The Last Target (4 page)

R
achel rushed to her feet. “My office? Was anyone hurt?”

Denton shook his head. “No, there was no one there when the bomb went off. The building is destroyed, though.”

Rachel glanced at her watch. Ten. She usually got to work at 9:30 a.m. after she dropped Aidan off at preschool. If she hadn’t been here at Eyes, she would have been sitting at her desk, most likely checking her emails and drinking coffee, precisely when the building exploded.

She would have been…killed.

She shuddered at the thought. Jack stood and placed a hand under her elbow, as if he feared she might pass out. She leaned into his strength for a moment, relishing having someone there to hold her up.

“They’re trying to dig through your things to find anything that’s usable—files, computers, etc.,” Denton said, shifting his weight. He looked at Jack. “How do you want to handle this?”

“Rachel would be the best one to help extract any files that might be useful. I want the entire perimeter around the office building secured, though. By my men, not just the FBI.”

“I’m on it.”

Rachel looked up at Jack as Denton retreated.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked.

She nodded, still feeling dazed. She pictured her office
in flames. All of her files, her pictures, her notes. Her heart thudded with sadness.

“I’m fine. I guess.” She shook her head as she tried to comprehend this new twist. “Have all of these deaths been because of my nonprofit?”

Jack flexed his jaw. “It’s anyone’s guess at this point. But it’s more critical now than ever that we find out if the other people on the list had any connection with Operation 26 Letters. We can check with their family members, but it would be helpful if you could search through your files also…what’s left of your files, at least.”

She sucked in a breath. “The letter they received yesterday at the Department of Defense. It said that they weren’t done yet. How long is this going to go on? Are they just trying to terrorize me? Because it’s working. Maybe they’re just trying to scare me to death instead of putting a—” she glanced at Aidan before lowering her voice “—a bullet through my head.”

“They’re trying to send a message, that’s for sure. We need to figure out why you’re the one they’re playing games with.”

“I don’t know if I’m the lucky one or just the opposite.”

His hand went to her back. “Come on. We need to get you to the site.”

“What about Aidan?”

“We have a child-care area where you can leave him, if you’re comfortable with that.”

“It seems safer than bringing him with me. Besides, he might enjoy being around some kids his age.”

Jack led them down the hallway to the child-care area. Though Jack had insisted that Aidan was in good hands with Olivia, the child-care director, Rachel wasn’t sure whom she could trust anymore. She took him to the playroom and, though Aidan took instantly to all of the colorful toys and equipment there, Rachel couldn’t seem to make her
feet budge from their position at the door. How did she know who was trustworthy in a situation like this?

Jack turned to her. “I’ve known Olivia for more than a decade. Her son was killed fighting over in Iraq. I promise you that Aidan will be taken care of and that you have nothing to worry about.”

After hearing about her loss, Rachel instantly felt a bond with the woman and stepped away from the door. She watched as Aidan went across the room and sat in Olivia’s lap as if he’d known her forever. If one didn’t know better, one might think the two were grandmother and grandson.

She so wished her parents were alive to spoil Aidan like every good grandparent did. She still felt the void in her life from their deaths. She’d long ago stopped asking why life wasn’t fair, though. She’d simply come to the conclusion that despite life not being fair, God was still good.

But now her son was in danger…

She shook her head as she walked down the hallway. God was still good. Circumstances didn’t change that. She had to cling to that knowledge even when her emotions tried to tell her otherwise.

“My car is waiting downstairs. Are you ready for this?” Jack asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Once they were cruising down the road, Rachel sighed and leaned against the headrest. Her thoughts couldn’t seem to settle anywhere. Instead they bounced around in her mind until a headache began to develop.

“Will this be on the news, Jack?”

“Most likely the media has heard about it.”

“That’s what I figured also. I’m going to need to call Nancy, the president of the Board of Directors for Operation 26 Letters. If she hears about our office on the news before she hears it from me, she’s going to flip out with worry. Plus,
if she’s not able to contact me she’s going to head to the police station and file a missing person’s report. No need to put her through all of that worry.”

Jack pulled the phone from his belt. “Here you go.”

Rachel dialed Nancy’s number, but she didn’t pick up. Maybe Nancy had already heard the news and was down at the office talking with the FBI. Or maybe Nancy didn’t answer because she didn’t recognize Jack’s phone number. Rachel had been guilty of doing that a time or two herself.

She left Nancy a vague message to call her back at Jack’s number and then handed the phone back to Jack.

“Did you have a database of volunteers at the office, Rachel?”

She sucked in a deep breath. “I keep my volunteer records in one of my filing cabinets. If we can recover my hard drive, I kept a copy there, also. But, Jack, there were volunteers that I didn’t have any information on. There were schools and churches and clubs where the members pulled together to send letters to military personnel overseas as a part of a one-time campaign. Other volunteers became more of pen pals and consistently wrote one or more sailors or soldiers or marines. It would be impossible to keep track of everyone who volunteered.”

“It’s something worth exploring.”

“I agree.” She rolled her head back, trying to get the kinks out of her neck, before sighing. “I just don’t understand how people could be this…this evil. I always want to believe the best in people, to believe that people at their core are good.”

“Keep believing that.”

Her face jerked toward his. “How can you say that after everything you’ve seen? I mean, I think I’ve seen some terrible sides of humanity through this, but I’m sure what you’ve seen is even worse.”

“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t evil people out there.
But life is so much better when you believe the best in people. It’s a trait I wished I possessed sometimes.”

The streets faded from back roads to familiar streets that Rachel traveled—or used to travel—every day. As they turned down the street to where her office was located, she braced herself for what she was about to encounter—more evidence that someone was bent on terrorizing her.

She prayed that God would give her the strength to face this newest obstacle.

Jack stood beside Rachel in the grassy area outside of the charred remains of her office building. He stood on guard, ready to catch her if she stumbled. The way she stared at the shell of her office building, blinking rapidly as if in a daze, worried him. He was afraid her knees might buckle at any time.

“Rachel?” He touched her elbow to get her attention.

“I need to know more.” Rachel continued staring at the remains of the office, not turning to speak to him. “How did this bomb get into the building? How did it detonate? Was it homemade? Military-grade?”

Jack shifted as he thought about how to best answer her questions. “Let me ask you this first: When were you in the building last?”

“When I left Friday evening after work. I didn’t go in all weekend.”

“That’s what I figured. That means that the bomb was most likely planted in the office sometime after you left on Friday. The FBI thinks there was a timer set on it so the bomb would explode at nine-thirty this morning. Is there anything significant about nine-thirty?”

“You can always count on me to be at my desk starting my day here at nine-thirty weekdays. Like clockwork.” The
way she said the last word, it almost sounded as if she blamed herself for being predictable.

“Do you need to sit down? You’re looking a little ashen.”

Rachel didn’t answer. Instead, her gaze roamed the scene. “I’m going to need to tell the board members. With all the media I see out here now, I’m sure this story has already hit the airwaves in time for the noon broadcasts. I’d hate for them to find out that way instead of from me.”

“You just need to worry about yourself and your son right now. We’ll have someone else contact the board. You have enough to worry about without adding that pressure to yourself.”

“What about the volunteer files?”

“It doesn’t look as though anything survived the explosion. The FBI has your computer, though. They’ll have their best people on it, trying to retrieve your hard drive.”

Her head swiveled toward him, her eyes lit with realization. “I did have some type of computer backup that…well, George, of all people, encouraged me to get a couple of months ago. It’s some kind of subscription where my files are backed up to a website each evening in case my computer ever crashed. I bet that database is on there somewhere.”

“We’ll have someone look into it. Maybe we can find some clues in those files.”

She glanced at his phone, worry stretching over her face again. “Nancy hasn’t called back, has she? She’s usually glued to her cell phone. I can’t believe she hasn’t called yet.”

“She’s the president of the board, right?”

Rachel nodded. “I’m sure if she saw this on the news, she would have rushed right over.”

“Maybe she’s on her way right now.”

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest, her face pale. Jack had the urge to put an arm around her shoulders and try to
comfort her, but he knew that would be crossing the line. He’d been hired to protect her and nothing more.

The FBI agent in charge approached them. He led them to a makeshift office in the back of a van. For the next hour, they questioned Rachel about who had keys to the building, who had last been inside, if she had any enemies. Jack could see the exhaustion deepen on her face with each question.

Midway through the interview, another FBI agent knocked on the van door and stepped inside. “Sir, we have another case that may be related to this one. There’s a woman who was just found dead in her home. She’s believed to be affiliated with this office. Her name is Nancy Clark.”

Rachel gasped, her hand flying over her mouth. “No. Not Nancy. Not Nancy.” A guttural cry escaped from her.

Jack broke his rule and placed his arm around Rachel’s shoulders as tears began pouring down her cheeks. His heart ached at her pain, yet he felt so helpless to do anything about it. So instead, he prayed.

R
achel felt as though the whole place was spinning. She was almost willing just to let the turns suck her into their vortex, to mentally leave behind everything that she was trying to comprehend at the moment. Jack grasped her arm, his strong fingers encircling her biceps.

“Somebody get her some water,” Jack muttered. The agent beside him pulled a bottle from a cooler in the corner. Jack opened it and handed the bottle to Rachel. “Take a drink. You keep going pale, like you’re going to pass out.”

“Was Nancy killed because of me?”

Jack shook her shoulders until she looked him in the eye. “None of this is because of you, Rachel. None of it is your fault. All of the blame for this falls on Apaka.”

“Why do I feel guilty then? Why do I feel like it should have been me instead of Nancy? Or that I should have been in the building this morning and none of this would have happened? Are they going to keep killing people close to me to send some type of message?”

“That’s what they want you to think. They want you to feel bad, to feel scared. Don’t let them win, Rachel. You’ve got to hang in, to stay strong. Try to keep your head clear for us. That’s your best retaliation at this point.”

She raised her head, a new determination in her eyes. “You’re right. George is missing. He knows Nancy. He has
the keys to the building. I’d say he should be your number-one suspect.”

Jack glanced at the agent beside him, who nodded and jotted down some more notes. “We’re done. I need to get Rachel back to somewhere safe. I think she’s had enough for today, but if you have any more questions, you have my cell phone number. Feel free to call.” Jack turned back to Rachel. “We need to get back to Eyes. Your uncle is going to be there soon and I know he wants to see you, to make sure you’re okay. That will especially be true once he hears about what happened today.”

Rachel nodded, ready to get back to Eyes. She took one more glance back at the building where she’d spent so much time, energy and passion. It was hard to believe all of that was gone. That Nancy was gone.

Poor Nancy…

Jack helped her into the SUV and the vehicle hummed as Jack cranked the engine. A moment later, they were rolling down the road silently. Thoughts from the day turned over in her mind again and again, haunting her. Nancy had been one of the nicest people in the world. Her father had been in the military, and then later her own son had joined. She’d been so proud of him.

Now she was dead.

Rachel simply wanted to talk about something—anything—to get her mind off Nancy and everything else that had happened. She glanced over at Jack. She’d felt his gaze on her, assessing her as he often did. She wanted to know more about this man who’d been hired to protect her.

“Tell me about your family, Jack. Do they live around here?”

Jack offered a quick side glance at her, as if the question surprised him. “My parents live in Ohio. Dad was a teacher,
and Mom stayed home with me and my brothers until we went to school. Then she went back to work as a nurse.”

“Brothers?”

“Two. One older and one younger.”

“Do they live around here?”

“No, one’s in Indiana and the other in Maryland.”

“You see your family a lot?”

“Not as much as I would like.”

“You should,” Rachel said. Her parents’ images flashed into her mind. “One day, they might not be around and you’ll wish they were.”

“You’re speaking from experience?”

She shrugged. “I guess you could say that. I mean, I was always close to my parents, but I had other things going on in my life. I should have given them more of my time. I thought I’d have more of it. More holidays to spend with them, more birthdays to share. You just never think their time is going to end so soon.”

“I’m sure that’s true. I am overdue to visit to my family. I’ll have to remedy that as soon as…”

“As soon as I’m safe again? It might be a while. Maybe your parents would be better off visiting you.” She’d tried to sound lighthearted but failed miserably.

Jack glanced over at her. What was that look in his eyes? Compassion? Sorrow? Anger?

She shrugged. “I am trying to look on the bright side, believe it or not. I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“We’re going to keep it that way.”

“I appreciate you looking on the bright side also. You don’t have to pretend with me, though. I know the staggering reality of this situation.”

Jack looked at her, his blue eyes intense. “Ms. Reynolds, I’m very good at my job. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’d stake my life on it.”

Rachel felt her cheeks flush until she looked away. Why did she believe him? She’d learned long ago not to believe impossible promises. Something about Jack seemed different, though. She wanted to believe him, and that desire was a milestone in itself.

She swallowed, her throat aching, her head still pounding. Every time she stopped talking, she started picturing Nancy, her office building, the scene at the playground yesterday. She needed to keep the conversation going if she wanted to keep her sanity.

“Ms. Reynolds?” Rachel questioned.

Jack glanced at her again, confusion in his gaze. “Pardon?”

“You just called me Ms. Reynolds. Why?”

“You’re my client.”

“You’ve been calling me Rachel all day, though.”

“Which do you prefer then?”

“Rachel. Definitely Rachel.” Silence fell again. Her thoughts wondered to Eyes, to the two men who were constantly at Jack’s side. There was Luke, the blond-haired, fair-skinned man who seemed all business. Then there was dark-haired, bronzed Denton, who often had a toothpick in his mouth and who had tattoos peeking out from underneath his shirtsleeves. The brains and the bronze, Rachel supposed. Jack seemed like a good mix of both.

She cleared her throat. “I guess Luke and Denton are your right-and left-hand men. They seem to be wherever you are.”

“Yeah, I trust them like they were my brothers. I met Denton through my work at the CIA. Luke came highly recommended by your uncle, actually. His resume was incredible, so I couldn’t argue.”

“It’s good to have men you can trust.”

“Essential.”

Silence fell again. She began thinking of the excitement of the past twenty-four hours—excitement was putting it nicely.
Her life had been so routine for so long now. She’d been scheduled, organized, somewhat of a control freak. And now everything had been turned upside down.

“I used to like adventure, you know. River rafting, rock climbing, bungee jumping. I’m not saying I was successful at any of those things. But I liked trying. I liked not letting my fears hold me back. I even spent a year after college exploring Europe. I really never saw myself settling down and staying in one place.”

“It sounds as though you were the perfect woman for a Navy SEAL to marry then.”

Rachel’s smile faded. “Maybe I was. Maybe then. Not anymore. Being a mom changes everything. And this isn’t the kind of adventure I ever wanted. Even when I was adventurous, I wanted safe adventures. Adventures where I had the adrenaline rush but still knew I also had a safety net. I don’t have that now.”

She glanced at her hands. What she wouldn’t give to have that safety net now.

I’m your safety net. You can fall back on me.
Isn’t that why Jack stayed so close today? Not only for her protection, but to catch her in case she fell?

That’s what Jack wanted to say. But he didn’t.

She’d already stumped him once by calling him out on the “Ms. Reynolds” comment. He knew the truth. He’d felt himself feeling too close to Rachel, and using the name “Ms. Reynolds” helped him put some distance between them. If he was smart, he would always call her “Ms. Reynolds.” It was too easy to want to take her into his arms as it was. Anything he could do to put an imaginary wall up would be advisable, he realized.

He sensed that Rachel wanted to keep talking, so he cleared his throat. “Tell me about Andrew. How did you
meet?” The best way to get his mind off of Rachel would be to talk about her husband, he supposed.

“Andrew?” She seemed to snap away from some other deep thoughts. She visibly relaxed at the mention of his name. “I was working public relations for a nonprofit and decided to participate in an ocean swim for charity that we were sponsoring. I should have known better than to try to swim five miles when I hadn’t done anything of that sort since swim team in high school.”

“Swim team, huh?”

She rolled her eyes. “My parents made me pick a sport, and that seemed like the easiest one at the time. Anyway, as I was swimming, a rip current caught me. Andrew saw me being pulled under and saved me. It was love at first sight.”

Jack already knew part of the story from the time he spent with Andrew, but he wanted to keep Rachel talking. Plus, he was interested to hear her tell the story also. “Did you get married quickly?”

She nodded. “Andrew was leaving in four months for a six-month deployment over in Afghanistan. His SEAL team was going over to help train the military there. So, we had the choice of dating for ten months and then seeing how we felt when he returned from the Middle East. Or we could get married before he left.”

“You got married before he left?”

“Yep. Two months before he left, actually.” Her smile turned into a frown. “I never thought that would be the last time I saw him.”

“Are you glad you got married quickly?”

A small smile returned. “Yeah, I am. The way I see it, marriage has its challenges whether you’ve known the person you’re marrying for two months or if you’ve known them for two years. I knew right away that Andrew was an incredible person. I’d do it all over again, even if I knew the outcome.
Plus, there’s Aidan. Aidan has been such a wonderful gift. God has a plan. All the time. Even when we don’t feel like there is a plan, there is.”

“Even in this situation.”

Rachel nodded. “Unbelievable right now, but yeah, even in this situation.”

They pulled up to Eyes and Jack glanced at the dashboard clock. “It looks like we’re right on time for your uncle.”

As if on cue, they spotted a black SUV coming through the gates behind them. Vice Admiral Harris.

Jack wondered if Vice Admiral Harris had any answers yet. He prayed, for Rachel’s sake, that he did.

“Your friend Nancy was found murdered this morning?” her uncle repeated. “I don’t like this. Not at all.”

Rachel looked over at Jack, who sat across from her in the lobby of Eyes. She was thankful that he’d decided to stay with her while her uncle was here. She found something comforting about his presence.

Jack leaned forward, precision in each motion as he looked at her uncle. “The police are investigating it now. Her death has to be connected, though. I don’t believe in coincidences that big.”

“I agree.” Her uncle shook his head and looked off into the distance. “Between that and the building blowing up this morning, it sounds like an incredibly rough day. The important thing is that you were here, not there, when it went off. All I care about is keeping you safe. You and Aidan.”

Uncle Arnold patted her knee. He was like a father to her now that her own father had passed. Uncle Arnold smiled tightly, the reality of the situation showing in the strain in the lines on his face. He was in his late fifties, but he still looked youthful, even with his white hair. The military had kept him fit, sharp.

“Yes, we have been safe here.” She remembered her purse and the feeling she had that someone had gone through it. Coincidence, she told herself. Her mind was on overdrive and she was reading too much into things. She rubbed her hands against her jean shorts. “Uncle Arnold, about this note from Apaka…”

He straightened, snapping back into military mode. “The terrorist organization is just trying to threaten us.”

“Trying? I’d say succeeding.”

He offered a half nod. “They want Abram Titov released. They say they’ll leave you alone if we release him. Not that I believe them. Your name was on the list before we captured Titov. They’re just using you as a pawn now.”

“Nothing makes sense, Uncle Arnold.” She placed her head in her hands, rubbing her temples, that were now throbbing. “I keep trying to come to terms with things, but I can’t.”

“Don’t try to make sense of terrorists, Rachel. They don’t make sense. They operate on bringing fear to people to accomplish their own agenda. They want to make a point that no one is safe.”

“Have you gotten any information from Titov yet?” Jack’s voice cut into the room. “Is he talking?”

“He’s not talking. He won’t. He’d rather die than betray Apaka.”

“Any idea where this cell is hiding out?” Jack asked. “Do you have it narrowed down yet?”

Uncle Arnold shook his head. “We have some leads we’re following up on. But nothing yet. We’re working as fast as we can. But we have to plan each of our steps carefully. There’s no room for error.”

Rachel sighed, each dead end they ran up against making her head pound even harder. “I just can’t figure out why my name is on the list. I’ve covered every possible area of my life with Jack, and we’ve found no connection.”

Uncle Arnold nodded and brushed some lint from his crisp pants. “The connection is there somewhere. It will be discovered with time. Apaka is bound to make a mistake, and when they do, we’re going to be all over it.”

Denton and Aidan came pounding down the stairs at that moment. Aidan swooped into their conversation while playing with a wooden airplane. He paused by Uncle Arnold. “Guess what, Uncle Arnold? I’m going to the zoo tomorrow, and I’m going to feed a giraffe!”

Rachel’s heart sank. She’d totally forgotten about his trip to the zoo. Aidan had been looking forward to it for weeks now. “About that, honey…”

Uncle Arnold held up a hand to quiet her. “Tell me more about this trip to the zoo.”

“I sold lemonade to raise money for a new exhibit at the zoo, and I won this contest. Now I get to feed the giraffes! I can’t wait! It’s going to be so cool. My friend says their tongues feel like gooey sandpaper.”

“Gooey sandpaper, huh?” Uncle Arnold laughed. “I wouldn’t know about that. It sounds like a great opportunity, though.”