Page 15 of Honoring Lena

Eight

“Zeke, it’s Lena.”Lena sat on the edge of the hotel’s bed as the call connected to the secure line back home, exhaustion weighing her muscles down.

After much arguing, she’d agreed to Bjørn’s insistence that they take the Rands to Alaska, and they had spent the next eight hours flying over the Canadian forest. The excitement of the flight had kept Carter entertained for the first leg, but each one after became harder for the child to stay happy. Lena was glad she wasn’t a real nanny. Cranky kids were not her cup of tea.

“What’s wrong?” Zeke’s question shot through the phone like he’d never left the military, quick and efficient.

“Marshall’s head of security ended up being in with the people pressuring him.” Lena hadn’t meant for his first name to slip out, wanting to keep things between them formal, but since the attack and his insistence, she just hadn’t seemed to care much.

“Are you okay?” Zeke’s worry hadn’t been a product of the military, but of the family he’d created within Stryker Security Force. To him, family was everything, even if he’d had to create it himself.

“Yeah.” Lena sighed and rubbed her sore lower back. “Thankfully, June’s Supersuit worked perfectly.”

“You were shot?” The words echoed in surround sound as both Zeke and Marshall said them, startling her gaze to Marshall emerging from the bathroom.

His wet hair stuck up in all directions like he’d run the towel over it and hadn’t bothered with straightening it. She put her index finger over her lips to quiet him. She couldn’t have two conversations at one time.

“Yeah, I may have left a mess in a park in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.” She tried not to watch Marshall as he stepped over Bjørn, already conked out on the floor, but fatigue gnawed at her brain. She’d chalk it up to keeping tabs on everyone. “I took out two of the attackers before we escaped.”

“What are your plans now?” Zeke’s confidence in her loosened the nerves that had tangled in her stomach while she had sucked up the courage to call.

“Bjørn was picking up a helicopter in Spokane.” Lena sighed, doubt at what they were doing creeping back in. “We’ve decided to take them to my parents’ place in Alaska. I worried with Mr. Rand’s and June’s companies collaborating, the people after him would think Stryker was hiding him. From my parents’ place, I’m taking them to the mountains. If my cover held, there shouldn’t be any way for Mr. Rand’s enemies to make the connection.”

She closed her eyes, rubbing her fingers across her lids to ease the dryness. She prayed she was right and that they could find a place to lie low and figure out what was going on. Ever since they’d left Virginia, she hadn’t felt like she could breathe fully.

“Smart. I’ll get Rafe to reinforce your info and see if anyone has been poking around.” Zeke sighed.

A soft touch on her knee snapped her hand down. Marshall rose his eyebrow in question and mouthed, “Are you okay?” Her heart raced faster and faster, like the ice breaking up on the Tanana River in the spring. The more water exposed, the quicker the ice rushed downstream, the big chunks tumbling over each other for the race to the sea. She forced a smile, then scooted farther onto the bed, ignoring the way Marshall’s face fell as he settled on the opposite bed beside a sleeping Carter.

“There’s more, Zeke.” Lena breathed out a sharp breath. “I think the people after the Rands are the same people that attacked June and kidnapped Kiki, Eva, and Derrick.”

“What?” Marshall stood fast and sat on the edge of her bed, and she pulled her knees up to her chest to keep from touching him again.

His face filled with intense focus, willing her to tell him what was going on. She held up her hand to halt any questions. She had to fill Zeke in first, then she could get Marshall up to speed. He mouthed, “Speaker.” So, with a huff, she clicked the call to speakerphone.

“Why do you think that?” Tapping came through the phone. Zeke’s habit of tapping his fingers when he was thinking helped her relax a little more. She wasn’t in this by herself. Her team would do anything to help her keep Carter and Marshall safe.

“Well, Marshall was given a note that threatened they’d kill Carter like they killed his wife.” She stared at Marshall.

“I thought his wife died in a car accident.”

“Apparently not.” Sorrow filled Lena for Carter, who would never know his mother and for Marshall, who lost his wife. “Her death was connected to the border bill. The one bill that…”

She paused, not wanting to speak about Ethan and how Marshall’s vote sealed his death. Ever since she’d started working for him, she’d wanted him to know, longed to march into his office and tell him the vivid details of Ethan’s death so they could haunt him too. But now, she wasn’t so sure. Her righteous anger didn’t burn so hot at the moment. She stared at her knees, sick with how easily she’d given up on finding justice for Ethan. Had she really loved him? Not working for the general on his team, and now, not wanting Marshall to know what he did made her think she hadn’t really loved Ethan. Not like she should have.

“I know the one, Lena.” Anger and grief tinged Zeke’s voice. “So, since the same organization has been involved in all those instances, it makes sense it’s involved now.”

“Yeah.” Grief thickened her voice, so she cleared her throat, determined to move this conversation forward. She needed sleep, though she doubted she’d find any tonight. “Have you gotten any updates from Paxton?”

“No, just that every time they think they’re close, they find something new that digs them a little deeper.” Zeke’s statement made her question not going to work for Paxton even more.

“They need more help.” She knew it, but was she strong enough to leave what she’d found at Stryker?

“Not from you.” Zeke was always good at reading minds.

She pressed the icon to turn the speaker off and put the phone to her ear.

“Why not?” Her hackles rose. Didn’t he think she could do it?

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