Out of the Shadows (Falcon) (21 page)

“What the hell did they want?”

“I don’t know,” Wheeler said. “But my guess is to get that Falcon agent released. And you know the president and Frank Hamilton are good friends. Why else would he allow them to keep sticking their noses in the Secret Service’s business”

“
Why does Davis put up with it?” Ron stated.

Scott put his hands in his pockets.
“We just need President Gomez to keep saying he knows of no Falcon agent in Mexico.”

“Let’s hope he sticks to that.”

“That idiot is in as deep as we are. He’s been planning this for months. Only thing he doesn’t know is he’ll be taken out as well,” Wheeler said.

“Do we have a man in Mexico
standing by to take over the government in his place?”

Scott
chuckled. “Yes. He’ll only be a dummy president who takes his payoffs and keeps his mouth shut.”

“I’ll be glad when this is over.”

“Davis leaves tomorrow. The next day, he and President Gomez will address the crowd with their new plan to cut down on the crime in Mexico, and America will loosen up on securing the borders.”

“Are y
ou traveling with the president?”

“Yes.” Wheeler said. “I’ll personally escort him to his r
oom. And later I’ll be standing close when his head explodes. Then I’ll shoot the Falcon agent, who’s already dead, for assassinating the president.”

“Call me immediately after it’s done.”
Rafferty said.

“Did you line up the sniper?”

“I took care of that myself. Guy’s on his way.”

“What about his escape?”

“The shooter handles everything and doesn’t want us to know details.” Ron looked around. “All you need to know is where the dead Falcon agent will be placed.”

“I still don’t know ho
w the hell you managed to pull Reed into this. He’s a pretty shrewd character. I’ve never known him take chances.”

“Never un
derestimate a stiff dick or a hot young piece of tail.” Ron laughed.

“Amen,” Wheeler said.

They both grinned and shook hands.

“
Make sure everything points back to Ben Reed. I want him buried,” Rafferty said.

***

President Davis buried his face in the palms of his hands. This had been the toughest three years of his life. His family had suffered, and his health had suffered, and now his death might be the end result.

He
’d worked so hard to get in a position where he could do positive things for his country. Make changes that would support the middle class, and help those in need. He wanted a strong America.

A knock sounded at his door. His secretary announced that Ron Rafferty wanted a word with him. He greeted Ron with a smile.

He’d always admired the way Ron dressed and presented himself. He was the most eligible bachelor in the world. He was handsome, charismatic, and powerful. No doubt if Colin didn’t seek another term, Ron would win the party’s nomination for the next presidential race.

Davis wondered if he was a traitor as well.

“I saw Colanglo leaving yesterday.” Ron smiled. “Wasn’t that Frank Hamilton with him?”

“Yes. Along with
Tony Archuletta. They came to talk about their captured agent’s release.”

Ron chuckled and stuck his hands in his pocket
s. “Mexican government says there isn’t a Falcon agent on their soil.”

Davis
grinned inwardly. “Yeah, but we know that’s a lie, don’t we?”

Ron ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know that for a fact, sir.”

Davis faced his Vice President. “You and Reed set that whole thing up on Chavez, didn’t you?” He stepped closer. “How much have you done to make sure no Falcon agent was left behind?”

“We checked with all our sources.” Ron’s v
oice sounded desperate.

“You h
ave bad sources, Ron. Tony Archuletta told me they have proof Chavez holds one of their agents.”

Ron
paled. “I don’t know anything about that.”

Davis looked out at the west lawn. “I’m thinking about sending troops in there and surrounding Oscar Chavez’s compound and bring
ing out every person alive.”

“I
wouldn’t do that, if I were you.”

Colin
turned and looked at Ron. He didn’t look so handsome now. Worried, yes, but the good looks were gone, replaced by a power-hungry politician.

“Why?”
Davis asked.

“
We don’t want to upset the Mexican government. President Gomez could see that as an attack on his country.”

“He could. But if we found a
Falcon agent had been taken prisoner, then what could he say? That he didn’t know? That he was harboring him for some reason? Or that he was only doing what Chavez told him to do?”

Ron grew uncomforta
ble. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“Were you concerned when you and Reed called Falcon
Securities in on the raid? Were you concerned about Gomez then? I haven’t heard a word from him about that. Have you?”

“No, but I think he knows we had no choice in the matter. Chavez was
becoming an international problem.”

“What’s he now?”

Apparently Ron couldn’t say anything and that greatly saddened Davis. Somehow the young man he’d pulled out of the cornfields of Iowa was in on his assassination plans.

“You may go, Ron.”

***

Monique w
alked into the restaurant, saw her brother and immediately made her way to his table in a discrete corner, where their conversation wouldn’t be overheard.

She tossed her purse in
the empty chair, ordered a glass of wine, and looked at her brother. “What do you want?”

“Qasim
sent me to check on you.”

“Why?
I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to do. I’m fucking every man in sight.”

When her wine came, she smiled a
t the waiter, snatched up the glass, and drank half of the contents.

“Do you have the VP willing to marry you like we planned?”

“He’s coming around.”

“We need to know you can pull this off. If you can’t then we
’ll find a replacement.”

Fighting back tears of disappointment, she stared at
the brother she had once loved. “You would replace your sister so easily?”

H
e looked straight into her eyes, his face devoid of all emotion, sympathy or understanding. “Yes.”

“I’m insulted.”

“No, you are a vain little American girl who is not getting her way.” He pointed his finger at her and leaned closer. “You are part of something bigger than you. You are here to help Youssef el el Jibar destroy this country from within.”

“I have done all you ask
ed.”

“I ask
ed you to make the man fall in love with you and marry you.” He gritted his teeth. “Have you done that?”

“I’m sure when the time comes he will marry me.”

Her brother, Asad, leaned back and hooked his elbow over the back edge of the chair back. “Last night after he left your bed, he didn’t return home.”

“You followed him?”

“Yes, and you as well.”

“What?”

“Do you think we are stupid, Sibal? Everything hinges on you becoming first lady. If you can’t do that, we have no use for you.”

That crushed her from the inside out. How wonderful to be a woman born in the Middle East where
the female gender was valued less than a goat. She’d never go back to Pakistan. She’d die first.

“Where did he go?”

“Who, the Vice President?”

“Yes.”

“It is none of your business. But if you must know, to the bed of another woman, while you were in bed with another man.”

“I had some information I needed
to get.”

“What information?”

“From the double agent Stone left behind on her last mission.”

“If there was any information we would know it. You are very dangerous.”

“The man, Howard. He said his partner spilled everything to a prisoner that was released two days before we killed Grimes. This prisoner sent Kate Stone a file about me. I could get deported.”

“There is no file. It’s a lie.”

“How do you know?”

“I would have uncovered it by now if it existed.”

“But he claimed...”

“The man was being tortured. He was half out of his mind.”

She shook her head. “Men don’t lie when Abdula interrogates them.”

He took her hand. “Trust me. I checked and
, there is no file.”

She stared into his eyes.
“Benjamin Reed found a file.”

Shock
registered in her brother’s dark features, only to be replaced by curiosity. “What kind of file?”

“One that was only half complete. It was in Kate
Stone’s files. It reported a woman in the White House working for Youssef el el Jibar.”

“Was your name in that file?”

“No, but she knows something.”

“Something she can’t prove. Besides, her boss is angry with her for failing her last mission.”

“They don’t know she actually saved hundreds of American lives.”

“I don’t think she does either,” her brother admitted.

“Whoever Rafferty is seeing besides me, get rid of her.”

“We can’t. It’s a s
enator’s wife.”

Her gut burned with hatred.
She had been betrayed from all sides. For Ron to deceive her like that...

The waiter came
, and she ordered a salad. Always the one with a backup plan, Monique looked at a brother she now hated. She didn’t give a shit about Youssef el Jibar. She wanted to be the First Lady of America, and if anyone stood in her way, she’d destroy them.

Her over
bearing brother would be the first to go.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

After making love and spending the night in each other’s arms, Brody hated the thought of letting Kate go. But he realized they couldn’t stay holed up in the small stucco hut forever. He slowly rose, and Kate stirred. Leaning over, he gently brushed his lips against hers and then smiled. “Good morning,” he murmured in her ear.

Kate sat up a
nd stretched her arms overhead then wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I didn’t want to wake up,” she said. “I had this dream that we were lying on a beach, sipping tropical drinks.”

Brody chuckled. “That’s a dream that’s going to come true.”

Kate chewed her bottom lip, the romantic moment gone. “I have this feeling Oscar is revving up for an attack.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” No matter his feelings for Kate, Brody had to stay in the moment and find a way to get A.J. back. “
I’m worried, too.”

Brody caressed her arm,
hating that A.J. could be getting the hell beat out of him. But, if Tony and Frank were right, A.J. mattered too much for them to harm him badly.

He
forced a smile as Kate looked at him. Gently he brushed her blond hair from her face and kissed her mouth. She tasted warm and sexy as hell. “Why isn’t a beautiful woman like you married?”

She licked her lips
and lowered her lids. “Same reason as you. The job.”

“Yeah, it kind of sucks.”

Her gaze met his and constricted his chest while revving up his heart rate. “The divorce rate in my sector is seventy percent. Those aren’t good odds.”

“I’m not home enough to hav
e much of a stable relationship,” he said, his hand gently cupping her cheek. Brody loved the deep blueness of her eyes. And pretty much everything else about Kate.

“I never considered getting married. When I be
came a CIA agent, I just took for granted it’d never happen. So, I threw myself into my job and never looked back.”

“I was
a Ranger in Special Forces before I joined Falcon. My biggest fear was I wouldn’t be coming home. I’d leave some poor woman behind to raise a family on her own. My mother went through that, and I don’t want my kids growing up without a dad.”

“What happened to your father?”

“He worked a second job as a security guard for a shipping company. One night the old guy went to work and never came back home. It appears he just walked away.”

“Did something happen to him?”

Brody kissed her nose. “No, the police investigated and never found a thing.”

“That sounds strange.”

Brody rolled onto his back and folded his hands behind his head for a pillow. Talking about his dad made him angry and uncomfortable. The deadbeat walked out of their lives, leaving a void nothing could fill.