Gwen rubbed her tired eyes and watched dawn break through the bay window of the Blayney home.
“Where’s Neil?” She’d not seen him in hours. The coroner had arrived only a few minutes ago and she wanted nothing to do with witnessing Charles’s body come up those stairs.
“He’s in a debriefing.”
“He’s not here?”
The sergeant shook her head. “Left a while ago with an MP escort.”
“Is he under arrest?” She couldn’t imagine he left on his own without saying good-bye. Not after all they’d been through.
The woman in front of her wouldn’t meet her eyes. Gwen stood up and shoved her hands on her hips. “What is he charged with?”
“I didn’t say he was under arrest.”
“You didn’t say he wasn’t. Who is your commanding officer?” Gwen believed that was what they called the boss around here.
The sergeant nodded to the kitchen. “One of them is currently laying in a pool of his own blood, and the second-in-command is Major Gilmor who isn’t available to you right now. Until we can determine exactly what transpired, Mr. MacBain will need to stay with us.”
“This is preposterous. Neil did nothing wrong. I told you what Charles Blayney did to me. What he said to me. You can’t believe that Neil and I are lying.”
“No one is accusing you of lying, Mrs. MacBain. We just need to keep Lieutenant MacBain a while longer.”
“He’s retired,” Gwen corrected her.
“He’ll contact you when he’s released.”
“That’s not good enough. I demand to see my husband before I leave here.” She crossed her arms over her chest to emphasize her point. Did the woman in front of her not understand how little control she’d had in her life over the past several weeks? Gwen was tired of being told what she could and could not do. Perhaps it was time to remind these people who they were dealing with.
“That isn’t going to happen.”
“Is that so?”
The sergeant smiled. Her hair was tied back so severely in her bun it had to create pain deep in her scalp. Funny, under the army colors and minimal amount of makeup, Sergeant Piper was probably a beautiful woman. She severely underestimated Gwen…and that would be a mistake.
“Can I use the phone to call my brother?”
Sergeant Piper gave a tired smile as if saying finally.
Gwen dialed her brother’s cell phone number and waited for him to pick up.
“Blake?”
“Gwen? Are you here at the hotel?”
“Not yet.” She turned so Sergeant Piper heard every word. “Listen I need you to call a press conference. I’ll be talking about Operation Raven and the series of murders that were—”
Sergeant Piper grabbed for the phone in Gwen’s hand and gave her a deadly stare.
“That’s confidential information. You can’t—”
Gwen held the phone in front of her so Blake could hear what she said. “I’m a British national, Sergeant Piper. My husband may think I’m an automatic citizen of the United States because of our marriage, but I’m quite aware I need to go through the process and apply like anyone else.” Actually, the facts hadn’t come to her until after several hours alone in the Blayney basement. She remembered a conversation with Blake years before about becoming a US citizen. Marriage to an American might speed the process up, but it didn’t give instant approval from the government. “All I’m asking for is a few minutes with my husband and I’ll keep my tongue in my mouth. If not…my brother, the Duke of Albany, and our many friends…governors, senators.” She thought of her list of clients. “High powered attorneys, diplomats, law enforcement of all kinds, even actors who know how to play the media like a piano will spin this story so far and wide your precious marines will have to declare a state of emergency just to avoid the scandal. If you’d like to circumvent an international incident, I suggest you let me talk to Neil. In private.”
Sergeant Piper scowled and stared at the phone in Gwen’s hand.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Gwen smiled and lifted the phone to her ear. “If I don’t call back in thirty minutes, you know what to do.”
“I’ve got your back, Gwen.”
It wasn’t like he had a choice when the military police ordered him into the back of a van and drove him to an interrogation room.
“There was no such thing as Operation Raven.” Colonel Montgomery flew in from the Pentagon as soon as the call went out about Major Blayney’s suicide. The man moved to intimidate. His bulk alone rivaled Neil’s, and that said something for top brass. Most left the bodybuilding to the grunts. This man obviously didn’t want to be outrun by his men. On any other day, Neil would have admired that.
Not one salt or pepper hair was out of place as he stared Neil down.
Neil sat forward against the table and prepared to reveal all the details he’d kept to himself until that point. “You might want to make sure the person recording this is secure, Colonel. I’d hate for a leak this late in the game.”
Montgomery left the room. He heard shouted orders and when Montgomery returned he arrived with another man and a recording device. Once the assistant was ready, Neil began.
“It had been over a year since the war began…after the towers went down. Blayney rounded me up and had me handpick my team. Each of us had worked together on one mission or another. He was readying us for the mission of our career. Sent us on three trials together. Operation Wrecking Ball, Operation Tidal Wave, and Operation Storm. Like all special ops, we went in, did our jobs, and got out.” Neil hoped to hell now that the other operations were legit. There’s no way to know how long Blayney had played them. “When it came to Operation Raven we were ready. We understood it was big. Something Washington would order at any time. We had one objective, remove Raven.” Neil gave Colonel Montgomery the name of their target and went on. “Cause as little collateral damage as possible and get out.”