Chapter 66
CHAPTER
SIXTY-SIX
The helicopter lifted off, and Natalie watched through the window as the ground fell away beneath them. The helipad grew smaller, then the terminal buildings, then the whole complex became just another piece of the sprawling urban landscape.
They were heading south over the water, just as her father had said.
Away from whatever was about to happen.
Except—
“We’re not gaining altitude,” Natalie said, noticing how low they were flying. “Shouldn’t we be climbing to cruising height?”
Her father didn’t answer. Instead, he stared at Dimitri with an expression Natalie had never seen before—confusion mixed with something that looked like betrayal.
“Dimitri,” her father said. “Why are we turning east?”
The helicopter banked, and through the window Natalie saw they were following the coastline, heading back the way they’d come.
Back toward Norfolk. Back toward—
“We’re not going to Italy.” Dimitri sounded calm as he pulled a handgun from inside his jacket and pointed it casually in their direction. “Change of plans.”
Natalie’s heart stopped. “What are you doing, Dimitri?”
“My job.” Dimitri spoke to the pilot in Russian, and the helicopter adjusted course again.
Wait . . . they were both in on this.
They’d planned this in advance.
And her father had no idea he’d be betrayed by the very people he’d hired.
A vein popped out at his temple as he scowled at Dimitri and the pilot.
“Whatever you think you’re going to get away with, you won’t,” he barked.
“We’ll see about that,” Dimitri muttered.
“Who do you work for? Volkov?”
Dimitri remained quiet.
Now they were heading directly toward the commercial port—toward the massive container yards and cargo ships Natalie saw in the distance.
“You work for me!” her father yelled. “I trusted you. For five years, I trusted you.”
“You trusted wrong.” Dimitri’s expression remained neutral, professional.
The pieces clicked together in Natalie’s mind with horrible clarity. Dimitri wasn’t her father’s loyal security chief.
He was a spy. A double agent who’d been feeding information to her father’s enemies for years.
“The break-in at my house,” Natalie whispered as she stared at Dimitri. “The car that ran me off the road. The men that chased me in the boat. They were your men.”
“We needed more leverage against your father.” Dimitri shrugged. “We were going to grab you and hold you hostage to make sure we got what we wanted. It didn’t work out.”
“How dare you!” Her father’s voice rose, anger and fear mixing.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know.” Dimitri smirked before gesturing with his gun toward the approaching port.
“What does that mean?” Natalie’s mind scrambled to make sense of his words.
Her father turned toward her. “They have leverage over me. I’ve done things I shouldn’t have done. But I’ve never been a killer, Natalie. You’ve got to believe me.”
“Tell her what you have done,” Dimitri muttered.
Her father’s gaze darkened. “I have turned a blind eye to certain things in exchange for kickbacks. They found out. Used that knowledge to get me to do what they want.”
“Who is they?” she asked.
His gaze darkened even more. “I don’t know. I never saw any faces. Everything was by phone.”
“Now you get to watch everything play out,” Dimitri said. “You wanted to flee the area before the attack? Instead, you’ll have front-row seats. By tomorrow morning, tens of thousands will be dead.”
Bile rose in Natalie’s throat. “You’re insane. My father would never—”
“Your father already did! His shipping company. His routes. His contacts. His warehouse. All the pieces are in place, and Padrone simply . . . borrowed them.” Dimitri smiled coldly. “The Americans will spend years blaming Richard Ravenscroft while the real architects of Sigma disappear.”
“Padrone?” Natalie asked.
“Our leader.”
The helicopter descended toward the port, where Natalie could now see activity—men unloading drums from a ship, with vehicles positioned strategically. It was the organized chaos of an operation in motion.
“Please.” Her father’s voice wavered with desperation. “Not Natalie. Whatever you’re planning to do with me, let her go. She’s innocent in this.”
“No one is innocent.” The helicopter touched down on a cleared area near the pier. “Besides, Padrone wants you both here. Wants you to see what your betrayal has cost. Wants your daughter to watch you realize you failed to protect her after all.”
“Who is this Padrone guy?” Natalie asked. “What’s his name?”
Dimitri smirked. “You’ll see.”
“Are you with Sigma?” she continued.
“I think you already know that answer.”
Yes, Natalie thought. He was definitely Sigma.
The rotors began to slow. Through the window, Natalie saw armed men approaching.
And there, waiting at the base of the pier, stood a thirtysomething man in expensive clothes. Even from a distance, Natalie could see the cruel satisfaction on his face.
Padrone . . . that had to be him. Sigma’s leader had come here himself to make sure this plan worked.
She squinted as the man came closer. Something about him seemed familiar.
No . . . it couldn’t be. Was it?
“Is that . . .?” she started. “Is that Jonathan Rutter?”
“Jonathan?” her dad repeated. “That’s not Jonathan.”
As he continued closer, his features became clearer. “It most certainly is. He’s the man I went on that date with, the one you encouraged me to go out with.”
“Then you went out with the wrong man. That man is a sales consultant.”
The blood drain from Natalie’s face.
If that wasn’t Jonathan, then who was he? Probably Padrone, but beyond that? He was definitely more than a sales consultant.
An idea slammed into her mind.
Could this be the man Hudson had mentioned? The one he’d seen in the office? He’d called him Brass.
He fit the description—minus the beard. His face was now clean-shaven.
As the man continued his slow stride toward them, Natalie turned back to Dimitri. “The attack is happening tomorrow, isn’t it? You’re loading these chemicals into vehicles to disperse the nerve agent more widely.”
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to move the timeline up. We’ve equipped the vans with a special machine that will mix and disperse the chemical. It will really be quite efficient.”
“You can’t do this! Too many innocent lives will be lost.”
Dimitri grinned. “And you’ll both be here to experience it. To understand that all your father’s attempts to stop Sigma accomplished nothing except ensuring his own daughter would die alongside thousands of others.”
The helicopter’s door opened, and cold air rushed in, carrying the smell of diesel fuel and chemicals.
Dimitri gestured with his weapon. “Out. Both of you. Don’t make me shoot you before Padrone has his chance to gloat.”
Natalie’s father met her eyes, and she saw devastation there.
All his secrets, all his suspicious behavior—he’d been in too deep.
He’d wanted to protect her. Instead, he’d inadvertently led his daughter directly into the attack zone.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as armed men surrounded them. “Natalie, I’m so sorry.”
But sorry wouldn’t stop the vehicles from dispersing this nerve agent. Sorry wouldn’t save the thousands of people about to die.
And sorry wouldn’t change the fact that she and her father were now hostages at ground zero of a terrorist attack, with no way out and no one coming to save them.
Jake killed the SUV’s lights as they continued to assess the situation.
Hudson stared at the area in front of them.
The commercial port sprawled across hundreds of acres—massive container yards, towering cranes, ships the size of city blocks.
“There.” Maverick pointed toward Pier 19. “A helicopter just landed.”
Hudson leaned forward from the back seat, his eyes scanning the scene. The helicopter sat on a cleared area near the pier, cockpit dark and empty. But surrounding it were vehicles that didn’t belong—white commercial vans and men darting between shipping containers.
“Count?” Jake asked.
“At least six vans that I can see,” Atlas said, adjusting the tactical binoculars. “Probably more we can’t see. And I’m counting twelve armed men. The scene is organized. This is definitely the target location.”
Hudson’s phone buzzed. Colton.
10 minutes out. Hold steady.
Ten minutes. They’d already burned ten minutes getting here, and Colton’s team was still ten minutes away.
That meant Natalie had been at the mercy of whoever was running this operation for twenty minutes.
Resolve hardened in his muscles. “We can’t wait.”
“I know,” Jake replied. “Which is why we’re gearing up.”
Atlas was already pulling weapons from the tactical bags in the back—rifles, spare magazines, body armor. He tossed a vest to Hudson.
“Perimeter fence looks standard chain-link,” Atlas observed. “Guard station at the main entrance, but there’s a service gate on the north side. Probably our best entry point.”
“K9 units?” Hudson strapped on the vest despite the protest from his bruised ribs.
“Negative.” Jake checked his weapon, chambered a round.
Hudson grabbed the rifle Atlas offered him, the familiar weight settling something in his chest. He wasn’t unarmed anymore. Wasn’t alone.
“Okay,” Jake said. “We go in quiet and establish positions.”
“And if quiet doesn’t work?” Atlas asked.
“Then we make enough noise to keep them distracted until Colton arrives with the cavalry.” Hudson met both men’s eyes. “But either way, we’ve got to stop this.”