The van hit a pothole and they bounced three inches into the air. When they landed Ericka massaged her backside.

  Rosetta smiled.

  “You know, I meant to ask you about your week as me.”

  “It was… interesting.”

  “Oh, I’ve seen the concert. You were fantastic! Almost better than me. How did you do that?”

  Ericka shrugged. “I watched your old videos and mimicked you.”

  “You did?”

  “I did and honestly I’m glad that I never have to do it again.”

  Rosetta chuckled, then she turned somber. “You know, I’ve been thinking about my future. The record company gave me the option of canceling my contract with no repercussions or fulfilling it later. After losing Benji I’m not even sure I want to go keep recording. He was my rock. A lot of the songs we brainstormed together. At one time I thought about telling him that I loved him, but I feared ruining our friendship. Kind of stupid now.”

  Ericka understood the feeling and the worry.

  She reached across the van and grabbed Rosetta’s hand. “God, will help you decide what to do.”

  Rosetta nodded.

  The van came to a halt. People entered through the back doors. Without much speech they fitted Rosetta with a wire. Ericka could see the nerves return.

  “Rosetta, look at me.”

  She looked up.

  “You’ve been taken and held against your will. You were set free, and you’ve come home to be with your father. Don’t rush the conversation, take it naturally.”

  “This is going to land him in prison, isn’t it?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I’m not a lawyer, a judge, or a jury. I’m just a law officer. I do know if your father continues, he may wind up in worse trouble. Besides, you may discover he had nothing to do with the threats or any of the other stuff.”

  Rosetta nodded. “Natural conversation.”

  “Natural conversation.”

  Rosetta climbed from the van and got into a car. The fake cab driver escorted her to her family home. Everyone else waited behind in the van.

  Ericka placed headphones over her ears. She could hear Rosetta repeating the word, natural, natural, natural, over and over.

  “You sure she’s ready?” Archie and Quinn were manning the electronics in the van. Archie would be the first to question.

  “She’s ready. Ericka prepared her so worrying is futile.” Quinn winked in her direction.

  The sound of the car stopping was followed by a car door opening. Rosetta sang under her breath as she approached the house. The camera on the button of her shirt was clear as a bell.

  The door opened.

  Representative Don Vilo burst through the front door and embraced Rosetta in a fierce hug.

  “Rosetta!” Don leaned back and put his hands on either side of her face. He smoothed hair off her forehead. “Is it really you? I mean, really you?”

  “Yes, Papa, it’s really me.”

  Ericka could almost hear the fakeness in Rosetta’s voice. “Natural, Rosetta, natural.”

  “Papa, can we go inside?”

  “Oh, of course, of course.”

  Rosetta entered and he closed the door behind them. The camera picked up the entire scene. A long couch took up most of the room. A huge, big screen television hung above a rocked electric fireplace that glowed different colors.

  “Come, sit, we must talk.”

  Rosetta settled on the couch, and immediately shifted her legs to the side in a curled up motion. That seemed natural.

  Way to go, girl.

  “Papa, must we? I’ve just been through a terrible ordeal.”

  Ericka tensed, but she withheld judgment. Rosetta knew her father. She knew how he would react if she spoke a certain way.

  “Rosetta, you must. Bottling things up inside only makes things worse.”

  “I remember, Papa.”

  “What happened to you?”

  She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. “I went to the tour bus to record my demo, but when I entered one of my roadies suggested we needed to leave, he had a feeling. We, we, got out of the bus before it exploded. Benji didn’t make it.”

  “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.”

  He hugged her. After a few moments she moved back.

  “What else happened?”

  “The roadie took me. My memory was gone, and he kept me prisoner. I saw your news report and I knew who I was. And I escaped. Thank you for that.”

  “It was Ilsa.”

  “The news report?”

  “Of course. What else?” Don fidgeted.

  “I heard who the package was addressed from that held the bomb.”

  Don swallowed.

  “It was my childhood friend. You know, she passed away, right? Oh, no, you couldn’t have because I never had time to tell anyone because I had just found out.”

  “She didn’t mean to hurt you. She was just trying to help the campaign.”

  “Papa! D-Did you know?”

  “I-I told them not to. Ilsa did it anyway. I only agreed to the threats. Nothing more.”

  “Oh, Papa. How could you?”

  The door burst open. Men in black garb carrying guns entered yelling loudly. “On the ground! On the ground!”

  Don fell to the floor with his arms spread.

  He leaned his head up, his eyes looked at her questioningly. “Rosetta?”

  “Papa, you gave me no choice. But if you give up Ilsa it might go better for you.”

  “Ilsa? I can’t.”

  “Papa! You would go to prison for her?”

  “I mean, I can’t because she’s gone. As soon as Yuri was arrested, she headed to the airport for a plane to Russia.”

  Ericka lifted the phone and called TSA. All flights to Russia would be grounded or returned to American airspace. Ilsa wasn’t going anywhere.

  ****

  Ilsa crossed her legs over and over and switched legs often. The dark sunglasses hid her eyes. The beret hid her hair. The overly large coat hid most of her body and made her look bigger than she was.

  It was all she could come up with on short notice.

  More than once she checked her phone. The time for the flight departure grew closer and closer, but not close enough. Until she was in the air, it wouldn’t be close enough.

  As soon as the sign above started changing flights to delayed, she knew. Perhaps prison was better than returning to Josef empty-handed.

  She’d lost Yuri.

  Günter was on the run.

  Don would lose the election.

  Josef’s bill would never go into effect.

  Going home without anything would be as good as going home dead.

  She stood on her six-inch platform heels and sashayed toward the security booth. They were frantically looking at a screen and at the people. She closed the distance.

  When she approached, she lowered her sunglasses to the end of her nose, “I’m Ilsa Petrov Vilo, I believe I am the one that you’re looking for.”

  Ilsa’s hands were jerked behind her back, and she was placed in cuffs. In the back of the police car, she lifted her face to the flashing cameras. Her face would be all over the papers the next day and on the nightly news. It was not the media coverage she’d hoped for. Sadly, it was also too little too late.

  She wondered if it would have helped Don win if she’d turned herself in earlier? It was an interesting thought.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Rosetta, thank you for your help.” Greg was holding out his hand for a handshake.

  “Sadly, there was nothing else I could do.”

  Quinn stepped forward. He had a shirt that he held out for her to sign. She did so with a smile.

  “What is your next plan?”

  Greg noted how Rosetta looked over at Ericka before answering.

  “I think I’ll go wherever the Lord decides to lead me. The record company agreed to give me some time so I’m going to take it. I’m going on a mission trip to Africa with a few of my old high school friends. Who knows what will happen after that?”

  Quinn and Maggie took turns holding out their hands.

  “It has been a pleasure getting to know you guys. I wish it had been under better circumstances.”

  “Us too.” Maggie answered.

  Rosetta started easing away and heading for Ericka who had stood off from the group for some weird reason. “I want to thank you most of all, but I also want to beg your forgiveness. My pride almost got us both killed and for that I’m sorry.”

  “Rosetta, please, let it go. I already forgave you. And you’ve lost so much, I can’t be mad.”

  “Yeah, well maybe I never really had what I thought I did.” She lifted her bag from a chair and pulled it up to the top of her shoulder. “If ever I do have another concert, trust me you all will be in the front row!”

  She threw a kiss into the air as she walked out the door. A driver waited outside to take her directly to the airport. She was right that getting away for a while would be helpful. The reporters had hounded her all through the trial of her father and Ilsa. She needed the time away.

  Ericka stood at the window on the fourteenth floor. Greg moved over behind her.

  “You going to be all right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Would you like to go see what is next for us?”

  “Not really.”

  “Oh.” That surprised him. She was always rearing to go on the next case.

  “I have an appointment.”

  “Oh, okay. Maybe we can catch up afterwards. A couple of us are headed to O’Malley’s for soda, since almost none of us drink now.”

  “Sure, O’Malley’s. I’ll try to be there.”

  Greg hated to leave her there just staring out the window, but he didn’t have a lot of choices. Director Manis had summoned him to his office.

  “What should we do boss?” Quinn had sat in his chair and was spinning around and around.

  “Don’t break the chair?”

  “Good point.” He came to a halt. “Next?”

  “Wait until I come back from the director’s office, and we’ll go from there. And be glad this case is over. Maybe we’ll get to actually go home for a few days.”

  “Now that would be heavenly! I want a nice long soak in my tub. And Tristan is coming to town and going to take me out to dinner. We’ve been texting about it for weeks. He won’t even give me a hint of where we’re going because it has to be a surprise, he says.”

  Greg was happy that Maggie had found someone who could make her forget Reginald. Her mood had improved drastically. Besides that, Tristan was a great guy. He’d known him a long time.

  He left the team and entered the hallway. He wasn’t the only one headed to the director’s office. Blake from Beta Team and Emerson from Echo Team were walking that way as well.

  “Any idea what this is about?” Emerson asked.

  “I think we’re getting medals. My team performed excellently.”

  Greg kept his opinions to himself. He knew exactly how Blake’s team had performed. If Tito hadn’t been on the job, then nothing would have happened involving Beta team.

  The door to the office was open and Monica was nowhere in sight. Greg almost drew his weapon, so great was his anxiety.

  Then he heard Manis. “Come in and shut the door.”

  The seriousness of the tone brought growing concern to Greg. Blake seemed unaware. He strutted into the room and plopped into an office chair. He crossed his legs and let his foot bounce up and down. He really did expect a medal. The man was delusional.

  “What I’m about to tell you does not leave this room.”

  Blake uncrossed his legs. Maybe he was finally realizing this wasn’t about him receiving accolades.

  “While in our search of Alexi Romanov, we may have stumbled across something that we weren’t supposed to.”

  “Meaning?” Emerson stood off to the side. He didn’t normally say much.

  “Meaning, the man that we accidentally caught on tape was a gentleman by the name of Jasper Dove.” Director Manis took his seat behind his massive desk. He folded his hands on the top.

  “Jasper Dove is a code name for an ex-CIA operative. Dove has been living under another name in witness protection for the last twenty years. What Beta Team picked up on was a signal showing Dove is being watched. I’ve reached out to every agency and—”

  “We’re not watching him.” The words pulled from Greg and his chest tightened.

  “Exactly. Whoever is after Dove is close by in the building or another one and they are watching his every move. We’re not sure if it is to do harm or if they are just trying to prove who he is.”

  “Which means if we go in and warn him or get him out…” Emerson started.

  “Then we give him away.” Director Manis finished the thought.

  “What is it you think we can do?” Blake had leaned back in the chair again. He looked at home and comfortable.

  “I think a team is going back to that building and watching Dove. If it looks like he is in danger then we will intervene.”

  “What about the CIA? Why don’t they do it?”

  “They’ve disavowed all knowledge of him. After he turned state’s evidence on one of his assets, they let him go and never looked back.”

  Emerson ran his hands through his hair and began to pace. “I can’t.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “My wife, my wife is having a baby. She is due any day. I can’t commit myself to being available when she might go into labor. I’ve already asked for the time off.”

  “Of course.”

  Blake threw up his hands. “Well, we can’t do it. We were just there. Tito walking up and down the hallways getting milk and sugar acting like he belongs. They’ll know something is up.”

  Manis’ smile turned positively evil. “Thank you, Blake, for that information. Your team will report in shifts back to the building, starting this afternoon.”

  “But I said—”

  “You said that Tito is already a regular there. He’s already blending in. It is perfect. I suggest you guys say you’re brothers living together to save money. You must keep an eye on him at all times.”

  “What about Alpha Team? They don’t have any active cases.”

  “You know, I thought Alpha Team might like to go home for a day or two. They’ve not had a rest in over two months.”

  Blake folded his arms over his chest and his lip almost looked like it was about to protrude, but he stopped them. Greg could envision Blake stomping his foot and saying “it’s not fair” any moment now.

  “You’re dismissed.” He paused. “And Emerson, congratulations. I expect baby pictures.”

  “Yes, sir.” Emerson beamed from ear to ear as they left the room.

  Greg was the last one out. Before closing the door, he made a slight nod in Manis’ direction. Manis nodded back.

  Greg appreciated the break. If the team didn’t get one, they might go crazy.

  He walked back into Alpha Team’s office. Quinn plucked away at the computer. Maggie texted on her phone. Ericka wasn’t there.

  He guessed he would have to tell her the good news at O’Malley’s.

  ****

  Dr. Ellen’s office was the same as always. Except it seemed like she had a few more wall hangings. A few looked African as if she’d been on safari.

  Ericka lifted the wall hanging and let the fabric glide between her fingers.

  “My son sent me that from South Africa.”

  “It’s beautiful. What is he doing in South Africa?”

  “He’s working with big animals as a vet on a reserve. He wanted to work for a year abroad.”

  “Wow, you must miss him terribly.”

  “I do.” Dr. Ellen lifted a photo from her desk, but quickly set it back down. “Please, take a seat Ericka. You didn’t come here to discuss my maternal nature.”

  Ericka smiled. “True, I did not. I don’t have to discuss it to know how strong it is.”

  “You know you are very good about misdirecting a conversation. Even when you are the one who called the meeting you still try to change the subject.”

  “Sorry, I guess I’m just finding this entire thing difficult.”

  “Please elaborate. Your team has been through so much of late, I need to know exactly what you’re referring to.”

  “Oh, I’m referring to Charles and his death.”

  “I see.”

  Ericka lay back on the couch without prompting and looked at the ceiling. Looking at Dr. Ellen while discussing this part of her life might keep her from sharing and she really needed to.

  “Charles and I had similar lives.”

  “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”

  “Oh no, we did. We both had abused mothers who tried to leave a relationship but dropped their kid off so someone else could take care of them because that would make their lives better. We both had terrible foster parents. The only difference was that Charles’ was worse than mine. He only wanted acceptance and he was willing to do anything to get it.”

  “Didn’t you want acceptance?”

  “Well, of course.”

  “But you weren’t willing to do things to get it?”

  “Well, sometimes. Mostly I was stubborn and I didn’t care.”

  “So, you weren’t exactly like Charles.”

  “Not exactly, that’s why I said similar.” She sat up on the couch, her elbows on her thighs as she leaned forward. “I know this sounds weird, but I can’t help but remember that day. He’s pleading with me, he wants me to help him end the torment. Then he lunges. I should have fired. I’ve been trained to fire, but I couldn’t move. I froze. If Greg hadn’t been there…”

  She couldn’t go on with the thought. It was evident what would have happened if Greg hadn’t been there. Ericka would have been the one dead and then Rosetta as well.

  “He kept telling me that he wanted to take me some place special. First, he wanted to take me to Mercy Hospital and find out about my mother then he had my murder all planned out. In fact, when law enforcement went through his things that survived the bus explosion, they found a letter detailing my demise. Where he wanted to take me, how he wanted to do it. It was as if he was planning his final work.”

  “How does that make you feel, knowing he thought that much about how he was going to kill you?”