Chapter Four
The Highway
Sunday Evening
Outside Of DC
Yeah, it was official. Elizabeth knew that as soon as Devon Slater knew that she arrived in DC, the clock would start ticking, and this was most definitely her welcome home wake-up call.
This was going to be all over the news.
No.
Doubt.
So, her sneaking into DC was officially over.
Not only was the clock ticking on the case, but it was also ticking for her life being on the line.
As the car came to a stop after the vicious spin, no one was moving. Raphael had hit his head, and there was blood on his temple. Beside her, Uriel had been thrown off of her body, and he also had blood on his face.
Both men were breathing, though.
In the front seat, Jet was dead, the hole in the side of his head splattering his brains across the windshield.
As for herself, Elizabeth didn’t feel like she had any broken bones. Her shoulder was singing in pain, but she was alive.
Being buckled in had saved her, along with Uriel using his bigger body to cushion hers.
Hearing feet coming down the embankment, self-preservation kicked in, and she unbuckled her seatbelt. Before she could worry about anything else, she had to get into a better position.
Her Marines taught her that.
Vantage mattered.
Crawling over Uriel, he still didn’t move, and that told her that he’d hit his head pretty damn hard. It wasn’t like she was that light that he wouldn’t wake from her clawing her way over him.
Out the window, she slipped, moving into the shadows of the car and weeds in the ravine.
That’s when she heard it.
Russian.
Oh, and unluckily for the person who just destroyed a life and tried to take hers, she spoke it. So, she listened, trying to figure out what the hell just went on.
Yeah, she suspected she knew, but confirmation mattered.
Before she killed this woman.
Because every dog had its day, and this dog was about to be put down.
‘Finally, her luck ran out, Comrade. The Deputy Director has been taken out. I’m going to make sure that they are all dead, and we’ve gotten our revenge.
Thankfully, whoever put that information on the Dark Web saved us a lot of trouble.
Get ready to escape the US. We’re going home to Mother Russia. Mission complete. I’ll see you later.’
Oh, well, she had news for the Russian spy.
She wasn’t going home.
Oh, and one other thing.
The spider wasn’t dead.
It was a nice try, but someone didn’t succeed, much like her friends before her. Instead, the spider was just ripped out of her web.
Now, this woman, who had been trying to kill her more than once, had another problem on her hands.
She.
Was.
Angry.
As she was tucked into the bramble, the woman moved around the vehicle to the side, where both of Elizabeth’s security were out cold.
That’s when she realized the target was NOT acquired. In fact, she was missing.
“Shit. Where are you, Director?” the Russian woman asked, her accent thick, as she looked around. “Come out, little one, and let’s have a talk. If not, I’ll kill them.”
When she moved too close to the bramble, Elizabeth knew it was now or never. The woman had her gun out, and it was pointed at Raphael’s face.
She’d lost Jet, and she was NOT losing anyone else. That wasn’t happening on her watch.
When Raphael moaned, and opened his eyes, trying to blink the fog away, the Russian laughed.
“Nighty, night,” she said, only to have her leg swept out from under her, and to land on her back.
Elizabeth was over her with her foot on her gun hand.
“Spokoynoy nochi, Sooka.”
Then, she pulled the trigger, ending the spy’s life.
Yeah, nighty-night, bitch. That was one more Russian assassin handled.
“Jesus Christ,” Raphael muttered, seeing how damn close he’d been to being dead.
Elizabeth knew they didn’t have a lot of time. The accident was going to draw attention, and she didn’t know who would be happening upon them next.
So, she dropped to the ground and began pulling Raphael out through the window.
“MATE, connect my vest to Gabriel Rothschild’s phone,” she said. “Dial him for me,” she stated.
Her assistant did, and as she waited for him to answer, she dragged the much bigger Marine from the car.
“Hang in there, Winn,” she said. “I have you.”
Yeah, she did.
The woman they were supposed to protect had somehow managed to keep them safe.
Goddamn it.
His head hurt.
“Elizabeth…”
She cut him off as soon as Gabe answered his private line. There was no time to waste.
“I’m in a ravine off of the Capitol Beltway. One of the Russian spies just took a shot at us. She killed one of my security guys and drove us off the road. Raphael and Uriel are injured. Send help. Fast! We’re compromised. Make sure you send people you trust, or you’re likely not seeing me again.”
Yeah, hearing the spy talk about the Dark Web worried her. Who the hell knew what was out there compromising her?
Or any of them.
Gabe gasped, but she could hear him talking to Tiffany to get his personal security moving. He was safe in the White House, and now it was time to get her in there, too.
“I’m sending Tiff. Are you okay?” he asked, once they had been sent out.
She wasn’t, but this was NOT the time to fall apart. Cars saw the melee, and the cops were going to be coming. That meant it was on the scanner, and the media would be right behind. She needed to keep this as quiet as possible so she could buy herself time against Devon.
“Call Jack. Have him intercede. The cops are heading this way, and I have to get out of here. She called her buddy, the other spy, and I don’t know where she is. For all I know she’s driving past this mess.”
Gabe got it.
They couldn’t take a chance.
As she got Raphael out, she went to Uriel, who was also waking up.
“Hey, big man, you have to help me here. I can’t pull you out,” she said, since he was wedged in and bigger than Raphael. Now was a bad time for Archangels to be beasts of men.
Uriel had used his body to shield hers, and that was the ONLY reason she was alive. His quick thinking saved them all. Because she lived, she was able to take down the spy.
“Jet,” he muttered, as she tugged on the car door that was bent to shit.
“He didn’t make it,” she said, refusing to look in the vehicle. If she did, she was crying. There would be a time to do that once they were safe.
Her Marines also taught her that.
“Gabe’s sending help.”
She heard her vest.
“Cops arriving in two minutes,” MATE said. “I’m monitoring the police radio, and Jack Warner has issued an order to block off the beltway at a bigger distance.”
Well, that was going to be the longest two minutes, but thank God Jack had her back.
“I gotta check on Jet,” Uriel said. “He can’t be dead,” he stated.
Elizabeth wanted to stop him, but she knew that Jet deserved that. In fact, he deserved so much more than what had just happened to him.
When he crawled to the window that Raphael had been pulled from, he saw inside, and his voice hitched.
“Jet, buddy,” he said.
At the tone of his voice, tears filled her eyes. Yeah, she was thinking the same damn thing.
It had been a horrible waste of an amazing life.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Raphael reached for her with his left arm. His right one was dislocated at the shoulder, and useless until they fixed that, too.
Pulling her into his side, he protected her with his body. They all sat there in the tall, mashed-down grass, staring at the dead woman.
“Who is she?” Raphael asked.
Elizabeth told him.
“One of the Russian spies. I’ve been compromised on the Dark Web. Anyone want to guess who did that?” she asked, rhetorically.
With gun in hand, they heard a commotion at the top of the ravine.
“Are you okay?” someone called down. “The cops have been called.”
She yelled back up, hoping and praying they couldn’t see them. People would be taking pictures because they were morbid as fuck.
And her life was a public fucking spectacle.
“Yes! We’re good. Don’t come down. It’s dangerous. The cops will get us! We’re all free from the vehicle!”
That seemed to work.
For now.
Because he was worried, Raphael focused on Uriel.
“Cas, you good?” he asked.
The man nodded his head.
“I mean, I see three of you. That can’t be good, but I’m alive,” he said, his voice filled with that pain.
Oh, and Elizabeth knew why.
Uriel’s best friend was dead in that vehicle, and it was all her fault. She’d needed a ride, and he’d died because of it. One simple thing led to a travesty.
“Did you kill the bitch?” Uriel asked, angrily.
Raphael wished he did.
“No, Mom saved us both. It was almost three dead Marines,” he admitted.
Uriel glanced over.
“Mom, are you okay?”
She said nothing, and that silence spoke volumes to both men. No, she was not.
Now, the men knew one thing.
It was time to protect her.
Raphael went there.
“My shoulder is out. I need you to help me get it back in before anyone gets here. I can’t be taken away in an ambulance. We have to make sure we both stay on duty. Pop me back in.”
Uriel headed his way, crawling because standing up was going to make him puke. When he got to his other friend, he grabbed his arm, and yanked so hard, until they heard a pop, and Raphael’s close-mouthed scream.
“Fuck, that sucked,” he muttered.
They all forgot that the president was still connected via Elizabeth’s vest.
“Jack just called me back,” Gabe said. “They are locking down the scene, and they will contain it for us. They know it’s you. You’re getting transported ASAP.”
Tears were in her eyes.
“Gabe, Jet is dead,” she said. “One of my Marines is in the car. I can’t leave him here.”
He heard the tone, and he knew.
Hell!
They all knew.
“Hold it together, Deputy Director. Fall apart as soon as the cops get you three into a vehicle. Tiffany has Secret Service agents coming to escort you.”
She knew he was right.
Oh, but it wasn’t easy. Elizabeth took this shit personally, and if Devon Slater put intel on the internet, she was going to put her boot in his skull.
For.
Jet.
Killing her Marine just changed everything in this game. If he wanted a scorched-earth free-for-all, he was about to get one.