Roger grimaces and then looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “Deputy Director Finnegan wants his daughter as far away from this as possible. He doesn’t want her wrapped up in whatever he’s got going on.”
I use the tips of my fingers to nudge Roger to look at me. “I’m not leaving you, and I’m not walking away from this case, no matter what my father wants.”
“I know,” Roger replies. Our eyes lock, and a silent understanding is shared between us. We’re in this together.
“That’s all?” Monroe asks.
“No.” Roger fidgets in his seat before continuing. “Finnegan planned to bring me ‘into the fold,’ but as long as Harper is here, I don’t think he’ll do it. He doesn’t want her caught in the crossfire, and because she’s married to me and is his daughter, there will be no way for her to escape it if things don’t goaccording to their plan.”
“A plan they didn’t share with you,” Simms says. It’s not a question but a statement of fact.
“They were going to—if only to get us to back off—but that’s when The Demon Kings showed up. I’m not sure how they knew when and where we would be, but they managed to locate us.” Roger stands up, and I move out of his way, watching as he walks over to retrieve the tube containing the plans to build a nuclear bomb. “This is why you’re here,” he says, handing the tube to Simms and then heading to the front door to open it. He bows slightly and gestures for the two men to leave.
“We have more questions,” Agent Monroe says, but Simms holds up a hand.
“We can ask our questions later if we need to. Let’s let everyone get some rest and reattack tomorrow.”
Carter, who has been quietly sitting on the couch, gets up and stretches. “That sounds like a grand plan. We’ll see you later!”
Monroe huffs and is out the door, but Simms stops in front of Roger. “Finnegan trusts you beyond reproach. If you can dissuade Harper from pursuing this, then maybe you can learn the truth.”
Chapter twenty-two
Roger
Iraise an eyebrow at Agent Simms after his last remark. “I want the truth as much as you do, but I won’t force Harper to leave. She knows the stakes and the risks involved. It would go against her very nature to turn her back on an injustice.”
Simms shakes my hand. “I understand. We’ll be in touch.”
“I’m sure we will.” I close the door behind him and exhale deeply, relieved they’re gone. I make my way to the back door and open it.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jessie asks.
I point to the boat covered in scratches and dings. “I need to check the boat for a tracking device. The Demon Kings had to be tracking either Zurkowski or us. I’m going to assume it’s us because we’re the softer target.”
“Wouldn’t our cameras have caught someone tampering with the boat?” Carter asks.
“If they came by land, then yes. If they came by sea, then no,” I reply.
Elijah chuckles. “You make it sound like we’re about to be inthe middle of a revolutionary war.”
I’m sure he expects me to smile at his quip, but I can’t. The comment hits a little too close to home. “Maybe that’s what this is all about. But what I meant is that with scuba equipment, our cameras wouldn’t have detected an approach from under the water. I need to check the hull.”
“I’ll do it,” Carter says. “I was only here to stay with Harper until the handoff and your return. I’ll be leaving for Marathon to join Jaxon. You guys take a load off and breathe for a few minutes.”
Harper stands beside me and takes my hand in hers. “We could all use some time to process. I may not have been involved in what went down out there, but it didn’t make it any less stressful. Now I know how military wives feel when their spouses go on a deployment. The worry and waiting are almost too much to bear at times, especially when you know your loved one is in mortal danger. I don’t know how they do it.”
“Faith,” Elijah says. “Faith that either their loved ones will return home to them, or that they died serving a greater purpose other than themselves. Not everyone is cut out for that type of life.”
Jessie slides her arms around Elijah to comfort him, and I watch as her body visibly shudders. Aware that Elijah had been in the Air Force and an officer for the Office of Special Investigations, I can assume there is more to their story, but I’ll get it from her at another time.
“What do you want me to do with the tracker if I find one?” Carter asks.
“Put it in a Faraday bag for now. It may come in handy later,and our location is already known,” I say. “We can’t afford to be tracked when we go to the other set of coordinates tonight. Jordan and his crew are set to pick up another package and ten additional people.”
Harper’s grip tightens on my hand. “You barely survived this last outing. You’re in no condition to go out again.”
“What choice do we have?” I ask. “We don’t have cameras on the boat that Jordan and his crew will be piloting, and Finnegan’s men are expected to show up and “seize” the property. According to Thomas—the resort owner—this is the last delivery. If Jordan is expecting to be boarded, then it should be by us. In order to make that happen, we need to get there first.”
