Page 57 of Renegade (The Santini Assassins #2)

GREYSTONE

E verything went into slow motion. Greystone became laser-focused, and he started ticking off each action-item in sequence.

“Two hours,” he said.

“But the Day of Destruction isn’t for?—”

He placed his hands on her shoulders, stared into her eyes. “It’s now, Austin.”

“Ohgod,” she whispered.

“We got this.”

She glanced toward the bombs, then turned back to him. “Let’s walk and talk.”

They hurried out, he pulled the door shut behind them, locked it, and strode toward the exit. He discussed next steps like he was firing off a grocery list, telling her what he was doing and what he wanted her to do.

“It feels overwhelming,” she said as they exited the building.

“It’s no different from getting me out of a country alive,” he said.

They stood on the sidewalk outside the building. It was five o’clock in the morning. Early-bird commuters were slowly making their way to work, but within hours, the city would be clogged with workers.

With their rough plan in place, she made her first call.

Addison answered, her voice on speaker. “We’re at Langley and we just found a men’s restroom that’s out of order and locked.”

Caroline told her what they’d found.

“We’re shooting out the lock,” Addison said.

Greystone called Evelyn Baker.

“Hello, dear,” Evelyn answered. “You’re up early.”

“Are you at the White House?”

“Hawk removed one of the mirrors,” Addison said. “There’s a bomb with less than two hours on the timer.”

“No, I’m still at home,” Evelyn replied.

“We found the bombs,” Greystone said, “and they’re scheduled to detonate in two hours. Get the President on the line and call me back.”

Evelyn hung up. Greystone focused his full attention on Caroline.

“We’re out,” Addison said.

Caroline hung up, called Dakota. “We found the bombs and have less than two hours before they detonate.”

Greystone’s phone rang. “It’s Evelyn.” He answered, put the call on speaker.

“Greystone, Mr. President,” Evelyn said.

Within fifteen seconds, Greystone had brought him up to speed. “Mr. President, you need to leave the White House.”

“I’ve already called Joint Base Andrews,” Evelyn said. “They’re doing a pre-check of Air Force One. I’ve got helicopters en route to the White House. ”

“We don’t do business with that janitorial company,” the President pushed back. “We have our own in-house?—”

“Sir,” Greystone said, cutting him off. “We have confirmation there are bombs at the Hoover building and at Langley. We’ve got teams checking the other buildings now.

We don’t know the detonation capacity of these bombs.

With all due respect, Mr. President, you, your family, and your cabinet need to evacuate. ”

Silence.

“I’ll head to Camp David.”

“Area 51 in Nevada,” Evelyn said.

“What?” the President asked.

“I agree,” Greystone said. “You need to evacuate the region until the problem is contained.”

“Understood,” said the President. “Let me wake Abigail and the boys. Evelyn send out an email to my cabinet. What do you need, Greystone?”

“Bomb-detection canines and bomb experts deployed to all eight buildings. I’ll meet one of the teams at the Bureau?—”

Caroline shook her head. “Not part of the plan.”

“Caroline Austin is on her way to the White House,” Greystone continued. “She’s my number one and will be my eyes and ears on the flight.”

“BLACK OPS?” the President asked.

“Yes,” Greystone replied. “We need the National Guard deployed to the buildings to keep employees out.”

“I’m sending an email to all agency Directors,” Evelyn said. “Essential personnel can telework. Everyone else gets a day of administrative leave with pay.”

Greystone ended the call, regarded Caroline. She threw her arms around him and hugged him hard. “I just got engaged,” she whispered into his ear. “I’m not losing you.”

She kissed him like it could be the last time. When she broke away, her eyes were moist. “You cannot die, Grey. ”

“I’m not goin’ anywhere, baby.”

Truth was, he had no idea what the hell was going to happen, but he needed to see this through, which meant boots on the ground.

“I’ve got comms in the SUV,” she said. “At least use those.”

They returned to her vehicle in the parking garage. There, he slid the earbud in.

“Can you hear me?” he asked.

She smiled. “Like you’re right next to me.”

His phone rang. It was Evelyn. “The National Guard has been deployed. The press will be all over this.”

“Nothin’ we can do about it. Good luck.”

“Greystone, please consider coming with us,” Evelyn said.

He could hear the concern in her voice, something he hadn’t heard since the first time he’d told her about his uncle.

“You’re an amazing mom,” he said. “Look at this as an opportunity to get to know Caroline.”

She shuddered in a jagged breath. “I love you, Greystone.”

“I love you too.” He jumped in the vehicle and rode outside with Caroline. As she pulled up to the FBI entrance, she slowed. He kissed her. “I believe in you, Bella.” He jumped out, shut the door, and watched her drive away.

He hoped he was doing the right thing by sending her up with them. And he hoped he was doing the right thing by staying.

CAROLINE

Caroline needed to put Greystone out of her immediate thoughts or she wouldn’t be able to do her job. She called everyone in BLACK OPS, brought them up to speed. By the time she pulled up to the White House security gate, the team had been briefed.

“Caroline Austin for Evelyn Baker,” she told the guard.

He permitted her to enter, told her where to park. When she got out, a man hurried over. “Caroline Austin?”

“Yes.”

“Can I see your ID?”

She showed him her driver’s license. “Where’s Evelyn Baker?”

“I’m bringing you to her.” He ushered her inside and escorted her to the Chief of Staff’s office.

“Good to see you, Mrs. Baker,” Caroline said.

“Call me Evelyn. How bad is it, Caroline?”

“Very,” she replied.

“Where are the terrorists?” Evelyn asked.

“I’m not authorized to tell you.”

“The President will ask you these questions,” Evelyn pushed back. “You’ll have to answer him.”

“Yes, ma’am. Three have been eliminated. The other eleven are MIA.”

“You’ll prep the President once we’re on Air Force One.”

Caroline nodded.

The Oval Office door opened, the President walked out. Caroline eyed him, the First Lady, and their four sons. “Mr. President, Ma’am.”

Evelyn did the introductions, and Caroline shook their hands.

“Is that gun real?” asked one of the young sons.

Caroline shifted her gaze to the First Lady, who nodded.

“It is,” Caroline replied, aware she was still wearing her SWAT clothes.

Evelyn rushed everyone out. On the White House Lawn awaited four helicopters. Several of his cabinet members hurried outside .

Twenty-minutes later, all four helicopters rose into the air and made their way toward Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s county, just outside DC.

As Caroline stared out at the sights below, dread filled her soul.

For the first time since she’d started working with Grey, she felt like she was abandoning him.

As his partner, leaving him behind was the worst thing she could do.

GREYSTONE

While Greystone waited for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit—EOD—to arrive, he got on the phone with someone from each of the deployed BLACK OPS teams. The bogus out-of-order restrooms had been located in each of the targeted buildings except the White House and Pentagon, and bombs had been discovered behind all the mirrors.

He had Sin and Dakota on speaker as the pit in Greystone’s gut grew larger. But he had to soldier on.

“We’ve got seven bombs here,” Sin said from the Department of Justice.

“Set to blow in less than ninety minutes,” Dakota said.

“Correct.”

“Where do you think the terrorists are?” Dakota asked.

“In the area,” Greystone replied. “If the bombs detonate, they’ll want to be close enough to witness it firsthand.”

“And if we stop them?” Sin asked.

“They’ll go into deep hiding.”

His phone buzzed with a call from Evelyn. “Keep me posted,” he said to the brothers.

He ended the call, answered Evelyn’s. “What’s the word?”

“The EOD units are on their way,” she said. “The National Guard has been deployed and I briefed the agency Directors. We’re going with a massive, building-wide fumigation for the buildings we’re evacuating.”

“Fumigating for what ?”

“We can’t tell them the truth,” she explained.

“That would create mass hysteria. The press would camp out outside the buildings. Most employees and residents would flee the area, others would want to witness history. The team decided the fumigation story is our best option. Cockroaches work, lice won’t.

Employees would panic over lice. We’re hoping they focus on the leave-with-pay and not on the fumigation. ”

“What a cluster,” he said as the EOD unit made its way into the FBI lobby. “How’s Caroline?”

“She’s been on the phone with her team. Now, she’s briefing the President. We just boarded Air Force One.”

“Safe flight,” he said and ended the call.

The EOD team consisted of ten bomb technicians, all wearing heavy body armor. Six of the men had canines, their torsos also covered in protective gear. One of the men stepped forward.

“Team lead, Forrest Marks.”

Greystone introduced himself, shook his hand. “Lemme show you what we got.” As he led them upstairs, he brought Forrest up to speed. In the men’s room, Forrest eyed two of the devices, then returned to his team, waiting in the hallway.

“Bring the canines in so they have a point of reference,” Forrest said to his team. “Then, spread out and search for any others. If all that C-4 blows, it’ll take out the entire building. We’ve got eighty minutes.”

“That’s cutting it close,” one of them said.

“Some of us have dismantled these before,” Forrest said. “I need to touch base with my other units.” After speaking with the team lead at each location, Forrest said to Greystone, “So far, nothing’s been detected at the White House or the Pentagon.”

Greystone doubted they’d find anything, but they needed confirmation.