Marie Force - Fatal Threat

She wrote Gonzo’s name and cell phone number on the pad they provided and pushed it across the table.

“We’ll take care of that for you, ma’am.”

“You can stop calling me ‘ma’am.’”

“My apologies, Mrs. Cappuano.”

“What can I tell my family?”

“Exactly what we’ve told you.”

“We have jobs and obligations and places we need to be.”

“No one will be leaving until we’ve neutralized the threat or until we are authorized by the vice president.”

“You can’t hold us here against our will.” Sam gave him her trademark death stare, the one that made seasoned criminals tremble like babies in the interrogation room. Unfortunately, it had no impact whatsoever on Secret Service Agent Daniel Cooley.

“I’m afraid we can.”

“What’s being done to neutralize the threat?”

“Everything possible.”

That was, Sam realized, as much as he was going to tell her until Nick arrived to fill in the blanks. She got up and headed toward the closed door that sealed her off from just about everyone she loved. “Let me out.”

The door slid open soundlessly, admitting her to the big room where the others were scattered about on sofas and chairs, waiting. They sat up a little taller when they saw Sam come in.

Scotty rushed over to her, his distress obvious. “What’d they say, Mom?”

She put an arm around him, hating the worry she saw in his expression. “Dad is fine. He’s on his way home from Iran and due to land at Andrews around eight. He’ll be brought right here when he arrives.”

“Did they say why they rounded us up like cattle?” Skip asked, nudging his wheelchair closer to her.

“All they would say is that they received a credible threat against the vice president and his family. Apparently, Nick authorized them to round us up out of an abundance of caution. Anyone who might be watching us knows what you guys mean to us and what it would do to us if something happened to any of you.”

“What about Spence?” Angela said, sounding as fearful as Sam had felt before she knew where Nick was.

“He’s on his way here with a Secret Service detail.”

“Oh, good,” Angela said on a long exhale. “That’s good.”

“They’re also notifying Gonzo as to where Alex is.”

“One thing I’ll add,” Graham O’Connor said, “is that whatever this is, it scared the hell out of them or we wouldn’t be here. I used to sit on the committee that oversees the Secret Service, and they don’t do anything without a damned good reason.”

Celia ran her hands up and down her arms as if chilled. “What’re we supposed to do in the meantime?”

“We wait,” Sam said. “That’s all we can do.”

CHAPTER THREE

“RUN THROUGH IT again for me, from the top,” Chief Farnsworth said to Freddie and Beckett, who’d been summoned to his office upon their return to headquarters.

“Sam and I were working the scene,” Freddie said, “trying to determine whether or not we were dealing with a homicide, when we saw Beckett arguing with four suits that we immediately identified as federal agents. We went over to see what was going on and to help Beckett.”

“They were demanding I allow them in because they urgently needed to speak to Mrs. Cappuano,” Beckett said.

“They called her that?” Farnsworth asked, rubbing his chin.

“Yes, sir,” Freddie said, still trying to process what’d happened.

“Then what?”

“The lieutenant and Detective Cruz approached the tapeline to see what was going on, and the agents busted through the tape and took her. They carted her off to a waiting SUV and were pulling away before we could catch up to them.”

“We tried,” Freddie said, still gutted that she’d been taken when he was standing right there, unable to do a thing to stop it. “But they moved with lightning speed to get her out of there.”

“One of the SUVs stayed back to make sure we couldn’t follow them,” Beckett added. “He blocked the road to keep us from leaving in cars.”

“And you’re sure they were actually federal agents?” Farnsworth asked.

Freddie’s gut clenched with anxiety. “That’s the thing, sir. They said they were Secret Service and flashed their badges, but I couldn’t get a close enough look at them before they were grabbing her and taking off. The whole thing happened so fast.” He’d have nightmares about how easily she’d been plucked out of his grasp and the way he’d frozen with indecision, as if he weren’t a highly trained police officer. “I didn’t know what to do. If I pulled a weapon on them and they were actually federal agents, that’d be a disaster. But I just keep asking myself, what if they weren’t federal agents? What if she’s been kidnapped?”

“She hasn’t been,” Gonzo said as he joined them in the chief’s office. “I just got a phone call from an Agent Dan Cooley, who is the Secret Service agent in charge of the detail that was sent to retrieve the lieutenant. I did a run on him. He’s legit.”

“Why did he call you?” Freddie asked.

“Because they’ve gathered up the entire Holland and Cappuano family and taken them to a safe location. My son was with Angela when they picked her up, so he’s with them, and they wanted me to know.”

“Where are they?”

“He couldn’t tell me anything other than they are safe and under protection of the United States government.”

“What the hell?” Freddie asked. “How long are they going to keep them in this safe place?”

“He wouldn’t tell me that either.”

They all looked to the chief for answers he didn’t have. “Do we know the whereabouts of the vice president?”

“I poked around online,” Gonzo said, “and the most recent mention I could find was a formal dinner he attended yesterday in Iran, which was covered by a White House pool reporter. There’s been no mention of him since.”

“I suppose no news is good news,” Farnsworth said. “If something had happened to him, we would’ve heard about it by now.”

“I suppose so,” Freddie said, “but clearly something is going on with him that has the Secret Service in full-on freak-out mode.”

“Let’s do a little digging to see if we can find anything online and get Archie’s team involved,” Farnsworth said, referring to Lieutenant Archelotta’s IT squad.

“I’ll take care of that, sir,” Gonzo said.

“What’re we thinking about the floater in the river? Is it Ruby Denton?”

“We’re waiting for Dr. McNamara to make a positive ID,” Gonzo said. “We’ll know more in the next few hours.”

“Let’s get out there and work that case,” Farnsworth said. “CSU is doing a grid search now, but let’s treat it like a homicide until we know it isn’t.”

“Yes, sir,” Gonzo said for all of them.

They left the chief’s office and returned to the detectives’ pit, passing other officers who gave them quizzical looks. Apparently the word was out about Lieutenant Holland being snatched from a crime scene by Secret Service agents.

“I thought she wasn’t under their protection,” Beckett said, keeping his voice down.

“She isn’t,” Gonzo said, “but from what the agent in charge told me, they received a threat against the vice president and his family, so Nick authorized them to bring everyone in.”

“Wow,” Beckett said. “What kind of threat would lead to that?”

“Could be anything,” Freddie said. “No sense speculating at this point. I’m sure it’ll be all over the news before too long.”

“Nothing has been released yet,” Gonzo said. “I checked.” His phone rang, and he checked the caller ID. “It’s Chris. I’ve got to take this and tell her our kid is under Secret Service protection.”