“Unfortunately, while SEAL Headquarters is ready to move on, the same can’t be said about the CIA,” he continued. “Joe Hawkins and Elliot Boyd are both screaming mad at the other guys and me. To no one’s surprise but the Agency’s, no one from Sentinel has attempted to re-establish contact with Bogdan, McDaniel, Fredrickson, or any of the other power players in town, and every lead they had on the terrorist organization has also gone stone cold. Needless to say, the CIA blames me for all of that. They couldn’t care less about the fact that we rescued you and Maria.”
Talia shook her head at that. The CIA hadn’t ever cared about her and Maria at all. They’d been more than ready to sacrifice the two of them—and Bogdan too—as long as it got them closer to Sentinel. The CIA was so obsessed with the terrorist organization that they’d put pressure on Detective Green to bury the investigation of Anna’s disappearance and downplay the attack on Talia. When Keller had shown up at the Rybak’s the other night, the CIA had even instructed Green to steer the investigation away from the man.
“What about Anna?” Talia asked as they walked by a beautiful bougainvillea bush with lush pink blooms. “Hasanyone figured out how she was involved and how she came to be working for Fredrickson?”
Lennox started to answer but paused as Maria and Beverly ran past them, cookies in hand and giggling like only little kids could. For the hundredth time, Talia was thankful that Maria didn’t seem to have experienced any PTSD from that night on the ship. She was a remarkable child.
“To answer your question,” Lennox said, letting out a laugh as the kids ran along the colorful path, “Joe was more forthcoming with information than Boyd was. According to him, Anna was apparently an operative for Sentinel. He thinks she came here to scout out powerful families to collect information for the organization. With her cover as an au pair, she gained complete access not only to Fredrickson’s private office, but also several other members of his social group. She had mountains of blackmail dirt on their targets before she ever brought Keller in to be the muscle.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Talia said as they continued walking. “But if Anna was playing the role of an au pair to get access to our employer’s homes, why involve the other au pairs and me? Why tell me about her plans to search Fredrickson’s office? Why did Keller chase me outside her apartment building? And why the convoluted scheme to make it look like Anna had left the country?”
Lennox shrugged. “Joe thinks Sentinel placed Anna with the Fredrickson family to get access to his worldwide shipping fleet. Once she had that, she turned to their second most valuable target—Bogdan. The only problem was, she couldn’t slip into the Rybak family as an au pair with you already there.”
“Wait…what?” Talia said, stopping to turn and look at Lennox. “Are you telling me that Anna was…?”
“Going to have you killed?” Lennox finished for her, looking torn even saying the words. “Yeah, based on everythingFredrickson told them, the CIA thinks Keller was supposed to kill you that night so Anna could take your place. Once in the Rybak household, Anna was supposed to find the information needed to ensure Bogdan’s full compliance. Apparently, they deemed him critical to their plans to get McDaniel’s genome sequencing computer into the port and out of the country.”
Talia’s head spun. After what happened on that ship, she’d come to accept that the Anna she’d known had been a complete fabrication. Still, as deceptive as the woman had been, it was mind-bending to believe she could be so cold-blooded as to hang out with Talia while plotting her death.
“Have Joe and the CIA figured out why Sentinel wanted that stupid computer?” Talia asked. “And if that’s all they wanted, why involve all those other people we saw at the meeting at the office building, like the politician and the crime boss?”
“Joe tried to imply otherwise, but I don’t think the CIA has a clue what Sentinel had planned for that computer or any of the other people. With both Keller and Anna dead, I don’t know if they’ll ever find out.”
“And you’re absolutely sure both of them are dead, right?” Talia asked.
They’d talked about this a half dozen times already, but she needed to hear it again.
“I put two bullets in Keller’s chest at close range and you shot him at least once more then he fell over a hundred feet into water that would have felt like concrete from that height,” Lennox said.
“But you said the CIA never found a body,” she pointed out.
He nodded. “I know. But with the currents that night, they feel confident it got carried out into the ocean.”
Talia supposed that was possible. “What about Anna?”
The woman wasn’t in the cargo hold when she, Lennox, and Maria got back down there.
“You saw how much blood there was in the cargo hold, down the ramp, and onto the dock. She might have gotten far enough for someone to pick her up, but she wouldn’t have lasted long after losing that much blood.”
She didn’t say anything. While Anna would have had no problem killing her, Talia wasn’t sure how she felt about doing the same to her.
As if he knew what she was thinking, Lennox wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. The feel of his body against hers was calming, and she knew she’d never regret the decision to be with him. No one had ever made her feel this safe. This cherished.
“You know, we can bail on the cookout if you want,” he said softly, his breath warm against the top of her head. “Head back to my place for the rest of the day and hang out.”
Talia smiled, tempted by the offer. Over the past couple weeks, she and Lennox had spent all their free time together, mostly at her cottage, but sometimes, at his place too. That would change soon though since he’d already moved most of his stuff into her place—with the Rybak’s blessing. After all Lennox had done for them, they practically considered him family. And Bogdan and Vera had already told her that they wanted her to stay on as Maria’s au pair after she started elementary school. They insisted it was so their daughter would always have someone there to keep an eye on her after classes and help with homework, but Talia thought it was equally likely they made the offer out of love and loyalty. Not that she was complaining. She loved them just as much. Vera was also encouraging her to go back to college and get her degree, even insisting that Bogdan would pay for it. Not only that, but they’d bought her a car so she wouldn’t need to keep taking public transportation. She’d triedto tell them that she couldn’t accept such generosity, but Bogdan and Vera wouldn’t hear of it. With all that going for her, she’d be silly not to stay.
“While I’d enjoy hanging out alone with you, it’ll have to be after the party,” she said, pulling away a little to smile up at him. “The cookout is a thank you to everyone who helped that night at the docks and we have as much to thank the guys for as the Rybaks. So we need to stay. For a little while, at least.”
“Okay, I see your point.” He gave her a quick kiss then slid his hand down to take hers. “Let’s go get some food and join the party.”
There were two dozen banquet tables filled with food and drink, and behind each of them were smiling servers ready to help. Besides the table of gourmet sliders, there was the pasta bar, a potato bar, and a pizza bar complete with every topping under the sun, including caviar. There was also a salad bar, though Talia noticed most of the SEALs ignored it. And at the very end of the buffet, there were two tables devoted to desserts. She helped herself to a slider, some salad, and a cupcake while Lennox helped himself to everything. She couldn’t help smiling—and wondering how he could eat like that and stay so fit. It was unfair.
“I see Darwin and Simon invited the rest of their platoon,” Talia said as they stopped by a roving server carrying a tray of iced teas before making their way over to the tables. “Are those the other guys who didn’t get selected for that special training you mentioned?”
“Yeah,” Lennox said as they reached the table where Darwin and Katrina were sitting with Simon, Colt, and his girlfriend, Kira. “HQ finally decided to merge their platoon with ours until Kirk and the other guys get back.”
She looked at him in surprise as they sat down. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing?”
