Chapter 23

Days passed by and yet they seemed to last forever. Maggie had either Kane or Hunter with her or near her at all times. When one was with her, the other would disappear for hours, if not the entire day. Kane and Hunter searched for the bombs and always came up empty. But the nights were hers and Hunter's. At night, the troubles of the world were blocked out and there was only the love they shared.

Maggie had also had more coffee in the last four days than she'd probably ever had. She'd had to switch to decaf or she wouldn't be able to even hold her gun for practice. However, in her coffee dates with her fellow friends on opposing shooting teams, she'd learned several things.

Maggie had learned that several countries were so politically unstable that there were grassroots movements to overthrow the current leaders. Bolivia, Syria, and Crusina were the main ones. Iran was helping several of these groups since some of the leaders, or want-to-be new leaders, favored working with other nations to establish peace and prosperity. Iran did not approve and saw it as a threat to their power, so they were leading a group to destroy the Syrian rebels and keep their puppet government in place. Similarly, Russia and China were funneling money and weapons to overthrow President Deming Nikan in favor of a dictatorship like the one Crusina had just gotten out of. Since Crusina had turned democratic, their Russian and Chinese neighbors' influence on them had dwindled, and they wanted control back. So did the former political and military members who had been in charge before Deming's presidency. Similarly, the same thing was happening in Bolivia. Belarus's dictator, who was technically a president but in name only, was assisting in the Bolivian coup in exchange for a deal on Bolivian natural resources, most specifically, lithium.

Hunter had taken the information gathered by her, Kane, and Allison and had turned it over to his mystery caller just this morning. They'd all been given a phone number to call if they found anything else out. They weren't told who it belonged to, but it was crucial to call with new information.

"Are you ready to go?" Hunter asked as Maggie pulled on the Team USA jacket.

She was going to be just an Olympian for the next couple of hours. Tonight was something special. It was the opening ceremony.

"I am," she said, checking herself out in the outfit the mystery caller had sent. "I heard from my parents. They're here and so are a bunch of people from Shadows Landing. Ryker chartered a plane for everyone."

She liked how Hunter smiled and for the first time since they arrived looked happy. "I'm glad they're here." His phone buzzed and the smile turned into a frown. "President Serro won't pause the games. President Stratton called him to tell him there was a credible threat. Serro said his men will handle it and they don't have any intelligence showing such a threat. However, Stratton then called the committee heads and they will do anything we need. They're bringing in extra security for high-risk areas and made sure to give us all access passes that let us bypass security."

"Do you think Serro is in on it?" Maggie asked as she grabbed her phone so she could record walking in the opening ceremony.

"No. He just believes they're prepared for anything and that nothing will happen. It's Italy, the country of love, art, music, good wine, and good food. He believes no one would attack them. Be alert tonight. This would be a good target to hit."

There went the joy of the evening. Back to being on constant guard.

Hunter hung back from Maggie under the stadium. He was in sight, but he was letting Maggie have her own time. Athletes from around the world took pictures, met, exchanged numbers, and talked excitedly. The "famous" athletes were well in demand, but Maggie loved meeting those in lesser-known sports. They worked hard all their life for very little fanfare. There were no television spots, no ad campaigns, no ticker tape parades . . . they just ground it out and competed for the love of the sport.

Maggie talked to badminton players, handball players, fencers, sport climbers, synchronized swimmers, and trampoline jumpers. The excitement was electric. Many people didn't speak the same language, but they all loved sports and they all loved competing.

Maggie was talking to a handball player from Hungary when she felt someone shove her from behind. It was packed in the holding area, so pushing wasn't uncommon. However, the person leaned in and whispered, "You should have backed off," in very heavily accented English.

Maggie turned to see someone with an Iranian outfit on, but his accent wasn't quite right. It was more Eastern European than Middle Eastern. She opened her mouth to ask him who he was when a flash of a knife caught her eye.

"Hunter!" she screamed as the knife stabbed her in the abdomen.

She fell backward from the impact, the handballer caught her, yelling something she didn't understand as his teammates came running forward, ready to defend her. The man who stabbed her looked surprised, but then took off in the crowds. Team Iran had over sixty athletes and he was easily lost to Maggie, but not to Hunter. Maggie saw Hunter take off into the crowd, shoving athletes out of the way, as he chased after the man.

"Okay, yes?" the handballer asked her. Maggie realized he was still holding her, but the pain and blood she was expecting wasn't there.

She looked down to find the knife at her feet and not in her stomach. The uniform. It had stopped the knife attack. She lifted her shirt and looked at her stomach. There was a red mark as if something had poked into her abdomen, but there was no cut.

"I'm okay. Thank you."

"Police?" the handballer asked as his teammates formed a circle around her, protecting her from any other threats.

"No. There's my security now." Maggie saw Kane pushing through the crowd, although the fierce look on his face made many people jump out of his way before he even got to them. "Kane, these nice men from the Hungarian handball team helped me."

Kane nodded at them, "Thank you, gentleman. Good luck." Kane casually bent down and picked up the knife before slipping his arm around Maggie. "Let's stick with your team for a bit. They're starting to call out the countries."

"Where is Hunter?" Maggie asked, trying to look around and find him. However, he was lost in the swarm of athletes getting in place and starting to walk out of the holding area.

"I'm sure he's fine. Let's go." Kane didn't give her a choice. He could have made her leave the ceremony, but at least he was letting her stay, as long as she was surrounded by her team.

Hunter shoved his way through the Iranian team's athletes. He had eyes on the man who had attacked Maggie and he wasn't going to lose him. Hunter tried not to draw attention to himself, but it was hard not to. He ducked behind a cement block pillar and observed the man slip through a door. Hunter followed casually, pushing open the door and finding a long hallway with the man running down it.

Hunter didn't yell. He pulled his gun and ran. If anyone saw him, they'd mistake him for a sprinter. He pushed himself hard, especially when the man turned and saw him. He picked up speed, so Hunter picked up speed. The only sound was of their breathing and the echo of the footfalls.

The hallway curved, following the outline of the stadium, and once they sped around it, Hunter saw an exit ahead. The man was sprinting toward it. Hunter wouldn't make it in time to stop him before he lost him outside the stadium.

Hunter abruptly stopped, aimed his gun, and fired.

The man didn't have time to yell. The shot hit him in the back. He was flung forward with his momentum and the impact of the hit. Hunter resumed the sprint as the man tried to crawl his way toward the door, now just yards away from him.

Hunter slowed to a stop and aimed the gun down at the man. "It's over," Hunter said, his tone deadly.

The man stopped crawling and rolled over onto his back. His breathing was shallow. He wouldn't make it and the man knew it. "I might be, but we will live on forever. It's all set. You're too late." The man closed his eyes and took his last breath.

"Dammit," Hunter cursed. He wanted to question him further, but now there was still one thing he could do. Hunter pulled out his phone, took a picture, and sent a text before patting the man down looking for clues.

A text came in five minutes later from Hunter's mystery contact. Open the door.

Hunter stepped over the man and opened the door to find Elizabeth, Dalton, Grant, and Val. Grant was wearing an outfit identical to athletes from Great Britain. Dalton was in a US outfit. Val and Elizabeth were dressed in generic Olympic merchandise.

"I'm going to hang out with your lass and send your brother back here," Grant told Hunter before kissing his wife, telling her to behave, smacking her on the bottom, and then sauntering off whistling a jaunty drinking song.

"We have an ID on him," Elizabeth told Hunter. "We'll wait for your brother and then come up with a plan because we also have news that came from the information submitted by Maggie, Kane, and Allison."

"He had a cell phone. I'm worried it was the trigger for the bomb," Hunter said, pointing to the phone.

Elizabeth nodded and picked it up. "Call our team," Elizabeth ordered Val.

The phone rang and Hunter heard someone pick up. "Dude?"

"We have a phone we need to get into. It's locked, no facial unlock, only a six number code," Val said before stepping away to talk to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

Waiting was not Hunter's strong suit. It seemed to take forever for Val to finish her call and for Kane to reach them. Before Elizabeth could give the update, her phone rang.

"What's up?" Elizabeth asked before her face turned to stone. A frown tugged at her lips as she turned away from them. "That doesn't fit the profile," she said into the phone.

Hunter shared a look with Dalton. They were both on the same page. This didn't fit.

"It doesn't fit. It has to be a distraction," Elizabeth said again into the phone. "Help Val with the phone we recovered. I have to go."

Elizabeth spun around and Hunter knew it was bad.

"What is it?" Hunter asked.

"First," Elizabeth said as if she were in a briefing, "that man you just killed is from Crusina, not Iran. His best friend was an international hacker and blackmailer who was recently killed. Both of their fathers were higher ups in the Crusina government. Both fathers were executed for crimes against their citizens after President Deming Nikan took office. Maggie told us about the political issues. The people who lost power now want it back. Allison has said the same. Men had been telling her tonight was a big night. Then Allison called us an hour ago and said the men she'd talked to—the ones who seemed angry about the current state of politics on various teams and who did have contacts with the military or were former military—were not at the opening ceremonies."

Hunter opened his mouth, but Elizabeth held up her hand to stop him. "The call I just got . . . a bomb threat was called into the city. They said there was a bomb across town on Embassy Row. They wanted a hundred million dollars or they'd blow it up."

"Who are they?" Hunter asked, thinking back to the map. Embassy Row was part of the area circled as it was near the gymnastics arena.

"The caller didn't say. They just sent an account number for a Swiss bank. Police have been pulled from this area of town and are searching for the bomb on the other side of town," Elizabeth told them.

"They're going to blow up the stadium. Now. Tonight." Hunter felt the ripple of goosebumps run up his arms to freeze his heart. He couldn't think of the tens of thousands of people in the stadium. He couldn't think about Maggie. All he could do was figure out how to stop it. "The map had the embassies circled, not the gymnastics arena. The second place circled was out of town, near the shooting range. We searched for it, but all we found was commercial storage. The last place circled was here. The stadium. The place has been searched from top to bottom. There's not a single bomb here," Hunter said. "But there has to be. It has to be here."

Elizabeth nodded and typed something out. Her frown deepened. "There's a reported fire at a commercial storage location located in the middle of the second circled part of the map. All fire and rescue are there. Everyone has been pulled away from this location, but where could the bombs be?"

"What about under us?" Dalton asked suddenly. "Historically, Julius Ceasar became dictator perpetuo of the Roman Empire, granting him the full power of the state for life, basically a dictatorship like these who were overthrown want back. Archeologists have uncovered where Julius Caesar was stabbed. It's beneath the current city. Ancient Rome is still here," Dalton tapped his foot on the floor, "just below us. It's open to the public and no more than three blocks from here," Dalton explained. "It was well known during WWII and used as bomb shelters and even for growing mushrooms. After the war, people stopped using them so most of the current generation seems to have forgotten about them. Geoscientists have started to map them because they are a danger to infrastructure. I bet those tunnels are under us. Would that work for the bombs?"