Chapter 22 The Mayhem Continues #3
“I’ve got something, alright,” she mumbled.
“Sometimes I think it would be so much easier to have a regular job. I was watching the servers at your restaurant. They were chatting with their customers, having fun with each other. At the end of their shift, they leave, and they don’t take their work home with them.
” She sighed. “That sounds like a dream job, but I know that after a few weeks, I’d get restless.
I’d read about a jail break by a bunch of convicts or how a convicted murderer was accidentally released from prison, already killed someone, and is on the run.
I’d find out about a human trafficking ring or killer spies in the US and I’d be ready to jump back in the game.
Being a sharpshooter and chasing the monsters is what I was born to do. I just need to find the balance.”
“Well said, Sydney. Maybe that’s my job, to help you find balance.”
She barked out a laugh. “You? You’re just as much of a workaholic as I am, and you love it just as much. I’m confident we’ll burn down the city to clear out the predators, then move on and do the same thing somewhere else.”
“Nope,” he said. “I think we should take the afternoon off and go ring shopping. I’d like us to design an engagement ring.”
She moved onto his lap, put her arm around his shoulder, and kissed him.
“You are amazing. I would love that, but not today. We’ve gotta regroup and focus on this event.
That football game can’t turn into a catastrophe.
Plus, I don’t usually wear rings because I’m concerned they’d get caught in my guns. ”
“We’ll wear breakaway wedding bands.”
She kissed his forehead. “I love that.” They shared another kiss before she said, “I don’t want a long engagement. I know we haven’t been together that long, but—”
He stopped her with a kiss as he folded his arms around her. “I’d marry you today. I know you’re my person.”
“How?”
“There’s the obvious,” he began. “You’re gorgeous, very smart, and we have similar work ethics. Family is super important to me, same for you. Those are things I can check off a list, if I had one. But there’s one fact that stands out.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m my most authentic self around you. I’m more comfortable with you than with anyone else. Being with you feels solid.”
She smiled. “I totally get that, one hundred percent. We just click. That might not sound romantic, but it’s true.
I like you… a lot. I think that’s something couples don’t think about.
They get caught up in the love or the gaga phase or the sex.
Yes, those are all amazing, but I genuinely like being with you. ”
They shared another kiss before she scrambled off. “I’m changing outta these fatigues, then we’ve gotta come up with a plan for the game.”
In the doorway, she turned back. “I’ma need help washing my back in the shower. Interested?”
He pushed out of the chair. One step at a time, he made his way over to her, placed his hands on the sides of her soft face, and kissed her. “Hell, yeah.”
“I thought you might,” she said with a gleam in her eyes.
FRIDAY MORNING, while they were packing their SWAT gear for Saturday’s football game, Teddy checked the private chat rooms on the Dark Web for a response from the terror cell.
“Whoa, Sydney, we got a reply to the pics of the fuel truck explosion.”
She stopped packing. “Read it to me.”
“It says, ‘When we bring our wrath on the US, the world will see our true power.’ There’s a GIF of President Garrison’s swearing-in four years ago, along with a burning US Flag.”
A growl rumbled out of her.
“I’m taking a screenshot and sending it through the portal to Greystone,” Teddy said. “He’s gotta let the President know.”
In the hangar, they loaded their overnight bags. Sydney had packed her rifles—the HK416 and the MK12—along with her 9mm SIG Sauer and her 9mm Walther. “I feel like I’m headed into war.”
“We kinda are,” he said. “I asked Evelyn to get us a tour of the stadium and to sync up with their head of security.”
Sydney pulled a black cap onto her head. “What about Secret Service?”
“Greystone’s arranging a briefing with their lead agent,” Teddy replied. “He and Caroline are getting to the stadium the same time we are.”
The drive to Baltimore was filled with music from their playlists, but very little talking. At one point, he glanced over. Sydney was staring at a layout of the stadium on her phone.
“You okay over there?” he asked.
“There are so many points between when the President exits his vehicle and arrives at the stadium box where he’s vulnerable.
Even with security posted everywhere, Haqazzii and his men could be dressed as law enforcement or even as a vendor.
All the West Point and Naval Academy students will be in their uniforms, so it’ll be super easy to blend in. ”
“They might not even be there,” he said.
“Who did the Prez invite today?”
Seconds later, he had Evelyn on the phone.
“Tank, I was just typing a text to you guys about dinner,” Evelyn said.
“Sounds great,” Teddy replied. “Can you tell Sydney and me who’s sitting in the box with President Garrison during the game?”
“Thanks for reminding me. You and Sydney need to be at the White House at oh-seven-hundred tomorrow morning. We’re flying to Baltimore via helicopters.”
“Sydney and I are driving up today,” Teddy said. “We’re meeting with security and Secret Service. Greystone and Caroline too.”
“Thanks for going the extra mile.”
“So, who did the President invite to sit in the box with him?” Teddy repeated.
“His family, the Vice President and family,” she replied. “Several cabinet heads and close friends from across the political aisle.”
He and Sydney exchanged glances.
“Anyone else?” Teddy asked.
“We had to secure two more luxury suites. NATO is finishing up a meeting in DC, so he invited several members and their traveling families. He also had a last-minute add of three presidents of global tech companies.”
“That’s just great,” Sydney muttered, her words dripping with sarcasm.
“It’s going to be fine,” Evelyn said.
“Will you be there?” Teddy asked her.
“No, Sean and I will be cheering from our living room. I know you’ll be working, but try to enjoy the game. It’s always so exciting to watch.”
Teddy thanked her and hung up.
As the city of Baltimore came into full view, Teddy glanced over at Sydney. Her skin was sallow, she was staring straight ahead and shaking her head.
“Do you think Evelyn will change her mind when she sees the message and the GIF I sent Greystone?” Teddy asked.
“I don’t think it matters what she does,” Sydney bit out. “Muhammad Haqazzii has a group of powerful people sitting in those boxes liked caged birds. This is not good. Not good at all, and we’re completely powerless to stop it.”
Despite their situation, Teddy wasn’t afraid. Fear didn’t course through his veins. Determination and grit did.
“We got this,” he said as he took the off-ramp, en route toward the massive football arena.
“I hope you’re right,” she said, “because I feel like we’re at a huge disadvantage going into this.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing. They don’t know we’ll be there and they haven’t beaten us yet.”
He wanted that to be true, but Sydney was right. This time, they were at a clear disadvantage. They had no idea if Haqazzii and his men were coming and, if they were, how they’d take the President and his high-profile guests out.
SYDNEY
Sydney couldn’t sleep. Sex with Tank took her to her happy place, but twenty minutes later, she was back in full-on obsessive mode. She’d tried yoga. That didn’t calm her. She meditated on a mantra that always eased her to slumberland, but that didn’t work either.
At four-thirty in the morning, she was still too wired to sleep. She paced in their hotel suite, then sat by the window staring out at the sleeping city.
“Babe,” Tank said. “Let me hold you.”
She crawled in, snuggled close. When he held her, she took a deep breath, releasing some of the tension she’d been holding.
“Sydney, we’ve been brought in to do our jobs, along with dozens of others. Some will be selling burgers and fries, some will be guarding the President and his guests. Everyone in that crowd will be focused on the Army-Navy football game being played out on the field.”
“This is life or death,” she whispered. “It’s so final. It’s not like a job where there’s a do-over.”
“The President and his guests know their careers put them in the public arena. It’s a risk of the position they’re willing to take.”
“Check the private chat groups for another message,” she said.
He retrieved his laptop, sat propped against pillows in bed. Leaning against his shoulder, she peered over. There were a lot more chat rooms than she’d realized and, as Tank gained access to each of them, he showed her that nothing new from the terror cell had been posted.
“Wait,” she said pointing to a sidebar conversation. “What are those?”
“That’s where others can comment on something, like the GIF they posted.”
“Scroll back.”
As he did, she skimmed the comments. The ones from people who hated democracy alarmed her, their rhetoric filled with evil, wishing horrific things on innocent souls.
She paused to read an especially long entry. “What do you make of that one?”
It was a poem.
A longstanding game where rivals run with a ball.
They tumble and fumble and cheer with them all.
The stands will be filled with thousands of fans,
Who witness the fall of a so-called great land.
When the heart of the lion beats no more,
America will whimper, not growl and roar.
The world will stand by as the superpower falls,
And the might of a few grow stronger than all.
Be prepared to witness a shocking tale,
As a nation of terror takes claim over all.
“Ohmygod,” she rasped. “They’re coming for us.”
“And they’re coming today,” he ground out.
As he jumped on the portal, she flew out of bed to get ready. She needed to get to the stadium and prepare for the fight of her life.
As muscle memory kicked in, her heart rate slowed.
Her blood pressure started dropping, and her breathing leveled out.
She’d been anxious because she hadn’t known.
Now that she had her answer, she could move forward.
Confident in the people hired to protect, confident in the team she’d been assigned to work with, but more than either of those, she was confident in herself.
I can do this. I know I can.