27
The next morning’s sun shone bright as Grant slipped his arm around Valeria. He watched the C-17 land at Andrews Air Force Base, the tires leaving a thin sheen of rubber on the well-used runway. Grant looked to where Valeria held Lizzy’s hand and Lizzy held Tate’s. Birch and Humphrey filled in the end of the line, facing the back of the plane. Behind them were Alex, Roxie, Director Kirby, and Senator Epps, as well as over fifty wounded veterans Jason and Michelle had helped over the years, all in dress uniforms of their military branches. Off to the side, the members of Andrews Air Force Base lined up ten rows deep, dressed in their finest.
The back of the plane lowered into a ramp as the Honor Guard moved forward. Grant straightened his maroon beret with the silver pin of the USAF Pararescue attached. Valeria looked at him sadly before he strode in even steps toward the plane with President Stratton, dressed in his Army blues.
Grant, in his Air Force dress, stopped at the base of the ramp. Two members of the Honor Guard lined up on each side of the ramp, facing each other. Grant stepped into the third spot on one side and Birch filled the third spot on the other. Grant looked up and met Dalton’s wounded eyes. Someone had brought him a dress uniform.
Grant held his salute for Jason, while the rhythmic sounds of marching boots echoed in the early morning peace as the wounded veterans formed a row slightly behind each side of the Honor Guard. Grant and the rest of the Honor Guard moved up the ramp and saluted. They reached down, and with heavy hearts, lifted Jason’s flag-draped coffin. Three by three, they carried him down the ramp and past the soldiers who were now living full lives, thanks to Jason and Michelle. Lizzy, Tate, Valeria, Alex, and Humphrey watched with tears as Jason’s body was loaded into the back of a hearse.
In silence, the men and women who had gathered overnight to bury Jason moved to the caravan. Grant and Dalton sat with their fellow PJs as the rest of the team rode to Jason and Michelle’s farm under the anonymity of blackened windows. Secret Service cleared traffic as curious onlookers pulled over on their morning commutes to watch the procession. Media was not invited, although Tate would be releasing selected photos in a press release honoring Jason at a later time.
In too short a time, Dalton was back in the woods looking at Michelle’s grave. Next to her, Jason’s coffin rested as the minister talked about Jason and the good he and Michelle did. They were united in love on earth as they were now in heaven. The flag was removed, folded, and handed to Birch. Jason and Michelle had been all each other had. By the way Birch clung to the flag, Dalton knew his memory would live on.
In silence, those who had served with Jason, or who had been helped by the couple, lined up behind Dalton and Grant. Dalton stepped up to the coffin, saluted it, and unhooked the silver USAF Pararescue pin in the shape of a parachute with a guardian angel holding the world safely in her hands in the center and placed it on the coffin. That others may live was engraved on the pin. Jason had lived and died by their motto. Dalton closed his hand into a fist and slammed it onto the pin, embedding it into the coffin. With a deep breath, he turned and silently joined Lizzy as Grant set his PJ pin next to Dalton’s and with a hard hit, sank it into the top of the coffin. PJs, Seals, Marines, Rangers, Army, Navy . . . they all showed up as pin after pin was hammered in long straight lines down the length of the coffin until only one person remained.
Birch may have been in military dress uniform, but it was his own presidential pin he pulled from his lapel and placed in the middle of the coffin. Birch bowed his head and then with a final echoing sound, hammered the gold pin. The center was enclosed in a ring of fifty stars and emblazoned with a golden eagle clutching an olive branch in the right talon and thirteen arrows in the left, symbolizing peace and war. As Birch saluted, everyone rose. The sound of the twenty-one-gun salute echoed across the woods as Jason was laid to rest.
Birch sat in the chair between the two couches in the Oval Office as Senator Epps and Director Kirby sat down on either side. It had been a long morning, honoring Jason, and he was in pain, but important matters needed to be addressed. Tate had sent out a press release and Birch had talked to the White House press corps who had thinned greatly since Tate had released the evidence that Mollia Domini had paid off reporters. But now, it was time to fight. Lizzy and her team were beginning their plan while it was time for Birch to play politics.
“I never knew you had men helping you,” Epps said with a sigh. “Retired military volunteering to protect our country. I’ve submitted Jason and Michelle for congressional honors. Who are the others? I believe I have met a couple in my house.”
“Thank you for honoring Jason and Michelle, but I’m not disclosing the volunteers. Neither Congress nor the office of the president pays them, so I’m not required to disclose anything. Suffice it to say, their lives are, and will continue to be, on the line for some time.”
Kirby nodded. He knew most of the team by now. But there was no evidence to prove he was correct, so he’d kept his mouth shut. “Orson is raising holy hell.”
“I don’t care. He’s a small fish. After he’s been exposed, no one will listen to him. We’re after the big fish now. What I need is the FBI working with the locals so there’s no confusion that federal law still rules. Yet we’re in no way trying to infringe on anyone’s rights. I’ve talked to the heads of the exchanges that were hit and everyone is in agreement to keep the exchange closed until the head of Mollia Domini is captured or killed.” Birch leaned back in the chair as Epps looked worriedly at him.
“But how long will that take?”
“There’s no saying, but I would guess very soon. It won’t be closed any longer than it was after 9/11, which I know wreaked havoc on the markets. But it’s so much better to open when we’re stable than to have the panic caused now with sell-offs, no matter what Bertie Geofferies or Sebastian Abel preaches to the media.”
“Mr. President,” Kirby said with worry, “I hate to point this out, but you’re not allowed to authorize a private military of retired agents to wage a legal war. Any evidence collected would be a bitch to take to a judge. And anyone who kills under those circumstances would technically be guilty of murder.”
“I haven’t authorized them to do anything. They’re a volunteer group of concerned citizens who know they are bound to the laws of this country.” Birch could practically hear Humphrey snort, but there was no denying the team existed. Not after New York.
Kirby looked annoyed at the loophole, but the only thing he could do about it was to arrest them if he ever got evidence they’d committed a crime. “How about if I send someone with them?”
“Or how about you give Elizabeth James her job back, only this time she reports directly to you?”
“She won’t be able to work at SA Tech anymore,” Epps pointed out.
“I think she’ll be okay with that.” Birch grinned. He knew she’d already drained his account and got another million dollars from Bertie Geofferies in his desperation to beat out Sebastian. “And maybe she’ll want to take a nice teaching position at the academy after this is all over. You know, since she’s still trying to run her father’s bar.”
“One of these days I’ll learn what she’s already done for this country and will probably need to buy her a beer. Until then, I’ll have her reinstated immediately,” Kirby said, pulling out his phone.
“What do you need of me?” Epps asked. He’d been a big help making sure Birch’s declaration of war against Mollia Domini would be as well received as possible.
“I need you to keep Congress under control. My office will be here for you and my door open to any member of Congress who has a problem. But I need you to try to pull rank against some of the people we have evidence against.”
Humphrey pulled out a packet and handed it to each of them. They opened it and started to read Thurmond’s affidavit. “Jesus,” Kirby said, looking up at them, “the secretary of state?”
“And many more. There’s your evidence. All nice and legal, wrapped in a little bow.” Birch stood as Epps shook his head.
“Branson Ames is alive?”
“He is. And he’s ready to come home and testify as soon as it’s safe. Take this information, gentlemen, and unify our country against those wanting to tear it apart.”
Birch shook their hands and wished like hell he could be with his team at that moment. But it was all in their hands now.
Lizzy hung up the phone and announced, “I’ve been reinstated, and Kirby got the DEA to hire you back, secretly of course.” Lizzy grinned at Valeria. “Kirby is coming along with a team of handpicked agents, so we’ll be ready to go shortly. Kirby is meeting us here in forty-five minutes.”
The group relaxed as Lizzy poured them a beer. Roxie was having a blast serving the patrons of Lancy’s with Alex. Dalton and Lizzy were behind the bar, standing shoulder-to-shoulder pouring beers. Valeria was sitting on a barstool resting her back against Grant, who was standing behind her with his arms around her. It was yet another calm before the storm.
Buzz and Snip happily took their seats as Crew and Flint slid into the next two spots. Crew turned to Valeria and Grant and raised his beer in silent salute.
Buzz shook his head. “It’s a sad day when a Marine’s matchmaking skills have been undercut by a pair from the Chair Force,” Buzz said teasingly, making fun of Grant and Dalton being part of the Air Force.
“What did two old jarheads expect?” Dalton grinned back.
“Two grandsons and neither could land a date,” Snip complained.
Crew and Flint rolled their eyes at each other as Grant bent his head and whispered something into Valeria’s ear. The smile she sent Grant could only be described as wicked. She slid from the chair, and the two of them hurried from the bar.
“Be back in forty minutes!” Lizzy called after them, earning the bird from Valeria and a chuckle from Grant.
“I am so jealous right now,” Dalton whispered as he pressed against Lizzy while reaching for a beer mug.
“The closet is soundproof,” Lizzy whispered back.
“Alex! Come watch the bar. We need to restock the shelves.”
Lizzy handed Roxie a tray filled with beer mugs and shot glasses as Alex walked around the bar. “I just restocked the shelves at the beginning of the week.”
“You know Buzz and Snip,” Lizzy said with a smirk. “Always drinking the stock when we’re not looking.”
Alex shrugged and Lizzy met Dalton in the storeroom. It was their secure meeting place. Thanks to Alex, it was soundproof and constantly swept for bugs, but none of that mattered as Dalton pressed her against the locked door with a ravenous kiss. This wasn’t the time for lovemaking. Knowing what they were walking into sent complex emotions flying out the door. They were operating on basal feelings, and right now seduction and gentleness weren’t on the brain. Hard, primal passion was.
They didn’t talk. They didn’t espouse words of love. Their tongues battled and their bodies took what the other was offering.
Valeria stroked her fingers in a slow circle over Grant’s chest as she lay in his arms. Grant softly ran his hand over her hair and down her bare back. She looked out the window of her small bedroom at the early night sky. Complete darkness was still hours away, but the evening held the hints of night as the shadows lengthened. Not too much longer and they’d be walking into the shadows one last time.
“I know you’ll get defensive, but I have to say it,” Grant said softly as he ran his hand over her head and down her back again. “Dalton and I are trained in combat warfare. It’s our job to fight our way into enemy territory, achieve our objective, and then fight our way out. You and Lizzy are not.”
Valeria opened her mouth to argue, but Grant used his finger to close her jaw. “Hold on, lass. Let me finish.”
Valeria let out a loud breath of annoyance but didn’t say anything.
“You know Dalton loves Lizzy. While I’m not one to talk about my feelings, you’re important to me, Valeria. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. You’ve captivated me since the moment you climbed into my helicopter under fire. I’ll do anything to get back to you. That’s the reason I’m asking you to consider staying here with Lizzy, or at least not going in to fight with us. Let us focus on the objective and getting back to the women who hold our hearts.”
Lizzy felt Grant hold his breath. Normally she would rip into him, but this time she didn’t. Why? Because she felt the same way. “I was going to ask you to stay with the helicopter and let Lizzy and me handle it.”
“You . . .” Grant stopped himself and then laughed. “What a pair we make, lass.”
Valeria smiled against his chest before swinging her leg over his and straddling him. She sat up and looked at him as his hands cupped her breasts and ran his thumbs over her beaded nipples. “Aye, we sure are,” she playfully mocked before lifting her hips and sliding him deep inside her.