He hoped he was doing the right thing by sending her up with them. And he hoped he was doing the right thing by staying.
CAROLINE
Caroline neededto put Greystone out of her immediate thoughts or she wouldn’t be able to do her job. She called everyone in BLACK OPS, brought them up to speed. By thetime she pulled up to the White House security gate, the team had been briefed.
“Caroline Austin for Evelyn Baker,” she told the guard.
He permitted her to enter, told her where to park. When she got out, a man hurried over. “Caroline Austin?”
“Yes.”
“Can I see your ID?”
She showed him her driver’s license. “Where’s Evelyn Baker?”
“I’m bringing you to her.” He ushered her inside and escorted her to the Chief of Staff’s office.
“Good to see you, Mrs. Baker,” Caroline said.
“Call me Evelyn. How bad is it, Caroline?”
“Very,” she replied.
“Where are the terrorists?” Evelyn asked.
“I’m not authorized to tell you.”
“The President will ask you these questions,” Evelyn pushed back. “You’ll have to answer him.”
“Yes, ma’am. Three have been eliminated. The other eleven are MIA.”
“You’ll prep the President once we’re on Air Force One.”
Caroline nodded.
The Oval Office door opened, the President walked out. Caroline eyed him, the First Lady, and their four sons. “Mr. President, Ma’am.”
Evelyn did the introductions, and Caroline shook their hands.
“Is that gun real?” asked one of the young sons.
Caroline shifted her gaze to the First Lady, who nodded.
“It is,” Caroline replied, aware she was still wearing her SWAT clothes.
Evelyn rushed everyone out. On the White House Lawn awaited four helicopters. Several of his cabinet members hurried outside.
Twenty-minutes later, all four helicopters rose into the air and made their way toward Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s county, just outside DC. As Caroline stared out at the sights below, dread filled her soul. For the first time since she’d started working with Grey, she felt like she was abandoning him.
As his partner, leaving him behind was theworstthing she could do.
GREYSTONE
While Greystone waitedfor the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit—EOD—to arrive, he got on the phone with someone from each of the deployed BLACK OPS teams. The bogus out-of-order restrooms had been located in each of the targeted buildings except the White House and Pentagon, and bombs had been discovered behind all the mirrors.
He had Sin and Dakota on speaker as the pit in Greystone’s gut grew larger. But he had to soldier on.
“We’ve got seven bombs here,” Sin said from the Department of Justice.
