Page 32 of Chinook Winds

“All right, but I want you to know the position is only temporary for me. Your country wants you back. It’s time to start rebuilding our nation and our world. You’re the man for the job.”

“We’ll speak soon.” Victor said goodbye and ended the call. His mind churned with details. Things they’d need to do. God had led them back to Virginia because of Duncan and his deceit. Lancaster was right. It was time to end Legion’s reign of terror once and for all. Yet as he thought about returning to D.C. and getting back into the tangle of politics and greed, a knot formed in his stomach. He turned to the woman who had become so important to him.

Since his wife’s death, he’d been going through the motions of life. Facing each day, each meeting, each political agenda as befitting of a president. But he hadn’t felt alive. Not like he did with Kinsley. She made him see there was a future for him beyond the White House. And he wanted that. Since he’d been back in the trenches with Strike Force, Victor realized he didn’t want to sit behind a desk giving orders. He wanted to be in the field. Making a difference. This was where he belonged. And destroying Legion’s power would only be the beginning. Finding the members and bringing them to justice could take years. Collins was smart. He’d been training for this time since he’d faked his death. Probably before. He wouldn’t relinquish power so easily. Hunting down Collins and bringing him in was the most important thing right now.

Kinsley caught him watching her. She smiled and came over. “This is good news. We’re getting closer.”

So why didn’t it feel like good news? “Yes, but we still have a long way to go, and bringing Collins in will be a challenge. We need him alive.”

Kinsley frowned as she watched him. “What’s troubling you?” She knew him so well.

He shook his head. “Ever since this began, since we were captured and taken hostage, all I could think about was getting back to D.C. and uniting the country again. But now that its close. . .” He stopped. Looked deep into her eyes. “I’m not so sure I want that anymore.”

Something shifted in her expression. Was that hope? If so, what did it mean?

“Being back in the trenches with the team has made me realize I miss this.” He waved his hand around the activity taking place in the room.

Kinsley reached for his hand and entwined their fingers. “You’re a natural leader, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a politician.”

As he studied her beautifully sweet face, her meaning became clear. They’d be moving into a new world. A new way of thinking. There would be a place for Strike Force in the future because there would be other threats. Was he ready to hang up his former political desires? With her at his side, the answer was easy.

???

Kinsley became aware of someone approaching them and she pulled her hand free.

As Emily drew closer, she stopped as if she’d guessed they were having a personal discussion. “Am I interrupting?”

Victor held onto Kinsley’s gaze and shook his head. “Do you have something?”

Emily had been through so much. She’d lost her husband to cancer when they were both on the fast track in their respective careers. Kinsley had the opportunity to get to know her during their stay in the underground bunker in Canada and was amazed by her story. Emily had come onto Legion’s radar when she started quietly investigating the incident that ultimately exposed Legion’s true plot. She’d discovered the attack in Anana Harbor had coincided with massive amounts of VX Gas being moved around the country. An unknown player had managed to break into a secured facility where it was being stored awaiting destruction. When the attack in Anana Harbor happened, Emily was convinced it was the work of a new terrorist group with major reach. She had no idea that the group she’d been investigating was run by men with a whole lot of power. Men who had been planning the takeover for years. Men like Emily’s boss, Howard Duncan. When Emily had brought the information to Duncan, he’d told Jake Evans and Hassanzai. Soon, she’d been targeted for death.

“I’ve been doing some digging into Collins’s past and I think I have something.” Emily hurried over to the laptop where she’d been working.

Both Victor and Kinsley shared a look before they followed.

On the screen was a news item from more than thirty years earlier. “What am I looking at?” Victor asked. The image was grainy, but it showed a man in handcuffs being taken away.

“Meet Edward Buckley, Martin Collins’s father.” Emily pointed to the man in cuffs.

Kinsley couldn’t believe she’d heard Emily correctly. “Wait, this is Collins’s father?”

Emily smiled at her surprise. “Yes. Buckley killed his wife and was sentenced to life in prison. His son and daughter were sent to live with Buckley’s sister and her husband. They changed the children’s last names to theirs. Collins.”

“Unbelievable.” Victor scanned the article. “This says Buckley lived in Washington State.”

“Yes, the family owned a hunting lodge there. The property went into foreclosure soon after the trial. It’s been sold several times,” Emily told them.

“Who owns the place now?” Victor asked.

Emily opened a different screen that appeared to show a land title. “A woman by the name of Elizabeth Franklin.”

Victor stared at the title. The name meant nothing. “Find out what you can about her. I have a feeling she has a tie to Collins somehow.”

“I’m on it.” Emily dragged over another laptop and went to work.

“In the meantime, we need to talk to Edward Buckley.” Kinsley brought up the photo of the man in cuffs. There was definitely a family resemblance between Collins and this man.

“That’s just it,” Emily said. “You can’t. Buckley escaped from prison a little more than ten years ago.”

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