. If she pushed off hard and fast and launched a flying kick, she would offer less of a target and she might be able to take him down before he got off more than one shot. If he hit her, the shot would probably be in her leg or shoulder—with luck, nowhere lethal.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 612