Brett Battles - Shadow of Betrayal

“The advance team arrived on Monday. But they moved in en masse around six a.m. this morning. And let me tell you, they searched everywhere. ”

“Hey, did they have any of those dogs?” he asked. “You know what I mean? The ones that sniff out drugs and explosives and those kinds of things? The kids would love to see that.”

“No dogs that I saw,” she said. “They did have electronic devices with them when they were searching the building. Perhaps those might do the same thing.”

Not only might , Tucker thought, but did. He said, “I don’t know. I guess.”

While they were standing in the lobby outside the auditorium, Petersen entered from the hallway back to the cafeteria on cue. In his arms was the trigger.

Tucker smiled as if pleasantly surprised. “Eric, could you come here for a moment?”

Petersen walked over.

“Ms. Stanton, I’d like you to meet one of my teachers. This is Eric Jones,” he said, using Petersen’s temporary alias. “Eric, this is Principal Stanton. She’s in charge here.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Petersen said.

“Good to meet you, too,” Ms. Stanton said.

“Sorry, I’d shake your hand, but I’m a little tied up.”

“I can see that,” Ms. Stanton said, smiling at Iris. “She’s beautiful.”

Tucker could tell she meant it. He reached out and took the girl— the trigger—from Petersen. “This is Iris.”

Iris’s lower lip quivered. She leaned away from Tucker as he took hold of her, like she was weighing the merits of falling to the floor versus staying in his arms.

“Would you like to hold her?” Tucker said.

Ms. Stanton smiled. “Of course.”

Iris must have sensed the woman’s kindness, for she hugged Ms. Stanton tightly, laying her head on the woman’s shoulder.

“Hello, Iris,” Ms. Stanton said. “You are just so pretty.” She looked at Tucker. “Is she verbal?”

“Unfortunately, no,” he said. “She’ll make several sounds, but no words yet.”

“That’ll come, that’ll come,” Ms. Stanton said.

He let the two bond for a few moments longer, then said, “If I understand correctly, when the First Lady and her guests arrive out front, we’re each allowed to have a child with us.” He had only learned this after he arrived. He had planned on keeping the girl in the auditorium with the others, just safely out of the detonation range. This, though, would be so much better. He could always revert to the original plan if his idea was shot.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Ms. Stanton said.

Tucker smiled again. “Iris is the one who will be out front with us.”

“Excellent.” Ms. Stanton kissed Iris on the cheek. “We’ll just have to be careful none of the ladies try to take her home with them.”

Tucker grinned. The last piece of the plan was in place.

CHAPTER

40

THEY LEFT THE CAR ON MAIN STREET, THEN WALKEDinto the residential neighborhood northeast of the business district. It was already ten minutes after nine, the checkpoint having eaten up more time than they could afford.

“You going to tell us that plan yet?” Nate asked.

“Not yet,” Quinn said.

“You don’t have a plan, do you?”

Before he could reply, Orlando said, “Not a good one.”

Quinn frowned at her, knowing she had a pretty good idea of what he had in mind. “I’m open to other suggestions,” he said.

“Yeah. I know.”

“You guys are giving me a lot of confidence right now,” Nate said.

“It’ll be fine,” Quinn said.

The closer they got to the school, the more cars they found parked on the street. There were a lot of people, too. Most walking up the hill in the same direction they were. The curious out to see political royalty, something that had never occurred in this part of the country. Quinn, Orlando, and Nate blended in, becoming just three more members of the crowd.

The school was located just off Ridgeway Street on Owens Avenue. It backed against a small wilderness area that separated it from the Morro Bay Golf Course. Quinn wished they had time to sneak in from the rear, but he knew they didn’t. In less than fifteen minutes, the limos would begin to arrive. And once that happened, there’d be carnage.

As far as two blocks away, people were taking up positions along the street, trying to get the best view they could. Sheriffs deputies and policemen were spread out along the road, keeping people on the sidewalk as much as possible.

Quinn took the lead, weaving through the crowd to get them as close as possible to the school. They made it to within thirty yards before the growing crowd forced them to stop.

They could see the school building now. It was older, low-slung, and very 1960s. It had a parking lot in front that was empty with the exception of two black Suburbans. Secret Service, no doubt. The crowd had been allowed to within ten feet of the lot’s entrance, but had been stopped from going any farther by several police officers.

“I count at least half a dozen Feds in the lot,” Orlando whispered in Quinn’s ear.

He nodded, then looked at his watch. “Goddammit,” he said. Eight minutes until the scheduled arrival.

Reluctantly he pulled his backpack off his shoulders and handed it to Nate.

“What are you doing?” Nate asked.

“Not now,” Quinn said.

“You’ll need me,” Orlando said. “At least to get started.”

Quinn nodded.

“Is there something I should know about?” Nate asked.

Quinn pulled him close so he could whisper in his ear. “Stay here. If we’re not successful, do what you can to help with the aftermath. Otherwise we’ll contact you.”

“Where are you going?”

“Where do you think we’re going?” Quinn asked. “To stop this.”

“And you don’t need me?”

“At the moment, no. There’s just no sense in all three of us going down.”

Nate’s brow furrowed, but he only said, “Okay. We’ll meet up after.” Quinn hoped Nate was right.

“We’re all set,” Tucker said into his phone. He was standing in the lobby with a few of the other attendants and the handful of children who had been selected to greet the targets out front when they arrived. The rest of the children, and, most important, the delivery devices, had been moved into the auditorium to await the arrival of the guests.

“The trigger?” Mr. Rose asked.

Tucker glanced at Petersen. He was a few feet away with Iris in his arms. “In place, ready to go.”

“Good.”

Tucker wasn’t sure where Mr. Rose was. After the helicopters landed, the old man had taken one of the waiting vehicles for himself and disappeared, leaving the execution of the plan in Tucker’s hands.

“What about the schedule?” Mr. Rose said.

“We’ve been told everything is running on time.”

At that moment, Ms. Stanton entered the lobby from the auditorium, looking both nervous and excited. Tucker smiled at her and gave her a nod. She smiled back and started walking toward him.

Into the phone he said, “The transfers?”

“Once the job is complete, you will get the rest of your money. Just like we discussed.”

“Fine,” Tucker said. “Gotta go. We’re getting close.”

“Don’t disappoint me,” Mr. Rose said.

Tucker disconnected the call just as Ms. Stanton reached him.

“I’m told there might be a few minutes’ delay at most,” she said.

“I would have expected more,” Tucker said, his tone light. “These things never come off on time.”

She put her hand near her mouth like she was about to tell him a secret. “I think it helps that we’re one of the first things on their agenda for today.”