Campaign of Desire (CSA Case Files 4) (37 page)

“We wouldn’t want you to be bored.”

The rest of the ascent to their destination was ridden in silence. Lach had phoned his parents on the drive over to this side of town, giving them details of their flight. The Secret Service would have several rental cars, but Lach’s parents were old-fashioned. He wasn’t about to start the trip with a perception of Phoebe based on the agents surrounding her.

The elevator doors swung open and Lach exited first. Jim was standing outside of Phoebe’s apartment, along with one of Kimmie’s shift agents. Her next detail should be arriving shortly as well. Once Jim caught sight of them, he turned and knocked on the door. By the time Lach and Thornton had reached him, neither Phoebe nor her primary had answered.

“They probably didn’t hear me,” Jim said, knocking again. “Ms. Dunaway has been busy today.”

Lach could have stood here and gone into detail by stating that was the reason he was taking Phoebe away for the weekend, but he shrugged his shoulders instead. It wasn’t this man’s business why they were taking a few days away. Thornton had reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. It was no doubt their itinerary.

“Phoebe?” Lach called out, rapping his knuckles on the door as well. It was so like her to have trouble disengaging from a conversation, but Steve should have answered by now. The uneasy feeling from earlier started to once again descend. “Steve?”

“Um, Lach?” Phoebe called from behind the door. Lach instantly knew something was wrong and his hand went immediately to where his weapon would have been if he hadn’t been on his way to the airport. He leaned forward to catch what she saying. Her voice was muffled and tentative. “We have a problem. S-Stewart has a gun and he’s a-already shot Steve. Stewart would like to speak w-with his father before this g-goes any further.”

“Both Heart and Songbird are compromised. I repeat, Heart and Songbird are compromised.” Jim had spoken into the standard issued wrist mic as Thornton took a few steps away to place a phone call. “Heart’s primary is down. Both protectees plus additional hostages are captive by at least one armed assailant.”

Lach couldn’t prevent his hand from touching the door, a ball of fury forming inside of his chest. He stared at the hard surface as if there were a way inside that would give him access without making the situation worse. Phoebe was contained inside four main walls with a lunatic boy whose response to life was still based on hormones. If he’d already shot a federal agent, he had nothing left to lose whereas Lach now had everything to lose. His prior training kicked back in and he did his best to push aside his fear and rage, his words hitting the wood as if they were bullets.

“Phoebe, you do exactly as Stewart tells you. Is there anyone else hurt?”

“Sir, I know that you want to help,” Jim said in a low voice, placing a hand on Lach’s arm, “but you’re still a civilian. I need you to step back.”

Lach’s jaw tightened to the point of pain and he had to make a fist with his hand against the door so as not to take a swing at the agent. He was just stating the truth and doing his job. That didn’t mean Lach had to like it or that he wouldn’t take precautionary measures. He needed Crest and his team members by his side. Maybe there was a way that Crest could get Lach on the inside where he needed to be.

“Lach? No one else i-is hurt.” There was a long and too lengthy pause before Phoebe spoke again. “You have fifteen minutes to get Stewart’s father here.”

“Let Lach reply,” Thornton whispered, leaning in and pulling Jim away. “He can keep Ms. Dunaway calm until a negotiator arrives, as well as the Emergency Response Team. ETA is fifteen minutes on the ERT and the whole world right behind them.”

“We need at least an hour, Phoebe,” Lach replied, giving the standard answer when presented with a time constraint. A negotiator always added more minutes in order to give his team time to get into position. Unfortunately, Lach already knew what was on the other side of Phoebe’s apartment. A window that overlooked the city, yet there were no buildings close enough for SWAT to set up an over-watch position. They would put a few snipers into place, but Lach guaranteed that Stewart had already closed the blinds. “Please tell Stewart we’ll do everything in our power to get his father here as quickly as possible, but he has to be patient.”

“Thirty minutes,” Phoebe replied from a distance, letting Lach know that she’d moved away from the foyer—more like made to move. “You have thirty minutes.”

Lach didn’t need to hear the rest of her unspoken sentence. They had thirty minutes or else someone else would end up dead. He took a step back, trying to see things from a negotiator’s standpoint, but that was difficult when all he wanted to do was kick the door off of the hinges and take out the threat. This couldn’t be happening again. He doubled over, placing his hands on his knees as a wave of rage engulfed him. At this precise moment, he was helpless to protect the woman he loved…and he hadn’t even told her yet.

*   *   *   *

Phoebe held tight to Kimmie’s hand as Austin and Hannah herded them into the living room, away from the door and Steve’s body. His chest would rise every so often, indicating that he was still alive. He wouldn’t be for long if they didn’t get him to the hospital. As for the agent’s weapon, Hannah had confiscated it quickly.

“Why me?” Stewart asked the question more as a plea for understanding. “Why would you make them think it was me? I haven’t done anything to you. And you, Hannah, all I’ve done is help you. How can you do this?”

“There is only one way that I can come out of this and that is if they think I’m another victim.” Hannah threw her purse onto the chair and tossed her hair behind her shoulders while her arm lay at her side with the weapon. This was a part of the young girl that Phoebe had never witnessed. Apparently neither had Stewart. “Just imagine the air time I will get. I’ll play it up and before you know it, I’ll be getting sympathy requests to join one of the presidential campaigns.”

“How do you think that’s going to happen?” Stewart asked with thoughtless bravery from his position down at the end of the couch. He needed to shut up. All four of them were sitting on the sofa, with Timothy to Phoebe’s right, Kimmie to her left and Stewart on the other side of her sister. Unfortunately, Austin had taken her phone from Timothy almost immediately. “Do you think we’ll let you do that?”

Phoebe closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, already knowing the answer. She noticed that Kimmie placed her hand on Stewart’s knee, squeezing it slightly to try and give him a signal to remain quiet. Phoebe’s heart was rushing blood through her ears and though she felt sick to her stomach, that didn’t prevent her from hearing Austin’s reply.

“You don’t get it, do you? Hannah said you weren’t too quick on the draw.” Austin laughed as he shot Hannah an amused glance. The young girl was still pacing and apparently thinking, although Phoebe could have told her that whatever plan she was coming up with would only end with her arrest. At least Phoebe hoped that was the case. “The only ones coming out of this are Hannah and me. The rest of you will be dead.”

Phoebe heard a strangling sound come from Timothy and she blindly reached for his hand as well. She hoped that he wouldn’t react and get them all killed. She’d been in a similar situation back in Northern Africa, and although Timothy hadn’t been there, they’d all come out alive. The same thing could happen again. Right?

“Austin,” Kimmie said as if she were approaching a wild animal, “you need to think about this. Those agents outside that door aren’t stupid. They’re going to know it was you—”

“How?” Austin chuckled like he had all the answers. “Do you know how easy this was? The Secret Service had already checked me out and gave me the all clear. I’ve been hanging out with you almost every day, getting to know those agents. Who would have thought that once a person has been given clearance, they don’t check someone for weapons? Now with Hannah…that’s a different story. They wouldn’t have allowed her near either one of you, which was why she came to me.”

“Austin,” Hannah warned, apparently not liking that he was revealing so much. Phoebe figured it was good to keep him talking to give the men outside a chance to rescue them. Lach would figure everything out. She had to believe that. “That’s enough.”

“It’s not like they’re going to be around to tell anyone.” Austin moved in front of the cushioned chair, taking a seat and making himself at home. The asshole had the nerve to put his shoes on top her coffee table. Phoebe’s initial fear was starting to turn to anger. “We have to kill time anyway until Stewart’s father gets here.”

“Why?” Stewart asked, spitting out the question. “If you think I’m going to admit to something I didn’t do, you’re crazy.”

“If you don’t, I’ll start shooting.” Austin waved his gun, pointing to each of them. “It’s already set up, thanks to Phoebe. Hannah was specific with how she wants this to go down, but I’m sure as hell willing to change our plans. See, Hannah came to me a couple of months ago. Her father had ruined whatever future she had in politics and she wanted to get it back. She thought that since Kimmie and I were friends, I could talk to her and get Hannah back on the campaign.”

“You had to know that Paul Mooney would never have allowed such a thing,” Stewart replied with disbelief, directing his statement toward Hannah. Phoebe heard her sister’s breath catch at knowing that she’d been used. There was no comforting Kimmie now, no matter how much Phoebe wanted to. She slid her thumb over the back of Kimmie’s hand, trying to keep her calm. “Hannah, this isn’t going to work.”

“Which is why when Austin informed me how the Secret Service weeds out threats, I proposed that he help me.” Hannah had now come to stand beside the chair, one arm wrapped around her waist, giving her other elbow something to lean against while she held up the gun next to her face. Her head tilted up just slightly to indicate her victory. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“And what do you get out of this, Austin?” Phoebe asked, now needing to know more facts. The more armed they were with information, the better chance they stood of getting out of here. “Say this works out and everyone dies but you and Hannah. She gets the sympathy spotlight, but what about you?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Austin laughed as if Phoebe had just told a joke, but no one else joined him. The sound was startling and she jumped slightly, feeling the rest of them do the same. “I’ll be on every national news channel, in every magazine, and on every social media site. I’ll have hit it big and be raking in the cash. Besides, I’m the one who saves the day by shooting Stewart.”

“That’s why you befriended me to begin with, isn’t it?” Kimmie’s whisper sounded tortured and Phoebe’s heart broke for the betrayal she must be feeling. It was unfortunate that they would forever have to live with such doubts about people, but if they didn’t get out of this alive, there wouldn’t be a need to worry. Stewart had gone red in the face with how Austin and Hannah had planned the ending. “From the time my father announced his candidacy, that’s when you started speaking to me. Ethan was right all along.”

“No hard feelings.” Austin glanced at his watch, but they must have still had time, because he continued speaking. Phoebe managed a glance toward the large clock on her far wall, trying to calculate the minutes but not remembering how long ago they’d been forced to sit. “It was easier than I thought. You just wanted someone to talk to, and my original plan had been to use you for my benefit until Hannah came along. It was so fucking simple, far more simple than playing the role of a boyfriend for the next four or five years. I hid this pistol in the bathroom on Wednesday when you brought me here. Hannah worked on Stewart to get her a letter of recommendation and he didn’t think twice when she wanted to come here today. Fuck yeah. Effortless.”

“There’s no way I’ll talk.” Stewart emphatically shook his head, his panic evident. “If you’re going to kill us anyway, I won’t have my father believing I had something to do with this.”

“Which is why we’re offering to cut you a deal,” Hannah said, a small smile playing on her lips.

Phoebe prayed that Stewart wouldn’t fall victim to their deceit. She had no doubt that Hannah and Austin would kill Stewart without hesitation at the end of this. Phoebe caught his eye, trying to warn him but she knew it was useless when he said those two fateful words.

“I’m listening.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight