Page 105 of No Vow Broken

Lexi

I’m certain the two Secret Service agents who had just pulled into the trailhead area behind the police had not woken up expecting to deal with a crazy runaway bride barking orders like a lunatic.

Nonetheless, by the time they had stopped, followed moments later by a WUSA TV truck, I was directing the agents, in no uncertain terms, to get the civilians back. They exchanged a glance and, without speaking one of them immediately went back to help the police deal with the news crew. The expediency with which they complied with my orders suggested I might have a future in law enforcement.

The other agent, presumably the lead one, came to my side. “What’s going on? What can we do?”

“We believe there’s about to be a major nerve gas release in this area at any time, and we’re trying to stop it.”

As we were talking the thumping of the helicopter overhead sounded louder. I looked up and realized there were now two helicopters hovering. One of them was Marine One, ensuring that the president, first lady, and pope were safe. I suspect they were easily able to see and track me from the air, a cloud of white fabric whirling along the ground, and wondered what they were thinking. Well, maybe I didn’t. The other helicopter flew closer to our location, and I could see a sniper with a gun hanging out the door.

The agent put his hand to his ear, trying to hear something that was coming over his communication device.

“There’s a fight going on down by the stream,” he relayed. “They can distinguish your guy in the tuxedo, but they’re too close for us to get a clean shot.” He listened a bit more and continued. “It’s affirmative. There are canisters in the water. That may be the nerve agent. They can’t risk shooting and hitting that, so we’re instructed to respond from the ground.”

“Hey, I need some help here,” the other agent shouted as I could hear angry voices and people yelling. “Now.”

“How much longer until more agents and police show up?” I asked.

“Estimated time of arrival is five minutes for the other agents.”

“We don’t have five minutes,” I said.

“Doug, I need assistance, now,” the other agent shouted. “As inrightnow.”

“Give me your gun and go help him stop those people from interfering,” I said. “That’s what you can do to help.

Doug looked at me as if I were crazy. “Are you crazy? Are you even trained on firearms? Do you know what would happen to me if I voluntarily surrendered my weapon to you?”

“Do you know what will happen to you if you don’t, the nerve agent is released, and thousands of people die?”

“It’s against protocol, ma’am. I can’t. I’ll get fired.”

“You’ll get a freaking medal. I have an ‘in’ with the president, remember? He’s here formywedding. Now give me the gun before we all die. I’ve got to go help him.”

“Doug!” the agent shouted again.

After a nerve-racking moment, Doug grimly removed his Glock from the concealed-carry holster inside his jacket and handed it to me. “I hope I don’t regret this.”

He and I ran in opposite directions. I dashed past the white truck, lifting my wedding dress and cursing my heels. As I reached the surrounding brush, I stopped momentarily and pulled off my veil, tossing it on a nearby bush to retrieve on the way back.

I ran on as quickly as I could, making a vow that Slash and I would returntogetherto retrieve the veil, right after we dispatched the bad guy.

I just hoped I wasn’t too late.

FIFTY-SIX

Slash

We circled each other, ever mindful of the location of the canisters.

The guy, who at this point I suspected was Sergei Sokholov, knew he couldn’t turn his back on me to open the canisters. I, on the other hand, couldn’t risk letting him get too close to the canisters, as I feared I wouldn’t be able to disable him quickly enough to prevent him from releasing the agent.

So, for now, we remained at an uncomfortable impasse. The only sound I could hear was some faint shouting from where we’d parked the SUV and a helicopter circling above. I figured they had a sniper on the helicopter who could probably see us, but since I was still alive, they correctly assumed the nerve agent hadn’t yet been released. Knowing that, they were certainly reluctant to shoot for fear of hitting me or the canisters.

If they could land, they might be able to provide me more immediate assistance. I tried to picture my path down to the stream but couldn’t recall any spots nearby where a helicopter could set down safely.

Unfortunately, the presence of the helicopter spurred my adversary to action. He knew his time was limited, so he took several steps toward me.

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