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They left the trail and plunged into the trees. While Hugh leaned against a tree catching his breath, Charlie spotted a round depression in the moss and needle-covered soil near the base of a large tree. He knelt on the ground and began to push aside the dirt with his hands. When he had a big enough hole, Hugh tossed in the controllers, and they rolled a large stone over the hollow. Hugh looked at it with satisfaction. It looked natural with only the marks where they’d rolled the stone showing, and those marks would soon disappear.

As they headed back to the trail, Charlie kept complaining. “You know, I really hated it when that bastard threatened us after the first attack when we tried to quit. Telling us wehaveto finish the job or we might be the victims of an unfortunate accident.”

A chill ran down Hugh’s back when he remembered the conversation. But he wanted to keep things light, so he offered a quip instead. “Hell, you should be used to it. I tell you what to do all the time.”

“Yeah, well, you’re a bastard, too,” Charlie replied. “I kind of wish we could drop him as payback. We could if we really wanted. It wouldn’t be easy, but we’re that good. Still, he uses a different number every time he calls, and he sends us money anonymously from his crypto account. At least his money is good. Two hundred grand plus expenses up front isn’t chump change. And it was all up front. He must have been desperate or loaded or both. We can lay low in the Bahamas for a long time on two hundred grand.”

“We can. That’s why we’ve been careful. I plan on drinking, hitting the beach, and playing the casinos very soon.”

That seemed to lighten the mood, because Charlie picked up the pace. “Right? The sooner the better in my opinion.”

They finally approached the trailhead where they’d parked the pickup. Hugh motioned to Charlie to stop talking while he checked for trouble. He scanned the road, but nothing looked out of place. No people, no sounds, no nothing.

“Let’s go,” Hugh said.

He and Charlie hopped into the truck at the same time. Hugh started the engine and immediately saw a warning light indicating that the left rear tire was flat.

“A flat?” Hugh said in disbelief.

Cursing, he opened the door and stepped out. Before he could take a full step, he ran into a tall, black-haired man standing beside the bed of the truck. He held a gun aimed at Hugh’s considerable midsection.

“Hello,” the man said pleasantly, but there was a dark glint in his eyes.

Hugh’s hands shot to the sky and his heart pounded so hard he thought he might have a heart attack. “Hey, man, no need to shoot me. Take my wallet or the truck. Or both. We’re good, right?”

He glanced over and saw another man on Charlie side of the truck, presumably holding a gun on him. Charlie was frozen in fear. Both men seemed oddly familiar—until it suddenly hit him.

They were the men from the ambush near the White House, but they were also the men in the car they’d thought they’d just blown up.

They had missed.

Hugh’s hands began to shake and his stomach churned. “Wh-what are you going to do to us?”

The man grabbed Hugh firmly by the shoulder. “We’re going to talk. A lot. And you’re going to tell us everything you know.”

FORTY-TWO

Lexi

Thursday evening – two days until the wedding

After dropping off Slash and Tito at the drop-off point, we followed Slash’s instructions to head back to the church. I backed the car down the road carefully looking for a spot where we would be hidden from the hill, while Elvis and Xavier worked the phones. The Secret Service and police were already on their way but keeping their sirens silent.

I worried about Slash and Tito but reminded myself they were trained to do exactly this kind of thing. Elvis soon spotted a black SUV followed by a police car coming up the road toward us. Xavier hopped out and told them where Slash and Tito had gone. Within seconds they were on the move again.

We were intercepted at the police checkpoint on the road to the church and detained temporarily as more squad cars arrived. They sent those cars on to assist the Secret Service, Slash and Tito. Eventually, the police ushered us on toward the church, where a Secret Service agent waited for us.

He led us into the church where we briefed everyone about what had happened. In what seemed like an eternity, but was less than an hour, Slash and Tito returned. I ran out to meet Slash and he pulled me into his arms.

“Did you get them?” I asked.

“We did,” Slash said, glancing over at Tito. “Trust me, I don’t think it will take much for them to start trading their knowledge for lighter sentences. The Secret Service, with a strong police escort, already has them on their way back to DC for questioning.”

“I hope we can finally get some answers to this craziness.”

“You and me both. Everyone in the church doing okay?”

“Everyone is fine. Even Rose. At least, she hasn’t resigned as our photographer…yet.”