Chapter 25 #2
“The shooter wasn’t aiming at dad. The Bennett he wants dead is you.”
“I can’t believe it,” Luke said over the phone.
“I’m still wrapping my head around it, too.” Knox stood in the parking lot away from the hotel, ensuring no one was around so he could talk in private.
“Would the deputy secretary really rather your mother die than risk the truth going public?”
He squeezed his eyes closed. “It was the Cold War. They were protecting American secrets from getting into the wrong hands. They weren’t ruthless killers.”
“But they were operating without the knowledge of Congress and . . .” Luke let his words go even though they were on a secure line, but Knox got his point. It was the same reason why they stayed in the shadows now.
“Every name on the list has a lot to lose if they were ever connected to that team,” he said when opening his eyes.
A governor. A senator. Congressman. And, of course, the deputy secretary now in charge of the investigation.
“You’re thinking Glenn didn’t act alone?” Luke asked.
“It’s possible. The five of them got together not too long before Chelsea moved to Charlotte when the assassination plot began, so Jessica’s trying to see if any of them were ever together after that but without my mom present.”
“What about Nina?”
“Jessica’s checking her whereabouts three months ago, too,” he replied. “If she flew to D.C., we’ll try and track her movements to confirm she confronted Glenn.”
“Since he didn’t kill her on sight to keep his past a secret, she must’ve been smart enough to have a plan to get out of there,” Luke said.
“But he also managed to manipulate her into blaming my mom and no one else for her parents’ death.
A smart fucker,” he said through gritted teeth.
“He probably wrote out the plan for her, too. Told her to frame someone. Helped out with the cameras. Gave her the details of the event—he’d know more because he’s friends with my mom and with DHS. ”
“Nina may have something on him, but Glenn had no intention of letting her live after the assassination. He’d make the militia the fall guy for everything.”
“Which means he has a plan to get whatever evidence she has from her before then,” Knox replied.
“But why’d Nina wait so long to approach Glenn if she suspected someone murdered her parents?
” He’d discussed theories with Jessica and Adriana before calling Luke after confronting his mother, but he wanted Bravo One’s opinion on it, too.
“She couldn’t have been sitting on that information all her life, which means she only recently found out, but as to how—damned if I know, but I’d stake my life on Jessica figuring it out.”
He leaned against the Suburban, his eyes on the hotel. “I assume when Harper traced the call Nina made last night, it went to a burner?”
“Yeah, and it’s been turned off so we couldn’t ping a location, but if it gets flipped on, we’ll try and get a signal.
” He was quiet for a moment. “You really think you can convince Quinn and Rodriguez to withhold intel from Glenn until we know more, especially without bringing your mom’s past into it? ”
“I’m sure as hell gonna try, but I hate to do it, even if we get all of this figured out and my dad wins the election, I don’t know if he’ll keep the teams going. He might compare me to my mom and—”
“You’re not like her,” he quickly responded. “What you do and what she once did are very different.”
“This could be our last operation,” Knox admitted, his voice grim. His entire body tensing.
“I know,” Luke said. “But I’ll be damned if we go out without a win.” He paused. “Tell Adriana. Don’t wait, okay? I know it’s eating at you, and if you need to hear me say it, I’m doing that now. I’m giving you permission.”
He cleared his throat, unable to answer without his voice breaking. “I, uh, what’s the plan for you guys next?” he asked instead.
“So far, Roman’s told us to stand by. He doesn’t want to leave yet. He’s trying to find out more, but we flew the drone over the compound to get a better visual from above.”
Their drone was small and would be well-hidden from view with its camouflage panels, but it wasn’t completely invisible.
It was much better than what they had up until last year, though.
Jessica and Harper had borrowed the latest tech the SEAL Teams used on aircraft, and they used it to upgrade their drones so they could be, for the most part, unseen.
It was nice to finally have a bird’s-eye view of a location before they dropped in. As long as no one looked too closely in the sky, they’d be fine.
“Any place for the boys to get into position for overwatch?” Knox asked. They couldn’t leave the drone up in the sky for more than thirty-seven minutes, which meant they’d need eyes on the militia.
“Not really any high ground, but it is heavily wooded. Before the Hiltons took over the property it’d been a hunting site, so the tree stands have come in handy.
The boys have a decent look inside at the north side of the compound.
Liam’s working on trying to get a better view of the south side.
He might need to use a tree saddle to get up high for the vantage point we need. ”
“Anyone tell Owen yet what’s going on?”
“Honestly, I don’t want him to know about Roman,” Luke said. “He has a newborn, and I’m afraid he’ll steal a plane to get to us if he has to.”
“Damn straight he would, and I’d be with you, too, if—”
“Don’t,” he cut him off. “You’re where you should be. End of story. Besides, someone needs to watch out for my stubborn sister, or we’ll have to answer to Asher, and I swear her pregnancy hormones are rubbing off on him.”
He also wasn’t ready to leave Adriana, but if this was truly Bravo Team’s last operation, how could he not be with his people?