A few minutes later, they had confirmation of the attendees and one stuck out in the worst way. In a way thatKate had never considered, but which she couldn’t ignore. Her godfather, General Thomas Murray, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had been at the meeting. The man whom they’d confided in and who’d been helping them. The man who’d led them to suspect Natalie in the first place by bringing forward the information about her Russian adoption. The man whose previous position in special operations and intelligence would make him knowledgeable about operators like Colt. And, most important, the man whose son’s plane had been shot down by the Russians and who had been trying to get the president to retaliate ever since.
She felt guilty even considering the possibility, but it was there.
She’d put Scott on speakerphone so she didn’t need to fill in Colt. When she looked at him, she knew he was thinking the same thing—without any of the guilt. He and her godfather had never gotten along.
“Did you tell the general about Scott being in Vermont?” Colt asked.
She nodded. “He asked for an update.”
Her stomach twisted at the additional “coincidence.” If the general was involved, it explained how the hit team had found Natalie so quickly.
Still, no matter how much it lined up, Kate didn’t want to believe her godfather—a man she’d known and cared about her whole life—could be involved with anything that could have led to the deaths of American servicemen. He was one of the most vocal voices in support of veterans and those who had given the ultimate sacrifice—especially after his son TJ had been killed in the line of duty.
Scott said what they were all thinking. “We need to see if we can get ahold of those laptops. If we can clear Natalie, it would help prove someone else was involved. I’m going to call Baylor to see if his guys can track downNatalie’s laptop at her parents’ house in Minnesota. If the police got to her apartment before Mick, it would have been packed up with her other things.”
“I’ll go after the deputy secretary’s,” Colt said.
“I should do it,” Scott said.
“No offense, Ace,” Colt said, “but this kind of thing is more up my alley.”
“Committing felonies?” Scott said, clearly ready to argue. “This is my problem. I’m not going to have you going to prison for me.”
“Which is exactly why you need to leave this to me,” Colt said. “So that no one goes to prison. And it isn’t just your problem. Those were my guys, too, and I want to see whoever was responsible pay.”
Kate wanted to argue with both of them. She didn’t want either one of them getting caught. But she knew Colt was right. “Let us handle this, Scott. You have enough to worry about with keeping Natalie away from the people who are after her.”
“She’s as safe as she can be,” Scott said. “You were right about this place being like Fort Knox.” He paused. “You were right about a lot of things.”
Kate took that to mean he’d talked to their father, which Scott confirmed. He told her he would fill her in on everything when he saw her. In other words, he didn’t want to spill his guts—and the family dirt—with Colt listening in.
Kate couldn’t hold back her happiness though that the first step, and the hardest, had been taken. She loved both her father and Scott, and being caught between them had been difficult for her.
By time they’d hung up, Scott had reluctantly agreed to let them handle the deputy secretary’s laptop. But if anything went wrong, they were to let him know immediately.
Colt was watching her in a way that made her feelself-conscious. She resisted the urge to fix her hair or look in the mirror on the wall above the flowers. Flowers that he’d, of course, noticed.
“You kept them.”
She didn’t want to talk about it so she ignored the half question. “We should figure out our plan for tonight.”
“My plan. And the less you know the better.” He gave her a hard look. “We’ll hit pause on everything else for now, but we are going to talk about this when I get back.” She didn’t argue, knowing it wouldn’t do any good. “I’ll go in tonight after the deputy secretary and his wife have gone to bed. They don’t have kids, right?”
She shook her head, feeling the reflexive stab in the chest at the mention of children. A stab she hid well from prying eyes; Colt always watched her carefully. But she’d grown adept at hiding her thoughts. “You aren’t as good with tech as I am,” she pointed out. “You might need me.”
Colt was going to try to sneak in and out without taking the laptop, figuring there would be less pushback later if someone found out or they were wrong.
“It’s not up for discussion, Kate. I work better alone, and having you with me would make my job harder.” His eyes met hers. “I’d be too worried about something happening to you.” No matter how hard she fought it, her heart still panged at that. She could hear the truth in his words. “You can give me one of those remote programs to access the computer. I should be able to manage that.”
She looked at the big, imposing man who’d been her husband for almost five years and still haunted her. She’d never get used to him putting himself in danger; she’d hated when he left on ops and still did. “What if something goes wrong?”
He gave her a half smile. “Nothing is going to go wrong. Compared to some of the places I’ve had to get into and out of without being seen, this will be a piece of cake.”
• • •
Famous last words, Kate thought hours later as she waited for the text from Colt to say that he’d found the laptop and inserted the thumb drive that she’d given him.
She stared at the clock on her computer. Three thirteen a.m. Colt had left well over an hour ago. Richard Waters, the deputy secretary of defense, lived in Arlington, which was less than ten miles from Kate’s townhouse in McLean. At this time of night, it should have taken him fifteen minutes to get there. Max.
