King and Maxwell (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 6)

She whimpered and said, “He shot me.”

Sean looked down at her bandaged arm and then held her tighter. “And he’s going to pay for that. He’s going to pay for a lot.”

They loaded the kids into the car.

Sean doused the small fire he had built using rags, papers, and a bit of gasoline that he’d found in a can behind an old lean-to on the cabin property. Wingo came up to him.

“Brilliant tactic,” he said.

Sean stamped the last of the fire out and poured some water on it to make sure. Although the rain had left everything wet, he didn’t want to take any chances with the cabin really catching on fire.

“Any tactic is brilliant so long as it works.”

Wingo gripped his shoulder. “Thank you, Sean. I…”

Sean put a hand on Wingo’s shoulder. “I know, Sam. I know.”

McKinney and Littlefield had the two men cuffed and in their SUV. Sean poked his head in.

In a low voice he said, “I just checked my email. Got a lead on our guy using the GPS in his car. It was parked at an old AM radio station in the middle of nowhere.”

Littlefield nodded and pulled out his phone. “Give me the address and I’ll have an HRT team check there ASAP.”

Sean did so and then added, looking at the two prisoners, “Spilled their guts yet?”

“They want to lawyer up,” Littlefield replied. “And I don’t blame them. Kidnapping. Attempted murder. Conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.” He said all this in a loud voice so the two prisoners would be sure to hear. He turned to McKinney. “Hey, if we classify them as terrorists or even enemy combatants do they even have the right to a lawyer?”

Sean said, “Well, I used to practice law. You guys might have a shot at taking them straight to Gitmo.”

“I’m an American citizen,” yelled one of the men.

“Doesn’t matter,” said McKinney. “If you were planning to attack this country, there’s precedent.” He smiled at Sean. “This might get really fun.”

“Maybe,” said Sean. “But he’s still out there.”

“But we got the kids back,” pointed out Littlefield.

“I know. And that’s the most important thing.”

“But?” said McKinney.

“But kidnapping wasn’t the real plan, was it?”

Alan Grant stared at the computer screen for what would surely be one of the last times. He was inside the vault at the old radio station. The frenetic activity in the other part of the station had ceased. It was empty. He was the only one left. His team had done what they came to do.

He looked at the itinerary one last time and confirmed the schedule. He checked his watch. Soon it would all be over. His decades-long nightmare finally laid to rest. He had not escaped unscathed. And he wasn’t sure he would be able to avoid a jail cell. But in the end, it would be worth it. His kids would still have their mother. She had plenty of money. They would be okay. Scandalized by what he’d done, but only he could understand truly the justice in all of it. But he felt fortunate in a way. Fortunate that the current president had made the same blunder as his predecessor all those years ago. But for that, this moment might never have come.

He called the cabin to check in. There was no answer. He called again. No answer. Slightly panicked now, he downloaded what he needed to his laptop, grabbed his keys, and ran to his car. A semi and accompanying crew would arrive in twenty minutes to undo everything that had been done here, leaving the place scrubbed.

He drove to a prearranged spot in D.C. near the Virginia side. He would do what he needed to do from this spot using a remote feature he had built into his plan. From here he had a nice view of the capital city. Soon it would be a capital city in chaos.

He readied his optics and checked his watch. Nearly there.

Edgar had just finished clicking keys and now he sat back stunned at what he was seeing. It was an electronic back door the likes of which he had never encountered before. He had to marvel at the ingenuity of the people who had done this. They had taken what amounted to electronic DNA fragments from a satellite once leased by the government and used that to disguise themselves, almost like a virus or cancer cell, in order to infiltrate another satellite, a very special satellite, that was relegated to one user, and one user only. And for a very good reason. Otherwise something catastrophic could happen.

It might already have.

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