Chapter 25
Jeb climbed from the vehicle parked in the scrub brush off a lonely road outside Missoula, Montana. Moving with several other Keepers, they stationed themselves near a hill overlooking an intersection, tasked with keeping a watch on the arrivals of trucks.
During the past week, Skylar had worked with the Keepers and FBI as she turned over all the incriminating evidence and information she had gained. She’d expressed her frustration that some of her information would not be usable. Landon and his superiors went through everything she had gathered. Emails, texts, and even encrypted messages proved that Colonel Spelling was organizing the black market sale of munitions and equipment parts.
According to Landon, not all her evidence would be admissible in court, but he assured her that the FBI had spent years with their eye on Alistair Montague, and she wasn’t the only source of their evidence trail. While other employees were mentioned, Landon explained that Alastair Montague’s lawyers could claim he had no idea the people working directly under him were masterminding a black market munitions operation.
Deciding that it was better to stop them, even if they could not get everyone, the FBI was ready to take down the next shipment.
While this was the FBI’s show, LSIWC had been asked to provide continued intelligence and support. The support was easy. Jeb, Leo, Dolby, Bennett, and Adam provided surveillance and backup on the ground while the FBI covered the munitions plant. The agents also had boots on the ground, and the Keepers were in the area where the shipment would be diverted.
Skylar and Natalie were in a van not too far away. Both were monitoring the situation. Natalie watched the satellite images so she could give the investigators directions. Skylar monitored Colonel Spelling”s encrypted messages.
Jeb hated for Skylar to be involved outside the compound, wishing she was safe at home. He trusted Natalie to take care of her, but the FBI agent driving the van made him nervous. Too much of a rookie. He would have preferred a Keeper to be with them, but Landon”s supervisor insisted that Natalie and Skylar’s involvement needed to be monitored by an agent to ensure everything was by the book.
Now, with everyone in place, they waited. The wind whistled along the flat plains covered in grasses, scrub brush, and low trees. In the dark, he could only make out the silhouette of the mountains in the distance.
Normally, Hop would be with them, giving air support, but he was unable to get to them. Without a Keeper in the air nearby, Jeb had to trust that the FBI had everything under control.
“You okay, man?”
He turned to see Adam nearby.
“Yeah. Just have a feeling… not a good one.”
“Got anything to go on?” Bennett asked.
He shook his head. “Hate that Skylar’s still involved. Hate that we don’t have our own air support. I don’t know,” he growled, also hating to show a vulnerability. “Just hate feeling like this simple takedown could go so fuckin’ fubar.”
Leo approached with a solemn nod. “It fucks with your mind when the woman you love is caught up in it all. The normal ass-kicking energy that we usually go into an assignment with slips through our fingers as we worry about them.”
Jeb locked eyes with Leo, his chest deflating as the air left his lungs, with Leo’s words echoing in his head. Woman you love… woman you love. The truth was undeniable, but he hadn’t admitted it to Skylar. Hell, we only reconnected about ten days ago. But the years they’d known each other at the Bakers’ house had woven a deep bond. He and Skylar shared the same childhood meals, schools, holidays, and experiences. While their adult lives were separate, their past relationship interlaced with the newness of their reunion.
With a heavy nod, he turned his gaze back to the expansive plains and the highway lying before them, bathed in the eerie green glow of his night vision goggles. His eyes methodically swept the area, seeing nothing to report. His attempt to push Skylar back from his thoughts didn’t work. His thoughts drifted to the past week, witnessing Skylar each day at LSIWC as she worked in the conference room, proving how valuable she was in cybersecurity and using her skills to investigate. He could learn much from her and hoped she would stay when the mission was over. But stay where?
She had slept in his bed each night after they made love, their bodies intertwined. They’d shared meals in his kitchen, watched TV in his living room, and sat on the small deck talking for a while each evening. Yet he had been too uncertain to ask her what her plans were. The only thing she’d mentioned was that she wouldn’t go into witness protection. Landon had said Alistair would have no reason to send someone after her once everything was exposed. Since she had no firsthand information on him other than what she’d managed to pull from the computers to share with the investigators, she wouldn’t be a witness.
Jeb was in the dark as to her exact plans after the black market scheme had been taken down. And it was that uncertainty that filled his mind now.
“Trucks have just left the munitions plant.” Jeb startled at the unknown agent’s radioed voice.
“I can track them,” Natalie responded.
“I confirm that the first two trucks are the ones contracted to the Army base in Kansas. The third truck is contracted to the Army base in Texas.” Skylar said. “The last two in the convoy are the ones being sold separately. They should turn off from the highway to meet up with the alternate drivers.”
Hearing Skylar’s voice through the comm-link at the height of a mission sent a grin across Jeb’s face. It was a sound that he adored but had never imagined hearing while on assignment. Her input was invaluable. She was smart, but seeing her delve into the investigative side of cybersecurity made him long for her to stay with them. And, more selfishly, him.
She had assured him that they might not have come together as a couple, even if he hadn’t walked out in youthful anger many years ago. Or if they had become a couple, they might not still be together. “Jeb, that time apart is what truly made us who we are today.”
While he recognized the truth in her words, he often found himself wandering down the path of what their lives would have looked like if he’d handled things differently. He probably wouldn’t have become a SEAL. And then wouldn’t have his career with LSIWC. Just the other evening, she had chided him to stop the what-ifs.
But unable to change the past, he was learning to adopt the Skylar way of thinking. Take life as it comes, learn from our mistakes, move on, and live. He smiled and shook his head in quiet admiration.
Natalie’s voice cut through his once again wandering thoughts. “You should be able to see the trucks coming along Highway 93.”
“I see them coming,” Bennett radioed.
Jeb saw the distant procession of headlights as they approached. The tank hulls transported from the manufacturer’s plant were carried on large flatbed trucks and shrouded by tarps to hide the contents.
The convoy of trucks lumbered toward the intersection, engines growling in the otherwise stillness of the night. The first three trucks veered toward the highway. FBI agents would tail them until they reached their destination at military bases.
The last two trucks diverted in a different direction, continuing to roll down the small Montana road, drawing closer to where Jeb, the other Keepers, and the agents waited.
Keeping vigil, they watched as the two trucks finally pulled to a stop on the side of the road. They sat still with the drivers ensconced within the truck cabs. After almost twenty minutes, smaller headlights came down the road, belonging to a solitary pickup truck from the opposite direction, stopping in front of the first truck.
Two men alighted from the pickup, their movements deliberate as they walked to the first rig. The driver from that flatbed tractor-trailer climbed down to meet the men. Jeb watched as the second rig driver also threw open his door and climbed down from his cab. The four men talked for just a moment and then made the transfer. The two rig drivers walked to the pickup truck, started it, and continued down the road.
Jeb followed the exchange. The two men who’d arrived in the pickup truck now each climbed into a rig and continued along the small road.
He and the others waited to hear Natalie radio the trucks” directions and locations since she was monitoring the satellite images. He also wondered if there had been any communication between the drivers who made the switch that Skylar would have picked up. After a moment, a trickle of fear began moving through his mind. Turning to the others, he spied Leo”s tense jaw. He feels it, too.
“Something’s not right,” Jeb rumbled, turning toward their vehicle, his steps hastening to a jog. He didn’t need to look behind him to know the Keepers were following.
Just as they reached their SUV, Leo was already radioing, “Keeper one, come in. Come in, Keeper one. Do you read me?”
“I’m driving,” Adam said, sliding behind the steering wheel. “You keep trying to get ahold of Natalie and Skylar.”
“Keeper one, are you there?” Sharing a look with Leo, he clenched his gut as his heart pounded. He knew there was the possibility that Skylar, being unused to active missions, might not respond. But there was no fucking way that Natalie would not have responded to Leo”s call out. And with both of them silent? Something is fucking wrong!
Bennett and Dolby immediately reported to Landon and Carson. “Natalie and Skylar are not responding to calls. Does anyone have eyes on their van?”
Landon cursed. “Dammit! I can’t get the agent to respond either. I’m heading to their location. Meet me there.”
Jeb opened his mouth to give directions to Adam, but he was already flying down the road and called out, “Got it. Heading to them now.”
It only took a few minutes to get to the dirt road the FBI van had driven down. He turned and looked behind him, seeing headlights as Landon radioed, “I’m just behind you. Take a right at the next intersection. They were parked half a mile down that dirt road.”
Another minute passed, but there was no van. Jeb gasped. “Goddammit! They’re gone!”
“Shit! There’s something over there in the grass!” Dolby called out, his voice shaking.
Adam had barely stopped the vehicle when Jeb and Leo leaped out, racing forward with Landon on their heels. “Shit!” Landon cried out to the side, leaning over a body lying on the ground. Shining their lights around, there was no sign of Natalie or Skylar.
Landon looked up. “It’s the agent who was with them. He’s been shot, but he’s not dead.” He radioed for medical assistance while other agents swarmed the area, some immediately starting medical assistance.
Jeb stood, his gaze swinging around the area, his mind racing wildly, which never happened on a mission. Barely aware that Adam was already on the line to Carson, he felt Bennett grab his shoulder and say, “Stay cool. We work this like we work everything else.”
Leo was furious, but Jeb knew his fellow Keeper was just as blown away as he was. Everything had been turned over to the FBI. “Why the fuck would someone go after Skylar and Natalie now?” he growled, gaining Leo’s attention.
“I have no idea.” Leo shook his head. “Montague taking them in the middle of an FBI raid would be stupid. They can’t possibly get away with anything and would have to know that all the evidence Skylar had was already turned over.”
Adam turned toward them. “Carson has got Abbie and Rick on this. They’re looking at satellite, but Natalie’s lighthouse tattoo is also tracking.”
“We need a bird—” Jeb began.
“Carson’s on it. He’s got a contact in Northern Montana that he’s calling,” Adam reported.
Before Jeb could rage about a random contact they didn’t know, he watched Leo nod as though the information was good for him.
Leo looked at Jeb and explained, “This is the former Special Forces teammate Carson and Mace are talking to about starting a new Lifehouse Security Investigation. He’s a pilot. He’s also been running some of the early rescue missions by himself.”
“Do you trust him?” Jeb bit out.
“Logan is as trustworthy as they come.”
His heart rate didn’t slow, but he knew Leo wouldn’t trust just anybody to help find Natalie.
Carson radioed, “Logan Bishop is on his way to you. ETA is thirty minutes, but you can cut that down by driving north on the highway. We’ll keep track of both of you and let you know where you intersect. In the meantime, we’re tracking Natalie”s tattoo and Skylar”s necklace. We’ll stay on top of this and get you to them. We’ll get both of them back.”
Jeb heard the surety in Carson’s voice, but he’d known since he was eleven years old that nothing in life is certain. Not even the safety of the ones you love.
Bennett grabbed his shoulder again and, with a little shove, pointed him in the direction of their SUV. Shaking out of his thoughts, he refocused on the task at hand.
I’m on my way, Skylar.