CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO WASHINGTON, DC

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO

WASHINGTON, DC

January 10

Suki gazed out the window of the private jet at the murky river water beneath her. They’d left Fort Lauderdale a few hours before and were now arriving at a heavily guarded military base in Virginia. That should have made her feel safe, but it didn’t. The squirming, negative feeling was still there. Not about Quantico, she didn’t think, but something was wrong.

“What river is that? The Potomac?” she asked Lund, who was seated across from her, a glossy wooden table in between them. Her mom sat next to her, across the aisle, with Jane Louise across from her. It was much more comfy than a regular airplane. Private planes, admittedly, were pretty sweet.

Lund glanced out the window. “No, that’s Chopawamsic Creek. It feeds into the Potomac.”

“Got it. So this military base is where the FBI is trained?”

“It’s on the same property, but farther west. We’re going to the Marine Corps base. That’s where the airport is. And the hospital for your mom.” Lund tilted his head as he gazed out the window. “Interesting.”

Suki looked out again and then craned her neck. A fighter jet was farther back, following their plane as it descended.

“Whoa,” Suki said. “Does that mean we’re important or dangerous?”

“Maybe a little of both,” Lund answered with a smirk. Then he shifted his attention to Suki’s mom. “How are you feeling, Mrs. Roth?”

“Tired but coping.” She had a bottle of water, half-empty, and a tray of food that she’d been eating to maintain her blood sugar. She’d given herself another shot of insulin, but they needed a blood test to check her glucose levels.

Suki’s stomach fluttered as the plane dipped lower. She gripped the armrests. Each chair was equipped with a private monitor on a swivel screen, but the flight was short enough that none of them had bothered to turn theirs on. They were exhausted from their ordeal.

“How far is DC from here?” Suki asked, trying to get rid of the oppressive feeling by distracting herself.

“About an hour, depending on traffic.”

Suki watched through the window as they were about to meet the ground and then felt the bump and jerk of the tires hitting. The jet began to rapidly slow down.

Lund pulled out his phone and switched it off airplane mode before making a call. It must have been unsuccessful because he immediately dialed another number.

“Hi, Carly. Jordan didn’t answer. Where are Mr. Roth and the boys?”

The change in his expression made Suki’s stomach drop. She looked over at her mom and saw her eyes fixed on Lund’s face, her brow wrinkled with worry.

“No,” Lund whispered in shock, grimacing. Suki had never seen him look this way. He was always in control. This was bad news.

“Got another call coming in from the FBI director. I’ll call you back.”

Suki swallowed and watched as Lund ended the call and accepted another. “This is Lund. We just landed at Quantico. What happened in DC?” He sat silently, his lips twitching as he listened. He looked disturbed. Angry. Disappointed.

Not knowing was torture for Suki. Something had happened to her dad. Maybe to the boys too. She looked at Lund, silently pleading with him to tell her.

He listened dumbly to his phone, then squeezed his eyes shut for a second. “Okay. Okay. Where’s the president? I see. This is bad. This is really bad. What about the units down in Mexico? Have they made contact yet? Hmm. Understood.” He listened some more. “Understood. Sorry about Brower. It’s ... it feels like the beginning of Armageddon. See you soon.”

He ended the call.

“Where’s Jonny?” Suki’s mom asked firmly. “Where are my sons?”

The jet was taxiing across the runway to a side aisle. There were several black SUVs parked there. They seemed to be waiting for them.

Lund gave her mom a sorrowful look. “A jaguar priest just went on a rampage at one of the Smithsonians in DC. Your husband and boys were there. The security team was slaughtered. Video footage shows your husband was hit by a trank dart and collapsed. The man—we’re presuming he’s a jaguar priest—carried him off and turned invisible. The boys ... no one knows where they are.”

He might as well have just gut punched Suki. She looked at Lund accusingly. “I ... I thought Agent Sanchez was protecting them. And Jordan. Your guy.”

“Agent Sanchez was thrown into a wall hard enough that it broke her spine,” Lund said tightly. He was trying hard to control his emotions. “Jordan is in critical condition. They’re both in an emergency room in DC.”

Another blow. Suki knew it wasn’t Lund’s fault. Fear overwhelmed her. Her dad would be taken to Jacob Calakmul, who’d made it clear what he wanted to do. Her father would be sacrificed on a Maya altar. She closed her eyes, feeling tears burning hotly. She shook her head, trying to stop them, trying to blot out her imagination, but it didn’t work.

She started sobbing.

It wasn’t fair! Ever since they’d gone to Mexico with the Beasleys, their life had blown up. Now the world was blowing up.

Before the jet stopped, Suki felt her mom’s arms embracing her. Suki quivered, her nose dripping, and held on to her mom, clinging to her.

These feelings writhing in her chest. These terrible emotions of loss, of grief, of anger, of hatred. These were emotions that the world would soon be feeling. Set loose by a jerk because of what had happened to his ancestors five centuries ago. What a mess.

Her mother held her, stroking her hair and murmuring softly. Suki knew that her mom was hurting too. Her husband had been abducted. Her boys were missing. Then she felt a small hand stroking hers, and when she opened her wet eyes, she saw Jane Louise kneeling in front of her. This little girl who had watched her family die was trying to comfort her. They were both trying to make her feel better despite their own pain.

There was something weirdly awesome about that.

Suki sniffled, wiping her eyes. The pilot had emerged from the cockpit and was opening the door. The roar of a jet engine could be heard outside as another jet took off.

Suki felt embarrassed for crying so hard. She’d unwittingly wiped her snot on her mom’s shirt. But moms didn’t care about gross stuff like that. Moms were incredible.

Suki looked at Lund. He seemed defeated. Grief stricken. He was staring out the window, tears in his own eyes, and by some incredible flex of self-will, they hadn’t fallen.

There was a shrinking part of Suki that wanted to blame him for this unfortunate twist of events. But Lund had tried everything in his power to protect her family. He’d done the same in Bozeman. In fact, he’d been grazed by a bullet protecting Suki’s life from an MS-13 gang. It wasn’t his fault.

“Hey,” Suki said.

Lund continued to gaze absently out the window.

“Hey,” she said again.

He turned to look at her, his expression suggesting he was bracing himself for a rebuke.

“Thanks, Uncle Steve,” she said to him, choking on the words. “It’s not your fault. You got us out of Florida okay. You can’t be everywhere at once.”

She didn’t know what had inspired her to say those things. But she saw the wrinkle in his forehead, the relaxing of his tense shoulders.

“Calakmul ... he’s pretty intense. No joke. He’s ... he’s a boss. That’s why we’re so afraid of him.”

Lund frowned and nodded. He didn’t offer any platitudes. Any fake promises that they’d get her dad back or the boys were okay. He was real. He wouldn’t fill her with false hope.

“Thanks, kiddo,” he said gruffly, wiping his eyes.

Suki reached out her palm to him. He knew what it meant. He placed his palm on hers, and their thumbs embraced. An introvert’s hug.

Lund sighed as they pulled their hands back. “I do have a tracker on your dad’s burner phone,” he said. “If they’ve taken him out of cell phone range, it won’t show up. But we can try that at least.”

He pulled out his phone again and switched apps. His brow furrowed. “That’s weird.”

“What?” Suki asked.

“The phone is still on. And working.”

Suki felt a gush of hope. “Did dad escape? Or can you find the guy who kidnapped him?”

Lund looked perplexed. “I don’t think so ... it’s at the Lincoln Memorial.”

Suki and her mom exchanged a look.

“Call the phone,” her mom said.

“It’s the boys,” Jane Louise said with a smile.

Lund tapped on the number and called. He held the phone to his ear.

Suki could hear Brillante’s voice. “Uh. Hello?”

“This is Uncle Steve,” Lund said. “I’m with your mom and Suki. We just landed. Are you safe?”

“Is it really him?” whispered another voice. Lucas’s.

“It says it’s him on caller ID,” Brillante said. “Um, we’re hiding at the Lincoln Memorial. We didn’t know what to do.”

“They took our dad,” Lucas added, sniffling.

“I know,” Lund said firmly. He shifted his gaze to Suki. “And we’re going to do everything we can to get him back.”