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Mya finished the job of bandaging Oliver as she shared, “Jack just restored our power and is doing a third sweep of the building with Gray now. Checking some bodies for insight into who’s behind this. The others are outside, but?—”
“Alyona and her men ditched us,” Sydney interrupted as if wanting to cut to the bad news herself. “Your backup team couldn’t help us and keep an eye on Alyona. She took that as an opportunity to take off.”
Carter’s hands went to his hips in obvious disappointment, or maybe irritation. “She’ll be back. She needs Diana.”
“Unless she’s the one who brought these assholes here in the first place.” Oliver stood, putting on his shirt. When he struggled with the buttons, Mya shoved his hand away and helped him. “Thank you, ma’am.” He was smirking at her. At a time like this, even after that little revelation about Alyona, and on top of being shot . . .
Who were these people? Hell, in this case, who was I? Only the girl getting aroused by being tied to a chair moments before war broke out. I blamed the stress of the situation.
“We checked Alyona and her people for transmitters. She didn’t know we were here either,” Carter shot down the idea, the authority in his voice bringing my brain back to the here and now. “She may have pulled her men out of the fight, but I don’t think she’s connected to who’s behind this hit.”
“She did give Easton everything she had from the blackmailer before bailing, so maybe you’re right,” Sydney noted.
“How would anyone find us here, though? Only the President and Gray’s father know we brought Diana here,” Oliver said, holding his bad shoulder.
“Did you check us for trackers?” Sydney asked. “More specifically, her. What if whoever had her at the port dosed her with one of those new-age tracker drugs?”
I could see that being a possibility, even if it sounded more like science fiction. I did the mental calculations, and shook my head. “I don’t think it’d still be in my bloodstream. It wouldn’t last long enough to track us here,” I shared as Gray entered the office.
Everyone turned to look in his direction and I noticed how eerily quiet it had gotten. Did those two snipers get handled? Are we safe for now?
“We didn’t have time to check every dead guy,” Gray said as Jack joined the room next, “but I grabbed a phone off one. Removed a few masks to see if I could determine anything identifiable about them.”
“And?” Carter asked, beating me to it.
“The five we checked were white, military-aged males,” Jack answered. “Could be from anywhere. And we never heard them speak. Not a fucking word, actually.”
Gray removed a phone from his pocket and tossed it to Mya. “I used his face to unlock it. It’s a burner. Only one text on there. It’s some type of mathematical code, or encryption. No words. We’ll work on tracing it once we’re out of here.”
“We need to exfil immediately once our guys outside give us the all-clear. Have POTUS send in a team to do a more thorough check of the bodies. Maybe someone survived out there that can be questioned,” Carter instructed to the others, remaining steady and level-headed. “We can’t stick around and chance another team being sent in.”
“Agreed,” Gray said.
“Also, get word to your father we’re not turning Diana over to Bravo. We’re going dark. From everyone. And she’s coming with us,” he said.
“Where to?” I asked him.
“Best place for us to be right now is in the air,” Carter answered matter-of-factly.
“Just need to survive getting to the airport first,” Oliver piped up, drawing a distinctly sharp look from Carter.
“Jack, check Diana and the bag her mom packed for any transmitters,” Carter ordered once he was done glaring at Oliver.
“My mom?” He wasn’t suggesting she had something to do with tonight, was he?
“POTUS will disagree with not turning her over.” Gray met Carter’s eyes. “But I think you’re right.”
So, I’m staying with you? A million other thoughts raced to my mind, but I quickly became distracted by the little device Jack held in front of me.
“The last two snipers are down,” Mya announced a moment later. “Griffin just gave word. Do you want Teddy and the others to find Alyona?”
“No, we’ll tackle that problem later. I’m sure she’s off to get her parents and sister somewhere safe. She’ll reach out at some point. She still has the blackmailer’s deadline hanging over her head,” Carter pointed out just as the small black box in Jack’s hand beeped in front of my face. Carter swiveled my way. “Your glasses?”
I quickly removed them, shocked they’d set off the alarm. “Why would my mom put a tracker in my glasses?”
“Not your mom, but your dad would,” Carter grumbled, taking the glasses from me and tossing them to Sydney. “He’d be worried we might lose you again, and he’d want a way to find you.”
“That’s a typical Teamguy thing to do to their daughter,” Oliver remarked.
