Page 35 of Dangerous Protocol

“Cute kid.” She gave the photo back to him. “So … what’s the deal with you and her mom?”

“Thedeal?” One eyebrow shot up at her boldness.

“Sorry.” Andi held up a hand. “That’s none of my business.” She shrugged. “What can I say? I’m still working on the whole filtering-what-I-say thing.”

In his business, treacherous people were the norm, so Jeffrey had always appreciated Andi’s forthrightness.

“Right now, Maya and I are focused on getting Isla back.” And on making up for the time they’d lost.

“Howdy, Burke.” Mason sauntered over in that laid-back Texan way of his carrying a gear bag. He shook his hand and clapped Jeffrey on the back. “Congratulations, Dad.”

Dad.No one had ever called him that before. Children had never been on his radar. Not because he didn’t like kids; he actually loved kids. But because he’d never found the right person to share somethingso important with. And now, all of a sudden, he wanted to hear his own child say it more than seemed logical.

Would Isla ever feel comfortable calling him Dad?

Andi stepped up to him and kept her voice low. “You okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Let’s load up.” He turned and stalked back over to his SUV.

Five minutes later, two black SUVs were roaring over the asphalt and away from the airstrip. Everyone was quiet, focused, and going over each step of the op in their heads.

This mission was personal, and the stakes were high.

Maya paced a path from the kitchen, across the main room and back. Every few laps, she would stop and check her phone. It was much too early for any news, but that didn’t stop her from hoping Jeffrey would call.

The last time he’d checked in with her was when he arrived at the airstrip. They would leave there and head to the Soapstone Valley Park to access the tunnel. Several embassies sat on the perimeter of that park, so the team had to be careful not to be spotted or else they would bring all sorts of unwanted attention down on them.

She checked the time—ten forty-seven.

The plan was to breach the small building at exactly eleven fifteen, in hopes that by the time they navigated the almost mile-long tunnel and arrived at the embassy, most of the staff and residents would be sleeping.

Thatis when the clock would start ticking.

They would have to breach the door to the old boiler room there without anyone hearing them and find their way upstairs and through the embassy again without being heard or seen. Assuming they accomplished all of that, they would then have to find Isla, retrace their steps back to the basement, and get the hell out of there. Oh, and all of this had to be accomplished before Al-Mansoori’s midnight deadline.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Jeffrey, Mason, Andi, andWolf arrived at the small building near the trail and discovered it was in worse condition than they thought. Ivy covered most of the small concrete structure, including the door. Large chunks of concrete just below the roofline appeared to have broken off, and since there was no sign of them on the ground, they assumed the debris had fallen into the building. The lack of support had caused several roof tiles to slide off, and they lay shattered on the ground.

“Let’s get this cleared away.” Jeffrey tightened the Velcro strap on his gloves, and they began to pull and rip away the ivy and tossed it aside until the door was exposed.

“Looks like you were right. They definitely abandoned this tunnel a long time ago.” Wolf stepped up and brushed his hand over a scratched and dented plaque mounted in the center of the door. “Property of the Potomac Electric Company.”

“Potomac Electric Company hasn’t even been around since the early 1900s,” Jeffrey said.

Andi turned and gave him a strange look. “Why the hell do you know that?”

“Fourth-grade field trip. A kid in my class had a dad who worked for the power company.” He threw aside the last of the ivy, brushed his hands together, and rested them on his hips. “They have old tunnels and substations all over the DC area, and his dad took us on a tour of some of the ones they maintain as historical sites.”

His father, Charles, worked for a government defense contractor as a design engineer. Jeffrey’s childhood was spent growing up in Bethesda, Maryland, only two hours away from DC.

His dad enlisted in the army at the age of seventeen, was shipped off to boot camp for eight weeks—where he spent his eighteenth birthday—then someone handed him a rifle and sent him straight over to Vietnam. He was a great guy—never drank alcohol and, unlike many others who survived that hideous war, he didn’t spend hours alone in a dark room brooding about what he’d been through. But he would never talk about it, nor would he explain how he’d ended up with a bad limp. Whenever Jeffrey asked him about it, his dad would throw his long arm around Jeffrey’s shoulder and tell him not to worry about it, that it didn’t hurt. Then they’d grab a baseball and their mitts and head outside to play catch.

Jeffrey found out from his mom that the reason his dad limped was because he’d gotten shot twice in the legduring the Battle of Hu—one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. She’d also divulged that he’d been awarded a Purple Heart.

Jeffrey would never forget the moment when his mom opened that velvet box and he got his first look at his dad’s Purple Heart. It had been a big factor in his decision to join the Marine Corps after college and to go through OCS, Officer Candidate School.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot you grew up near this cesspool.” Andi quickly added, “No offense.”

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