Chapter 27

Maggie and her team followed behind the swimmers. The towering basketball players strode behind them. This was a special moment in her life, but Maggie couldn't focus on enjoying it. Instead, she kept scanning the crowd, looking for Hunter.

The crowd was cheering. Way up ahead, the flag bearer proudly waved the stars and stripes. In the infield of the stadium, the Italian military was putting on a drill display with flags of all the countries present on the ends of all the rifles. Her brother reached out and put his arm around her shoulder. "It's okay, Mags. Let's just enjoy this."

"Bomb!"

Maggie's head instantly spun at the distant sound of Hunter's voice. It didn't matter that music was playing or that the crowd was cheering. She was so in tune with his voice that she'd know it anywhere, even if it was half a stadium away.

"What is it?" Gage asked.

Maggie didn't answer. She was too busy scanning the crowd. "There!" she pointed to the box where Hunter was being dragged backward and the blonde he'd been with was jumping rows of chairs as guards were coming after her. Maggie's immediately spotted the man Hunter was trying to reach. "Three o'clock, about fifty degrees up. He has a cell phone."

Maggie looked around frantically. She had to help. She had the handgun, but the accuracy at that distance wasn't great. Maggie spun and sprinted to the nearest drill team member, tossing the rifle with the flag of Grenada on it.

"I need to borrow this," Maggie said, catching the rifle midair as the woman in her dress uniform looked momentarily shocked.

She yelled in Italian, but then Gage was there stepping in with a smile trying to placate the woman and the attention Maggie was now gaining. "Take the shot, Maggie. I got your back."

"Whoa!" A basketball player gasped as Maggie raised the rifle to her arm, the colorful flag dangling from the barrel. There were no scopes on drill rifles. She'd had to eyeball it.

"Keep everyone away from me," Maggie said to the basketball player as the whole team towered beside her. They seemed to want to ignore her, but then Gage pulled his gun and everyone screamed and ducked for cover as Maggie pulled out her lucky bullet and slid it into the chamber.

Maggie wedged her elbow into her side. She took a target stance as opposed to a tactical one since she only had a single bullet to shoot. She lined up her shot. The man was about to press a button on his phone. Everything slowed. The man's hand seemed to freeze in place. Hunter's shouts seemed to fade away. The panicked people running disappeared.

Her finger moved to turn the safety off and then rested on the trigger. Maggie had the target in her sights. She didn't think twice. She pulled the trigger.

Hunter was sure this was it. He couldn't get to Farhad. Three men were dragging him back. Sutton was shouting at everyone to stop Farhad, but the Iranians weren't listening. Instead, they were accusing her of an assassination attempt. Dalton was behind Farhad, on the ground, shaking with several thousand electrical volts, and Elizabeth was being blocked by everyone in the stands as she tried to fight her way to Farhad.

Farhad turned to Hunter, held up the phone and smirked. He dramatically lifted his finger and was lowering it to press the call button when suddenly he wasn't.

His hand exploded at the wrist and he fell back, landing on top of Dalton. Blood covered the guards who had been tasing Dalton and everyone froze in shock as Farhad screamed in pain, holding his wrist where blood was pouring out. Where had the bullet come from?

It was then Hunter heard the screams coming from below. He turned to see security rushing the field. Maggie dropped a rifle and placed her hands behind her head, waiting for them to arrest her.

Ambassador Nazeri was screaming at Sutton, who was screaming back.

Elizabeth shoved a woman aside, punched a man in the face, and leaped up to where Farhad had dropped his phone. "Stop! This is a trigger for a bomb, and unless you want to be accused of a terrorist attack, you will start complying or you will have to explain why every country here has a reason to overthrow your government. Do you think the innocent people of Iran would approve of their government willing to sacrifice their athletes to gain the favor of China?"

"What are you talking about?" Ambassador Nazeri asked.

"I believe this was yours," Grant sauntered into the room, holding up his cell phone with a picture of a giant Holy Cannoli on the screen. "Found it on my way back from turning Hamid Saeed over to authorities." Hunter almost smiled. Authorities would most likely mean an American-run black site, or at the very least, be locked up in the American embassy awaiting pickup to said black site.

"A life-sized stuffed mascot? Am I missing something in our translations?" Ambassador Nazeri asked.

Grant turned to the next picture. The cannoli had been cut open, revealing a small ANFO bomb inside with a cell phone attached. "Turns out my wife is one hell of a bomb sniffer. She found three of these on the way out of the stadium. Some men named Gator, Turtle, and Skeeter helped her cut the wires after she flagged them down as friends of yours." Grant reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone with wires hanging off of it. "How much do you want to bet the phone numbers on that man's phone calls these phones?"

"There's still one bomb unaccounted for," Elizabeth said quickly to stop anyone from thinking twice about calling any of the numbers on it as she glanced at the contact list.

"Your decision, ambassador. Your supreme leader was willing to sacrifice your life as a favor to China," Sutton said calmly.

The ambassador's face fell as he leaned closer to Sutton. "You mean, those bombs weren't on timers?"

"No, sir," Hunter answered. "I disarmed them and there were no timers. Apparently, athletes weren't the only ones to be sacrificed for global domination."

"Are you willing to sacrifice your life for your leader? Which is it going to be? Hero with amnesty in the United States or international war criminal?" Sutton asked as if she were asking him if he wanted pickles on his burger.

"Notify the Italian authorities that we've uncovered a terrorist plot with the assistance of the United States," Ambassador Nazeri ordered as guards went running to do his bidding before turning to Sutton. "I've always heard Arizona is a nice place to retire."

"Grant," Hunter whispered, looking toward a screaming Farhad. Grant instantly knew what Hunter wanted. They couldn't risk anything happening to Farhad. He was the evidence they needed to prove the Chinese government's involvement with Iran.

Grant grabbed Farhad, claiming to get him medical assistance and whisked him away.

"Do you have this Madam Secretary?" Hunter asked. "I need to get the woman I love out of an Italian jail," Hunter said, nodding down to where Maggie was being hauled off in handcuffs as Gage and the rest of the shooting team tried to stop them.

"I believe Ambassador Nazeri and I can assist with that on the way to the airport. Can't we, sir?" Sutton asked as the ambassador nodded.

The ambassador looked defeated as if he'd just been told his hero wasn't real. And he wasn't. Their leader was just a man who was lust-driven for power and money. "Let's go thank her for saving our lives," the ambassador said as he clasped his wife's hand. "I was told I needed to stay for the entire ceremony. I'll talk, but I want assurances, in writing, from your government."

Maggie took the shot. She knew she hit her target. The second she did, she set the rifle down and held up her hands. "Drop your gun, Gage," she said as the realization that she'd be going to jail set in. She'd just shot the hand off of a diplomat in front of the entire world. There was no getting out of this. The only bright spot she could find was that they probably had really good food in Italian jails.

Guards surrounded her as her arms were yanked back and zip-tied. Maggie heard her name being screamed as she saw the entire section of Shadows Landing in the stands. The Townsends looked ready to take on the entire Italian police force. For that matter, they all did. Olivia Townsend-Fox and Ryker Faulkner were yelling into their phones along with Ryker.

Maggie would have a lawyer soon. She knew that much at least. All that mattered though was that people were safe and Hunter was alive.

"Don't say a word, Mags," Gage told her as they were hauled to their feet.

Suddenly, the combination of soldiers and police put their hands to the coms units in their ears. The K-9 officers looked at each other and there was a burst of Italian spoken so fast that Maggie couldn't catch any of it. The guards with the dogs took off running.

"What's going on?" Gage whispered as suddenly their guards seemed more interested in their surroundings.

"I don't know."

"Ladies and Gentleman. Please return to your seats and stay seated until we notify you," the official stadium announcer said in multiple languages.

Maggie cast one last look at her friends and family before she and Gage were escorted off the field and into a holding room.

Maggie and Gage were shoved into chairs next to each other in a windowless room. Two officers stood guard across from them, and then nothing. They weren't questioned. They weren't told anything. They were just left to sit.

An hour passed and the door finally opened. Olivia walked in and instantly demanded their zip ties cut. "They're heroes, not criminals."

The door opened again before the guards could question Olivia. Maggie and Gage both looked surprised as the head of the Olympic committee, the American Secretary of State, and several other diplomats walked in with Hunter right behind them.

"Get those ties off them!" Hunter ordered. The guards jumped forward to do his bidding and Olivia rolled her eyes at her brother.

"I was getting that done, Hunter."

"Not fast enough. You still have things to learn, little sister." Hunter winked at her and rushed to Maggie's side. He kissed her in front of everyone as the guard cut the zip ties and she was able to fling her arms around his neck and kiss him back.

"You're alive," she whispered as tears filled her eyes.

"Thanks to you." Hunter kissed her again and she clung to him. "I never want to lose you, Maggie. I was stupid and took too long to see how perfect you were. For that, I'll never forgive myself. But while I might do some dumb things, I am not a stupid man. I know I'm the luckiest man in the world to have your love. I want to spend every day showing you how much I love you. I'm sorry I don't have a ring, but, Magnum Bell, will you marry me?"

Everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath, even the guards.

Maggie didn't keep them waiting. "Took you long enough to ask," Maggie teased. "Yes! I'll marry you. I love you, Hunter. And I vow to always help you remove your foot from your mouth, to love you every day, to stand by your side, to keep the home fires burning, and to spend the rest of my life loving you."

"Amore!" one of the suited men called out as he clapped his hands. "I am President Serro. I owe you a big apology. Our intelligence didn't show any of what you were telling us. We found the last remaining bomb and it has been removed. The building has been searched high and low. It's been a delay and not the opening ceremony we wanted, but it shows the spirit of the games with resilience, teamwork, and determination. However, I think I have a way to make it up to you. Mr. Townsend, you come with me while they get all this business done."

Maggie had a hold of Hunter's hand and didn't want to let it go. But when the president walked out of the room, leaving Hunter no choice but to follow, she reluctantly released him.

"What's happened?" Maggie asked Olivia before Olivia introduced her to Secretary of State Sutton Ramsey and the Olympic committee.

"There was an unknown plot organized by several disenfranchised groups who have been removed from power. They were led by a traitor to the Iranian government who was hoping to gain power by instilling an opposition leader to power in Iran." Sutton Ramsey locked eyes with Maggie and rolled them. That told Maggie all she needed to know. One, this was the official talking point. Two, she really liked the new secretary of state.

"To thank you for saving so many lives, we're bringing you out to publicly thank you during the close of the opening ceremony," the head of the Olympic committee told her.

"That's not necessary," Maggie began to protest.

"Yes, it is, Miss Bell," Sutton cut in. "The villains were defeated. We need a hero and everyone saw you take that shot."

"But there were others—" Maggie began to protest thinking about Grant and the other team of Americans who had helped them.

"True. There was your brother, your friends and family, and your fiancé." Sutton stared her down. The point was clear. The others who had helped were never here. "We'll bring them all down to join you. They are already restarting the ceremony. Let's get you cleaned up and back with your friends and family."

Maggie and Gage were whisked from the room and into a larger holding room. "Your coach gave me this," Sutton said as she handed Maggie and Gage US Shooting Team polo shirts. "You have to sell this, Maggie. I've talked to the president. Unofficially, we know this was a money grab and a power move by the Chinese government to expand their New Silk Road plan by bribing current leaders, promising favors, promising money and infrastructure, and working with rebels to overthrow those countries that won't get on board. With the Iranian ambassador's intelligence and our hackers, we have a paper trail of bribes, favorable treaties, weapons deals, and more all going through Iran and Russia and leading right to China."

"They were going to install allies in power to those countries who said no?" Gage asked.

"That's right. Hamid is talking and so is the Iranian ambassador who is now a political refugee requesting amnesty. However, with the current political environment, we can't say what we all know because it would lead to war if we actually called China, Russia, and Iran out on it. Instead, this knowledge will be used behind closed doors to pressure them on nuclear weapons and expansion of power. So, Maggie Bell, the United States needs you to be the face of this story. The sharpshooting heroine who saved the day. You'll do all the press. You'll have to pretend to know nothing about the politics of it. And you'll be the feel-good story the world needs right now. Can you do that for us?"

"If anyone can be all sunshine and pink rainbows, it's my sister."

Maggie nodded. "I can do it, but on one condition."

"What's that?" Sutton asked.

"The US Shooting team gets more publicity and funding. We have an amazing group of people, many of whom serve our country, are financial managers, mothers and fathers, teachers, and so much more. No one ever hears about them and they should."

Sutton smiled then and held out her hand. "As a former Olympic fencer, I couldn't agree more."

"You fence?" Maggie asked with surprise.

"I do."

Then Maggie smirked. "I liked you before, but now I like you even more. I know a thing or two about knives and swords. Maybe you should visit Shadows Landing sometime and come to church with me."

"I don't know what church has to do with fencing, but I'm game." Sutton took her hand and shook it with a smile.