Page 5

CHAPTER 5

Kayley

Seeing Vic drop into full-on work mode was, weirdly enough, kind of hot, even as it vaguely disturbed me.

I was more than a little shocked when Vic tossed my bracelet out the window.

No, correction, not shocked— terrified .

It terrified me he would do something like that. It meant whatever the situation, it was really, really bad. I was old enough to remember 9/11, and the fear curdling inside me now reminded me of the haunted stories I’d heard from my parents and others about that day.

Their fear, anger, and raw, deep grief, even if they didn’t personally know anyone who’d died.

The paralyzing terror during those initial hours when no one knew if there were more attacks underway.

I didn’t have my personal cell phone to scroll through the news. I’d left it at home, locked in my safe, per Vic’s orders. All I had was the burner flip phone he and Leo both insisted I carry. It could call and text and that was it. The only people I used it to communicate with were Vic, Leo, Jordan, and my parents on their own burner phones.

Not wanting to interrupt Vic’s train of thought I quietly sat there, watching as he plugged in a call on his personal cell, leaving it in speaker mode as we drove.

A man answered. “Vic?”

“Hey, Ced.”

“What’s going on? You okay? Weird shit’s on the news. All those attacks, man.”

“Yeah, I know, and I’m safe. Listen, I know this is short notice, but I need a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

Vic glanced at me. “We’re arriving at your house late tonight. Two of us, one bed. Can we crash with you? And can you snag us a three-week reservation starting tomorrow at you-know-where? For two? I know it’s last-minute but I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. That’s all I can tell you right now.”

I thought maybe the call dropped because it went quiet. Then the man spoke again.

“Is this personal or work-related?” he asked.

“Yes,” Vic said.

The other man let out a soft grumble. “How much do I want or need to know?”

“Right now? Nothing,” Vic paused. “Nothing I can tell you. Not over the phone. And no one else can know, either. I mean no one. Not even Terrie.”

The man sighed. “You can definitely come here. Stay as long as you need. But I’ll have to speak to someone before I give you an answer about the other. I can’t authorize that without permission, not even for you. And they’ll likely want to speak to you both in person before they give you a firm answer.”

“That’s all I can ask. Call me back on this number.”

“Will do. I’ll call them as soon as we get off here.”

“Thanks.” Vic ended the call and his grimly set jaw chilled me.

“What’s going on?” I asked while trying to beat back my growing terror. “How many attacks? Who’s behind them?”

“I don’t know, Kay.” He glanced at me. “Please hold the questions for now, baby. I don’t have answers.”

We rode in silence, which was weird because we both preferred having the radio on, and normally talked all the time. His cell rang ten minutes later.

Vic answered it in speaker mode. “Go ahead.”

It was the same man’s voice. “I talked to Derek. Considering I was short on deets he provisionally agreed.”

“Provisionally?” Vic asked.

“Yeah. When you and your plus-one arrive here, I’ll call him and he’ll come over to talk to you in person before he renders a verdict. That’s the best I can do. And he promised me confidentiality, but we’ll have to give him more deets before he decides. I trust him and the security team not to leak anything.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Listen, again, you’re welcomed to stay with us. I can call in favors to provide additional security, and unless someone knows where you are, I can guarantee you that you’ll be safe here. Not to mention I have a reinforced panic room in the basement.”

Vic looked at me. “I would normally accept that offer, but these are not normal circumstances and my plus-one is not a normal… civilian.”

“From the way you’re talking and what’s on the news, I kind of figured. When will you arrive?”

“Approximately ten hours. When we’re under an hour out I’ll let you know. I’d prefer not to put you out for even one night but that might not be possible. Either he says yes and we’ll go there tonight, or he says no and we bunk with you tonight and by tomorrow morning I’ll have another plan worked out and we’ll leave.”

“Okay. Safe travels.”

“Thanks, man.”

Vic ended the call and then called up an address on his phone. He plugged it into a map app, and after waiting for it to load and checking something he swiped out of it and passed the phone to me.

“See what you can find out about what’s going on from the news outlets,” he quietly said. “Stay off social media. I don’t want mis- and disinformation. I only want reasonably verified facts.”

Part of me felt tempted to drop the phone because I didn’t want to know.

“Okay,” I said as I started scrolling.

Vic held my hand as he drove. I’d stopped reading about the attacks five minutes in because it made me sick to my stomach.

Because of the news, not from motion sickness.

Whatever the attackers’ goal, the carnage was widespread in various coastal areas. I knew Leo, Jordan, Elliot, and my parents were safe, but beyond that I had no information except that port and lock facilities were being attacked in several states, in addition to the bridge attack in Tampa.

And I didn’t want to watch any of the videos of the attacks increasingly being posted at an unbelievable pace.

Instead, I connected Vic’s phone to the SUV’s system and we played music, occasionally tuning to a satellite news radio channel for updates before quickly returning to music.

Then my burner phone rang but I didn’t recognize the ringtone. Before I could check who the caller was, much less answer it, Vic snatched it from where it lay in the center console.

“Yeah?” He listened, his features relaxing almost immediately. “We’ve changed plans…. Yes, I ditched the tracker once the shit hit the fan…. I’ve already contacted the head of her detail. I’m taking her to a secure, undisclosed location…. No, I won’t while we’re in transit. Not on an unsecured line…. Best I’ll say is do you know Ced…? Yes, him. He has a connection to a secure place where—. Exactly…. I will…. Yeah, here she is.”

He handed the phone to me.

“Hey, kiddo,” Leo said.

“What the fuck’s going on?” I struggled not to cry out of fear and anxiety, because I knew if I did Leo and Vic both would immediately order a battalion of helicopters, or a horde of dragons, or whatever the fuck they used to come scoop me up, and I did not want to be robbed of my precious time with Vic.

“I don’t have answers, honey. I’m sorry your vacation plans got borked.”

“You won’t have me locked up in a missile silo or something, will you?”

Leo tensely laughed. “No, but if you were with anyone but Vic you would have already been scooped up and moved by your detail.”

“Why did you call from a different number?”

“Long story. Change my contact to this number, though. The other phone’s done.” That didn’t surprise me, because it wasn’t unusual for him to change burner phones, although he usually warned me first.

“Mom and Dad are safe?”

“Yeah, they’re fine. I had their detail move them to the resort you were heading to. Once Mom realized where, she was happy about the last-minute change of plans. They’ll either stay there until I know I need to bring them in, or you’ll be seeing them because we have to haul all of you to a secure facility.”

“Mom’s still salty I wouldn’t let her throw me a birthday party, isn’t she?”

This time Leo laughed. “She is, but don’t worry about it.”

It’d been a minor point of contention between us over the past few months. I love my parents, don’t get me wrong, but unlike Leo, I literally saw them nearly every week because we didn’t live far from each other, and I didn’t want to spend time away from Vic just because my mother had a fixation with me managing to keep myself alive for an entire half-century.

I rarely spent alone time with Vic, especially such a long, uninterrupted stretch of it. I honestly didn’t care it was my fiftieth birthday—the only gift I wanted was Vic.

Leo’s tone grew solemn. “Listen to Vic and do what he says, please? Normally, I would have already had airships and agents on top of you to fly you to the nearest base for transport to Cheyenne Mountain, but I know Vic. I trust him. He won’t take chances with your safety.”

I glanced over at him. “I trust him, too.”

“Good. Just do exactly what he says.” Another sigh. “Look, try to have fun, okay? If you end up where I’m certain you’re headed, it’s safe. I know people who stay there and enjoy themselves. We have absolutely no intel indicating you or Mom and Dad are targets. But stay off social media, run any outside phone or text contact through Vic first, and try to stay away from the news because there’s not a damned thing you can do about any of it. And happy birthday in advance.”

“Thanks. Love you.”

“Love you, too, kiddo. Let me speak to Vic again, please.”

I handed him the phone and tuned out while watching the landscape pass. The irony did not escape me that if I wasn’t connected by marriage to the most powerful man on the planet, I would feel more scared than I currently did.

I felt badly for all the people who’d lost loved ones, or whose lives were otherwise severely impacted by the results of the attacks. I was lucky that I was merely inconvenienced and not cowering in my basement and worried nukes could start flying at any minute.

“Can we check on the people in my department?” I asked Vic several minutes after he ended the call with Leo. “And can I call my old office and check in with them?” I didn’t work there now, but I was still close friends with my former coworkers and sometimes used space there for sessions with a couple of my long-term patients.

“Sorry, baby, no. I can send word through your detail to get that info, but I can’t let you do anything that might alert others to where you are.”

“How is calling them letting them know where I am?”

He glanced at me. “Your burner number will be associated with any number you call. Meaning we’d have to get you a new one. Worse, bad actors could triangulate your position with the burner number.”

“Oh.”

“I know it’s a lot, and not very likely, but I appreciate you putting up with the precautions. At the next gas stop I’ll call Maxwell and have him find out. Deal?”

I nodded. “Deal.”

All I could do was settle back, hold Vic’s hand, and stare at unfamiliar landscape passing by outside.

Then again, this whole trip had originally been meant to explore the unfamiliar landscape in our relationship, so I guess that was apropos.