Hot Ice (A Hostile Operations Team Novel - Book 7) Page 23

  Cars moved along the streets, and people still walked the sidewalks at this time of night. As they approached the monument, Colonel Mendez spoke. “Give me your hand, Grace.”

  She did as he said. His hand was warm, though he wasn’t wearing gloves and she was. She could feel the heat burning off him, but his touch didn’t make her sizzle deep inside the way Garrett’s did. It was a companionable touch, nothing more. He held her hand lightly, and she knew he did it so they would appear to be an ordinary couple out for a stroll.

  He wasn’t wearing his uniform like earlier. He’d changed into jeans, a leather jacket, and a ball cap. He didn’t look very military at the moment, though he did manage to look menacing. Like Garrett, she supposed.

  They walked up the steps to the memorial, and he stopped and turned to look out over the Tidal Basin. The water shimmered darkly in the night, its smooth surface rippling with the currents from the Potomac. The Washington Monument was reflected in the water along with the lights of nearby buildings.

  But it was still a dark, forbidding pool.

  “What happens now?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

  “We wait. If they want this trade badly enough, they’ll come.”

  *

  You have to do something.

  Garrett was still thinking about what the hell he could possibly do when Black’s cell phone rang. After a clipped conversation, he spoke in Russian to the man driving. The van slowed and did a U-turn before heading south again at a fast clip.

  Another few minutes and they were swinging onto Lee Highway, heading toward the district. The van pulled up behind the Jefferson Memorial, and Black swung around to look at the American who’d cuffed Garrett in the first place.

  “Uncuff him. You and Dmitri stay here with the girl. If anything goes wrong, get the fuck out of here.”

  “What do we do with the girl if things don’t go as planned?”

  Black shrugged. “Get rid of her.”

  Brooke sucked in a gasp, and Garrett wanted to punch the asshole. In another minute, he’d be free and he could do just that.

  Except that it would cost Brooke her life, which meant he wasn’t doing it after all. No, he needed to stay calm, buy them every minute he could in hopes they’d be rescued.

  The man who’d cuffed him reached into his pocket and pulled out the key. He unlocked the cuffs, and Garrett snapped them open just so the guy would jump.

  Black got out of the van along with two of the other guys. They hauled Garrett out and shoved him toward the walkway that would take them around the memorial to the side facing the Tidal Basin.

  He could hear Brooke crying just as the door to the van slammed shut.

  “You don’t need to hurt her,” Garrett said. “She’s done nothing.”

  “Don’t worry about her. Worry about you.”

  “Too bad we didn’t shoot your ass in Qu’rim. Accidentally, of course.” He no longer cared if Ian Black knew that he’d recognized him for what he was.

  Black snorted. “You fuckers did enough in Qu’rim. Now behave, or Miss Sullivan will die.”

  They rounded the monument and walked toward the water. There were tourists about, but no one paid them any attention. Garrett’s gaze slid over the terrain, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Looking for Grace.

  He wished like hell he knew what HOT was up to. It was hard not being on the inside, but he trusted his team. Trusted them with his life… and with Grace’s.

  A couple started down the stairs, a man in a ball cap and a woman in a hoodie. They were holding hands, which was what threw Garrett off when he first looked at them. He was drawn to the woman inexplicably—and then he realized it was Grace when she moved her head and the light glinted off her glasses.

  His gaze slid to the man. Colonel Mendez’s hard gaze stared back at him as they descended. It was a surprise to see him, but then again maybe it wasn’t. Colonel Mendez didn’t get involved in operations for the most part, but since guarding Grace had been his project from the beginning—and a powerful senator was involved—he was more personally involved than usual.

  Garrett’s gaze went to their linked hands, and his lips tightened. It was an act, of course, but he found that it made his stomach churn.

  “Gentlemen,” the colonel said, and Garrett’s captors tightened up around him.

  Except for Black, who stood apart and faced Mendez.

  Grace’s eyes widened as she recognized Ian Black. Garrett hated that look of betrayal on her face, but he’d tried to warn her about the man. She hadn’t wanted to believe him.

  “Hello, Colonel. Grace.”

  “Ian. I admit I’m a bit surprised. And disappointed.”

  Garrett could have laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious. Grace sounded like a queen. A very disappointed queen with a prim voice and more breeding in her little finger than the lot of them had in their entire bodies combined. She was beautiful. Fierce and brave and beautiful, and his chest swelled with longing.

  He wanted more than anything to sweep her away from this mess, to prevent her from knowing just how rotten her fellow man could be.

  Too late. She now knew that old friends were sometimes the devil in disguise. That people could turn on you when the incentive was strong enough.

  “A man’s gotta eat, Gracie. I’m sorry. But I promise you’ll be fine. Just come with us, help my friends out a little bit, and no one will get hurt.”

  She snorted. “No one will get hurt? Ian, you have no idea what you’re messing with—what could happen if you let this hypothetical thing loose in the world. It won’t go where you tell it. It won’t discriminate.”

  Ian Black’s head lifted. “I could say the same to you. Did you stop to think about that before you created it? About what could happen if you succeeded?”

  Grace’s throat moved, and her gaze dropped for a split second. Then she was glaring at Ian again. “I didn’t create anything. I failed. That’s the truth. I falsified the results, but the lab was so happy with me that I couldn’t back down without losing everything I’d ever worked for.”

  Black stared at her for a long moment. Then he laughed. “Nice try, Gracie. But I don’t believe you.” He turned his attention to Mendez. “I’ll take Dr. Campbell, Colonel. As soon as I’m in my car with her, I’ll call my men and they’ll turn over Spencer.”

  Mendez’s mouth was a hard, flat line. “That doesn’t sound like a plan I’m going to agree to.”

  “I’m not sure you have a choice. My men are armed.” Black seemed irritated more than menacing.

  The colonel’s mouth curled in a smile. “What a coincidence… so are mine.”

  The Tidal Basin erupted.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “DOWN, GRACE!”

  She didn’t know who’d yelled at her—Colonel Mendez or Garrett—but she dropped to her belly and flattened herself against the concrete. Her heart beat a million miles a second as dark-clad men rushed from the Tidal Basin, guns held aloft, water streaming from their bodies. They were wearing rebreathers, which was why there’d been no bubbles. No warning.

  Someone fired a shot, but she wasn’t sure who. She heard the screams of distant voices—tourists on the memorial steps. But she couldn’t look at them.

  Her gaze was caught on Garrett. He was still standing, so she was pretty certain he hadn’t been shot. He whirled and kicked the man on his right. The one on his left brandished a knife, and one of the men who’d come from the water knocked it out of his hand before taking him to the ground with a well-placed kick.

  “Gray van in the parking lot,” Garrett yelled as he straightened from where he’d punched the man he’d been kicking. “They’ve got a hostage!”

  Three of the men started running up the slope toward the parking area. In the distance, sirens wailed, growing closer. Someone had called the police. And no wonder. When a military team exploded from the water and a gunfight broke out at a national monument, it was sure to gain some
attention.

  A helicopter’s rotors beat the night air, and Grace snapped her head up to look at the dark sky. It wouldn’t take long for it to arrive. She dropped her gaze to the area in front of her again, but Garrett wasn’t there. The man he’d taken down was on the ground, along with the other one who’d been holding him, and two men stood over them, guarding them.

  Grace pushed herself up, scanning for Garrett, her heart thudding hard. And then she saw a shape running along the edge of the water, and another shape in front of him, sprinting along the edge. She didn’t know which was which, but the pursuer launched himself and caught the man he was pursuing. The two of them rolled back and forth, and Grace took off at a run. If it was Garrett, she had to help him.

  But someone caught her arm and spun her around. She screamed and then a hard hand clamped over her mouth. It took her a second to realize she was looking up into the dark eyes of Colonel Mendez. She went limp and he let her go.

  “Goddammit, that boy is going to fuck this whole thing up,” he grated out. He whipped his phone to his ear and barked a command into it.

  “You have to help Garrett.”

  “I am helping him, Dr. Campbell.”

  Two men in combat gear flew past them and toward the place where the men rolled on the ground. The helicopter’s lights were visible now, the air beating loudly with its approach. Colonel Mendez looked up with a growl of frustration.

  The lights illuminated the men locked in combat. Garrett and Ian Black punched each other, then dropped back and surged forward again. The men who’d gone to help were nowhere to be seen, and Grace realized they were hanging back because of the helicopter.

  A disembodied voice came over the loudspeaker, telling the men to separate and lie on the ground with their hands on their heads. Garrett and Ian did not comply, however. They kept fighting, rolling and punching and rolling some more.

  Police cars rocketed up the street, and Colonel Mendez took her firmly by the hand and dragged her away from the scene.

  “You can’t leave him,” she gasped, tugging on the colonel’s hand and trying to look over her shoulder at the same time. “You can’t let him get arrested.”

  “What do you think your father will do to me if you get arrested?”

  “I don’t care!”

  “Well, I do. Now come with me so I can untangle this fucking mess before it gets any worse.”

  Just then, several voices shouted over the sound of sirens and the helicopter. Grace turned—and a shot rang out. One of the men on the ground seemed to slump—and then they rolled into the water and out of sight. Grace yanked her hand free and ran toward where Garrett and Ian had fallen into the dark pool.

  The helicopter’s spotlight flicked back and forth over the Tidal Basin, searching. The water rippled and sloshed, but no one appeared. The police surged toward the pool’s edge, guns drawn. Grace stumbled to a stop and put her hand over her mouth, holding back the scream that threatened to break free.

  Her heart leapt into her throat and her stomach boiled. Hard hands grabbed her shoulders gently and turned her away.

  “We have to go, Grace. Now.”

  *

  “The virus,” Grace said once they were in the car and driving away from the scene. “It has to be destroyed.”

  She was numb, but she knew that much. Had Garrett been shot before he’d gone into the water? Or was it Ian who’d been shot? Why hadn’t they come up again when the spotlight searched the water?

  She clasped her hands together and tried not to fall apart. There was no evidence, no proof. She had to be calm. Garrett knew what he was doing. He had a plan.

  “I sent a team. It’s being done now.”

  Grace’s head whipped around. “But you don’t know where to find it. Only I do.”

  “Your computer was remarkably helpful.”

  Grace couldn’t speak. She could only gape at the terrible, beautiful man sitting so calmly in the driver’s seat. She’d told Garrett’s teammates where her computer was hidden when they’d arrived, and she knew they’d retrieved it from the Jeep. It had only been out of her sight for a few minutes—but that was enough, apparently.

  Clearly they’d broken into it and discovered all her secrets. And if they could do that, what could her enemies have done if they’d gotten it instead?

  The colonel sent her a glance. “Don’t look so shocked, Doctor. Destroying that virus is a national priority, and it was best for you not to go back to the lab. My people will destroy it safely and quickly.”

  “I’m stunned. Did you intend to tell me?”

  “Once this was over, yes.”

  “I guess I should be relieved. It can’t hurt anyone now.”

  “No, and all the evidence of it ever existing will be destroyed as well. The men who came for you today won’t attempt it again. I’m sorry, Doctor, but you’re about to be thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the research community.”

  She would have laughed if she weren’t so numb. “I was planning to do that anyway.”

  “Yes, but it’s better if we do it. Seems less like you covering your tracks and more like the truth.”

  Grace swallowed. “I suppose so.”

  But that didn’t really matter to her when compared with what had just happened at the Jefferson Memorial. Garrett might be dead. He’d been fighting with Ian, the police had come, shots were fired—and he was gone. She couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  “Is he dead?” she asked very quietly.

  “I don’t know. I’m working on finding out.”

  She bit down on her lower lip and told herself not to cry. They didn’t know anything yet, and there was no use getting upset until they did.

  “You care about him, don’t you?”

  She nodded.

  He reached over and squeezed her arm. “I care too, believe it or not. For all my troops. They’re like my kids in a way.”

  “I think Garrett’s scared of you.” She couldn’t talk about him in the past tense.

  Mendez laughed softly. “If I’m doing my job right, they all are. But I care about them more than they think I do, and I’ll fight for every last one of them. It’s what I do.”

  She hadn’t paid much attention to where he was driving until she realized they were headed up Capitol Hill.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I’m taking you to your parents’ house.” He glanced at her. “The danger is over now, Grace.”

  Panic slid deep inside her, twisting and coiling like a snake. Staying with her parents after everything she’d just experienced would feel like being wrapped in cotton wool and slowly suffocating.

  “If that’s true, I’d rather go to my own home.”

  “It is true. The details are classified, but trust me, no one is going to bother you now. As for staying with your parents… well, that’s between you and them. I promised to deliver you to your father, and I will.”

  “I need to know what happened to Garrett.” She could hear the panic in her voice, and she was certain he could too.

  “Your things have been delivered to your parents’ house, including your cell phone. You can use it again. I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”

  “Do you promise?”

  He turned onto her parents’ street and came to a stop in front of the elegant Georgian town home on one of the best streets in northeast DC.

  “I promise, Dr. Campbell.”

  The front door was ajar, and her father came striding down the walk. He opened the gate and came over to swing the car door wide. She got out in a daze and stood there while her father bent down and spoke with the colonel.

  The cold air frosted in front of her, making her shiver in spite of the hoodie and her jacket. All she could see was the black water of the Tidal Basin closing over Garrett’s head, taking him away from her forever. Tears filled her eyes, and she swiped them away with her sleeve.

  Her father wrapped his arm around her and propelled her up the walkway. Her
mother stood in the door, her beautiful face concerned and sweet. Grace did something she hadn’t done since she was a child—she fell into her mother’s arms and wept. Her parents mistook her crying for an emotional breakdown over her ordeal and fussed over her quite a bit. She didn’t bother to tell them otherwise.

  Her mother fixed tea and brought some cookies, just like when Grace had been twelve, and her father finally disappeared into his office and took phone calls. She didn’t know for certain, but she suspected those calls were about her.

  She went up to the guest room around one in the morning, but she couldn’t sleep. When her cell phone rang at two, she nearly dropped it before she managed to answer.

  “He’s alive.”

  She clutched the phone tight and pressed a hand to her churning stomach. “Alive is good. But there are degrees to alive, Colonel. I’d like to know which degree we’re talking about.”

  Mendez snorted. “Alive and well, Doctor. Except for the boot I’m about to put in his ass. But he’ll survive that too.”

  “Thank you for letting me know.”

  She sounded brittle. She hoped he hadn’t heard, but of course he had.

  “You’ll be all right, Grace. You’re tough and strong, and you’ll weather whatever difficulties are coming your way. If you weren’t a civilian, I’d want you on my team. We can always use strong, courageous people like you.”

  She knew it was a compliment of the highest order—but she didn’t feel any better as she hung up the phone.

  *

  Garrett was cold, though at least he wasn’t wet anymore. He’d thought he might freeze to death before he was pulled from the water, but the police had found him and Ian Black and dragged them back to the station where they’d given them clothes and made them change.

  Which was how he found himself back at HOT HQ wearing prison duds and shivering while he waited for Mendez to see him.

  “Dude, you need a blanket.” Flash was watching him carefully. They were in the ready room, waiting for Mendez and everyone else to arrive.

  “Yeah, maybe I do,” Garrett replied.

  Flash disappeared and then returned with a blanket that Garrett shook out and wrapped around his body.