Shattered Lies (Web of Lies #3)(65)

“Agent Cromwell, what do you have?” Kirby looked to the right and solemnly nodded his head at her. “Lizzy. I was surprised to hear you were here.”

Cromwell noticed the informality but didn’t say anything. Instead, he briefed Kirby and handed him the papers Roxie had given him. Kirby’s eyes widened, and Lizzy knew he was putting it all together. The missing bomb he and Senator Epps were looking for, Phylicia’s death, Sandra’s disappearance, and Orson Benning initiating the beginnings of a military coup. He looked at Lizzy and then back to Cromwell. “Did she give these to you?”

“No, sir. I don’t know who the person was. An attractive young woman with glasses and multiple ear piercings gave them to me.”

“The president is close behind me. We need to show him this and then act. I’ve had reports of Benning waiting to get here to hold a press conference. If this pans out, we’ll arrest him for treason. In the meantime, get a judge to give us a warrant for Manuel Hernandez. Do it all yourself. I don’t want any of this leaking out.”

“Yes, sir.” Cromwell shot off with his phone to his ear.

“Now, would you like to tell me what’s going on?” Kirby asked as he grabbed Lizzy’s arm and pulled her away from her team. Lizzy smiled as Grant and Valeria simply followed.

“We were just in the right place at the right time and were able to help evacuate the area.”

“Bullshit.”

Lizzy shrugged. “We’ve given our statements. You know we didn’t plant the bomb. It was a person named Brandon Locke. Never heard of him, but Cromwell knew who I was talking about. I believe we’ve done our civic duty. I need to get back home. I have a bar to run after all, and you know how those FBI and DEA trainees get when they don’t get their drinks on their nights off.” Lizzy looked to Grant and Valeria as they heard another helicopter approaching. “Let’s go.”

“James,” Kirby called in a warning voice.

“If you have any questions, you know where to find me,” Lizzy yelled back with a wave of her hand. “Birch is arriving. We can’t be seen with him. It was enough that he asked to talk to me, but there can’t be any photos of us together,” she said softly to her team.

“Alex is waiting for us. Dude, his hacker girl is hot,” Grant whistled.

Valeria smacked him on the back of the head. “Dude?”

“It’s contagious,” Lizzy smiled. “I need to tell you what Birch told me. We have orders. But to pull off my plan, I need to get back to Quantico.”

“Then let’s go,” Valeria stated, pulling out her phone and calling Crew.

“You can call someone, but you can’t call me? Dude . . . Roxie and I have been worried sick,” Alex called out, running toward them as Valeria told Crew to pick them up at the top of Sebastian’s hotel. “Where’s Dalton and Jason?”

Their faces must have told him the answer. “No,” Alex whispered.

“Jason saved us. Dalton is escorting his body back to DC,” Lizzy told him as Roxie took Alex’s hand in hers.

“What can I do?” she asked in a soft British voice.

“If I turn a phone on that has a GPS tracker on it, can you both trace who is receiving the GPS coordinates?” Lizzy asked as they began their trek toward Sebastian’s hotel.

“Sure. Think of it this way,” Roxie said as Grant slung his arm around Alex and began talking to him, “if someone can access the phone to see where it is, then we can use the phone to access who is snooping around on it. You just need to know what you’re doing.”

“And you know what you’re doing?” Valeria asked. “You’re like, twenty.”

“Twenty-two, and I’ve been doing reverse hacks since primary school.” Roxie winked and Valeria grinned.

“I like her. And she doesn’t say ‘dude.’” Valeria grinned before slapping Alex’s back. “Come here, dude.” Val wrapped her arms around Alex as the others walked on. “We’re family, and it hurts when we lose our family. But we need you now. Do you think you can help us bring the rest of these bastards down?”

“You bet I can.”



* * *



Birch stepped off Marine One like a man possessed. He had wrapped his ribs and would be damned if he’d even flinch because of the pain. Right now the country was about to learn he wasn’t a president who bent to pressure. Tate had called, and the press release was ready. Flint was also working on a piece that would be released shortly after he decimated Governor Orson Benning.

Kirby approached him as Humphrey kept anyone else from getting close. Humphrey motioned to his Secret Service team to keep people back, and they formed a large circular barrier around him, Humphrey, and Kirby. “Have you been briefed on Orson?”

“Fill me in,” Birch ordered, hoping the information Alex had found actually made it through the wheels of justice.

Kirby told him of the information and even added that Agent Cromwell of the New York office already had a warrant for both Orson and Manuel Hernandez’s arrest. “I wanted to ask you first, but it’s a clear case of treason on Orson’s part. We have Hernandez on bribing a public official, wire fraud, and money laundering. Of course, being in Mexico has problems. We can ask for extradition.”