Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Brought you some donuts and coffee.” Knox snapped his gaze up from the paper he’d been holding to see A.J. in the doorway.
“Thanks, man.” He let the paper fall from his hand, and he reached out, grateful for the liquid fuel.
He and Adriana had stayed in the FBI conference room working all night, but he’d forced her to sleep on the couch off to the side of the table, since she’d refused to leave when Calloway had at three in the morning.
“Jessica learn anything from viewing the CCTV footage around the hotel after the shooting?”
A.J. glimpsed Adriana asleep off to his left and lowered his voice when he replied, “Nothing new on our end, and you know that’s pissing off mama bear.”
“Mama bear?” He smirked.
“Jess is gonna be a parent soon. You know how protective she is of us now—I guarantee she sharpens her claws even more once she’s a mom.”
“I feel bad that Jessica is working this case while pregnant.”
“Nothing will stop her from working. She’ll probably wear the baby on her back after the kid is born,” he said in all seriousness.
“Not if Asher can help it. He’ll build a nuclear bunker and keep his kid inside.”
“Yeah, that man as a dad—gonna be interesting.”
A.J. set the box of donuts on the table. “This whole working with the Feds thing makes me nervous, though.” He munched on a glazed donut. “We’re in their house, brother. I don’t like it.”
Yeah, well, they’d had some rough patches in the past with agencies, so he didn’t blame him. But they didn’t exactly have a choice but to play ball. This was the Feds’ operation, and they were merely guests.
He took his first sip of coffee and grimaced. “You dump a gallon of sugar in here?”
“I know you like it sweet.”
“Not that sweet.” He tossed the cup in the nearest trash bin and snatched a donut, opting for something that was supposed to be ridiculously sugary.
“Anyway, we know our gunman met Sarah the night before since he walked her to her room. We got her leaving the bar with a guy, but he must’ve known where the cameras were because we couldn’t pull any clear image of him. ”
“Why not go into her room that night?”
“And risk leaving DNA behind?” He kept his voice soft to avoid waking Adriana.
A.J. nodded. “Right.”
“So, he probably invited her to breakfast or something the next day, and after, he went to her room and subdued her.”
“Then the shooter leaves her room, and ten minutes later, we have him on camera coming back down the hall with his bag this time. Then it’s cameras out and gunshots fired.
Tricky bastard,” A.J. said. “Well, Jessica, Asher, and Luke should arrive around four today. I’ll feel better once they’re here, and the Feds don’t outnumber us so much. ”
“Any word from Owen?” He hated being without Bravo Two, but the man was about to have a baby.
“Liam talked to Emily on our way here. She said Sam’s having contractions, so they’ll be heading to the hospital soon.”
“Good. And when does the rest of the team get to New York?”
“They should land within the hour.” A.J. glanced at Adriana. “Wonder Woman,” he said with a wink.
“Don’t start, brother.” He was already messed up in the head about her as it was, and he didn’t need Echo Two adding fuel to the rapidly burning fire.
“How do you guys look like you do and eat that garbage?” Adriana spoke in a sleepy, slightly raspy voice as she sat up.
A.J. carried the donut box to where she sat. “Does that mean you don’t want one?” He playfully opened and closed the box a few times.
She held out her palm. “Yes, please.”
“Why don’t you let me take over so you can get cleaned up,” A.J. suggested as Adriana finished her patriotic donut covered in red, white, and blue sprinkles.
Knox lifted his arm and took a whiff. “What, do I smell?”
“I could smell you from outside.” A.J. set the donut box back down.
“You bring me any clothes?”
“Of course, Sunshine,” A.J. joked. “Wyatt and Liam stopped to talk to Mendez. They have your stuff. My hands were full with breakfast.”
“A shower’s not such a bad idea.” Adriana stood. “There are lockers here. I brought some stuff. I might go freshen up. You want to join me?”
Knox looked at A.J. “Don’t say a word.”
A.J. held up a palm. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Now, you two enjoy that shower of yours.”
“Is he always like this?” she asked after they left the room.
“Pretty much,” he said while catching Wyatt’s eyes as they’d walked toward him and Liam, who were already on approach.
“You look like shit.” Wyatt tossed Knox the duffel bag.
“Yeah, well, you would, too. We’re gonna hit the showers. We’ll meet you back in the conference room. A.J.’s about to saddle up and start working.”
“And how are you?” Liam asked, his eyes on Adriana off to Knox’s right.
“As good as I can be,” she answered, her voice still sleepy. Entirely too sexy.
“We’ll be right back,” Knox said, and they headed for the elevators so they could use the gym showers in the basement.
“Addy?” He clutched the bag handle tightly with one hand once they were alone in the elevator, and he kept his eyes on her face.
There was something he had to ask her—it’d been on his mind since her arrival last night.
“If my father becomes president, is there a chance you could get assigned to his detail?”
“Probably not anytime soon. Need more years on the job.”
“Well, I don’t know the protocol, but I’m assuming Secret Service can’t hang out with the son of the president.”
“I didn’t think about that,” she whispered, her eyes casting to the floor.
Yeah, well, he had.
The idea had rolled around in his mind nonstop.
If his dad was elected, he might be able to save Bravo and Echo, but by saving the teams, would he risk losing his best friend?
Post shower and an hour later, Mendez entered the conference room where he, Adriana, and the guys had been working and snapped out, “We may have found our guy. I’m assembling a team to pick him up for questioning.”
“What?” Knox stood, his knuckles falling to the table in front of him for support.
“One of the threats we handed to your team this morning?” Adriana asked, swiveling in her chair to face the director, and he nodded. “You track an IP address?”
Most of the emails had been anonymous, so they’d had the Feds trace the source of the emails Knox and Adriana had deemed the most critical.
“Yeah. One email stood out. It came from Aaron Todd. He’s a former sniper for the SEALs.
” Mendez’s eyes left Adriana and crossed the length of the table to where Liam, Wyatt, and A.J.
sat, before falling upon Knox. “He lives in Matthews, a suburb outside the city. That email you gave us was sent yesterday morning while Bennett was already en route to the rally. Probably why it got overlooked.”
Knox turned toward the window behind him and placed a palm on the glass, his stomach dropping to the first floor.
Mendez cleared his throat. “Do one of you know him?”
“We were at BUD/S together.” A.J.’s words were low and heavy like the man had lost a best friend. Knox whirled around to find him tearing his fingers through his brownish-blond hair. “He’d never do this.”
“He matches the description of our mystery guy, too. Same height and build,” Mendez noted.
“Sounds like a lot of guys I know,” Wyatt said, a defensive edge to his tone.
Aaron Todd was one of them. A Teamguy. This couldn’t be happening.
Liam stood next to Knox. “Doesn’t mean it’s Aaron.”
“Which email was it?” They’d given Mendez’s team ten earlier.
Mendez handed him the printed-off email, and he read it before giving it to A.J.
“I don’t believe this,” A.J. insisted. “Aaron wouldn’t write this. He wouldn’t put down our military like this.”
“He thinks Bennett will put more boots on the ground in the Middle East.” Mendez took the paper back. “And he claims he’ll do anything to stop that from happening.”
No damn way. “He’s being framed.”
“Just because he’s a Teamguy doesn’t make him innocent,” Mendez pointed out.
“Or guilty,” Liam bit back, coming around the table at a quick pace to stand before the director.
“If Aaron was the shooter, he wouldn’t miss,” A.J. said, grit to his voice. “He’s a damn fine sniper.”
“And you all said it was an impossible shot,” Mendez reminded them.
“Yeah, for someone without Special Forces training and from the tenth floor,” Liam returned. “Don’t mistake my words.”
Knox glanced at Adriana, checking her reaction to all of this. She was the only one still seated at the table. Her eyes were positioned on the window as if she couldn’t handle making eye contact with him.
Did that mean she thought Aaron was guilty?
His parents had been shot at. Adriana was assigned to his father’s detail. He’d nearly told her every ounce of truth he’d been keeping from her in that damn parking lot last night, too. And then he’d almost kissed her in the elevator.
He was losing his mind.
And now this?
There was only so much a person could take before the ground swallowed a man whole.
But Knox was a Teamguy. He didn’t fucking surrender.
But like hell did Aaron try and shoot his parents. He was with A.J. on this.
“Well, we’ll see what he has to say for himself.” Mendez snapped his fingers in Adriana’s direction, a request for her to stand and get a move on it.
“Let me come.” A.J. stepped forward alongside Liam. “He knows me. You all might scare him off.”
“Innocent people don’t run, right?” Mendez countered.
“Won’t NCIS join the investigation with Aaron in the mix?” Adriana finally stood, and he wanted to go to her. To be at her side. But he didn’t move. He couldn’t seem to get his body to do a damn thing right now.
“They’ll send someone, yeah,” Mendez replied. “Well, you coming, Foster, or what?”
“No.” His feet were sure as hell working now. Knox moved to her side, prepared to block her path to the door if needed. “Rodriguez doesn’t want her on the front lines. He promised my father.”
She grabbed hold of his wrist and leaned in toward him. “Let me go. I’ll make sure he’s brought in unharmed,” she whispered.
“If you think he’s dangerous—”
“Aaron’s not the guy,” A.J. cut off Mendez when Knox’s words died in his throat.
“I’ve got this.” Adriana’s eyes pulled him in, and he had to swallow as she observed him from over her shoulder. “Trust me.”
“You got your vest with you?” Mendez asked, his words like a fist to the face.
A vest meant his best friend might possibly be in the line of fire. He knew Aaron wouldn’t be dangerous, but the idea of Adriana putting herself out there had his stomach twisting into so many knots, not even the best sailor on the planet could untie them.
“Please.” The word rolled out hard. Not a desperate plea but a command.
“This is her job,” Wyatt reminded him from behind, and he resisted the sudden urge to turn around and go head to head with Echo One. But Wyatt didn’t have a woman he was willing to die for, so he didn’t understand the pain Knox was feeling right now.
“I’ll be fine.” Adriana pivoted to face Knox and squeezed his arm before darting off with Mendez, leaving him with his teammates and his anger.
“I shouldn’t have let her go.” He dropped his head into his hands and turned so he didn’t go after her and make a scene in front of the entire agency.
And she’d kill him for that. This was a job she was proud of, one she’d worked hard for, one chosen specifically to honor the memory of her mom.
He respected the hell out of her for all those reasons.
Anything he did to stop her from doing her job would only hurt her.
“You have to take a step back and let her do her thing,” A.J. said, agreeing with Wyatt.
Knox lowered his hands and looked at Liam, the only one of them attached. He’d understand.
Liam lifted his palms in the air. “Emily is stubborn, too. I’ve had to make peace with that. Let her be who she is instead of standing in the way of that.”
“For the record,” Knox grumbled, “I hate you guys.” He moved back to the window, but he couldn’t get a good view of the parking lot. And seeing her leave would probably only make him lose his mind, even if he knew Liam was right.
He’d always stood by Adriana’s decisions even when they’d scared the hell out of him. But damn it, this assignment was personal. Boundaries were tangled the fuck up.
“None of us thinks Aaron is the shooter, right?” A.J.
asked, bringing Knox’s focus to the other pressing issue.
“I’ve spoken to Aaron a few times since he got out of the Navy,” A.J.
added, and Knox turned to give him his attention.
“He’s been having a hard time. The VA has him taking all kinds of meds.
He asked me if he could work at Scott and Scott, but I told him he needed to get his head on straight. ”
Guilt clung to A.J.’s eyes. He didn’t believe Aaron was the shooter, but at the same time, Knox knew he was already blaming himself for the possibility that it was true.
“What kind of meds?” Wyatt cocked his head.
“I don’t know. He said he’s been having nightmares. But that doesn’t make him a killer.”
“Of course not,” Liam quickly responded, “but it’s not going to help his case if someone is trying to pin this on him. People will see a vet with PTSD, and we know what they’ll think.”
“We have a hard enough time with people looking at us like we might snap someday.” A.J. huffed. “We have to clear his name. He called me a few weeks ago and said he met someone and he didn’t want to mess it up.”
“We need to talk to her. Aaron give a name?” Wyatt asked, and thank God his teammates still had the presence of mind to engage in intelligent conversation because Knox’s signals were jammed.
“Chelsea, maybe?” A.J. answered. “But what are the chances the Feds will find Aaron alive?”
“Why do you say that?” Knox finally found his voice. And apparently, a few brain cells when he grabbed his phone to call Jessica . . . the first smart thing he’d done all morning.
“Because how many times does the guy who gets framed for an assassination live to share his side of the story?” A.J.’s brows rose.
Frame job? Was it possible?
“Well, my dad didn’t die, so if Aaron is being framed, let’s hope he’s still alive, too.” He phoned Jessica, needing her help right the hell now. “Hey, we’ve got a problem,” he said as soon as she answered.
“Does it have anything to do with the fact Aaron Todd’s face is on the news as a potential suspect?” she asked in a soft tone.
“What? How could the media possibly know? We only found out.” He looked at his brothers, trying to wrap his head around the news.
“Not sure, but I saw the alert on my phone before you called,” she said.
“Shit,” he hissed. “That can only mean one thing . . . there’s a leak.”