Before Sunrise (71 page)

“
What the hell is going
on?” the driver gasped in a deep Nigerian accent.

“
Get off the expressway…get
off….” Kennedy turned back to look at the front of the cab in time
to see another SUV with dark tinted windows cut in front of the
car. Now they were completely blocked in. The man panicked, yelling
his alarm. With shaky hands, Kennedy fumbled for her purse. She
snatched out her phone and dialed the firm she worked
for.

“
Let me speak to Milton,
Deloris. Now!”

The SUVs guided the car off the next exit,
and one fell back when the cab driver followed their lead.

“
Milton
Hollingsworth.”

“
Milton, it’s
Kennedy—”

“
Hi! How—”

“
Listen to me. Listen. I’m
in DC. I’m on my way home and I need your help.”

“
What can I—”

“
In ten minutes, call my
phone. I want you to tell the person on the other end that you have
everything on Scorpion and will release it to the press if I’m not
released.”

“
What is going on? What is
Scorpion?”

“
Do it! Do you hear me? Say
you’re my attorney….” Kennedy voice trailed off as the car slowed
to a stop in an empty parking lot. “Milton, it’s important. Do it,
please!”

She hung up. Discreetly she slipped the
phone into the side pocket of her suit jacket. The door was opened.
A man in a dark suit with sunglasses opened her door and pointed,
respectfully.

“
Commander Drake would like
you to join him.”

Furious, Kennedy did what the man asked of
her. He helped her to the waiting SUV and opened the door so she
could see Eric inside. Kennedy let go a deep breath and climbed
inside.

Eric didn’t look at her. He looked straight
ahead. Kennedy sat next to him, trying to resist the urge to smack
him, yell at him, cry in his arms. She breathed slowly and waited
for him to speak.

“
Why did you go to
her?”

“
You know why. You betrayed
us.”

Eric turned his gaze toward her. “Do you
really think I’d betray him? I love him like a brother.”

“
Then where is he? Why are
you keeping us apart?”

Eric closed his eyes and shook his head.
“You shouldn’t have gone to the Pentagon, dammit! What the hell
were you thinking?”

Kennedy had never heard such anger in Eric’s
voice. For a brief moment, she considered that her foolish plan
could hurt Liam, Eric, and maybe Anthony. She shook off the doubt.
Liam said for her to trust her instincts. Her instincts said she
needed to do the impossible, and to do so she’d have to tread some
dangerous waters.

“
I’m leaving. I’m going
back to Carolina.”

“
I can’t let you do that,
Kennedy. It’s not safe for you now. I’ll take you somewhere until I
work things out for Liam.”

“
You can’t detain me. I’m a
civilian. You….”

Eric cut his eyes back to her. “I’m trying
to help Liam. But my hands are tied. What you’ve done has put you
on the radar of some dangerous people. Do you understand? Liam
would never forgive me if I let you get hurt.”

“
You’re lying,
Eric.”

He refused to look at her so she leaned
over, across him, until she was in his line of vision. Kennedy
nodded. “I see it in your eyes. I hear it in your voice. You’re
trying to keep me quiet. Why? Why? He told you he thought he was
seeing things. He trusted you.”

Eric touched her hand. “Vasquez and I
dismissed the threat at first. But he was right. He did see someone
at Fun World. When Liam was pulled out of that desert, a terrorist
cell in Virginia went active. A man named Rendell Blake is tied to
Amir Sarkhir. He’s believed to be his brother. He and his followers
having been tracking Liam from day one.”

“
You knew this? You let him
think he was going crazy? Why didn’t anybody say
something?”

“
I didn’t have access to
this information until after my appointment.”

“
What appointment? Who are
you now, Eric?”

“
That doesn’t matter. Alexa
knew about it. She used Liam and your family as bait.”

“
Are you
serious?”

“
There are things I can’t
explain. Just know that you’re all safe.”

Kennedy shook her head and recoiled from her
friend. “I left my baby and my parents in that house. Those people
could have gotten to them! And Harper? How dare that bitch put my
family in jeopardy!”

“
Everyone is safe. Do you
hear me? It’s under control. It was under my control until you
tipped Alexa off. What did you tell her, Kennedy?”

“
I don’t believe anything
you say. You’ve been lying, just like her. All of you have done
nothing but use him since he got out. That’s going to stop. Do you
hear me?”

“
No. I didn’t set him up.”
Eric reached for her but she knocked his hand away. He spoke in a
worried tone that forced her to listen. “Before he came I convinced
the vice president to let him work with his doctor, to let us
observe him and—”

“
Lure these terrorists out
of hiding?”

Eric shook his head. “It’s complicated,
dammit. This is who he is, Kennedy. He knows the risks, the
drills—”

“
He wanted out.”

“
Yes. And this was the way.
Liam was going to commit himself to the VA hospital. We worked it
all out.”

Kennedy blinked, a bit shocked. “He wouldn’t
voluntarily commit himself.”

“
He’d do anything to
protect you Kennedy, to have a life with you. He was going to do
it. Then he collapsed the night he was to meet you for dinner. We
had to admit him to the hospital immediately. I was on my way to
get you from the hotel and bring you to him when I got the
call.”

“
What call?”

“
That he was put in the
tank.”

Kennedy’s heart froze. She clenched her
fist. “Tank? What does that mean? Oh God.”

“
It’s what happens when an
operator is pulled back in because he’s been tagged a security
risk. Senator Clayton went all the way to the president. He and
Alexa claim to have proof that Liam survived Scorpion because he
tipped the enemy off why we dropped in. The ambush, his capture are
all supposed to be part of Sarkhir’s plan. Before he had time to
recover, he was moved. It’s a matter of national security now. And
even I can’t undo this.”

“
I can’t believe she did
this,” Kennedy said in horror.

“
Do you understand? I don’t
need you making waves. You have to trust me…. The best I can do is
keep you safe now. Until—”

Kennedy’s phone began to ring. She pulled it
from her pocket. Eric frowned when she handed it over to him. He
pressed it to his ear. Kennedy watched his face as he listened to
Milton deliver her message. Eric made no response, didn’t so much
as twitch a muscle. He handed the phone back to her.

“
What you’ve done, Kennedy,
could cost Liam his life.”

“
I’m the only one here that
can save it. I love you Eric and I know you love him. He said you
were brothers. He saved your life on that mountain. You said he
did. Now you can save his. Help me.”

“
I can’t let you be put in
danger.” Eric dropped his head.

“
I’m a big girl.” She
exhaled. “I’m his girl. He trusted me to open this Pandora’s box.
He didn’t even know why. But I do. I’m not military; I’m just a
lovesick wife. There’s power in that, isn’t there?” She opened the
door to the SUV and Eric grabbed her hand. She looked back at
him.

“
Stay public. Everything
you do, you need to do in the public eye. But never, never mention
the word Scorpion again. You’ve gotten their attention. Now give
them a way out of this mess without exposing your family further.
Do you understand?”

Kennedy nodded that she did. He reluctantly
let her go. “I’ll be in touch.” He gave her a sad smile. “Fuck it.
If I have to go out I’ll go out for the brotherhood.”

The parting words rang of finality she
didn’t understand. She had no doubt she soon would. She closed the
door and stepped back as the SUVs drove out of the parking lot.
Kennedy closed her eyes and forced her legs to move. No matter
what, she’d free him. She’d get her husband back.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Two Days Later

Kennedy paced the floor.

“
What’s the matter, mommy?”
Mackenzie looked up from her coloring. She smiled at her little
girl.

Kennedy walked over. “Nothing, mommy is just
nervous.”

“
Is it about daddy from
heaven? Is he coming home?”

“
He’s…he’s coming home soon,
baby. I promise.”

Mackenzie seemed to settle on the answer.
She lowered her head and continued to color with her green crayon.
Kennedy had given her two long French braids with yellow bows tied
to the ends. Her pink and yellow dress made her all the more
beautiful. It took her longer to decide what she would wear.
Eventually she settled on the bone colored Jones of New York suit
her mother bought her from Macy’s. Angelina did her make up,
because she couldn’t stop her hand from shaking. Harper had curled
her hair and Sally had prayed over them. Now they waited.

The day after her return home, she made her
case to the law partners she’d grown to respect. She poured her
heart out and told them everything she knew. They listened intently
and agreed to help her, but doubted they could. So did she, until
Eric delivered on his promise. A manila envelope with information
on where Liam was being kept. There was no information on Scorpion.
But Liam’s medical record and the original release documents that
were pulled would serve their purposes well. All Kennedy needed to
do was hint at a conspiracy and the media would do the rest.

“
Please God, this has to
work.” She said.

Milton Hollingsworth walked in. He smiled at
her. “They’re ready for you, Kennedy.”

“
Okay.” She turned and knelt
in front of Mackenzie. “Remember what we talked about, baby? How
important today is?”

“
Yes, mommy. We gonna be on
TV for daddy.”

“
That’s right. Give me your
hand.”

Mackenzie leapt to her feet and rushed over
to grab her mother’s hand. Kennedy sucked down a deep breath of
courage and repeated the things Milton and Stephen had drilled into
her, over and over. She sent up another prayer for Liam. They
entered the conference room the television crew had prepared. The
few people from the press invited for an exclusive eyed her
curiously. Mackenzie shyly kept close to her legs. When she sat
behind the microphone, she put her daughter in her lap. Even now
she questioned exposing her daughter this way. Stephen and Milton
said it would be critical that the media showed Liam’s family. They
needed the world to see how his absence affected them. She agreed.
Still, the mother in her wanted to shield Mackenzie from it
all.

The producer at the main camera gave her a
countdown with his fingers. He then pointed at her to indicate she
was on the air.

“
Good Evening. My name is
Kennedy Michelle Flanagan. Many of you may know me as the wife of
Lieutenant Liam Edward Flanagan. He’s the brave soldier who after
five years of captivity was recovered from a war-ravaged desert
and….” Her voice faltered. She swallowed and adjusted her daughter
on her lap before summoning the strength to read the rest of the
card in front of her. “He, um, Liam, returned home. You may have
seen him receive the Purple Heart decoration from our president.
For us, that was a joyous day. What you don’t know is that it was
also our most heartbreaking day. Liam took ill shortly after the
ceremony. I’ve provided for the press his medical documents. I’m
told it’s a parasite and it affected his liver. I don’t know this
for sure. You see, I have been kept from the hospital and from any
word of his recovery. Since then, my….” Kennedy swallowed again.
“For reasons I don’t know, Liam has again been taken from me. It’s
a matter of national security, is what I’m being told. Well, I’m
here today to tell you that my husband has served his country
faithfully. He’s a good man, a strong man, but he’s a man who needs
his family. And we…we need him. I’ve also provided for the press
his release from active duty forms. They are signed by Liam and the
joint chief of staff. Since December 26
^th
, I’ve had no contact with
Liam. No phone calls, no letters, no official word from the Navy or
the White House. I don’t know where he is. He was scheduled to
return to Charlotte to put himself under the supervision of Dr. Eli
Abrams shortly after our visit from DC. Liam was told that if he is
clear of any signs of PTSD he could return to his civilian life,
and he had earned the right to....”

Kennedy fought back her tears. Mackenzie
turned in her lap and looked up at her mother, alarmed. To calm her
daughter she forced a smile, then returned her gaze to the card.
The words on it blurred under her veil of tears. She blinked them
away. “This was a lie. I’m not saying that we aren’t living in
serious times, nor am I saying that my husband is above the call of
duty he willingly has committed to. Our brave soldiers fight for
our freedom on foreign soil this very moment, and as a military
wife I understand the sacrifice. However, Liam has served his
country valiantly—a truth that cannot be denied. Now we need to
serve him. I’m making a personal plea to our commander in chief and
our representatives in Washington to return my husband home to us.
He has been gone long enough. Thank you.”