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  “Fine, but you’re responsible for him. Anything that he does wrong, you’ve done wrong,” Campbell said while looking at Sam.

  Nathan looked relieved. He got to stay with Sam, and that was truly all he wanted. Sam was also relieved, but at the same time, she was a little bit worried. She wanted Nathan with her, but on the flip side, she was worried about being held responsible for him. This was the same guy that she had been able to deck in one punch. He would have to improve, and he would have to do it fast.

  “Okay, so what’s the first thing that we need to do? We all came back here to help,” Dan said.

  “All right. First of all, you said that you have a friend who used to work for our enemies,” Campbell said while looking at Nathan.

  “Yes, we left her back in Tampa.”

  “You need to call her and anyone else who was involved in the operation, and get them here as soon as possible. Afterward, I want you two to do whatever you can to find out where a man named Markus Boyd is located. Here is his file,” Campbell said while handing it to Sam.

  “What about me?” Dan asked.

  “Considering how desperate the situation is, you and Mr. Green will form a team and launch a strike on one of their largest facilities, which we now know thanks to this device, is located in Atlanta. We can’t afford to be slow, so I want the team picked and the strike done within the next seventy-two hours.”

  “And what about me, sir?” Jason asked.

  “You will do what you do best, which is coordinating all of this. You’ll act as a handler for all these people. As usual, you’ll give them new orders and advise them while they’re in the field.”

  “In other words, I’ll actually be doing nothing at all.”

  He had hoped for a larger role in all of this, but here he was, stuck in the background. Sam put her hand on his back and gave him a gentle squeeze to show her support for how he must feel.

  “It isn’t nothing. You’re going to help Dan and me choose our team, and from there, make all of the major decisions. You may actually have the most important job here,” Zane said.

  “Well, you have your assignments, so get to it,” Campbell said and walked back to his office.

  * * * * *

  Back in Tampa, the hospital room phone rang and Jess picked up.

  “Hello,” she said.

  “Hey, Jess! How is Lee doing?” Nathan asked.

  “He’s feeling a little better. We’re all just in shock by what we’re seeing on television.”

  “I know. We’re still in shock about it here, too. Is Trish there by any chance?”

  “Yeah, she’s right here. Hold on a second.”

  She then handed the phone over to Trish.

  “Hello,” Trish said.

  “Hey, it might be a lot to ask, but is there any way that you could come to Washington right now? Some of the people here want to speak with you. I think that they know you would be able to help them, considering your knowledge of the enemy we’re facing,” Nathan said.

  “Yes, I can come. I planned to come right after Lee got better anyway.”

  “Great, I’ll see you soon then. Can you also tell everyone else that they need to come as soon as Lee is better?”

  “Yeah, I will.”

  They continued to talk for a moment, and after he got off the phone, he turned to see Sam studying the file on Markus very thoroughly.

  “So Markus Boyd, huh? I thought that he was just a billionaire who owned all sorts of corporations,” Nathan said.

  “That’s who he wanted the world to believe he was. Almost all of those corporations were nothing but dummy businesses.”

  “Do you have any idea where we might find him?”

  “Not yet. He has a place in New York, but I feel certain that he would have left there after today. We just need some type of lead right now,” Sam said while thinking.

  “Here, let me take a look at that file. Two heads are better than one, you know,” Nathan said while going to sit down beside Sam.

  * * * * *

  “Well, I guess that I’m going to Washington now, after all,” Trish said.

  “What’s going on?” Jess asked.

  Trish explained what Nathan had called to talk to her about.

  “I hate to see you go,” Jess said.

  “Me, too, but don’t worry. You’ll all be joining me soon, and besides, I’ll be calling you as soon as I get there. I have to keep a check on Lee.”

  “Have a good flight, and be safe,” Michael said as Trish stood to exit the room.

  “Thanks, and I’ll see you two later,” Trish said as she left.

  She hated to leave her new friends, but she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. She had always hated to be the center of attention, and God knows that she had made herself a big enough deal earlier about the attack in Dallas. As she made her way outside the hospital, she passed a woman who was walking as if she were on a mission. The woman was in her mid to late twenties, and she was about 5’8. She had long brown hair, and although she was small, the determination that burned in her eyes made her seem like she would be a more than worthy fighter to Trish. What am I doing? Why am I diagnosing civilians as if they were potential agency candidates? She’s probably just in a hurry to see a family member or something like that, Trish thought while shaking off the killing look that she seemed to read in the girl. If she had known how wrong she was right then, she would have turned and ran after the stranger who had just passed her, but unfortunately, she didn’t, and if this stranger had her way, someone was about to pay the price for her lack of ability to pay attention to her God-given instincts.

  * * * * *

  “How about this guy?” Dan asked while holding up a soldier’s profile.

  “No, he’s gigantic,” Zane answered.

  “But isn’t that a good thing?”

  “He’s just going to be a bigger target,” Jason answered in a dejected tone before Zane could.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Zane asked.

  “I can do a lot more than this.”

  “I know you can, and I have a feeling that by the end of this you will, but for now, try to stay patient.”

  “Fine. Pass me some of those files.”

  “How about this one, then?” Dan asked.

  Zane took the file from him and had a look.

  “I said that the last one was too big, not that I was looking to recruit an army of midgets!” Zane said in surprise by how small the man in the picture was. They all shared a laugh and continued working.

  Something was troubling Campbell as he sat in his office. Markus said that he had people in the CIA who worked for him. I need to have someone that I trust look into this, he thought. He exited his office and walked to Burt Jones’s office. I have something that I need you and someone you can trust to work on,” Campbell said to him.

  “All right. Let me get my guy, and we’ll meet you in your office,” Burt said.

  “Okay, but try not to take too long. This is very urgent.”

  Burt got up from his desk and found his way into Jason’s office where Jason and two other men were laughing.

  “Can I borrow you for a little while?” Burt asked Jason.

  “I’m kind of in the middle of helping these guys out right now.”

  “Oh, okay. I just thought that you would want in on a super-secret project that I’m working on for Mr. Campbell, but if it’s of no interest to you, I’ll just move on. Maybe I’ll get Dave to work with me on this.”

  “No, wait! I mean, what’s going on?”

  “That’s what I’m going to find out now.”

  “I told you that you would be doing much more soon, although I didn’t anticipate it would be this soon,” Zane said with a smile.

  Jason nodded to Zane.

  “All right, I’m coming with you then,” Jason said as he stood up and began to exit the room.

  He and Burt made their way to Campbell’s office and took their seats.

 
; “Now, what is this all about?” Burt asked.

  “I have reason to believe that there are multiple people within our agency who are in league with Markus Boyd, the man responsible for the attack today. I need you two to study all the employee profiles in this office, and come up with a hypothesis on which people we need to investigate. Then conduct an investigation. Keep all of this quiet, though. I don’t want to make anyone feel as if they’re a suspect. We need to be together right now more than ever.”

  “Do you have any leads on what type of person we’re looking for?” Jason asked.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t.”

  “All right, we’ll do things the hard way then,” Burt said as he stood.

  Jason followed him, and they exited the room.

  “So what’s the plan?” Burt asked while looking over at Jason.

  “A lot of profiles and even more coffee, I suppose.”

  “I’m glad that we get to work together on this one. Maybe this will be even more memorable than my mission in Iran last year,” Burt said.

  Jason looked at Burt strangely. Burt had never been to Iran. He had never understood why Burt felt the need to make up such stories around him.

  “You’ve never been to Iran, have you?”

  “Oh, I was there all right. I can tell you all the details of the op and everything.”

  “So if I went through some files on missions in Iran, I wouldn’t find a file that matched your story, only with another agent’s name on it?”

  “We’ve been over this before. I went by a different name back when I was an agent.”

  “Okay. Whatever you say,” Jason said and grinned.

  He really had to give it to Burt. He might have been a liar, but he was definitely a committed one. Once he told a story, he stuck to it forever.

  Nathan and Sam were still staring at Markus’s profile, but so far, absolutely nothing stood out to them.

  “How in the world are we supposed to project where he is just based on this?” Sam asked.

  “I have no idea. It would be so much easier if we could find someone who worked with him and had direct contact with him.”

  “That’s it! Nathan, you’re a genius!”

  “Yeah, I know. Wait, why am I a genius?”

  “Sandusky. Jeffery Sandusky. He ran an entire portion of Markus’s company. Don’t you think that he had plenty of contact with Markus over the years?”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Do we know where he is now, though?”

  “No, but I can find out,” Sam said as she got up and started walking to Campbell’s office.

  Nathan followed her.

  “Where is Jeffery Sandusky right now?” Sam asked.

  “Why?” Campbell asked.

  “Because we need to know where Markus has gone, and we believe that he may know,” Nathan answered.

  “He’s in a secret CIA prison in Houston.”

  “Secret prison? How do you keep something as big as a prison a secret?” Nathan asked.

  “I don’t know. It just looks like a normal prison, but no normal criminals are housed there.”

  “Well, I need you to authorize us to go to Houston and ask Jeffery Sandusky some questions,” Sam said.

  “Consider it done, and by the way, it’s nice to have you back. You did some great work out there, even without the support of your agency,” Campbell said in an almost apologetic tone.

  “Thank you, sir,” Sam responded, and then she and Nathan exited the room.

  “So are you ready to get on a plane again?” Nathan asked sleepily.

  “Not really. We haven’t slept in what feels like forever, but maybe we can both catch a little bit of a nap on the plane.”

  * * * * *

  Back in Lee’s hospital room, evening was quickly approaching, and Michael and Lee had fallen asleep. Jess, on the other hand, decided that now would be a good time for a shower. She made her way into the bathroom and started to turn the water on. As she reached for the shower knob, she heard the hospital room door open. Chloe was walking straight up to Lee. She had walked right past the hospital staff. At this point, the staff had given up on limiting the visitors in Lee’s room. As Jess took a peek out from behind the bathroom door, she saw Chloe raise a small pistol and aim it at Lee’s head. Jess didn’t have time to think. She only had time to act. She slung the door open and jumped onto the girl’s back, effectively tackling her to the ground. As Michael and Lee woke from their sleep, they saw the horrifying sight of Jess and Chloe wrestling on the floor for control over the gun, and that’s when it happened. In the struggle for control over the weapon, it went off.

  Chapter 3

  The gun went off, but much to everyone’s relief, the bullet didn’t hit anyone. It went straight through the ceiling and into a supply closet. If the gun hadn’t been silenced, it would have attracted the attention of the entire hospital. Chloe threw Jess off her, and just before she could get on top of Jess, Michael grabbed her and threw her across the floor. Chloe jumped to her feet and retreated out of the room. Rapid footsteps could be heard in the hallway coming toward Lee’s room. Michael quickly grabbed the gun from the floor and concealed it. A nurse ran into the room and looked at the obvious debris that had fallen from the ceiling. Then she looked very puzzled at the three of them.

  “What happened here?” she asked.

  Michael didn’t know what to say, so he just spouted off the first thing that came to his mind.

  “I don’t know, but it seems like the ceiling is about to come down. Someone should really have a look at it,” Michael said while desperately trying to keep a straight face.

  The nurse only gave him a strange look and slowly said, “Yeah, okay. I’ll call housekeeping.” Then she walked out of the room.

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Jess asked.

  “I don’t know, but I don’t think that they’re going to buy my lame excuse for very long,” Michael said.

  “I say that it’s time for an early checkout,” Lee said as he got up from the bed.

  “No. You’re still extremely sick,” Jess said.

  “I feel much better than I did yesterday, and I’m sure that they’ll give me plenty of care in Washington. Plus, we need protection from whoever is trying to kill us. I won’t feel safe here, so we have to go.”

  Michael and Jess looked at each other. They had both come to the same conclusion. Lee was right. They weren’t going to be safe here. Neither of them thought it was a good idea to leave because Lee was so sick, but for lack of a better option, they looked at Lee and nodded.

  “Great. So where are my clothes?” Lee asked.

  * * * * *

  Nathan and Sam were sitting on a plane going to Houston, and Nathan was fighting to stay awake.

  “Why don’t you take a nap? I’ll wake you when we arrive,” Sam said.

  “That’s okay. I hate trying to sleep on planes. There’s just something about rocking back and forth in midair that’s a little unsettling.”

  “Don’t tell me that you’re scared of flying.”

  “No, my stomach is just in no shape to sleep on a plane.”

  “Okay. I suppose that I’ll just have to keep you awake with some questions then.”

  “That would be great.”

  “Well, I was wondering something. When this is all over, what are you going to do?” Sam asked.

  “I haven’t really thought that far ahead. I suppose that I’ll take a really long vacation or something. I hope that you’ll come with me. What about you? Do you have any plans?”

  “A vacation does sound nice. I’ve never even been on a vacation before. Outside of that, I suppose I’ll just do what I do. I’ll probably continue to be an agent.”

  “You don’t have to be an agent, you know. That vacation I was talking about could be more permanent, if you wanted it to be.”

  “That does sound wonderful. It would just be us on a beach with no worries. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s even possible for so
meone like me. I know a little too much for them to ever let me walk away.”

  “That’s nonsense. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I promise you that when this is all over, I’m going to make that a reality for you.”

  Sam knew that the only way they could ever be together permanently was for Nathan to join her at the CIA for life, but she didn’t want to state the obvious. Maybe when he realized the same thing, he would stay with her, or at least that was what she hoped would happen. Sam reached over and grabbed his hand.

  “I hope you’re right,” she said quietly.

  * * * * *

  Lee and the others made their way to the airport and purchased three tickets to Washington. Once they walked to the waiting area, they saw a familiar person.

  “Trish!” Jess called to her.

  She had been sitting in the corner by herself. Trish got up and walked over to them.

  “What are you three doing here?” Trish asked.

  They explained what happened back at the hospital. Trish looked a little out of it for a moment.

  “I knew that I should have listened to my instincts,” Trish said to herself.

  “Instincts? What do you mean?” Lee asked.

  “I mean that I saw a woman going into the hospital as I was leaving, and she gave off a really weird vibe to me. I ignored it. I didn’t trust my instincts, and it almost got you guys killed.”

  “Well, don’t worry about it too much. We had Jess here to protect us,” Michael said.

  “Yeah, seriously, I never knew that you could be so tough,” Lee said to Jess.

  “Oh, I just did what I had to do,” Jess said while blushing.

  “Well, it sounds like you really saved their butts. Thanks for being there when I should have been,” Trish said.

  “We are now boarding first class and business class passengers,” a voice from over the intercom said.

  “All right, that’s me,” Trish said.

  “Wait a minute. You’re in first class? Aren’t those seats normally pretty expensive?” Michael asked in surprise.

  “Yeah, but I don’t fly coach. One thing you should know is that Mr. Boyd paid us very well. Flying first class is routine for me,” Trish said as she walked away from them and boarded the plane.