Since Castle is still on repeats, I'm excited to share with you the first chapter to my new novel,
, that will be coming out this month! I can't wait for you all to read more about Jake. (He was introduced in my novel,
Special Agent Jake
Williams had plans for today. Plans that included going to Texas to track down
a terrorist. But instead, he’d been
pulled off a plane and was now cooling his heels at the U.N., waiting to be
taken to Admiral Moore.
He couldn’t be
more annoyed.
He rolled his
neck, wishing the security personnel would hurry up. The two men were clustered
behind a monitor, clicking through screens and giving him that
we’ll-say-whether-you-get-through-or-not look every now and then. Jake stood there, trying to smile at them
instead of grimace, swallowing words he’d probably regret later if he said them
out loud. He worked for Homeland
Security Investigations for crying out loud. Why was this taking so long?
With one last
polite smile at the two slowest-security-people-in-history, he pulled his phone
out. There was a chance he might be able to save what was left of the day if he
could get through this meeting with Admiral Moore in record time and back on
track with his case. If only he could have refused the meeting in the first
place. But there were few people in this world that could say no to Admiral
Moore. Trying to distract himself, he
tapped on his messages and waited for them to download.
Still nothing.
Why hadn’t anyone
emailed him an update? Did Tyler have anything? Had they lost their lead on
Nazer? His finger hovered over the
phone icon. He’d already called Tyler twice on the way here and been told to
wait for an update. He probably
wouldn’t appreciate a third call. As
tempting as it was, Jake moved his finger away from the call icon and clicked
off his phone instead. He blew out a frustrated breath. He shouldn’t be waiting
for updates, he should be the one in the field giving them.
He put his phone
back in his pocket. Maybe no news was good news. Tyler Coughlin was the go-to
guy on his Homeland Security Counter-Intelligence team and he could track a bee
in a blizzard. But even with all
Tyler’s skills, Nazer al-Raimi had slipped away every time they’d gotten close
and that stung. Today was supposed to have been the day to put that all in the
past, the big reward for spending the last six months tracking this guy and his
operations in the U.S. He needed Tyler to give him good news.
“Here’s your pass.
You’re cleared.” The security guard closest to him handed him a card to clip on
his jacket like he was bestowing an Academy Award on Jake or something.
Finally. He took it and put it on. “Thanks.”
The other security
guy waved as Jake passed by. “Sorry for
the wait. You know how it is.”
Jake nodded and
gave him a real smile, sorry he’d been frustrated with them before. They were
only doing their jobs. If anyone should understand the importance of checking
and double-checking when it came to security, it was Jake. And he’d learned that lesson the hard way,
too.
He swiped a hand
over his face, eyeing the couch in the first lobby he passed. He’d been up
nearly thirty-six hours straight and he was starting to feel it. The thought of meeting up with Admiral Moore
gave him a little shot of adrenaline, though. He’d served under him when he’d
been with the SEALs and he was the toughest commanding officer Jake had ever
been privileged to work with. After another glance down at his tie, he hoped
his suit still looked pressed. Admiral
Moore’s opinion mattered and it was one more reason he couldn’t have refused
this meeting.
He walked down the beige-carpeted floors of
the Secretariat building, door after door of conference rooms on either side of
him. His job at Homeland required him
to be inside a lot of the time, but he always had options of going into the
field and that was what he loved. It
was what he’d loved about the SEALs, too.
But today he just wanted to find the right room, get it done, and get
out. He resisted the urge to take his
phone out again. He needed to be out there, squeezing every source he had about
why Nazer was in the U.S., and hopefully capturing him before he got across the
border.
Unfortunately, all
the doors looked the same. Several
people milled around an information desk of some kind. Jake waded through them to the very young
and very serious man behind it. “Jake
Williams. I have an appointment and I can’t seem to find this room.” He showed
him the paper he’d been handed the moment he’d gotten off the plane this
morning.
The guy behind the
desk looked at it, then back at his computer.
“You’re almost there. Go down
the hall and around the corner.”
“Thank you.” Jake
nodded to the security guard posted at the corner of a door. Was he guarding
someone inside the room? Or was that
his normal post, just standing there watching the information desk? If it were
Jake, he’d hope for the first option.
He walked down the
short hall, slowing his steps. He
couldn’t appear too eager to get this over with, but at the same time it
couldn’t look like he was dawdling. He
needed his best professional walking pace. Maybe put his hands in his pockets
for a casual, yet focused, appearance.
Not that he’d learned that with the SEALs. He’d learned that during his transition from the SEAL teams to
the Human Intelligence division. They’d taught him the finer points of
presentation and how people perceive others and that training had come in handy
in so many areas of his life, especially in Homeland Security.
He took in the
hall that led to a larger lobby on the end of it, the walls covered in
art. The one closest to him was a
desert scene and the color scheme blended in with the beige carpet and beige
wall. All the beige reminded Jake of
his last SEAL assignment overseas. He never thought he’d get the sand out of
his hair and clothes after that one, or the scratchy feel of it off his
skin.
The painting three
paces to the right, though, was a large fractured snowflake. It looked so out of place with all the
beige, its blue, white, and silver color scheme jumping out at him. That was how he felt today. Like a fractured
snowflake that didn’t belong in the sea of beige.
Continuing down to
the lobby, his step slowed when he saw who was sitting on the couch waiting for
him. Ryan Smythe. His gut tightened. Last time they’d been coworkers
hadn’t gone well and Ryan had transferred to Jake’s old Human Intelligence
Division in the CIA. Their friendship
from serving together as SEALs had been severed as cleanly as their working
relationship, and he hadn’t seen him since.
This was going to be awkward.
“Hey, Ryan,” Jake
said as he drew closer. He stood over
him and folded his arms, knowing Ryan would stand. Ryan always preferred the eye-to-eye approach.
Ryan stood, but
surprised Jake by holding out his hand.
“Jake.”
They shook hands
and Jake could feel tension radiating from him, but that didn’t necessarily
have anything to do with Jake. It could have to do with the reasons why they
were both being called to this meeting.
“What’s going on?”
Jake sat down on the couch next to where Ryan had been sitting. Maybe if he
didn’t mention what’d happened between them, they could go back to how it was
before. Or, at least a version of it.
“I’m here for the
meeting with Admiral Moore.” Ryan sat next to Jake, but didn’t meet his eyes.
That didn’t bode well.
“I haven’t seen
the Admiral in a few years. What about you?” Was Ryan working on something with
the Admiral? Why would the CIA be involved in this?
He glanced over at
Jake. “Yeah, I’ve seen him.” He ran his hands through his blond hair.
“It’s not like anyone has a choice about that. When he wants to see you, you
show up. I think you’re the only person
who might’ve had a chance to turn him down. You were always his favorite. Our
whole team thought so.”
Jake smiled at
that, the tension draining away. “No
way. Admiral Moore doesn’t have favorites. And I always got extra PT and grunt
work while you were getting your beauty sleep.”
“That’s how I knew
you were his favorite.” Ryan sat back and settled into the couch like he wasn’t
planning on getting up again.
Jake’s phone
buzzed and he took it out of his pocket.
Tyler. “Sorry. I need to
take this.”
He walked a few
paces down the hall. “Tell me good
news, Ty.”
“I have good news
and bad news.” Tyler’s voice sounded far away and Jake knew the phone was
between Ty’s shoulder and chin. He was
probably coordinating all his resources while talking on the phone. His fingers
rarely left his keyboard when they were on a case.
“Just tell me we
found him.” Jake lowered his voice, in case Ryan was eavesdropping. Knowing the
CIA, though, they were probably being briefed simultaneously with Jake. Their
agencies had been better about communication in recent years, but in this
moment, Jake wanted to be the first to know.
“We got his port
of entry,” Tyler said. “Our guy in the Gulf cartel got it firsthand that they
were paid a pretty penny to bring Nazer in through the Laredo crossing. That’s
the good news.”
Laredo. The word
sank through Jake’s consciousness. He’d suspected that all along, but it was
pretty gutsy to go through there. It
wasn’t the easiest way for sneaking into the country, but when did Nazer do
anything the easy way? “What’s the bad
news?”
Everything in the
background on Tyler’s end quieted. That’s how Jake knew that whatever Tyler was
going to say was important. It was a
quirk he had, but it always alerted Jake to listen closely to whatever Tyler
was saying. “That’s also how Nazer got
out. We were about an hour too late.”
Jake closed his
eyes and gripped the phone. So he’d
possibly had a chance to take him into custody if he’d made it to Texas today.
It was a slim one, but it was there.
“Can you confirm that?”
“Confirmed. He was
spotted getting on a private plane just outside of Tamaulipas, Mexico an hour
ago.”
A ball of
discouragement lodged in Jake’s chest. He’d gotten away. Again. “Ty, how are we supposed to fight these guys
when our borders have more holes than the beginner targets at the shooting
range?” He leaned against the wall in front of the fractured snowflake
painting. “Did the informant hear what the end game was for being in the U.S.
at least?”
“No, he didn’t
have anything else, but I have everyone on the ground listening for even a
whisper of Nazer or what’s going on. We’ll figure this out.” The keyboard
clacking in the background resumed. He sounded sure, but Jake wasn’t as
optimistic. They’d been close too many times now. Nazer al-Raimi was always one
step ahead no matter what Jake tried to do.
He sighed. “Thanks, Ty. I’ll let
you know when I’m on my way back to the office.”
He hung up and two
other men came around the corner, headed right for him. Neither of them paid
any attention to Jake, so he turned and went back to Ryan, giving him a tight
smile as he sat back down. Ryan didn’t
ask what the phone call had been about and Jake was glad. He didn’t want any
affirmations from Ryan that the CIA already knew what Jake had been told. That
would add insult to injury at this point.
The other men
nodded a greeting to Ryan and Jake as they approached, but didn’t miss a beat
in their conversation about the waffle they’d gotten from a food truck. Jake’s stomach rumbled. There was one waffle
truck in particular he loved to go to whenever he was in New York and he hadn’t
eaten yet today. Yeah, he was jealous
of these guys. He watched them fold
themselves into small uncomfortable chairs across from the conference room
doors. He was glad they weren’t right
next to him. They probably still smelled like waffles and that would be asking
too much of any hungry man.
He watched them
smile and laugh together, but even with their casual air, they had a military
bearing. They were obviously part of
this meeting somehow, but acted like they were here to shoot the breeze.
“Hey, Ryan,” Jake
nudged him in the side, his voice low.
“You think those guys are Army?”
Ryan looked at
them, then back at Jake. “Nah. They look too happy to be in the Army. Probably Air Force or something. Those guys
are always happy with their heads in the clouds.”
Jake gave an amused
chuckle at the dig, but he wasn’t looking at the other men anymore. A woman was coming down the hall, her
professional pace a little faster than Jake’s.
She was dressed in business casual with a white blouse and black dress
pants. Her jet-black hair was swept
back from her face, accentuating her long neck and bronze skin, but when she
looked at them, her eyes were mesmerizing as she measured each man she was
approaching. Even from this distance Jake couldn’t look away. A quick glance to the corner showed him that
the other two men watched as well. She had captivated them all.
Ryan nodded toward
her. “She’s gorgeous, but from the
looks of it an unhappy diplomat. How could you not smile with a cushy U.N.
job?”
Jake didn’t
answer. The woman had stopped in front of the other two men and he was
shamelessly trying to hear what they were saying to her. They stood and shook her hand, greeting her
just softly enough that Jake couldn’t hear what she’d said.
At that moment,
Admiral Moore opened the conference room door.
He was thinner than Ryan remembered, a little gray at the temple, but
still a commanding presence. Ryan and
Jake straightened immediately. “Sir.”
“This way,
gentlemen.” Admiral Moore’s tone was
abrupt and brooked no argument. He barely spared a glance at the other three
people waiting near them, but gave a curt nod.
“We’ll be with the rest of you shortly.”
Jake’s eyes slid
back to the woman, her mouth tightening in annoyance at the Admiral’s words. She
wants in. That much was easy to see.
Did she know what was going on? Or was she looking for answers like
him?
Whichever it was,
hopefully they both got what they came for today. He squared his shoulders and
cracked the knuckles on his right hand.
Let’s do this.
