Page 44 of Honoring Lena

“Well, when someone pulls a gun on my family, I take that as my cue to leave.” Marshall impressed Lena with his steady voice and banter. “Where’s my son?”

“Now, see, here’s the thing.” She tsked. “You keep causing problems with the changes you’ve made to your business, Mr. Rand, and we don’t like it.”

Marshall shot Lena a confused look. “So this isn’t about the term bill?”

The woman’s laugh twisted Lena’s stomach like she was a salmon on a fish wheel. The flippancy unnerved her. Like this was all a game, and they were the pawns.

“We couldn’t care less about that bill.” Her tone implied Marshall was an idiot. “People are people and easily manipulated. It doesn’t matter how long someone’s in office. We’ll still get our way.”

“Then why worry about me at all?” Marshall’s calm tone slipped as red anger rose up his neck.

“Because your support of Reagan MacArthur or June Paxton, whatever she’s calling herself these days, is creating a headache.” The laughter had left her tone, replaced with cold calculation. “Enough of this. We need to have a meeting to discuss the future of your business, Mr. Rand. You will meet us in Kentucky. Don’t even consider pulling any heroics. We know where you are. We know how you think. You know we aren’t afraid of making our point with force.” Her voice turned pleasant, like she was talking to an old friend. “I’m craving brunch at Coles, 735 Main, tomorrow morning, eleven sharp. Their grits are to die for.”

The screen went black as the call cut off. The silence that filled the cab contained so much tension, Lena could’ve sliced through it. They had just less than twenty-four hours to figure out a plan and get Carter back.

“That’s my favorite restaurant.” Marshall’s whisper shattered the stillness. “Carter loves their mac and cheese.”

Something about what the woman had said needled Lena. Had their enemy really known all along where they were? Was that how they had snuck up to the cabin? If Bjørn hadn’t arrived when he had, the men could have surrounded the cabin without Lena even noticing. It was obvious the chopper pilots had known where to look for the Rands.

But how? How could they know exactly where to find Marshall? Lena stared at him as he flipped the phone over in his hands. Her head pounded and her shoulder felt like someone was stabbing a red-hot poker in it, but she had to push through and figure out what eluded her. Then she remembered something that Piper’s stalker had said.

“Marshall, give me your wallet.” She reached out her hand, her pulse increasing with each second.

He reached into his pocket. The brown leather was warm and soft in her hand as she opened it. Please, let me be right. She began pulling out business card after business card.

“Lena, what—”

She cut off Marshall’s question. “My friend’s stalker tracked her with a business card he’d given her. He’d been selling his inventions to the black market.” A lightness filled her chest as she spied the same metallic threading that had been on the card Piper had. “Looks like our favorite terrorist organization liked his design.”

“I don’t understand.” Marshall snagged the card and looked at it with wide eyes. “This is Patrick Walker’s card. He’s the investor from Moving Forward. I… he’s excited about helping June get more units to the military.”

“Looks like he’s playing both sides.” Bjørn scowled as he grabbed the card from Marshall’s fingers and whistled low. “This is some fancy tech.”

“Yeah, Rafe said it’s some of the best he’s seen.” Lena scooted forward in her seat, a plan formulating in her head. “Listen, they don’t know that we know about this. What if we can use it to our advantage?”

“What are you thinking?” Bjørn speared her with the satisfied look he’d get as a kid when he made up a new game to play.

“Well, if we split up and send Marshall on one plane, I can meet up with Stryker, maybe call in General Paxton’s team, and get Carter before Marshall’s meeting is supposed to happen.” Lena’s voice rose as the idea solidified in her head.

“No.” Marshall shook his head, his voice resolute.

“What?” Lena’s mouth gaped as she turned to him. Didn’t he see this was the best way to get Carter back?

“No. I’m not leaving Carter’s rescue to someone else.” Marshall’s determined gaze built Lena’s frustration up. “If something happens, I want to be there. I have to be there.”

“It’s the only way to have an element of surprise.” Lena tried to tamp down her annoyance.

“We can figure something else out.” Marshall clenched his jaw and crossed his arms.

“What if we have a decoy?” Gunnar rubbed his cheek as he stared out the windshield.

“What?” Lena and Marshall said at the same time.

“Well, they only have to think it’s Marshall.” Gunnar looked between her, Marshall, and Bjørn. “What if someone pretended to be Marshall, took the business card, and acted like he was going home?”

“The decoy could wear a hat and sunglasses.” Bjørn shook his finger like the plan held merit.

Marshall’s jaw shifted as he thought. “I could have my parents pick the decoy up at the airport. I’m close to them, and it wouldn’t be out of the norm for me to go to their place in a moment of distress. They’d play along to get Carter back.”

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