Before Sunrise Read online

  The afternoon sun beamed hotly down on them despite the chill blasting over the White House lawn. Kennedy squinted up at the clear sky and the sun, realizing how perfect the day had been for this ceremony. It would soon be Liam’s turn to speak. Kennedy sensed the speech had been prepared for him. But she returned to her seat and listened attentively. In the end, he personalized the words he read from the page by acknowledging the fallen men by name. He shared with their families gathered a brief story of their bravery.

  “I—I owe them my life.” For a moment, Liam stared down at the podium, oblivious to the whining chirp of camera shutters clicking in burst mode. Kennedy tensed, waiting, wondering if the stress of the attention was triggering him. He turned and looked at her. He extended his hand.

  Kennedy shyly rose to her feet and stepped to his side at the podium. She stared out at the reporters and politicians gathered, and did her best to ignore the cameras.

  “I want to thank my wife and our family for believing in me, for keeping a home for me, and for making me feel like I belong.”

  She felt flushed but hugged and kissed him in front of flashing bulbs and the narrowing video camera lenses of networks from all over the world. There came more applause.

  The press immediately began to raise their hands for questions. Kennedy wanted to step back but Liam held her hand firm.

  “Lt. Flanagan, it’s said that Amir Sarkhir’s people kept you alive while others perished. Can you share with us why you think that is?” the first reporter bellowed.

  Liam cleared his throat. “I’m not sure of his motives.”

  She squeezed his hand in support.

  “Lt. Flanagan, did you learn anything on Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts? Is he alive? Did you see him?”

  “No.” “Lt Flanagan, welcome home. It’s been reported that your wife remarried, but you’re together now? How hard has the transition been since your return?”

  Liam forced a smile. “We are together. Life moves on when you’re not in it. I understand that. But ultimately, the healing of our family is a personal matter. We thank you for respecting our privacy.”

  He turned away on his cane, and pulled Kennedy with him. She made sure not to aid him, to let him stand and walk at his own pace. The president addressed the noisy press and they quieted. Kennedy didn’t hear any of it. She just focused on Liam. And he gave her reassuring smiles to let her know the worst was over.

  ***

  The remainder of the day flew by in a blur. Kennedy was kept away from the meetings that Liam had with Eric, Vasquez, and politicians she knew vaguely of from the news, and of course Alexa. She’d only caught glimpses of him since the ceremony and could barely talk to him during the presidential lunch. She didn’t mind. In fact, she hoped he answered all their questions, so when they left he’d never have to return.

  Now however, alone and impatient, she felt the sharp edges of anxiety seep in.

  The door opened and Kennedy’s head shot up.

  Liam limped in on his cane. A cool wave of relief swept through her to see him. Rising to her feet, she beamed a bight smile his way. “Hey. Everything okay?”

  He gave her a simple nod. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”

  “It’s okay. I knew it would be a long day.”

  “Right.”

  His tone sounded a bit tense. Kennedy walked over and kissed him. She felt his cheek and his forehead with the back of her hand. To her shock, he was burning up with fever. “Liam? Are you sick?”

  “I don’t know. I just…I just want to leave. Kind of wiped out.”

  “Okay, let’s go. I’ll take care of you at the hotel.”

  “Kay, wait.” He stopped her. He pulled her up against him. His arm circled her waist and he held her intimately, close.

  “What is it?”

  “I won’t be able to leave with you.”

  “What?”

  “This evening, I mean.” He swallowed and blinked through the beads of sweat gathering along his eyelids. Kennedy went across the room and got a tissue, then hurried back over to wipe his face. “I’ll meet you for dinner tonight. Eric will bring you to the restaurant and—”

  “Absolutely not. I don’t want to be separated from you. What’s going on? You don’t look well, baby.”

  Liam shook off his lethargy. “Tired. I get stressed and sometimes it gets the best of me.”

  “You’ve felt this before? A fever?”

  “It’ll pass.”

  “Liam, I’m getting worried. I want to take you home.”

  “It’s just some questions I have to answer.” He drew her hand down from his face. “Kay, trust me, babe. I got to do this and then we’ll go.”

  “Liam, no. I can wait here. Don’t let them take you…I don’t trust them. Alexa, she’s been giving you looks all day. I—”

  “No one’s taking me. I have to meet with some people. It’s part of it. I’m okay.”

  Kennedy tried to pretend to understand. It was hard. He looked pale, but felt hot. She hadn’t noticed a fever before. They were draining him, pushing him too hard. What was she to do? Be a good little military wife and watch these people suck him dry? How the hell was she supposed to do that when she wanted to scream her head off that they should all back the hell off?

  He lifted her chin. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

  “You swear?”

  “I swear.”

  She ignored the dread gripping her heart. Throwing her arms around his neck, she hugged him and held on tight. “Then we’ll go home, right? You and I? Mac is waiting for us.”

  “Kay, I’m not leaving you. I swear. I swear. We will spend new year’s together.”

  ***

  Monday, January 1, 2007

  “Where is he?!” she shouted at the woman who answered the phone at Eric’s office.

  “Hold the line, please.”

  Kennedy paced. She sat down on the edge of the bed. She rose and paced again. If Eric didn’t take her call this time, she’d drive her rental car through the Pentagon gates.

  “Kennedy?”

  She let go a deep breath. “Why haven’t you called me back? You said you would call me back!”

  “It’s complicated, Kennedy. He got sick, I told you.”

  “That was seven days ago. seven! I need to see him today. We missed new year’s eve together; he would never be away from me. You’re lying to me. I know it. Where is he? What is wrong with him?”

  “He’s okay. He’ll be in contact with you as soon as he can. I swear it.”

  “Damn you, Eric! You’re his best friend! He trusted you, Eric. I trusted you.” She broke down. Days and nights of crying had her weak and nauseous. She hadn’t eaten, either. Kennedy dropped to her knees and wept.

  “Kennedy, listen to me. He’s fine. I swear it. But you have to trust me on this. Go home. Wait for me to call you. Leave.”

  “NO!”

  “Kennedy—”

  “You’re lying to me. How could he be sick and I can’t see him? He would want to see me. I’ve been patient, but enough of this shit. I’m going crazy here. You know he didn’t want to be separated from us. You set us up, you bastard!”

  “No. I swear it. It’s not my doing. I’m trying to get him out.”

  “What does that mean? Out of where! First he’s sick and now you’re trying to get him out? You know what I did New Year’s Eve? Do you? Sit on the phone and try to calm down his daughter who needs us both. Tried to convince our friends and my family that things are okay, when you and I both know he’s in trouble. You’re stalling me. I want answers!”

  “You can go home, I promise I will—”

  “No! No! I won’t leave him.” She shook her head furiously. “I want to talk to him. It’s Alexa, isn’t it? She did this. Didn’t she? That bitch!” Kennedy shot back to her feet.

  “Kennedy, listen to me. Are you there? Are you there?”

  “Yes, I’m here,” she said, trying to calm herself.

  “He�
��s fine. I’ve seen him. I wouldn’t lie to you. Just be patient. Things are moving slow, but they are moving. Liam’s strong so you need to be strong for him. Go home, Kennedy. Trust me.”

  “Go to hell!” She slammed the phone down.

  Kennedy crossed her arms around her and rocked through her grief. Flashes of Liam, pale and exhausted, kept her up at night. She felt his fever. She should never have let him leave her side. Now they had him. The government couldn’t do this. They couldn’t just take him like this. This was America, after all. She wouldn’t let Alexa and those damn politicians force him into some mission or whatever and risk losing him all over again. Damn them.

  She wiped her tears. Kennedy closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, then went to the bathroom and splashed water on her face. After caught her breath she shed the clothes she’d been in for three days and stepped into the shower. Kennedy spent twenty minutes grooming her self. She spent another twenty minutes packing everything they owned. She called downstairs and rang for a bellhop. Liam told her this could be the outcome. He needed her, dammit, and she wouldn’t fail him now.

  Dressed in the suit she wore to the White House, Kennedy grabbed her purse and strode to the door.

  ***

  “Excuse me, ma’am. Mrs. Flanagan, ma’am.”

  Alexa Sinclair had an office of her own. Kennedy thought she read a sign that said Special Forces when she exited the elevator. The entire place had walls of glass and serious-looking men and women in military dress or dark suits who made eye contact each time she passed them.

  After the announcement of her arrival, Alexa glanced up. Kennedy could see her hard stare through the glass wall. It had taken her a full hour to get through the security screening and still she had been told no one, let alone Colonel Sinclair, would see her. The Pentagon was a fortress like none she’d ever seen. Kennedy told the soldier refusing her entry to deliver a single-word message to her good friend Alexa: Scorpion.

  Suddenly, doors previously closed to her were flung open. She was assigned an escort who said not two words to her and marched her through plain halls and an elevator ride that swiftly lowered her to an underground level. Kennedy nerves were frayed. Several times she felt the stares of the cameras that trailed her every step. Now she wondered if she truly had the courage to see it through. The soldier stepped aside and Kennedy entered.

  Alexa offered her a polite smile. Despite her classic beauty, her eyes were cold and full of mockery.

  “That will be all, sergeant.”

  Kennedy held her stance. Alexa gestured for her to sit. Keeping her composure, she did so, never taking her eyes off her nemesis.

  “I got your message. Using big words aren’t we? Scorpion?”

  “I know what you’ve done.”

  Alexa smiled. “What have I done, Kay?”

  “Don’t call me Kay. Only Liam calls me Kay,” Kennedy said through clenched teeth.

  Alexa leaned back against the desk. She sat on the edge and tapped her long nails on the surface. “Why are you here?”

  “To warn you,” Kennedy said. She forced a smile. “To make sure Senator Clayton and whoever else is behind his detainment understands how far I plan to go to protect my husband and my family.”

  Alexa released a soft laugh. She smiled brightly, her eyes dancing with calculating madness. “Please. Continue.”

  Kennedy swallowed her anger. She needed to keep her calm. “You have forty-eight hours to send him home or Operation Scorpion will be a featured national news story.”

  Alexa narrowed her eyes. “I’m not sure what Liam told you, but even he isn’t stupid enough to risk the safety of his family over his duty.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  Alexa brow arched. “I’m doing you a kindness. If you even evoke the name Scorpion outside of these doors, Liam’s homecoming is the least of your worries. Hasn’t Eric explained this to you, Kay?”

  “Don’t call me—”

  “Liam is a decorated officer whose commitment to serve his country has never wavered. He’s here because of honor and commitment to his country. When his tour is over, he’ll return home like any other honorably discharged serviceman. Until then, take up a hobby and raise your daughter.”

  “You go to hell. I’m not an idiot. You set him up. How, I don’t know, but Liam knew you would. He told me things—”

  Alexa waved her comment off. “I heard he took ill.”

  “That’s a lie. He isn’t.” Kennedy said.

  Alex rose and walked around her desk. “They said it’s his liver, some parasite that the doctors missed. We’re doing the very best to keep him well. It’s probably why he hasn’t called you. Trust me, Kay, you’ll see him soon.”

  Kennedy stood. Her limbs felt as loose as jelly. “I know why you and Liam’s team were sent on that mission. And I also know a lot of powerful people are interested in keeping that information contained. If Liam isn’t released to his doctor in Carolina in two days, with me right there by his side, you can answer the questions before a congressional hearing, because Alexa? There is nothing you can do to keep me quiet.”

  “You sure about that?” Alexa’s gaze flashed up and the hatred and contempt Kennedy saw there made her confidence waver. But she refused to show it. She decided to try another tactic. “Liam said he cared about you. He said you were part of some brotherhood and you protected each other. Why you’d abandon him now when he needs us the most is beyond me.” She turned for the door. Kennedy stopped before she opened it. “He’s paid a heavy price for your freedom. Isn’t he deserving of some, too?”

  Kennedy walked out of Alexa’s office. She glanced back to see the witch glaring after her. She nervously quickened her pace. Two soldiers fell in step behind her. She feared they’d grab her and drag her somewhere she’d never escape. But the men shadowed her at a reasonable distance until she found her way out of the maze of halls, through the lobby and into the parking lot.

  She hoped Alexa would prove to be as predictable as she was evil. Kennedy’s message would certainly shake things up and get the right people’s attention. Now she had to set the rest of her plan into motion.

  “Airport, please,” she said to the driver who’d been waiting for her return.

  The African man with a receding hairline flashed her a polite smile in his rearview mirror, the first friendly smile she’d had in seven long days.

  The car soon coasted through the checkpoints and headed for the expressway. Kennedy glanced back over her shoulder several times to be sure she wasn’t being followed. For a brief moment she relaxed, believing she wasn’t.

  Then, swiftly, two dark SUVs pulled along both sides of the cab. Kennedy swiveled in her seat and looked out of the back window. Another darkly tinted SUV rode the bumper of the cab, so close the driver was forced to accelerate instead of slow down.

  “What the hell is going on?” the driver gasped in a deep Nigerian accent.

  “Get off the expressway…get off….” Kennedy turned back to look at the front of the cab in time to see another SUV with dark tinted windows cut in front of the car. Now they were completely blocked in. The man panicked, yelling his alarm. With shaky hands, Kennedy fumbled for her purse. She snatched out her phone and dialed the firm she worked for.

  “Let me speak to Milton, Deloris. Now!”

  The SUVs guided the car off the next exit, and one fell back when the cab driver followed their lead.

  “Milton Hollingsworth.”

  “Milton, it’s Kennedy—”

  “Hi! How—”

  “Listen to me. Listen. I’m in DC. I’m on my way home and I need your help.”

  “What can I—”

  “In ten minutes, call my phone. I want you to tell the person on the other end that you have everything on Scorpion and will release it to the press if I’m not released.”

  “What is going on? What is Scorpion?”

  “Do it! Do you hear me? Say you’re my attorney….” Kennedy voice trailed of
f as the car slowed to a stop in an empty parking lot. “Milton, it’s important. Do it, please!”

  She hung up. Discreetly she slipped the phone into the side pocket of her suit jacket. The door was opened. A man in a dark suit with sunglasses opened her door and pointed, respectfully.

  “Commander Drake would like you to join him.”

  Furious, Kennedy did what the man asked of her. He helped her to the waiting SUV and opened the door so she could see Eric inside. Kennedy let go a deep breath and climbed inside.

  Eric didn’t look at her. He looked straight ahead. Kennedy sat next to him, trying to resist the urge to smack him, yell at him, cry in his arms. She breathed slowly and waited for him to speak.

  “Why did you go to her?”

  “You know why. You betrayed us.”

  Eric turned his gaze toward her. “Do you really think I’d betray him? I love him like a brother.”

  “Then where is he? Why are you keeping us apart?”

  Eric closed his eyes and shook his head. “You shouldn’t have gone to the Pentagon, dammit! What the hell were you thinking?”

  Kennedy had never heard such anger in Eric’s voice. For a brief moment, she considered that her foolish plan could hurt Liam, Eric, and maybe Anthony. She shook off the doubt. Liam said for her to trust her instincts. Her instincts said she needed to do the impossible, and to do so she’d have to tread some dangerous waters.

  “I’m leaving. I’m going back to Carolina.”

  “I can’t let you do that, Kennedy. It’s not safe for you now. I’ll take you somewhere until I work things out for Liam.”

  “You can’t detain me. I’m a civilian. You….”

  Eric cut his eyes back to her. “I’m trying to help Liam. But my hands are tied. What you’ve done has put you on the radar of some dangerous people. Do you understand? Liam would never forgive me if I let you get hurt.”

  “You’re lying, Eric.”

  He refused to look at her so she leaned over, across him, until she was in his line of vision. Kennedy nodded. “I see it in your eyes. I hear it in your voice. You’re trying to keep me quiet. Why? Why? He told you he thought he was seeing things. He trusted you.”