AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just the nine of us who have been here all weekend. The lawyers have already left. Jayna wondered if we could let the copy editors and fact-checkers go home. If there’s going to be trouble, it would be here, right? No one will know who worked on the story until the later edition when we credit them as contributors.”
“Give me a minute,” I told her. I checked in with Penn, who was relieved to hear the number of people we would have to worry about would go down to five.
“I have floaters,” he said, referring to some of the friends he’d called in to help us. “I can spare a couple to drive everyone home and do perimeter checks once they’re there.”
“Ash,” I said into the cell phone, “that’s fine, but they need to leave now. Penn is texting you the make, model, and license plate number of the car that will pick them up. If anyone drove themselves here Saturday, they’ll have to pick up their cars another day.”
“Got it,” she said and relayed the message to Jayna. Then she spoke to me again. “Are we alone?”
“Jensen,” I said.
He glanced over his shoulder and nodded. “You’re clear now.”
“Hey, beautiful,” I said quietly into the phone. “What is it?”
“I just need you to use your soothing voice on me.”
“Nerves?” I asked.
“Yes. I think so.” She paused. “More like having a bad feeling that something’s going to go wrong.”
I used the low, soft voice that always seemed to calm her. “That’s a perfectly normal feeling. Add two days on subsisting on pizza, coffee, and almost no sleep, and I’d be shocked if you weren’t worried.”
“Have I got this?” she said quietly.
I smiled. “You’ve got this.”
“And you’ve got me?”
“I’ve got you,” I promised. “See you in just over an hour.”
That hour seemed to stretch for an eternity, broken up only by the announcement that the four staff members who had left were home safe and sound. At 1550, ten minutes before the article’s scheduled release, I got a text from Ashlee confirming they were completing the final formatting and were on schedule.
Bond and I breathed a sigh of relief, but Jensen and Alder exchanged a look.
“Fuck me,” Jensen said.
“Running the plates,” Alder said as Jensen started talking to the team.
“Alpha Team, we have potential hostiles in the area. Two black SUVs, parking two blocks away from the building.”
I watched Jensen’s screen over his shoulder. “Alder, call the FBI for backup.” She glanced over her shoulder at me but didn’t question the order. “Penn, hostiles are exiting their vehicles. Black pants and T-shirts. No rifles. Assume pistols. Heading for the building. We need to evacuate.”
“What about publishing the article?” Bond asked.
“Ashlee and her team will stay put,” I told the team. “But I want everyone else out so we can focus on protecting the five of them.”
“Getting into the fire alarm system as we speak,” Jensen said.
“Wait for my say-so,” I told him. “I’ll contact Ashlee first to tell them not to evacuate. Penn, her office number is 422a. Should be an interior room, no windows.”
“Got it on the blueprints, Boss,” he said. “Confirmed, no windows. One of the walls backs up to the stairwell.”
“Connected to a fire door, which means reinforced steel,” I finished his thought. “Good. That’s where I’ll send them to hunker down.”
“Tactical and logistics crews are in place outside the building,” Penn reported.
I picked up my phone and hit Ashlee’s number. While it rang, I spoke to the team. “Be prepared to breach the building on my order.”
