The Rescue(100)

“Ma’am. It pains me to say this, but I think Frist was involved, too. There was nothing anyone could have done to bring your daughter back after they grabbed her.”

“I don’t believe that,” she hissed. “Decker found her. She died in that house because he waited too long!”

“She was never supposed to be in that house,” said Reeves. “She was supposed to be dead and vanished shortly after her abduction. The Russians kept her for leverage when they realized she was your daughter. Decker was never meant to find her.”

“Reeves,” she said firmly, abandoning his first name on purpose.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I’m going to hang up and forget you called. I owe you that much,” she said. “But I don’t ever want to hear from you again. Is that clear? You’re so far out of line here, my head is spinning.”

“I made this call, understanding perfectly well that we may never speak again. But I firmly believe you’ve been betrayed, and I’m willing to risk our friendship to warn you.”

Steele took a deep breath and exhaled, forcing herself to think about the lunacy he’d just shared with her, rather than simply ending the call. Based on her numerous interactions with Reeves, she believed that he wouldn’t do something like this to her unless he felt sure he had enough evidence to support his allegations. She’d give him a chance to explain himself.

“Joe. You have five minutes.”

Forty minutes later, she ended the call—her hands shaking. Senator Steele felt her world collapsing again. She didn’t want to believe anything Reeves had told her, but deep down, she knew it was true. Despite the rage building inside, she had no intention of accepting his allegations without concrete proof, which he admittedly did not possess. She’d sift through the documents he’d emailed to her government account and decide how far she was willing to go along with Reeves’s plan to learn the truth.

Steele wiped the tears from her face and dialed Julie Ragan, her chief of staff.

“I was just about to call you,” said Julie. “The car is ready. I let our point of contact at tonight’s event know that we’re running—”

“Julie?” said Steele. “We have to cancel tonight’s engagement. The whole night, actually. Something has come up.”

“Not a problem. I’ll let them know,” said Julie. “Is there something I can do for you? Is everything all right?”

“I need you in my office right away.”

Ten seconds later, Julie Ragan opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind her. Steele stared at the family portrait mounted to the wall behind her desk, finally acknowledging Ragan’s arrival with a nod. She stood up and approached Julie, who looked alarmed.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” said Steele.

“No worries at all. I just know you were really looking forward to getting together with your friends for dinner.”

“I was, but . . .” She trailed off. “I need you to do me an unusual favor.”

“Absolutely,” said Ragan. “Whatever you need.”

“I need to know where Senator Frist is headed this weekend. He said he was going out of town, but that’s all I know.”

“I’ll look into it and get right back to you. Anything else?”

She shook her head. As Ragan started for the door, Steele stopped her.

“And Julie?” said Steele. “I don’t care what you have to do to get this information.”





PART FOUR





CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Gunther Ross tightened his grip on the strap hanging above him as the tactically modified Sikorsky S-76D banked west and dived for the Santa Monica Hills. His stomach pitched until the pilot leveled the helicopter and straightened on their final course to the target.

“One minute!” yelled the copilot.

Gunther scanned the Sikorsky S-76D’s passenger compartment. His seven-operator team wore basic plate carriers over comfortable civilian clothes, emphasizing speed and mobility over restrictive protection. He expected the team to be in and out of the house in less than two minutes, encountering little to no resistance.

If the shock of a helicopter landing wore off and the occupants resisted, his team would respond accordingly. Gunther had created strict rules of engagement (ROE) for the team to follow, which would hopefully keep key targets alive if the use of lethal force became necessary. Key targets included Mackenzie and her partners, with the primary emphasis placed on taking Mackenzie alive.

Only Gunther could authorize a lethal response against her, no matter what the situation. Without her, they’d have no leverage against Decker. All efforts to locate Decker’s daughter and parents had failed. Lethal force was authorized against her firm partners only as a last resort, and anyone not falling into either of the previous categories was fair game.

The first thirty seconds after the helicopter landed would set the tone for the rest of the mission. If Mackenzie’s crew took up weapons and tried to engage his team, there wasn’t much he could do to prevent her team from being massacred. Each Aegis commando carried a suppressed HK416C assault rifle and six spare magazines. Whatever Mackenzie started would end just as quickly—hopefully she’d survive.

To prevent this combative scenario from unfolding, the first three men out of the helicopter had been tasked with immediately securing the master bedroom, which mission planners back at the operations center had managed to pinpoint using images of the house from an online rental ad.