The Last Target (3 page)

A
idan called out for his mother from the next room. Jack watched as Rachel’s face seemed to flush with relief. Maybe this had been too much for her. Maybe he should have waited until she rested some before asking the questions.

Still, Rachel had a trouper’s attitude. She’d held up amazingly well considering the circumstances. Even the toughest person would crumble under the weight of what she’d just learned.

“Let me get Aidan.” Rachel rose. “He may be scared not knowing where he is.”

Jack wasn’t going to leave Rachel alone. Not right now. He planned on staying by her side as much as possible until the people behind the threat on her life were either dead or behind bars.

Instead, Jack stared at the mess of notes in front of him. A mess of notes, but no answers. Just more ideas. Ideas didn’t seem good enough at the moment. Right now, he wanted answers. And he wanted to keep his promises, including one he’d made four years ago.

He never thought this day would come, the day that he and Rachel would both become characters on the same stage. But here they were, thrown together in the most harrowing of circumstances. Not only had he been hired to protect
her—a task he’d see to personally—but he was also fulfilling a promise he’d whispered to a man on his deathbed.

That was all Andrew had asked of Jack before life had faded from him. Make sure his wife and baby were okay. He probably would have asked that of any of his comrades who had been there with him on his deathbed. Although Jack and Andrew had been friends, they hadn’t been that kind of friends. But Jack had been the one who was there to hear Andrew’s last desperate plea for his family. It was a shame that Andrew had asked the one person who was never supposed to have known him, though. Jack had been undercover, even used an alias while on assignment. Even worse, Andrew had been the main crux of his mission. The government had feared he’d been selling secrets to the enemy. Andrew had been cleared of those suspicions, but still, an invisible weight pressed on Jack’s shoulders at the thought.

Jack heard Rachel talking in soothing tones to Aidan in the next room. He knew even before today that Rachel was a good mother. He knew she was patient and loving, yet disciplined and firm. Jack had seen her from his place in the background. Not very often. He hadn’t wanted to scare her by being a shadow in her life. But he kept tabs on her, made sure she was okay. He’d made sure to donate to Rachel’s nonprofit. He’d made sure she had no unmet needs. Everything had been going well, so smoothly…until today.

He looked at his notes again. George Anderson.

He remembered George from his time working alongside the SEALs team in Afghanistan. Had George and Rachel ever dated? Why did the thought of it make Jack tense?

He knew—it was because George was a hothead and a hotshot. He wanted to do things that put the whole SEALs team and everyone else around them in danger.

But was he a killer? Could he secretly be working for Apaka?

Jack knew the reasons why someone would be lured into working for a terrorist organization. They would probably pay a hefty dollar for the right information about where the U.S. troops were headed next for battle. The traitor could have provided that information, taken a large sum of money and then gotten out of the military.

Apaka looked just like anyone else. That’s what made them dangerous. They blended in. Many were homegrown. Their agents could be anyone.

He glanced toward the other room and saw that Rachel was still occupied with Aidan. He picked up his phone and made a call to Luke.

“Luke, I need you to look into someone named George Anderson. Find out where he’s been for the past six months, if he’s traveled anywhere. Look into his checking account. I need to find out if he’s our man.”

“Yes, sir.”

He glanced back again and saw Rachel stroking her son’s hair, a gentle smile on her face. For some reason, the image made his heart lurch. He looked away, staring at his notes again and remembering the conversation at hand. “How about the park? Did you find any evidence there? Any clues as to who the shooter was?”

“I’m talking to the local police right now. Thanks to a call from the Department of Defense we’ve got their full cooperation. No one at the park seems to have seen anything, however, except a mass of people scattering for cover.”

Jack replayed the incident again. Why hadn’t the shooter gotten Rachel? Why had he spared her after killing everyone else on the list? He was sure of one thing—it wasn’t an accident she was still alive. But he was also sure they weren’t finished with her yet. Now he just had to figure out why. In figuring that out, he may also figure out who was behind these attacks.

His men had been working nonstop on this case since Jack had gotten the phone call yesterday from Vice Admiral Harris, his contact at the U.S. Department of Defense and Rachel’s uncle. He had analysts looking over the list, searching phone records, examining backgrounds. He had strategists plotting various ways to catch the men behind the attacks. He had security specialists figuring out ways to up safety measures here at Eyes.

Yes, their headquarters were more closely guarded than the White House, as he liked to say. He hadn’t lied about that. But still, to not make mistakes, they needed to reevaluate, find any areas of weakness.

Some of the best men at the Department of Defense and CIA examined that list after it had been discovered two days ago, and all had been unable to determine the links between the names. They could only hope that Rachel could provide some information that would give them a lead. Without any insight from Rachel, they might not ever figure out the reasons behind these murders. She was their source for answers…but Jack’s main concern was keeping her and Aidan safe.

His thoughts went back to his final night in Afghanistan. He pictured the explosion that had rocked his world. He could see Andrew’s lifeless body. He’d pulled him from the Hummer and tried to revive him. It was too late. He was never supposed to have hit that improvised explosive device.

Jack had been the one who’d told Andrew to go to Kabul. Jack had wanted to trail him, to see who he was meeting. He’d wanted to catch Andrew in the act of being a traitor. Instead, Jack had led him straight to his death.

If Rachel learned the truth about what happened that night, how would she feel about Jack? She would never trust him. After all, how could she forgive him for the death of her husband and her son’s father?

The thought pressed on him as he looked once more at the list.

“Where are we, Mommy?”

Rachel pulled Aidan into her arms. “This is where we’re going to be staying for a few days. It’s kind of like a hotel.” She couldn’t let anything happen to her son. She’d protect him, even if it meant staying here at the Eyes headquarters and abandoning her life.

“Like the time we stayed at the beach and ate pizza and played in the waves?”

Rachel smiled. “Yes, kind of like that.” Rachel wished she had a sweater to pull over her arms. She told herself it was the AC that had her quivering, but she knew the truth. Fear had invaded her and shaken her to the core. This all seemed like a nightmare that she needed to wake up from. The bandage across her arm proved that this situation was all too real, though.

Aidan’s chin trembled. “Why did that man grab me from the slide?”

Rachel’s heart panged, remembering her son’s expression during the ordeal, remembering how helpless she felt. “I know that was scary. He was trying to help, though. There was a bad man in the park, and the good guy was trying to keep you away from him.”

“A bad man?”

Rachel nodded.

“I thought you said monsters weren’t real.”

Her heart panged again. She didn’t know what to say. Instead, she pulled her son into her arms again and rocked him back and forth.
Lord, I don’t have the answers…help me.

She opened her mouth, hoping the right words would pop out, when Aidan sighed and proclaimed, “I’m hungry.”

Hungry. Jack had mentioned something about food. Maybe a good meal would be a perfect distraction for both herself
and Aidan. She rose and reached for his hand. “Let’s go get something to eat then.”

Just seeing Jack on the phone in the next room caused the revelation about the list and the threat on her life to slam back into her mind. She studied him another minute, wondering again why he seemed familiar. Did Jack know Andrew? She felt confident there was something Jack wasn’t telling her. His eyes had taken on a haunted look when Andrew’s name had been mentioned.

Perhaps Jack had been a former SEAL. Maybe it didn’t matter if Jack knew Andrew personally. SEALs—whether they knew each other or not—seemed to form an impenetrable camaraderie. They were closer than brothers. When one SEAL was lost, the whole community of special ops mourned for them. That had been evident at Andrew’s funeral.

The day flashed into her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut, pushing the memories away. She didn’t want to go there. Not now. She didn’t want to think about Andrew and the questions she had about a few mysterious aspects of his life. She’d chosen to simply believe the best and put aside her questions.

Jack looked up at that moment and smiled at Aidan. “How’s it going, buddy? Did you have a nice nap?”

Aidan nodded and rubbed his eyes. “I’m hungry.”

“It just so happens that I have some macaroni and cheese coming up for you right now. Do you like mac and cheese?”

Aidan’s eyes lit up. “It’s my favorite.”

At that moment, the guard knocked at the door and brought in several bags of food. He placed them on the coffee table that lay between them. Rachel helped Jack pull the food out and placed it before them. He’d ordered a variety, obviously not knowing what they liked. Rachel chose a ham-and-cheese sandwich for herself. She pulled the lid off of Aidan’s food and set it before him. He quickly dug in.

“Does mac and cheese help you grow?” Aidan asked, looking at Jack. He already had orange, gooey cheese all over his lips and chin. “I want to be big and tall one day, just like you. Like a superhero.”

Jack grinned. “Mac and cheese…the dinner of champions. That’s what I like to say.”

Rachel raised an eyebrow. Today of all days she wasn’t going to argue about what her son ate. There were other issues to worry about. She took another bite of her sandwich, though she had to admit that nothing tasted good right now. She was just going through the motions, eating because she knew she had to in order to keep her energy.

Jack turned his gaze back to Rachel, his eyes serious again. “As soon as you’re both finished, I’d like to show you around the headquarters. I hope you’ll be comfortable here. Just not too comfortable.”

Rachel knew what he was getting at. She had to remain on guard at all times, even within the security of the headquarters here. They were dealing with terrorists. Jack didn’t need to spell it out for Rachel to realize the resources Apaka had. They’d do anything to finish what they started.

Rachel shivered.

Keep things normal, she reminded herself. She had to keep a cool head for Aidan’s sake. She cleared her throat. “From what I’ve seen so far, it seems like quite the setup you have here.”

Jack’s gaze remained on her a moment too long. She almost felt like Jack could see right through the surface and knew her thoughts, her fears, her forced façade in front of her son. “I try to make it as much like home as possible,” Jack finally said. “For many of the men here, this is like a second home. It’s my only home, for that matter.”

“Your family lives here then?” She was just asking to make conversation, she told herself. It was only fair that if
she had to expose her entire life to this stranger then she should know something about him.

His eyes seemed to cloud at the question. “No family. It’s easier that way.”

Rachel nodded. “I’m sure.” She wasn’t sure how to take his statement. Was it easier this way because he didn’t like to be tied down, or easier this way because there was less pressure to divide his time? Maybe both? It didn’t matter. It wasn’t her place to convince him otherwise. And, in some ways, maybe it was easier for people in the military to be single. At least, that’s what she thought on her cynical days.

Jack’s phone rang again. He looked at the screen before plucking it from his belt and putting it to his ear. His posture immediately went stiff. “Vice Admiral Harris. I understand. Yes, I will pass that on. Okay. Thanks.”

Rachel tensed. What was the phone call about? Had they captured the person behind the shooting? Had someone else been hurt?

Jack turned to her with serious eyes. “That was your uncle. He’s coming down to talk to you tomorrow.”

“I thought he was out of the country.”

“He was. He’s back now. He cut his trip short.”

“What’s going on?”

“The Department of Defense just received a letter for you. When they opened it, they noticed a powdery substance inside. After the powder was cleared of being toxic, they read the letter.”

“And?”

“It was a note to you from Apaka.”

The blood drained from her face. “To me? With my name on it? What did it say?”

“It said ‘We’re not done yet.’”

R
achel shoved her sandwich aside and leaned back against the couch. Nausea roiled in her gut. Why did it feel like just when things couldn’t get worst, they did?

“It’s our belief that Apaka doesn’t know you’re here,” Jack said in an obvious attempt to comfort her.

“But they will, won’t they? Eventually. They don’t seem like the type to give up easily.”

Jack’s silence spoke volumes.

Rachel wiped the corners of her mouth, again trying to round up her thoughts. She glanced at Aidan and saw that he was preoccupied with a coloring page that had been placed in the bag with his food. “So, when did the first…the first…incident from the list…occur?”

“The list? Mommy, you like lists.” Aidan popped his head up. So, he had been listening. She should have known better. Aidan’s perceptiveness never ceased to amaze her.

She patted his hand. “You’re right, honey. I do like lists. Grocery lists. To-do lists. Birthday lists.” She and Jack exchanged a glance.
Not hit lists.

When Aidan went back to coloring, Jack spoke. “Three months ago.”

Rachel’s skin went cold. Whoever was behind the attacks was acting swiftly. They’d eluded law enforcement by revealing no modus operandi. And if that terrorist hadn’t been
captured, her life would have ended also with no one thinking anything strange about it.

The other deaths had seemed random. Why had Apaka planned her ending by shooting her in a park? With the other deaths, it could seem like a robbery gone bad or like an accident even. The incident in the park today was nothing but malicious. There was no covering that up.

She shook her head, not able to think about it.

“Excuse me, Mister…Mister…”

“Jack. You can call me Jack.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Jack. What’s your superpower?” Aidan stared at Jack with large, curious eyes.

Jack raised a brow. “Superpower?”

Rachel licked her lips, so used to her son’s superhero banter that she didn’t realize how strange it may sound to others. “He thinks you’re a superhero, and every superhero has a superpower.”

“Can you leap tall buildings?”

Jack shook his head.

“Fly?”

“Only in a plane.”

“Shoot webs from your hands?”

Jack leaned closer, a grin on his face. His demeanor had changed from all professional to warm in an instant. “You know, I actually can’t tell you what my superpower is. It’s a secret.”

Aidan took the bait and grinned. “I bet you can become invisible.”

Jack nudged the boy’s chin affectionately. “I like your persistence.”

Now that Aidan mentioned it, there was something about Jack Sergeant that reminded Rachel, a bit, of a superhero. He seemed strong, powerful and like he had a good heart, one that was bent on protecting the innocent.

The problem was that this wasn’t a comic book or a movie. In real life, the superhero didn’t always win.

Her heart twisted at the thought.

“How about we go and get some fresh air?” Jack suggested.

Fresh air sounded nice. Rachel nodded and rose. She took Aidan’s hand and followed Jack out of the room and through the building. They stepped outside into the early evening sun, that still felt sweltering despite the earlier shower. A light breeze helped cool the air slightly.

They stepped off of the wooden porch and onto the grounds, which, other than being a paramilitary complex, were nice with plentiful grass, woods at the perimeter and water in the distance. If it weren’t for the men running around in uniform, one might think the place was a vacation spot. Rachel already had thoughts of sitting on the porch to watch the sunset.

Too bad she knew better. Aidan didn’t have to, though.

They stopped at a man-made lake and Aidan began throwing rocks in the water. While he was distracted, Rachel turned to Jack. “So, what’s next? Do I just stay here until every member of Apaka is captured and behind bars? Because that feels a bit like a prison sentence. No offense. It’s just that they might as well kill me if I’m going to spend the rest of my life without any freedom.”

Jack glanced at Aidan, as if double-checking that he wasn’t listening. “It won’t be forever. But we will need your patience. Your safety is our first priority.”

She kicked at a rock. “I appreciate that.” She looked around at the campus of Eyes. “So you started this place? Why?”

“I saw ways of doing things more efficiently. I saw needs that weren’t being met, gaps that needed to be filled, so I started dreaming. I like doing things my way.”

“You sound like me.”

They shared a smile.

“I’m proud of all of the men and women who work here. Our goal is simply to protect our country.”

If they could protect an entire country, certainly they could protect her. Right? The tension didn’t leave her, though. She didn’t know if it would until Apaka was stopped.

She glanced at Aidan, throwing stones with all of his might. “So, who do you employ here? Ex-military?”

“Mostly ex-military. Some former law enforcement, CIA, FBI. Only the best. We do highly classified missions and act as government contractors. My men put their lives at risk. They don’t get fancy funerals or big awards from the Pentagon. But what they do is valuable. I want to treat them accordingly. I pay what they deserve, but, as a result, I’m very selective about who I bring on.”

Rachel’s gaze scanned her surroundings, impeccably kept and deceitfully peaceful. She still half expected a bullet to come flying through the air at any moment. “This is where they do all their training?”

Jack nodded. “Pretty much. They stay in shape and train, learning new techniques and basically preparing for battle or whatever situation we’re called into.”

Rachel absorbed all of the new information. As the facts settled in her mind, she leaned down to grab a rock and attempted to skim it across the water.

“You’re former military?”

He nodded.

“How’d you get into this line of work, Jack?”

“I wish I had a really admirable back story, but the truth is that I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school so I joined the military. Once I got in, I loved everything about it.”

“So much so that you became a SEAL?”

“I was a SEAL.”

“But you weren’t on my husband’s team?”

“No, I wasn’t.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“I did work with your husband once, Rachel. But I wasn’t on his SEAL team.”

Her face looked still, uneasily calm. “You worked with Andrew?”

“We met a couple of times when I was stationed over in the Middle East.” He glanced at her as if trying to read her expression. “He was a good man.”

“Thank you.” She threw another rock into the water. “Aidan has a lot of his father in him.”

“I can see the resemblance.”

Just over the lake, the sun was beginning to sink into the horizon. Now that she thought about it, she was exhausted. She needed some time alone to process everything that had happened today.

“You ready to go back inside?”

She nodded, and Jack walked them inside. Five bags had been left outside the door to her room.

“We picked up some supplies for you that I thought you might need while you’re here. If there’s anything else you need, please do let us know and we’ll get them for you. In the meantime, Simon is going to be stationed outside of your room. If you need to go anywhere, he’ll go with you.”

Rachel glanced at the fresh-faced young man who had brought them food earlier. He looked right out of high school. She nodded in greeting.

“I’ll be down at eight tomorrow morning to get you for breakfast,” Jack continued.

Rachel nodded again, suddenly feeling halfway in shock about what had happened. Reality was setting in.

“Thank you for everything, Jack. I appreciate it.” She grabbed a bag. “I’m sure we’ll be just fine tonight.”

His eyes remained on her a minute longer before he stepped back. “Good night then. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night, Aidan.”

Aidan grinned also. “Good night, Mr. Jack.”

Rachel stepped into her room, dragging the bags with her. She crossed the sitting area to retrieve her purse and paused. What felt wrong about this room?

She looked around. Everything appeared to be in place. Really, her only belonging was her purse. She spotted it on her bed, just where she’d left it. She eyed it for a moment, looking at the lay of the straps.

That’s not how she left her purse. It had been upright when she left it there.

It just fell over, Rachel.

Of course it had just fallen over. What did she think? That someone had been in her room, ruffling through her things? That would be ridiculous.

She picked up her purse to retrieve a pen. Her gut clenched. She still had the feeling that something was not as she left it, and she hoped it was simply paranoia. But what if it wasn’t?

Jack rapped on Rachel’s door promptly at eight the next morning. He hadn’t slept all night. Instead, he’d analyzed lists and names and tried to come up with something that would give them a clue as to who was behind these attacks.

They’d come up with nothing.

Rachel opened the door looking bright eyed and surprisingly well rested. Her eyes gave her away, however. Jack could see the worry in the crinkles at their corners, see the weariness in her gaze.

“Good morning.” He handed her a cup of coffee, one that he’d been tempted to drink himself.

“Coffee. How’d you know I was just wanting some of this?”

“Good guess.” He nodded toward the distance. “You want to get some breakfast downstairs?”

“I’m starving—and desperate for something to do other than think.”

Jack couldn’t help but smile at the cadence of her words. At least she was keeping herself fairly upbeat. A moment later, she and Aidan joined him in the hallway.

“Any updates?” Rachel took a sip of her coffee as they meandered toward the mess hall.

“No updates. Right now we’re looking into your friend George Anderson. He’s our best lead so far.”

“I’d hardly call George my friend. There was always something about him that made me keep him at arm’s distance. I’m not sure if it was simply that our personalities don’t connect or if he’s just a little…what’s the word?”

“Scary?”

She smiled. “I was going to say ‘different.’”

“No one has seen him since yesterday morning.”

Her head turned sharply toward him. “Really? George?”

“Really. We’ve got men looking for him. I’m not saying he’s guilty. I’m just saying he’s a person of interest.”

“Wow. That’s all I can say.” She shook her head.

“Did the two of you ever date?” He told himself he was just asking as part of the investigation. But was he?

“George? No. Definitely not. I think he was interested, but I wasn’t. I don’t have time to date and, even if I did, I wouldn’t date a military man. I did that once already, and now I’m a single mom.”

Her words did something strange to him. Why did he feel a bit disappointed or saddened by her proclamation? He
was content being single and running Eyes. Besides, he’d tried marriage once, too, and failed miserably at it. He never wanted to make that mistake again.

They went through a cafeteria-style line and picked out their breakfast choices before sitting at a table by the window. Just as they dug into their food, Denton, the assistant director for Eyes, appeared at his side. He looked serious, and Jack braced himself for whatever he had to say.

Denton looked at Rachel. “The office for Operation 26 Letters just exploded. The FBI needs to talk to you.”