Sarah felt guilty as she slid into a pew at the service. Rene texted her once again. She had already replied once that she was okay, so she didn't answer again. I shouldn't have ditched them like that. I just am so tired of being held prisoner. I'll call Rene as soon as I'm done here. She looked around a little and saw Cheryl Collins catch her eye. They waved and smiled at one another.
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Phillip waited until Francine was off the phone with Homeland Security. "Jamie gave me the address of the church. I already passed the information on to Tanaka and alerted Johnson and Gonzales. Do you want Narelle to scramble the helicopter?"
Francine stopped pacing. This wasn't just about the Stetsons' daughter. "Homeland is sending some men to the church, but I want in on it—they aren't taking it seriously. Sarah might as well be one of our people, and we might have a chance of arresting these cartel members. Scramble the helicopter."
Narelle nodded and turned to her radio.
"We have satellite images. They're still grainy, but I'll bring them up."
Francine sat down to watch the screen as the image focused. Phillip zoomed in on the glowing heat signatures at the facility. After peering at the image for a moment, Francine spoke. "It looks like two cars and a truck, judging by the size of the engines. Where are Besetti and Cartwright?"
"Over to the east. Matt will rendezvous with them as soon as he has disarmed the bomb. We have to hope that the others can disable the terrorists and escape before they are discovered."
"I'd rather not go to the hassle of explaining why they are there."
Phillip nodded as he worked on the resolution. Finally he was able to make out the heat signatures of humans on the screen. "Judging by the number of people, it looks like there are four terrorists."
"Let's hope that small number means no hassles."
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The boxes had been removed from the truck and staged nearby. Amanda, Lee and the rest of their team prayed that Nirjan and his men would not go to them ahead of the planned time. Matt and Yana stood near one another, thirty feet away from the group, while Sergey moved in their direction. Sergey made some noise, hoping to draw some attention to himself as Matt hovered near Yana, pretending to offer her some amorous attention while they waited. No one liked the idea, but they all knew it was the easiest way to make their plan work. Alexei refused to watch.
Nirjan moved to silence the trio, but Sergey spoke first.
"You American dog. I will teach you to make advances towards my sister." He raised a gun and pointed it at Matt's chest.
Matt started to protest, and Lee made a move towards Sergey, who fired off two rounds before he could be stopped. Matt flew backwards and landed on the ground. He lay still. Those nearby could see two dark stains grow on his shirt.
Amanda ran to Matt and knelt beside him. She cried quietly over his body while Lee tried to comfort her. Nirjan took a quick look. "Good riddance. We had too many men, anyway."
Nadia lingered a bit, peering closely at Matt before moving away.
Lee stood up. Even in the dark, it was clear to everyone that he was angry. "This changes things." He walked towards the crates, signaling to Arman to help him carry the crates back to the truck.
Soon the group had gathered around Lee and Arman.
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Francine and Phillip watched as one of the humans appeared to be knocked to the ground. Two humans rushed towards him, while the others slowly approached. Eventually the entire group, except for the one lying prostrate, moved back towards the vehicles. The prostrate body's heat signature continued to glow.
Francine watched thoughtfully. "I hope they are far enough away in that lighting to miss him leave."
"Me, too."
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As she prayed with the rest of the congregation, Sarah was unaware of the person who slipped up next to her until she tapped her on the arm. She looked up to see Cheryl's face near hers.
Her voice was low and urgent. "Pretend to be sick and come with me. Don't ask questions, and don't hesitate. You've brought visitors with you today, and I don't think they've come to worship."
Sarah saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She quickly glanced over and saw the man from the station platform. Hesitating no longer, she grasped Cheryl's arm and let her lead them to a side exit.
Once outside, they dashed to Sarah's Corolla.
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On the ground, Matt cautiously opened one eyelid. He was glad the gun had held blanks, but the fall to the hard-packed dirt had been painful. He scanned the group, taking care not to draw anyone's attention. No one was looking at him. He belly-crawled as silently as possible to the ditch a few feet away and slipped down out of sight.
Just then the rest of the group spotted headlights off in the distance.
Nirjan swore. "They are here. We are not ready. You fools. If you had not been worried about the American, we would be in place."
Arman moved quickly to the crate that held the rifles. He opened it and handed the loaded weapons to Lee, Gyorgi, and Alexei, then the ones with the empty clips to Nirjan's men. Everyone prayed that they would not think to check the clips. The headlights were getting closer. He raised up his hands in apology at Nadia as he took the last rifle. She drew a handgun from her holster in response. Arman's voice was urgent. "We must hide, now."
Lee and Amanda hid near Gyorgi, while Yana, Arman, and Alexei chose a spot on the other side of Nirjan and his team. Their plan was to ambush Nirjan and his men—hopefully take them alive if it was possible. Gyorgi had insisted he kill Nadia himself if she resisted. Amanda wondered if he was out for some sort of revenge.
Matt moved rapidly through the ditch and followed the route Phillip had sent to him. Soon he emerged on the far side of the building, out of sight of any vehicles. He located the generator and searched around it for the bomb. He did not want to use a flashlight until it was absolutely necessary, instead hoping there would be some kind of display on the detonator. He was not disappointed. After scanning the entire piece of equipment, he noticed a red glow on the concrete near his feet. He bent down. The detonator's display was just visible. He took a chance and used the light of his phone to locate the C4, finding it attached to the underside of the generator. He blew out his breath. There were enough bricks to blow up the entire building and leave a crater where he stood.
Nervously Matt glanced at the building. Phillip had texted that there had been no human heat signatures in the dormitory only a few minutes before, but he would not relax until they were long gone from the Cosmodrome. Hoping he could not be seen, he retrieved a small headlamp from his pants pocket and attached it to his head. After examining the detonator once again, he carefully pulled it out from under the generator so he could remove the wires. His stomach tightened.
There were only four minutes left on the timer.
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Grace Tanaka drummed her fingers on the door handle, willing Brad Smith to go faster. "Any word on the helicopter they scrambled?"
"It left the helipad at Reagan ten minutes ago. It should be overhead soon."
"Keep an eye out for her car. If she's checked her phone, she'll know to head back towards Arlington."
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Sarah concentrated on the road as Cheryl helped her navigate a circuitous route on the nearby streets. "Cheryl, you need to get us on some of those windy roads up towards Chantilly and the airport. I can shake them there."
"Honey, you should never have left your house today. These people are serious." She held Sarah's phone in her hand, having insisted upon checking for some kind of communication from the Agency when she heard Sarah's brief explanation for their predicament.
"I guess I figured that out. I think the van is lagging behind. It's just the one car."
"There are two cars. Just watch the road. I'll watch them." The phone rang. "Sarah Stetson's phone." Sarah glanced at Cheryl, who was listening. She put the phone on speaker. "They want to talk to you. They are getting the chief on the line."
Francine's voice filled the front seat of the car. "Sarah, who is with you?"
"Cheryl Collins—an old friend of the family—my father's 'family.'"
Cheryl spoke towards the phone. "Francine, is that you?"
Francine wracked her brain so she could make a connection with the familiar name. Lee's informant. She was a florist—or was that the caterer? Francine gathered her wits and spoke again. "We're tracking you on GPS—we have several cars and a helicopter heading your way. Once you see them, let them follow you—they can force the cars off the road."
"Francine, there are two cars and a van. The van is hanging back now. I'm not even sure I can see it anymore."
"Just watch the road, Sarah. Remember those evasive maneuvers your father and Leatherneck taught you. Stay off the main highways if you can. You have a better chance of losing them the way you are going."
Francine kept one eye on the screen in front of her. She needed to get back to Phillip.
"Keep this speaker open, Cheryl. I'm passing the phone to Dava again."
Francine focused once again on the satellite images in front of her. Watching Matt's progress around the building and his movement near what they determined to be the generator, Francine almost missed the additional vehicles pulling into the building's parking lot.
"They have company. On schedule."
On the ground, Lee and Amanda watched as the entourage of vehicles parked. He glanced over at her. "We need a distraction before these crazies start shooting and we have to shoot them. We'll be caught."
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The glowing red display now read two minutes. Matt had already isolated most of the detonator's assembly, but he was down to the last three wires. He knew that they could be attached in any number of sequences. The other wires had come off fairly easily, but the last three were the most difficult. Two yellows and a blue. He aimed the headlamp at the connections once again and squinted. Tiny marks were just visible on the wires. He had seen the same marks before on another detonator, made by the tools of the person who had attached the detonator to the explosives. There was no guarantee, but it was his only clue. He chose the blue, then one of the yellows.
Breathing a silent prayer of thanks, he realized that there had been no explosion. There was one minute to go on the timer. The detonator was no longer attached to the C4, but it was still activated. He ran from the complex and threw the explosive device as far as possible into the dark field beyond before taking cover. Several moments later there was a sound like a large gun being discharged. He did not look back as he slipped through the darkness, hoping he had accurate directions to Besetti and Cartwright's location.
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On the other side of the building, the astronaut's team stopped at the sound of the small explosion. An American voice cried out. "What the hell was that?"
Lee and Amanda watched as members of the security detail rushed towards the sound.
At that moment, Nirjan stood up and fired his pistol into the air. He cried out in Kazakh. His men raised their guns and aimed at the surprised NASA team, but they still did not know that their clips were empty. Alexei and Arman raised their own weapons and fired at the feet of the terrorists, hoping to encourage them to surrender.
From their position, Lee and Amanda watched Nirjan whirl to take aim at Arman and Alexei. Lee quickly raised his rifle and fired, causing Nirjan to fly backwards to the pavement. Nirjan's men, realizing that their rifles had no ammunition, raised their hands in surrender without bothering to reach for their handguns. Lee, Arman, and Alexei looked to the men and Nirjan's body sprawled upon the ground. They did not immediately notice Nadia take aim at Amanda, who had raised her gun at the same time to point it at Nadia.
Without warning, a body hurled through the air and crashed into Nadia, the impact causing her gun to discharge as the two hit the ground. Nadia lay there stunned while Yana attempted to pull herself to her feet. Picking up the gun to aim it at Nadia, Yana crumpled to the ground once again. Alexei rushed to help her. "Yana! You've been shot!" Not thinking, he took the gun from her and placed it on the pavement.
During the shooting, the NASA team had taken the opportunity to rush for cover while the security detail had held their fire, initially unable to make sense of the chaos. Thinking the gunfire had ended, they started to approach the Kazakh and American group. Lee and Amanda rose from their positions, but spotting a movement to their right, Lee pulled her down once again. A final shot rang out. Nadia, who had retrieved her gun and risen to her knees to aim at the couple, collapsed in a heap as her gun clattered to the pavement.
Gyorgi stood by, his rifle in hand.
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"Cheryl, they're almost on us. Why haven't the Agency people forced them off the road?" Sarah could not hide the fear in her voice as she navigated her car northwest, leading a string of cars behind her. The Agency car holding Tanaka and Smith had finally intercepted their chase, but they had been unable to force the terrorists to stop. Overhead the helicopter followed them, but Gonzales and Johnson were still a mile away.
In the bullpen, Francine and Phillip had taken their eyes off the satellite feed and were glued to the video feed from the helicopter. Since Dava had placed Sarah on the speaker, they had not missed her remarks.
"Sarah, let the officers deal with the driver of the sedan. There's a Homeland car intercepting you in a half mile if you stay on that road."
There was no response from her car.
The road narrowed ahead as they came into another wooded stretch. Suddenly, the car closest to hers pulled alongside and jerked over towards her Corolla. She was able to use the shoulder to avoid the sedan on the first try, but the second time there was no shoulder and the sedan hit the Corolla. She fought to keep control of her car as they veered close to the embankment.
Bracing for an accident, Cheryl watched Sarah's expression. Her resemblance to her father was uncanny as Sarah's eyes narrowed in the same determined look Cheryl had seen Lee wear when he was working in the field years ago.
Phillip and Francine cringed at the noise of the crunching metal and watched as Sarah managed to keep the car on the narrow road. They were surprised that neither woman had made a sound.
Sarah saw her chance. Just ahead, the shoulder disappeared and the embankment dropped off to one side. "Hang on, Cheryl."
Cheryl did not need to be told more than once.
Sarah floored the accelerator and pulled ahead of the sedan before turning the wheel sharply. There was a strange clunking noise near one of the front wheels, but the car spun around and stopped while the sedan chasing them careened off the highway and down the embankment. The look of determination had been replaced with one of intense relief. Sarah sat there for a moment, looking at the place where the sedan had left the road, then leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. Cheryl tried to comfort Sarah as she sobbed silently.
Phillip and Francine sat in stunned silence.
Finally, Francine remembered they had an open line with Sarah. "Sarah, Cheryl. Are you okay?"
Cheryl spoke for her. "We're fine."
"Good driving, Sarah." Phillip could not hide the pride in his voice.
Francine's voice was urgent. "Just hang in there and wait for the agents to help you—please don't give any information to the police or Homeland Security. Johnson will be with you in a minute."
This time they could hear Sarah's shaky voice. "Got it. I'm going to hang up now."
Francine reached over to end the call. "Phillip, I've never seen a civilian drive like that." Francine bit her tongue before she could make a negative comment about Amanda's earliest evasive driving experiences.
Just south of Sarah's car, the other sedan had pulled over, and the driver was making a run for it through the woods. They watched as Tanaka and Smith stopped and gave chase on foot. Gonzales and Johnson parked behind Sarah's car and jumped out. After stopping briefly to check the occupants, they ran to the embankment and down to the other car.
From inside the helicopter, an agent with a rifle took aim at the passenger of the sedan as he crawled out of the crashed vehicle and began running through the underbrush. "I can't get a clear enough aim."
Francine spoke over the radio. "Can you get any lower? What about the driver of the other car?"
"He's keeping in the trees, too."
"There's the van."
The camera aimed at the white van, which was parked on a side road several hundred yards from the crash site, obscured from the sky. They watched helplessly as the two men climbed into the van, the rifle shots from above missing their intended targets. Gonzales and Johnson tried to shoot at the fleeing men, but had no better luck. Following the van as it sped away down a side road towards Dulles International Airport, the helicopter continued to send a video feed. Giving up, Gonzales and Johnson worked their way back to Sarah's car.
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Francine and Phillip looked back at the satellite image, which was beginning to lose resolution. "We're losing our feed. It looks like three men are down. Matt seems to have exploded the detonator—you can see a small heat image beyond the buildings."
Francine blew out her breath. She knew they would not have known what was going on with Lee and Amanda even if they had watched the satellite image instead of the car chase. "We'll have to hope for the best and wait for them to contact us." She turned to Narelle. "But go ahead and text them. Tell them I want a report now."
Francine sat down. "Phillip, you need to get Jamie out there. Your sister might need some moral support." Turning to Dava, she asked, "Do we have a medical team on the way out there?"
"Yes ma'am. They're two minutes out."
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On the ground Homeland officers, paramedics, and police converged at the scene. Tanaka and Smith went back to their car and followed the path of the van, while other Agency vehicles arriving from D.C. joined the chase. Since both doors on the driver's side were jammed shut from the collision, the paramedics had to help Sarah from the vehicle.
Sarah was relieved when Johnson ran up to the car and took charge of her and Cheryl.
"I'm under orders to keep these women in protective custody." Johnson hoped that no one from Homeland would interfere with his request to take charge of the women. He knew Francine had wanted him to get Sarah and Cheryl away from the other officers as soon as possible.
After another brief examination of the women by the paramedics, Johnson took Sarah and Cheryl to his car. Sarah watched from the backseat as Gonzales parked her Corolla at the side of the road. She knew it was driveable, but she dreaded trying to get it back to Arlington on her own. She tried not to think about what her father would say when he saw it. It might be her car, but he was so protective. I guess I should be glad they offered to let me drive Mom's SUV. At least I'll have that car until they get back.
Several minutes later, a familiar vehicle drove past and turned around. Sarah watched as the driver parked the Camry. An immense feeling of relief washed over her as she saw Jamie emerge and talk with the officers nearby. Soon he was heading her way. She got out of the car and ran to him.
"Sarah! Thank God you're okay." Jamie wrapped his arms around his sister and held her to him. "Phillip called me and told me what happened. He was going on about your driving, and I wanted to know if you were all right."
Cheryl had joined them. "Your sister did a remarkable job. She's had some stunt driving lessons, I think."
Jamie looked at Cheryl for a moment, and then extended his hand. "I'm sorry. You look familiar, but…"
"Cheryl. Cheryl Collins. You may not remember me, but I was a friend of your mother's and Lee's many years ago. You were still a teenager at the time."
Sarah could see the caution in Jamie's eyes as well as the recognition there as he greeted the woman pleasantly. "Jamie, Cheryl helped me get out of the church. She handled the phone while I drove." Sarah's voice faltered. "I don't know what would have happened if she hadn't helped me."
Jamie's face clouded over briefly. "In that case, let me speak on behalf of our family when I say thank you for helping Sarah." Jamie smiled at Cheryl as he kept a protective arm around Sarah's shoulders.
An officer approached Johnson, who came over to the three. "Jamie, you're free to take these ladies back home. Francine would like to debrief them herself at the Agency. We'll let you know when. Apparently she's involved with another op." Johnson gave Jamie a knowing look as they followed the women to Jamie's car. They both knew what operation that was, but had the sense to keep Sarah from having something else to worry about.
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Lee knew that Francine and Phillip probably wanted to know whose dead bodies lay on the ground, but he was too busy listening to Amanda talk their way out of getting arrested to take the time to text. He listened with admiration as she convinced the security detail that they were American agents, working with a team of nationals. She even included Yana and the others as a part of their "team" so that Yana would be able to receive the more advanced medical care available to the nationals and internationals working at the Cosmodrome.
He wondered when the head of the NASA security team would want to get on the phone with Francine or Gil to verify their identities. Just great. Calling Gil on a Sunday morning. He thought about it briefly and changed his mind. Serves him right. Some milk run assignment. He pulled out his phone and texted Matt, who had already confirmed he was with Besetti and Cartwright. "Get over here. We need you, now. All is well." Lee wanted Matt to help the security team locate the C4 and the exploded detonator—or what was left of it. He knew it was pointless to send the three agents back to the hotel. Besetti and Cartwright would not be able to leave the facility on their own after the Russians clamped down on security.
Finally, Lee took mercy on Francine and Phillip, texting them a brief report on the outcome of the operation.