Chapter 5
Walker
Walker didn't know if it had been fate or God or divine justice of the universe, but the fact that Antonio actually brought the car to the east side of the building was a miracle.
Antonio got out.
Walker nodded to him. "Thank you."
Antonio nodded and got out of the way. "Good luck."
She got in the other side, and they were off.
Walker's mind raced as he took the turn and then headed to the main road. The sleek buildings of downtown faded behind them as they accelerated.
"Where's your phone?" he asked.
"Right here."
"Throw it out the window."
"What? I can't throw it out the window."
"True." He put his hand out. "Give it to me."
She handed it over.
He pressed a couple of buttons to erase it.
"What are you doing?"
"Disabling it." He picked it up and handed it back to her. "They're probably tracking you."
She hesitated.
"Now, throw it out the window," he said louder.
She jolted, then pressed the window down and threw it out.
Walker's mind raced as he wondered what to do next. He headed toward the airport.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
He shrugged and picked up his phone, calling his brother.
Reed answered quickly. "Hello?"
"There was a full assault at her building. I got her out. We're heading to the airport. Why don't you send the helicopter?"
"Okay, you have an hour to burn, right?"
"Right." He hung up.
She looked pale.
He looked at her again, then pulled over.
"Get out and throw up," he ordered.
"What?"
"Get out and throw up."
Then she started dry heaving. She opened the door in time to vomit outside of the car, which was good. She kept throwing up.
He looked around. There was no water, but there were tissues. After she was done, he pulled her back in and handed her the tissues. She shut the door, and he took off again.
She started to cry. "I can't believe this. I can't believe this."
"Who do you think that could have been?"
"What? I don't know."
He pressed harder. "Think." It was the best time to talk to people when they were in shock. That was something any military police knew, any Navy SEAL interrogator knew. Talk to people in shock. They usually told the truth.
"I don't know. I honestly don't know."
He slammed his hand against the dashboard. "Think! Who would have done this? Give me your gut response. It doesn't have to be right. Tell me who would have done this."
She stared blankly ahead. "Uhh… the only ones who could have done this are people in my security—Thomas, Henry, my staff."
Walker focused his mind on the camera room, on the men he'd introduced himself to. "When I walked in that camera room, they were cagey. I could tell. I didn't sense they were planning a full-on attack, but they were probably in on it. Tell me more."
She looked worried. "I can't believe Henry would do this. He has been loyal to my father for years. I can't believe it."
"Why would he do it?" he asked loudly.
She looked confused. "I don't know. I honestly don't know."
He slammed his hand against the dashboard again.
She cried out, "Would you stop it?! You need to calm down!"
"If there's anything, anything a little suspicious, anything that worried you, anytime you were uncertain—" He pressed. "Tell me!"
She shrugged, her shoulders slumping against the leather seat. "It's been hard. It's been hard with the pressure, my dad dying, me having to fend off the corporate takeover, grieving my father, and dealing with major problems in the company."
"What kind of problems?"
"Shipping problems, people problems."
"Right. The Private investigator, but then you had that other VP who died six months ago."
She nodded. "That was a problem, plus a major competitor, Quantico—their CFO was killed two months ago."
Walker processed this. "That wasn't in the file."
She looked guilty. "Sorry, it's all so crazy. He was a friend of mine. His wife told me when I was at the funeral said that he'd eaten something, that she was sure he was poisoned. They went to this French restaurant. Later that night, he died. She really thought he was poisoned."
He filed that away. "What else?"
She shook her head and then really started crying. The shock was running its course. "I don't know, I don't know, Walker. It's all falling apart now." A look of horror washed over her face. "How many people died back there? How many people died?"
Walker sniffed. "I don't know. Couldn't tell. Two for sure that I saw. More were hurt. Gunfire kept going. I don't know."
She was now weeping, makeup streaking down her face. "They were like family. Those people worked for my father's company for so long. They were like family."
He reached the airport and took the back road, the road that didn't require clearances, the road for people with private aircraft. He picked up a tissue and handed it to her. "What else?" he asked.
She shrugged, looking exhausted. "I don't know." She shook her head back and forth.
Walker hesitated. He thought about the files he'd been reading, about the things Reed told him. Something wasn't adding up. It wasn't adding up at all.
Out of the blue, he noticed a black van. It appeared to be tailing him.
Walker pulled off the road and started following a different route. The black van sped up. He accelerated.
She looked concerned. "What's going on?"
"That black van is following us."
She turned back. "Who is it?"
He let out a light laugh. "Don't know, sweetheart. I'm new to this game too." He was weaving through traffic, accelerating.
The black van gained on them, its engine roaring as it cut through traffic. Walker's hands tightened on the steering wheel as he navigated through cars.
"Hold on," he said, voice calm despite the circumstances.
Sabrina gripped the door handle, her knuckles white. "Who are these people, Walker? What do they want?"
"That's what we're going to find out." He swerved onto an exit ramp, tires screeching.
The van followed, but Walker had expected this. He accelerated down a service road, then abruptly turned into an industrial complex. The van shot past them before the driver could react.
Walker pulled behind a warehouse, killed the engine, and scanned their surroundings. "We've got about two minutes before they circle back."
His phone rang—Reed.
Walker answered immediately. "Yup."
"Change of plans," his brother said without preamble. "Too risky at the airport. Coordinates coming to your phone. Get there in thirty minutes."
"Copy that," Walker replied, hanging up as a text message appeared with GPS coordinates.
He started the engine again. "We've got a new extraction point."
Sabrina looked shell-shocked; tears dried on her cheeks. "Walker, I don't understand what's happening. Why is my life suddenly falling apart?"
He reached across and briefly squeezed her hand. "We'll figure it out. I promise."
She nodded, the simple touch seeming to ground her.
For a moment, they were teenagers again, trusting each other implicitly.
Walker maneuvered through back roads, keeping an eye on their surroundings. "Tell me about the weeks before your father died. Anything unusual?"
Sabrina closed her eyes, trying to focus. "He was distracted. Worried. I thought it was just business stress."
"Did he say anything specific?"
"He kept telling me to 'trust but verify.' It was like a mantra those last few weeks." She opened her eyes. "And the night before he died, he said something strange. He said, 'Some shepherds lead their flocks astray.'"
Walker filed that away. "What about Henry? How did he act after your father died?"
"Devastated, like all of us. But..." she paused, "he took control quickly. Security protocols, access codes—he changed everything within days. He said it was for my protection."
He tried to drive fast, but with caution.
They were silent and this drive felt like forever.
Sabrina's tears were dry. She seemed … numb.
The road ahead curved around a heavily wooded area. Walker followed it, checking the coordinates again.
"There," he said, pointing to a clearing where a helicopter waited. "Reed came through."
Walker parked, and they hurried to the helicopter.
The rotor blades were already spinning, the noise deafening as they climbed aboard.
One of the security team handed them headsets.
"Where are we going?" Sabrina asked once they were airborne.
"Somewhere safe," Walker replied, watching the ground fall away below them. "Somewhere no one will think to look."
The helicopter flew north for nearly an hour, eventually descending toward a clearing in dense forest.
Walker tried to process everything but kept falling short. He would stare at Sabrina sometimes and he wondered if there were other things she wasn't telling him.
After a bit longer, a simple cabin sat nestled among pine trees, smoke curling from its chimney.
"Star family safe house," Walker explained as they landed. "Off-grid, untraceable."
They got off the helicopter and moved to the cabin. Her hand brushed his arm. "I'm afraid."
He turned to her, taking her hand in his own. "It's okay. Reed had this set up, so we're safe." He pushed the door open.
Inside, the cabin was rustic but well-equipped. A fire flickered in the stone fireplace, and the kitchen was stocked with supplies.
There were extra clothes for each of them piled on the table.
Sabrina stared blankly at all of it, then took a pile of clothes. "I'm going to use the bathroom.”
He nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."
Sabrina nodded, disappearing into the bathroom.
When she emerged twenty minutes later, face washed and wearing clothes that had been left for her; jeans and a flannel shirt that hung loosely on her frame.
She looked good, but Walker pushed any thought like that away.
They were on a mission and he didn't need to think of how good she looked.
He poured water into two glasses and pointed to the table that had sandwiches on it. "Let's get some food in you."
"Thank you." She took a sandwich and nibbled on it. "So what now?"
Walker sat across from her at the small kitchen table. "Now we try to understand what's happening. Your father's company, the attacks—it's all connected." He ate a huge bite of his own sandwich.
"To what?"
"That's what we need to find out." Walker said through his bite.
They both ate in silence for a bit.
Of course, Sabrina didn’t eat much. She looked … still in shock.
Walker finished a couple of sandwiches, then focused on her. "Sabrina, I need to ask you something important. Do you think your father was involved in something... beyond his stated business?"
Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"The pattern of deaths, the security protocols at your company—they're not typical for a rug import business."
Sabrina stared at her glass of water. "I've had those thoughts too, but I couldn't let myself believe it. Dad was... he was honorable. Whatever he was doing, he believed it was right."
"I believe that too," Walker said softly. "But honorable men can get caught in dangerous situations."
More silence fell between them.
"I need to contact my mother," Sabrina finally said. "She must be terrified."
Walker nodded. "We'll use a secure line. But first, I need to know everyone who might be compromised. Who had access to your schedule today?"
She frowned. "My assistant, the security team, board members..."
"And who knew you reached out to my brother, Reed?"
Sabrina's eyes widened. "Just my mother. And Henry. I told Henry everything."
Walker's expression hardened. "That's what I was afraid of."
His phone buzzed with a text from Reed: Package arrived safely?
Walker replied: Yes. Starting phase two.
He put the phone down and met Sabrina's questioning gaze. "We need to get some rest. Tomorrow, we start finding answers."
She nodded; exhaustion etched in every line of her face. "Walker?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For saving my life today."
The center of his heart squeezed. Usually, saving people was just part of the job, but today felt … was personal. He gave her a half-smile. "That's what I do. That's part of this mission."
"Is it?" she asked quietly. "Is that all this is to you? A mission?"
The question hung between them, laden with fourteen years of unspoken words.
"Get some rest, Sabrina," he said finally. "I'll take first watch."
She went into the little room and crawled into the bed, but left the door open. Maybe she'd left it open because she was comforted by his presence.
He didn't know. He moved to the window, checking for … anything.
Outside, darkness had fallen completely, the forest black and silent around them.
He touched the scar on his shoulder unconsciously, remembering the bullet that had nearly killed him in Kandahar. That hadn't been his closest call—not by far.
He could hear Sabrina's breathing had already deepened into sleep.
Despite everything, Walker felt a strange peace settle over him. Whatever was coming, at least he could protect her.