The Last Target (7 page)

S
he grabbed her cell phone from the bedside table and held down the 1. It only rang once. Jack sounded alert when his voice came on the other line.

“Someone’s in my room,” Rachel whispered, her throat straining with each word.

“Rachel?”

“I don’t want them to hear me.”

“Stay where you are. I’m on my way.”

Rachel saw the shadow move again. Subtle, like ink spreading through water.

Or was she seeing things? Were her eyes playing tricks on her? She could hardly breathe, hardly move.

Her eyes shot across the room. Was Aidan okay?

She could still hear his steady breathing and make out his small outline in bed. She breathed a short-lived sigh of relief, but they weren’t out of danger yet.

Jack would be here soon. He’d help them.

But what if he didn’t get here in time?

Fear scrambled across her skin. Panic sent off alarms in her head. Her lungs felt like someone pressed down on them.

Jack, get here soon. Please.

She heard another click from the other room. The light brightened under her doorway. A soft knock sounded at her door. “Rachel, it’s me, Jack.”

She scrambled from the bed to the door, thankful she’d worn sweats and a T-shirt to bed. She threw the door open and saw Jack’s massive frame filling the doorway. Without thinking, she threw her arms around him. He seemed stunned a moment before his arms encircled her also. She found comfort for only a moment in his strong arms, his steady heartbeat.

What had she just done? Was she having crazy fantasies that their little act at the zoo today was the real deal? As quickly as she hugged him, she stepped back and straightened herself. “Sorry about that.”

In the darkness, she couldn’t see his expression. But she did feel his arms slip from around her and she missed them.

“It’s clear. There’s no one in your room.”

“There was someone.”

“Luke is searching the perimeters of the building now, looking for anyone suspicious. We’re also looking for Simon.”

“Simon? Isn’t he supposed to be outside my door at all times? Did something happen to him?”

Just then, someone filled the doorway to the hall. Simon. “What’s going on?” Rachel heard the uncertainty in his voice.

“Where were you?” Jack demanded.

“I just had to take a quick bathroom break. I’ve only been gone five minutes, max.”

“It was five minutes too long, Simon. Rachel said she heard someone in her room.”

His eyes widened. “That’s impossible. The door is locked. I would have heard someone coming down the hall. I would have noticed something.”

“We’ll talk about it later.” Jack looked back at Rachel. “Does anything look different to you here?”

Her gaze scanned the room. She kept most of her things in the bedroom area with her and not in the living room. She spotted some coloring books, puzzles, crayons, the letters
she’d been writing for her nonprofit. Everything appeared as she’d left it. She shook her head.

“You’re sure someone was in here?”

“I saw the shadows passing under the door. I heard a click.” But was she sure? Why did she doubt herself so easily?

“Could the shadows have been Simon stepping away from his post perhaps?”

Rachel pulled the arms of her sweatshirt over her hands before crossing her arms over her chest. “I suppose.”

She glanced back at Aidan, thankful he was sleeping so peacefully still. “Maybe I’m…maybe I’m losing it. I don’t know.”

Jack’s hand came down on her shoulder. “Why don’t you close the door so we don’t disturb Aidan?”

She gently pulled the door closed, though not all the way. She still wanted to be able to hear if he woke up and needed her. Jack motioned to Simon, who stepped outside into the hallway and closed the door. Then Jack flipped on a small lamp by the couch before sitting her down.

His cell phone buzzed. He took it from the clip at his belt and mumbled a few things into the mouthpiece. Finally, he thanked Luke and snapped the phone closed.

“What is it?” Rachel sat on the edge of her seat.

“He didn’t find anything or anybody.”

Her shoulders sagged.

Jack sat down on the couch beside her. “Hey, chin up. That’s good news.”

“Or it means I’m losing my mind.”

“It’s normal for people in a situation like this to have heightened senses. I’d rather you be on guard than lackadaisical.”

She sighed and leaned back into the couch. “What am I going to do, Jack?”

“What do you mean?” He settled back into the cushions also.

“I can’t live the rest of my life like this. What if whoever is behind these attacks is never caught? When if I’m in danger for the rest of my life?”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Their gazes caught and Rachel found herself being sucked into the deep blue of Jack Sergeant’s eyes. Her heart pounded in her throat. She believed him. Again. She barely knew the man, but, for some reason, she knew she could trust him.

She also knew she had to change the subject. She was beginning to feel a bond with him that she shouldn’t feel. He was out of bounds, and she needed to remember that. It was simply a matter of reminding her heart. Her head wouldn’t let her forget.

She tucked her legs beneath her and tried to clear her head. She wanted desperately to forget about the situation at hand and feel halfway normal for a moment. “What do you like doing when you’re not working, Jack?”

His eyes flickered toward her a moment, as if surprised. “Not working? When does that happen?”

Rachel smiled softly. “Surely you have some kind of life outside of this place.”

“Eyes is my life. But if I wasn’t working so much, I think I still might be somewhat of a homebody. Just staying in, eating dinner with friends, renting a movie, maybe hosting barbecues in the backyard.”

Rachel smiled. “My parents used to love having barbecues. It became somewhat of a joke in our circle because they probably had one every week at least. They’d invite anybody and everybody—they called it good old Christian hospitality.
They had over coworkers from the Department of Agriculture, neighbors, childhood friends.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“It was. I still have all of their old picture albums. I like to look through them and remember those good times. My mom…she had a real gift for making people feel welcome. And my dad was always cracking jokes. I have pictures of myself at those cookouts from the time I was a toddler sitting on my dad’s shoulders all the way up until I got married.”

“Sounds like you had a great family.”

“I did.” She swallowed, all too aware of the hole that had been left in her life since they’d been gone. “But not everything was perfect. There’s no such thing as a perfect family, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“My parents’ jobs were quite stressful, especially in the days leading up to their death. They just seemed to be walking around with the weight of the world on their shoulders.”

“Did they say why?”

“Only that some positions had been eliminated and now they had to finish a bigger workload within the same number of hours. Typical office stuff. They said it was nothing for me to worry about.”

“I guess we all feel like that sometimes about our jobs.”

“It’s true.”

“Did your parents like Andrew, Rachel?”

“At first.” Her heart thudded as she remembered her last conversation with her parents about Andrew.

“What changed?”

Her throat burned. Should she even share? She hadn’t talked about what had happened in years. She tried to forget. But did she ever really forget? No. Her suspicions always remained in her subconscious.

“I found some letters that a woman wrote Andrew.” She
glanced at Jack, afraid she might see in his gaze that he felt sorry for her. Instead, she saw that he was listening, really listening. She continued. “I began fearing that he had an affair with someone. I asked him about it once. He said he would explain to me one day, that it would all make sense. Of course, he died before that could happen.”

“I’m sorry, Rachel.”

She nodded, trying to maintain her composure. “I tried to justify that maybe there was some other reason a woman would send him letters like that. But then, after Andrew died, I discovered that he had a separate credit card account set up and he was sending large chunks of cash advances to someone…most likely the same woman.” She sighed, as the weight of her burden tugged on her. “I’m still trying to pay it off.”

“Did you ever find any answers?”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. I try not to think about it, figuring it will do me no good.”

Jack leaned forward. “Rachel, I’m going to need to see those letters.”

Her heart thudded. “Why?”

“Maybe they’re the connection we’re looking for.”

Jack remembered the reason he was in Afghanistan—the suspicions that Andrew might be selling government secrets. The man would often disappear into town, unaccounted for for hours. He’d been spotted in secret, meeting with some Afghan natives. Later, they’d discovered who the true traitor was. That man, an army ranger, had been tried and convicted of treason. But what if there was some validity to the government’s original allegations about Andrew? Could the letters have any connection or offer any validity to those suspicions? Jack thought he’d cleared Andrew of any wrongdoing, but what if he’d been wrong?

His heart thudded with sadness for Rachel as he saw the
anguish in her eyes. He’d wanted to pull her into his arms and try to provide some comfort. But he couldn’t cross that line. Rachel was out of bounds. He couldn’t let himself forget that, as he frequently seemed to do.

Looking at her earlier, at the vulnerability in her eyes, he’d wanted nothing more than to lean over and kiss her, to see if the spark that he felt sure would be there was there.

His ex-wife’s, Jennifer’s, image flashed in his mind. She’d once been so full of spark and life. They’d started life together full of dreams, determined to make it as a military family. They’d been young, perhaps foolish even.

Jack had been sent overseas on his first six-month deployment. He called Jennifer often. Each time, he noticed a little more of her sparkle fading. He’d moved her to a new place where she knew no one and then he’d left her. Abandoned her. She’d had a hard time making new friends. She was miserable at her job. She’d begged him to come home.

He’d only had two months until he was supposed to return. He thought she could wait it out at that point. Finally, he arrived back in Norfolk, expecting Jennifer to be excited that he was finally home. There was no one at the base to greet him when he stepped off of the ship. He’d gotten a ride home. Jennifer was inside, curled up on the couch. She barely acknowledged that he was there.

He tried to get her help. Asked her to go see a counselor or a doctor even. She said no, insisted she was fine.

Three months later, he was deployed again, this time for four months. Jennifer decided to go back to Ohio and stay with her parents for this deployment. Jack had thought it was a great idea. She needed to be around people who loved her. He knew deployment was hard, but military couples dealt with it all the time. He hoped to become a SEAL when he returned from that deployment. Doing so, he would most likely
be in town for longer periods of time. It would be easier on their marriage.

But it was too late. When he returned from that deployment, Jennifer had already fallen into the arms of another man. She filed for divorce papers and refused to talk with him.

He should have seen the signs. He should have done everything within his power to stay home, to be with her. He never wanted to put someone through that again. Even though he’d become a Christian since then, the mistakes he’d made back then still haunted him.

And Rachel had made it clear that she found his lifestyle way too dangerous for him to be the family man she desired. He could understand. She wanted stability for herself and for her son. What mother wouldn’t want that? It had been hard enough for Aidan to lose a father once. Rachel didn’t want to put herself in a position to have him lose two male figures in his life.

He met Luke in the hallway. “Everything’s clear, Jack. I checked in with the guards at the gate. No one’s been in or out. I checked the videotape of the surrounding area. There’s nothing suspicious.”

“She feels confident that someone was in her room.”

“Are you sure she’s just not being paranoid?”

Jack gave him a sharp look.

“I mean, I wouldn’t blame her if she was.”

“Don’t talk about her like that again, Luke.”

“Jack, if you don’t mind me saying so, are you sure you’re not getting a little too close to your client? I’d hate for you to lose your objectivity.”

“I’m not. And I do mind.”

“I’m just trying to watch out for you, boss.”

“You can watch out for me by letting me get some rest. It’s been a long night.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jack scowled as he pushed the door open to his room. He didn’t know why a heaviness had settled over him, but it had. Even worse was the urgency he felt to find the people behind the attacks on Rachel. He had a feeling they were getting impatient with waiting.

J
ack watched Rachel as she sat across from him in his office the next morning. She twisted her fingers together, and her eyes had a far off look to them. Any minute now, Luke and Denton should be calling. He’d sent them over to Rachel’s house to retrieve the letters.

Jack could tell by Rachel’s face that she was dreading seeing the letters again, dreading the memories they would bring back.

He hated to think that Andrew could have hurt her like that. He thought he’d cleared Andrew of any suspicions, but could what he was hiding the whole time have simply been an affair?

He’d already done a search on the woman, Meredith O’Connor. Her family had worked for a mission in Afghanistan for the past twenty years. Her father had been killed four years ago.

Around the same time Andrew was in Afghanistan…

Meredith was currently living back in the United States, only a few hours away. What if Andrew had been selling secrets to Apaka? What if Meredith was a part of one of their cells? She would easily blend in, and no one would suspect.

Finally, Jack’s cell phone rang.

“You’re not going to like this,” Denton said.

“What is it?”

“Rachel’s place has been ransacked. Looks like someone just went crazy looking for something.”

“We’ve had guards watching the place for more than a week now. How did someone get in?”

“I’m not sure how they got around our security measures. But someone’s definitely been here, and it’s not pretty.”

“I want to talk to the men who were keeping watch. I want to find out how this happened.”

“There’s more.”

Jack braced himself. “Okay.”

“They left a message on her wall.”

“What did it say?”

“It said, ‘We’re getting closer.’”

Jack gritted his teeth for a moment as the facts settled in his mind. “Was anything taken?”

“You’d have to ask Rachel about that. It looks like all the big stuff is still there. The TV, computer, jewelry.”

He hung up and saw Rachel looking at him with questioning eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Your house. It’s been turned upside down.”

She shivered and her hands clamped down across her chest and over her arms. “You think they were looking for me?”

“No. They were trying to send a message, to let you know that they’re not backing off.”

“I guess it would be crazy to think they might just disappear with time.”

“I’m going to go over and take a look.”

“Can I go?”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Please. I need to pick up a few things. Besides, I need to see it with my own eyes.”

The pleading look in her gaze made it hard to say no. “We’ll have to use the utmost caution.”

“Of course.”

Finally, he nodded. “The FBI is headed over there now. We’ll meet them there.”

He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her from his office to an SUV that was waiting outside. Once she was securely inside, he ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in. He noticed Rachel’s white-knuckled grip on the armrest.

“You sure you want to do this? You can stay here.”

“I need to go. I need to see.”

They started down the road. Jack kept his gaze on alert, glancing around them for any sign of danger.

“I keep thinking that the connection of the people on the list is right at the edge of my reasoning,” Rachel said. “I just can’t figure out what’s been nagging me.”

“We’ve compared nearly every detail of every person’s life. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the names were random, but we know that’s not the case. There’s a reason you all were picked to be on that list.”

“You still think it might have something to do with those letters?”

“We won’t know until we get a hold of them.”

“I’m sure you’ve already looked into Meredith.”

What could Jack say? He knew he could only tell her the truth. “We did.”

She paused a moment before quietly asking, “Was my husband having an affair with her?”

“I don’t know, Rachel.”

She nodded, as if accepting his answer. “Tell me about her.”

“Rachel…”

“I can handle it.”

Jack drew in a deep breath. “She’s twenty-five years old. Her mother was from Uzbekistan and her father was
an American. She grew up in New York and after college became an aid worker in the Middle East.”

“Uzbekistan? Isn’t that the country that Apaka is based out of?”

Jack nodded. “It is.”

Rachel shook her head. “Was my husband paying off a terrorist organization? Was he involved with them somehow?” She turned to Jack. “You’d tell me if he was, wouldn’t you? That connection can’t be a coincidence.”

“It’s a possibility, Rachel. We don’t know anything yet. As far as we know, Meredith and her family have no connection with Apaka.”

“Isn’t that what terrorists do? They blend in? They could be anyone, anywhere, hiding in plain sight within the melting pot of America.”

“Remember, try not to look for the worst in people. Try to look at them and see the best. It’s a gift to be able to do that.”

She crossed her arms and looked out the window as they traveled toward her house. “I want to do that. I really do.”

Jack reached across the seat and squeezed her knee. “I’m sorry, Rachel.” It was all he knew to say as he watched Rachel’s world fall further apart.

“Thank you, Jack.”

Jack knew the rest of the day wasn’t going to get any easier, however. Seeing her house in shambles would be just one more test. All Jack knew to do was to help hold her up if she felt like falling down. Would that be enough?

Rachel stepped over a broken vase and picked up a picture frame containing a photo of her and Aidan that lay trampled on the floor of her living room. She outlined their images with her fingertips before looking up and shaking her head. “They really did a number on this place, didn’t they?”

No shelf had been unturned. Books lay scattered on the floor,
picture frames were smashed and the couch had even been overturned. Then there, in streaked red letters on her dining room wall, was the message she wasn’t meant to miss.
We’re getting closer.

Rachel stared at the deep red letters and turned to Jack. “Blood?”

He shook his head. “Just paint. They wanted it to look like blood, though. Makes more of an impact that way.”

“I’d say.” She stepped over some more of her stuff and shook her head. “When was this done?”

“We’ve had someone on patrol around your house since you’ve been at Eyes. Whoever did this must have known our schedule because they came in at just the right time. They even knew where the video cameras had been hidden.”

Rachel swung her head toward him and raised an eyebrow. “Video cameras?”

“We placed them around your property just in case anyone decided to creep around here.”

“How well concealed were they?”

“You had to really look for them to notice them.”

“So how did they know?”

Jack’s jaw flexed. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

“Did they leave any evidence?”

“The FBI hasn’t found anything yet.”

“It sounds like these terrorists know what they’re doing. I just don’t understand what they were trying to prove by doing this. Haven’t they scared me enough? Why not just take me out at this point?”

Rachel looked up and saw Jack’s jaw slacken as his eyes widened. Her words had surprised him. She sighed and shook her head. “Am I being too blunt?”

His game face returned. “No, you’re actually too far on the right track. We’re trying to put all these puzzle pieces together, to figure out the methods behind their madness.
I don’t know why they keep playing games with you. But there’s a reason. We just have to figure it out.”

Rachel cleared a chair and plopped down. She reached down into the mess at her feet and picked up a photo album. She rubbed her fingers across the cover. How she loved pictures of her family, pictures from times past.

She opened the book and flipped through the pages. Most of them were from those famous cookouts her parents used to have. She looked at the pictures of her mom and dad smiling. Her dad holding the spatula and wearing a “Kiss the Cook” apron. Her mom proudly displaying a platter of grilled kabobs. Such memories.

The next page held a picture of Andrew with his arm around Rachel. They’d only been married a couple of weeks when that picture was taken. She remembered how happy she’d been that day as she introduced Andrew to all of her parents’ friends and coworkers.

She flipped the page and saw a torn edge. Why had a page been torn out of this album? Strange.

“What is it?” Jack asked. He was always there, always observing.

“It may be nothing, but there’s a page torn out of this photo album.”

He leaned beside her and looked at the tear before turning to the FBI agent beside them. “Did you find a loose photo album page anywhere?”

“I’ll check the evidence log, but I don’t recall.”

“Keep your eyes open for it.”

“You think this could be significant?” Rachel asked Jack.

“Everything can be significant.” Jack looked closer. “Do you remember what was on that page?”

She looked at the pages before and after again. “It would have to be more pictures from that same barbecue.”

“Why would the terrorists want a picture from a family barbecue?” Jack seemed to be thinking out loud.

Rachel cleared her throat. “I think Andrew may have been in those pictures. Do you think that’s why they could have been taken?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Do you remember who else was at that barbecue?”

“Only the people I can see in these pictures. I can’t even remember most of their names. Uncle Arnold was there. Me. Andrew. Mom and Dad, of course. The rest of these people were from my parents’ job, I think.”

“We’ll try to find someone at the Department of Agriculture who can identify everyone. Maybe it will give us some kind of lead.”

Rachel nodded. “Maybe.”

Rachel leaned back in the chair. Why did she have the feeling that
she
was the connection on the terrorist list? The only thing she couldn’t figure out was why.