EDGE OF SHADOWS: The Shadow Ops Finale (Shadow Ops, Book # 3) (17 page)

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The hours of waiting should have passed quickly with the after-action reports, calls from Susan demanding access to KC after her debriefing with the NDS and FBI, and Chase and Billy working to put together what had actually happened
in Savannah without having access to any real data—all the evidence belonged to the NDS and FBI.

Hard to piece anything together when no one would talk to Billy. Everyone wanted to distance themselves from Rose and her team. Hell, he couldn’t even get State or Langley to confirm that Grigor had left Razgravia, much less if the dictator had returned or where his present location might be.

Instead of the busy work filling the hours and keeping Billy’s mind off Rose, every task only emphasized how much they would lose without her.

He took a quick shower and changed into a spare suit, but the black silk felt like sackcloth and ashes instead of a beautifully draped Italian design.

Finally, around five-thirty in the morning, Teresa tapped on his office door. “Billy?” her voice was tentative, filled with sorrow.

“Yes? Is it Rose?” He didn’t try to hide his spark of hope—even as his brain processed Teresa’s lack of enthusiasm.

“Line two. The Chatham County coroner.”

Chatham County. Where the bio lab was located. Billy stabbed the button for the line before he could lose his nerve. Teresa watched him, obviously worried. He spun his chair away from her and closed his eyes. Somehow, he managed to keep his voice steady and businesslike. “Price here.”

“This is Dr. Forrester. Someone there called earlier, asking to be notified if we made a positive ID of one Rose Prospero?”

Billy bent over his desk, feeling as if he’d been sucker-punched. “Yes, sir. You have the correct place.”

“Are you next of kin?” The man’s words dripped with the Deep South.

He and Rose knew the next of kin for each of the thirty-four operators on their team. But as far as Billy knew, Rose had none herself. He cleared his throat, his grip on the phone so tight that his fingers went numb. After all the lives Rose had saved, would he and the Team be the only people to mourn her? “Yes, sir. That’s me.”

“All right. Then it’s my duty to inform you that I have regretfully made a conclusive identification of a body belonging to one Rose Prospero. The FBI is holding the body as evidence, so I’m afraid our office will be unable to help you with any arrangements, but—”

Billy dropped the phone onto its cradle, not caring what else the man had to say. Not caring about anything as the world dimmed around him, all the color draining into gray. Rose was gone. Confirmed. No denying it.

And yet…why couldn’t he actually, truly believe? He'd meant what he told Chase—there was no reason for Rose to be alive. And now he had evidence. Proof.

To hell with proof. He cradled his face in his hands. Hated himself for wishing Rose was still alive. Even if it meant she was in Grigor's hands. Wishing…what good had wishing ever done anyone? He had to act on the facts, not vague hopes and wishes.

“Billy?” Teresa’s voice came from the doorway. He jerked his head up, half expecting to see Rose behind her.

Teresa leaned forward but didn’t step over the threshold, as if some invisible force held her back. Probably for the best. He didn’t feel much like holding any kind of civilized conversation. Not now.

“Tell Chase and the others. Rose is confirmed KIA.” The words snapped through the air, an order rather than a request. His military training was the only thing he had left to hang onto; it was all that held him together right now.

Teresa blinked. Billy prayed she wouldn’t start crying or expect him to comfort her. Thankfully, she turned away and left. He sat there, his body heavy, not sure if he’d ever have the strength to move again.

The only thing he could think about was that he should have found the courage to tell Rose how he felt. Should have done a better job of protecting her, caring for her.

That he’d failed her. Again.

Grigor would pay, he vowed. Pay dearly—and if Billy had anything to do with it, he’d go out begging for mercy just like he’d made Rose beg when he’d held her captive.

Anger. That’s what he needed. It raged through his veins with enough strength to push him free of the chair. Grigor. He was going to find the bastard and, laws or no laws, rules or no rules, goddamn Geneva Convention or not, he was going to kill the man.

Hands fisted at his sides, he lurched down the hall to the office beside his. Rose’s office. With its door always open, her gentle scent perfuming the air, its archaic world map on the wall instead of modern computer screens…all that was left of the woman he loved.

It took everything he had to step inside. His gaze locked on the old-fashioned safe sitting in the corner. It was an old lockbox, iron, depending on an intricate system of tumblers for its security. Once used by the railroad in the days of the Pony Express, it had a slot on top to deposit valuable mail, and a heavy knob on the front that would defy any modern-day thief.

The vault of sighs, Rose had once called it. Team members deposited their final messages to loved ones, knowing that their most intimate secrets would remain unread until it was time for Rose to follow their last wishes.

The last time Rose had opened the safe had been to retrieve Victor Krakov’s final letter after the Preacher had the SEAL killed.

She’d been afraid she would have to open it again last week when Lucky went missing. Billy remembered watching her caress the curlicues of engraved iron as they discussed who would talk to Lucky’s family. Not discussed, not really. Rose never delegated that kind of duty.

Now, it was Billy’s turn to shoulder the burden. He’d done it before, for his Delta team. But this time, as he twirled the dial, entering the combination that only he and Rose knew, he felt strange. Embarrassed. As if he were prying, trespassing where he didn’t belong.

If not him, then who? Would anyone outside the team be mourning Rose Prospero?

A man’s heavy footfall and the clump of a crutch sounded behind him. Billy hunched over the safe as if protecting Rose’s secrets.

“It’s okay, Chase. I have this.” The final tumbler fell into place, and the door opened.

“Yes, sir.” Chase didn’t move.

Billy ignored the Marine as he thumbed through the sealed envelopes. All sizes and shapes, most cheap office stationery. A few containing thumb drives, photos, memory cards. Then his fingers touched one that was thick, the envelope’s flap edged with scallops. He didn’t have to look to know it was the correct one. The old-world feel to the paper, the weight of the stock, the smell of vellum. Rose.

He often joked that she belonged to another century, one more civilized than this age of technology. One where a woman as talented as she was would be appreciated, not just used and abused, then cast aside by an uncaring and ungrateful government.

The heavy manila envelope trembled in his fingers. He sucked in his breath, glad that he had his back to Chase.

“Dismissed, Marine,” he snapped, not trusting his control to last once he broke the seal and read Rose’s final words. Addressed to him, he hoped, despite the pain it would bring. Please, God, give me that. That she knew she was loved. That she took that with her as she faced Death.

“Sir, yes, sir,” Chase replied. He used his crutch to pivot and back out the door, taking up a post there, guarding Billy’s privacy. Broken ankle or not, Billy was certain the Marine was standing at attention.

Alone at last, Billy sank into Rose’s chair and opened her final letter.

Chapter 18

Rose’s envelope had Billy’s name on the front. He opened it, the thick rag paper fighting his knife, and found a single piece of paper surrounding a second, smaller envelope. The second envelope had no name on it, only an address, and was sealed.

He held the piece of paper in his hands, vision blurring. Finally, he focused on the swirls of Rose’s old-fashioned script handwriting.

Billy,

If you’re reading this, then you’ve discovered my greatest secret and now know my greatest fear. Please keep it safe. For me. You’re my only hope, the only one I can trust.

Love always,

Rose

He picked up the second envelope. The address was in Georgetown. Not the address of her apartment in Alexandria, not any address he recognized. He blew his breath out, the depth of what he didn’t know about Rose swamping him. He didn’t even know where she lived; she couldn’t even trust him with that slight glimpse into her private life.

He read the short missive twice more, each word stabbing his heart until he wondered if he might bleed to death from the inside out.
Love always?
Did she really mean that, or was it merely a figure of speech?

Rose wasn’t one to mince words or hide behind them. Despite the fact she was probably the most accomplished liar Billy had ever met, she usually spoke the truth, always meant what she said.

Love always...

Damn, damn. He blinked hard, then carefully returned the letter to its envelope and slid it into his breast pocket.

His phone rang again. A text from Susan, demanding that he speak to the NSD rep again, summoning him to her office at the Capitol despite the fact that the sun wasn’t even up yet.

Invading Rose’s privacy would have to wait a little while longer. The only good thing was that if he didn’t know where she really lived after two years of working with her, no way in hell would any numb-nuts NSD investigator be able to track it down.

He walked to the door, his gait stiff, each step feeling guarded as if the ground beneath his feet was unsteady.

“Let’s go,” he told Chase, knowing that whether he wanted the company or not, Chase wouldn’t let him go alone.

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Chase couldn
’t imagine how Billy made it through the endless briefings, a whirlwind security check to make certain no other ops had been compromised, rushed calls to the rest of the Team, and finally being summoned to the senator’s offices for a pre-dawn meeting.

It wasn’t even seven in the morning, yet Chase was already exhausted, could barely keep up, and he wasn’t worried about KC or pressured with the sudden responsibility of doing both his job and Rose’s. His only concern was Jay, who was safe with Teresa and the others at the STR offices. Despite everything, Billy handled it all, seemingly as effortlessly as Rose herself would have—actually with a lot less colorful language than Rose was known for.

He rose to his feet wearily as Billy exited the secure Senate conference room. Rose had chosen her second-in-command well.

“Damn,” Chase said as his crutch slipped on the marble floor. Not because of the pain, but because he’d caught himself thinking of Rose in the past tense. Again.

Billy seemed to have forgotten Chase was there. He strode past, his face empty. As if he were conducting silent conversations of his own. Rose did that as well—talking to herself, pacing the halls or running circuits in the gym, mulling a tangled puzzle until the pieces fell into place.

“Any news?” Chase asked, hurrying to catch up with Billy.

Billy shook his head. “Nothing helpful. No word about Grigor’s whereabouts, either.”

“I don’t believe in coincidence.”

“Neither do I. Neither do they.” He jerked his chin over his shoulder at the closed door behind them. “That’s the problem.”

“They seriously think Rose went rogue? Blew it up herself? They’re crazy.”

“They think Rose has a lot of old scores to settle with both Grigor and the administration who abandoned her five years ago.”

The same administration leaving office and facing an uphill battle for their party to win the election in November. The only bright side was that the opposition hadn’t been able to conquer the minds and hearts of the nation, either, leaving both parties circling each other in a sparring match that was deadlocked.

“Wait a minute.” Chase stopped, glanced around. The corridor was empty, but he still lowered his voice. “If they suspect Rose, then—”

“Then they suspect us all. One of the NSD idiots even suggested we’d manufactured the Preacher and all the operations we shut down last month.”

“Oh, good, this busted ankle that might never heal and need more surgery is a fake. Guess I can get rid of this now.” He raised the crutch, wobbled when his weight came down too hard on his ankle and quickly set it back in place.

“Susan will take care of it. She always does.” Billy glanced at his watch. “In the meantime, why don’t you knock off for the day? Go get your brother and see if KC is done with her debrief. I have someplace I need to be.”

“Great, where we headed?” No way Chase would let Billy go do something stupid on his own. Chase’s security clearance might not be as high as Billy’s, but he was just as stubborn. Besides, Rose would kill him if he let anything happen to Billy.

Billy said nothing for several moments. “To Rose’s place.”

Oh, shit. For a moment, Chase’s good intentions wavered. There were several reasons why Billy would want to check out Rose’s home. Clear any compromising documents. Secure the premises. Find contact info for her next of kin.