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“Is that the—” The EMT wobbled on his feet before he dropped to his knees. “That’s the First Lady!”
I tuned them all out, ignored Conor and Declan’s argument, and I stared at the terrain.
Finding a place I’d use, I returned to Finn’s side. “Did you happen to see where the shot came from?”
“I saw a flash of light after I saw them go down.” He got to his feet, slowly. Carefully. As if he’d aged in the last couple minutes—I knew how he fucking felt. “Over there.” He pointed in the direction I’d picked out.
Taking off, I ignored Brennan when he called, “Where are you going?”
A couple seconds later, I heard heavy footsteps and knew from gait alone that Aidan was at my back.
While his knee was better after his surgery, and he could walk without a limp, his run was still more of a hobble than anything else.
As we wended our way through the gravestones and the tombs, I moved closer to where I’d have made my own sniper’s nest.
There was no sign of any disturbance. No holes in the grass, no patches of dirt that were mussed, no indication of body weight that had crumpled the lawn. Nothing to prove someone had set up their kit here.
“Eoghan?” Aidan called out.
Gaze flicking over to him, I noticed that he was standing a few feet away from a grave.
Rushing over, I saw he’d found the nest. I turned to look at where my brothers were, the ambulance’s lights flashing in the near distance, and I could see this was a perfect vantage spot.
On the ground, however, there was a pamphlet with a knife that cleaved it to the ground.
The phoenix fluttered in the wind.
“Éire le chéile go deo,”Aidan rumbled.
“The knife—” My hands itched to drag it out of the ground, but I left the key piece of evidence where it was.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife. They gave them to the SAS. They’re a British military branch. Special Forces.”
“Does it mean something?”
Fixated on the phoenix, much as he was, I rasped, “They’re a calling card.”
For a second, he didn’t say anything, then he looked over at me. “I used to look forward to this day.”
The ache started in my chest. “I did too. He wasn’t an easy man.”
“He sure as fuck wasn’t. I never thought it would happen though. Not like this. Not—”
His words waned, but I got it.
The world was rid of one less psychopath today, but that psychopath left three grandchildren, six sons, and a wife behind.
I tightened my grip on his shoulder, not saying anything, just letting him know that I was there.
In the distance, I saw three helicopters approaching. ETA: 10 minutes.
The Secret Service had woken up to the fact that their protectee had gone missing.
About fucking time.
For the First Lady to have gotten away from her detail, someone high up had to have approved that. Which meant some heads were going to roll by the end of the day, and I didn’t intend for ours to be among them.
The biggest murder investigation this country had seen since JFK’s assassination was about to start, and the murderer didn’t seem too concerned about being caught.
That didn’t mean I wanted us to be embroiled in it, so I encouraged Aidan to start moving.
Aidan’s gaze peered out into the distance, scanning the horizon for the helicopters much as I had.
As we raced over the grounds, I rasped, “We’re going to take the ECD down, aren’t we?”
His words were a vow. “We are.”
