3
“Sir,”
Ridge replied.
“Contact your team and tell them to meet us at Arlington Cemetery.”
If Charlie wanted to play games and be symbolic, so be it. They’d trap the mouse in the maze.
M ost people probably wouldn’t notice the increased police and military presence in DC.
Leo did, of course, because he was attuned to it.
The locals and National Guard had been quietly dispatched to sweep the city, on the lookout for more bombs, in case The Colonel’s hacker had missed any, minus the ones that had already been diffused.
Leo was glad he’d come back to DC instead of going to Amsterdam on leave with his buddies.
This was turning out to be the best break he’d had in a while, not least of which because Celeste was involved.
She was hot, yes, but in addition to that he liked her.
Despite her reputation, she lacked the ego of most people in her position.
If he were being honest, there was something a little broken and vulnerable about her, too, but he tried to push those thoughts away.
It made his interest in her feel too predatory, and that wasn’t what it was.
She was a pal, and he just wanted to have a little fun.
Who better to play with than someone who knew the score, the Scarlet Ghost? Chasing her was a distracting game, and he knew if he ever caught her, her heart would remain intact.
No messy involvements for either of them to regret, a win-win as far as Leo was concerned.
But first he had to catch her.
He was certain he’d found their target, parked on a side street three blocks from the ex-girlfriend’s new apartment.
As Celeste had predicted, he had returned to the scene of his heartbreak to lament his lost love.
What a loser, Leo thought.
This was what happened to guys who let their hearts become involved, they lost their heads, too.
That would never be Leo’s problem, he was positive.
The guy didn’t stir as he made his approach to the vehicle.
Gun out and concealed at his side, he sneaked up to the door, yanked it open, and jumped back when the body fell out.
For a few seconds he remained staring at it, his brain attempting to catch up to the shock.
Only when another car parked behind the perp’s did he begin to understand.
He started to explain, because he knew how bad it had to look, that he was out of any sort of uniform, standing over a dead body with a gun.
But the guy who approached him smiled.
“You must be Leo,”
he called.
“How do you know?”
Leo asked.
That was when he saw the drink in the guy’s hand. “Celeste ordered a clean up, said we’d probably find you here. She sent you this.”
He handed Leo a Styrofoam cappuccino.
“She has you doing her bidding?”
Leo scoffed.
The guy snorted. “Man, I’d lick her boot straps, if she’d let me.”
Leo grinned because the guy’s reaction to Celeste was a fairly common one.
There was something mesmerizing about her strange combination of innocent looks and killer capabilities.
And the fact that she was so self-contained and unreachable made her a tantalizing mystery.
“Yeah, okay. Any idea where she’s headed now?”
They still had one more perp to catch, maybe he could get to that one first.
“She said to tell you the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and make it snappy.”
“She thinks she can order me around and I’ll jump?” Leo said.
The guy raised his brows at him.
“Yeah, okay,”
Leo grinned, and they shared a fist bump.
“ W hat kind of guy hides out in a cemetery?”
Jones demanded. “It’s creepy, gives me the willies.”
“That’s right, purge all the mindless chatter out of your system before we meet up with The Colonel,”
Ethan encouraged him.
“I can’t help it, I blather when I’m hungry,”
Jones whined, rubbing a little circle on his stomach.
“You must be hungry all the time,”
Ethan returned and Jones gave him a withering look, or tried.
It ended up being like a golden retriever trying to look fierce.
How the kid made it through training was a much-debated mystery.
But he had, and he was good, if a bit too chatty and emotional for everyone’s comfort.
“Look, there’s a hot dog stand,”
Jones said, pointing.
“Jones, I swear to you, if you stop for a hot dog LT will literally pull your lip over your head and use it to make you a new wet suit,”
Ethan threatened.
“That’s a weird analogy, man,”
Jones told him.
“But no less true. You know how he is when there’s a job, and it’s going to be times ten with The Colonel on standby,”
Ethan said.
“Do you think he’d consider it a compliment or insult if I told him he’s The Colonel’s mini me?”
Jones mused.
“Do you think you want to find out?”
Ethan returned.
Jones shuddered and ran his hands up his arms, fighting away the goosebumps. “I hate the cemetery.”
“No one likes the cemetery,”
Ethan agreed.
“Except The Mongoose,”
Jones said.
Ethan snorted. “What kind of stupid handle is that? You can pick anything in the world, and that’s what you choose for yourself? A weasel that eats snakes?”
Jones had just been thinking it was a pretty awesome nickname, had just enviously imagined it stitched on his uniform. Instead he gave a halfhearted chuckle. “Yeah, stupid,”
he agreed. He darted a glance at Ethan, to make certain he hadn’t caught the lie.
Ethan shook his head but didn’t call him on it. “I think I saw a flash of something in the northwest quadrant. Let’s pick it up to a sprint.”
“Be a lot easier to sprint if I’d eaten a few hot dogs,”
Jones said. “Just saying,”
he added, picking his pace up to a begrudging sprint to keep time with Ethan, who excelled at running and was always faster than anyone wanted him to be.
T hey had him cornered.
No one had eyes on him yet, but they could tell he was here, in the universal way soldiers had of sensing danger before it became apparent.
They were herding him, working as a team like a well-honed wolf pack, shifting back and forth as they got closer to flushing him out.
When he finally made himself known, he did so with a triumphant gleam, the reason for which soon became apparent: he wore a bomb pack and had his finger on the trigger.
When The Colonel realized, he gave a little grunt that might have been annoyance.
“Nobody reach for your weapons,”
Charlie said, trigger held aloft, thumb hovering threateningly over the detonator.
“You don’t need these men, Charlie. This is about me,”
The Colonel said, taking a step forward. “Let them go.”
“No way, Colonel. Let’s make sure all of your pets go out together. Isn’t that what you want? For all of us to go down in a blaze of glory? It’s what good soldiers do, right? Except you’re ten days older than dirt and still standing, so what went wrong there?”
“Not my time yet,”
The Colonel replied, shrugging.
“So stoic,”
Charlie said, “right to the end. Do you think you’ll be remembered? You won’t. You’ll be like every one of these anonymous men here.”
He used the trigger to motion to the endless rows of graves around him. “You never get notorious by doing the right thing, you know that? The ones they talk about in the news, they’re always the bad guys.”
The Colonel’s lack of reply agitated him.
It was clear he thought he held the upper hand that would score some kind of reaction, but The Colonel merely stared at him, face as blank and stony as ever.
Based on his annoyed expression, it was only a matter of time before he pressed the button that would take them all out, but before his thumb could twitch, a shot went off, a neat hole now in his forehead.
He pitched backwards, but The Colonel caught him before he could fall and trigger the explosives precariously perched on his chest.
He held the man upright by his vest while Frog and Ethan flanked him, disarming the bomb with a few well-placed snips.
Only then did he set the man down and check his useless pulse.
A couple hundred feet away, Leo holstered his gun and spun in a circle, shading his eyes to try and see the source of the shot, to see Celeste.
He couldn’t see a thing, beyond the endless rows of soldiers’ graves.
His phone buzzed with a text and he withdrew his phone.
Better luck next time, tiger.
Thanks for the help today.
He tucked his phone back in his pocket with a sigh.
He should probably do a debrief, based on his involvement today, lackluster as it turned out to be.
But if he went forward now, it would include an inevitable confrontation with teacher’s pet, Cameron Ridge.
And that was the very last way Leo wanted to spend his day off.
With that thought in mind, he slipped away as silently as he’d arrived.
B y the time the team was done with their debrief, it was almost ten at night.
Ridge tried to call the restaurant, to see if he could get a last minute late night reservation, but no luck.
“Bad news, guys. I’m sorry to say steak is off the table,”
he announced.
Regardless of their hunger and exhaustion, they did a good job of smothering their disappointment. Toward the back, Jones raised his hand.
“LT, what if I told you I might know of a steak alternative?”
Ridge pinched the bridge of his nose, but when he dropped his hand, he was smiling. “All right, Jonesie. Lead the way to your hot dog cart.”
T he Colonel let himself into the house so quietly that the frou-frou dog gave a disgruntled snort of surprise. “Some guard dog,”
he muttered.
“She knew it was you. Obviously if a stranger was sneaking in she would have torn his hands and feet off,”
Juniper said. She was already in her silky pajamas, feet curled beneath her, book in hand. John picked her up and set her in his lap, pressing his face to her neck on a deep inhale.
“Where are the girls?”
he asked, ending the question with a kiss.
“Bailey is finishing her laundry and packing her suitcase. Poppy is reading a cookbook in the bathtub, and Jane is watching a documentary on starfish reproduction,”
Juniper said, closing her eyes as she snuggled into his embrace. “How was your thing?”
“All’s well that ends well,”
he said, his code for “it’s better if you don’t know.”
“Did you eat?”
“No, ma’am, I did not.”
“Good thing I saved you a plate and a piece of pie.”
She started to stand, but he tugged her back.
“I’d rather have you than pie.”
“I could live with that,”
she said, nestling closer. “Bear.”
“What?”
“What if this is the last time the girls are all home?”
she asked.
“I knew you were thinking that today,” he said.
“Cause you know me so well?”
she guessed.
“No, because I was thinking it, too.”
He sighed.
“Here’s what I know, Juni, after working with untold numbers of men and women from homes where no one cares, where the kids emerge alone, untrained, and broken: our girls know they are loved.
We’ve done the best we could possibly do to raise them in the best way we know how.
From here we have to have faith that it was enough. Someday they will launch into the world as whole and well women, fully competent to handle every challenge, like their mama.”
“But what if something goes wrong? What if they get hurt?”
Juniper worried, biting her lip as she stared up at him with big eyes that were always his undoing.
“Then we tag team neutralizing the threat,” he said.
“Okay,”
she agreed. “But I’ll feel better, if I know you’ve eaten.”
He released her. “Fine. Go warm up my food, but hurry back.”
She stood, but on second thought came back and kissed him, his face cupped between her hands. “Remind me where we paused so we can pick it up later.”
“It’s probably okay if we start at the beginning again, maybe a few times,” he said.
“This is why they made you a colonel, because you’re so good at planning,”
Juniper mused.
“Wait ‘til you see what I do when I’m a general,”
he said, smiling when she burst into laughter and walked away.
S am and Maggie walked hand in hand through the darkened DC streets, letting the peace of the city wash over them. Peace being a relative term when there was still a background cacophony of sirens, horns, and traffic noise.
“Maybe we should live here,”
Sam suddenly blurted, causing Maggie to turn her head sharply in his direction.
“I thought we agreed we don’t want to live in the city,” she said.
“You love the city,”
he said, his tone almost an accusation.
“I love to visit the city. I can’t imagine living here. I would miss nature too much. Plus I want a dog. Dogs need space to stretch their legs.”
“I suppose,”
he agreed, tone slipping to melancholy.
She squeezed his hand. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I guess I’m feeling a bit antsy, with school winding down. This trip has been restorative, though. It was so nice of your parents to include me.”
“Of course they would include you; they love you. And in four months you’re officially ours.”
He smiled. “My mother still might try to lay claim to me occasionally.”
“Sorry, no. She has these four months, and then we take permanent possession.”
“I’ll let you tell her,” Sam said.
Maggie laughed, and he smiled. They continued in silence for a while until he spoke again.
“I thought of something you could do.”
“To battle for possession of you with your mom?”
she guessed.
“No, with your useless degree. You could be a spy.”
Maggie burst into a fit of amused giggles that made him smile again.
“I’m serious,”
he said, not serious at all because Maggie was the antithesis of everything he knew about secret agents. “You could be a killer.”
“A killer librarian.”
He whistled softly. “Lethal.”
His phone rang and he paused. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
“Mysterious, but okay. I’ll go amuse myself by staking out that hot dog cart for any redeemable treats.”
She blew him a kiss and wandered away.
A woman stood by the cart.
Ridge was glad the guys had stopped off to get drinks, sending him again to get the hot dogs.
They were always a little too into trying to game some susceptible female after a victory.
This one looked especially susceptible, blond and cute and vaguely familiar.
It took him a moment to remember why, and then it came to him; she was the woman who had been with the Middle Eastern guy.
Now she looked pensive and serious and he wondered if he’d misjudged the earlier situation and she was actually in danger.
He glanced around for the missing boyfriend and saw him a couple dozen feet away, pacing a tight circle as he talked on the phone.
“Everything okay?”
Ridge asked the woman.
She jumped and faced him with a chagrined smile. “Yes, sorry if I’m in your way. I want a cookie, but I have to fit into a wedding dress in sixteen weeks.”
She held up her left hand for his inspection, showing him a fat diamond.
He took a plastic wrapped cookie from the cart and handed it to her. “My treat, and you can’t refuse a gift. It’s rude.”
“Thank you so much,”
she said, unduly excited over the tiny treat. “This is the nicest thing that’s happened to me in…maybe ever.”
He laughed and pointed to her ring. “I hope not.”
She laughed and glanced at her ring. “Okay, yes, that was better. But this was still nice.”
She clutched the cookie to her chest and gave him a sweet smile. “Did you save the world today?”
His lashes fluttered. “What?”
“My fiancé guessed you’re a cop or soldier. I wondered if you did anything that will make the paper tomorrow.”
It would most certainly not make the paper, but The Colonel thought it might earn them a trip to the White House, and maybe a medal. “Nah, it was a day in the life, you know?”
“Well, maybe tomorrow,” she said.
“I sincerely hope not,” he said.
She laughed, a warm and genuine sound that made him smile in response. “Thanks again for the cookie.”
“My pleasure. Eat it in good health,” he said.
“That’s the opposite advice from what my doctor gave me. I like yours better.”
She held up the cookie in a little salute and turned away, toward her fiancé.
“LT, were you talking to a woman?”
Ethan asked, coming up on his flank.
“Making conversation,”
Ridge said. When Ethan continued to stare at him in speculation, he added, “She has a fiancé.”
“Huh. Too bad. She looked like your type.”
Their hot dogs were ready and they reached for them in tandem. “What’s my type?”
Ridge asked.
“Wholesome,”
Ethan said, licking a dollop of mustard from his thumb.
Ridge didn’t think any of the women he’d ever dated had been “wholesome.”
Then again, none of them had ever stuck. But it wasn’t as if he could take dating advice from Ethan, the avowed bachelor who had not one but three little black books.
He turned to go and then, as an afterthought, turned back and bought all the cookies.
“We get cookies, too?”
Ethan said, his amusement making Ridge regret the impulse.
“Only if you finish all of your hot dog,”
Ridge declared.
Ethan laughed and they returned to their team, doling hot dogs.
They sat on a half wall with the rest of the team, downing hot dogs and cookies, listening to the sirens and horns and night sounds of the city they’d recently and anonymously saved.
Just a day in the life, with many more to come…