Chapter 7

Si leaned over and whispered, "She works out every day. She could probably take you in two out of three falls."

Max raised an eyebrow. But Si had already turned away from him, facing everyone seated there.

"I don't have to tell the rest of you why we're here or what's going on, but before we go any further, let me introduce you to Max DiSalvo, Commander, United States Navy SEALs, Retired. Max." He turned. "Meet the teamKevin Markham, George Lorenzan and, yes, your newly minted wife, Regan Shaw."

Max nodded. "Happy to meet you."

"The first thing we need to do is bring Max up to speed."

"I thought you did that when you went to Maine," Kevin Markham said.

"I gave him the nuts and bolts, but we need to fill in the spaces." He paused. "First, however, I have a piece of information that Regan picked up just last night. Regan. Let me give Max your credentials and then you have the floor. You're the one who discovered this ugly little plot."

She nodded. "Have at it."

"Okay, Max. Regan has been with Bone Frog for about a year and a half. She was working at Naval Station Norfolk as an analyst until Homeland Security discovered her skills and brought her to Washington. When she tuned into this particular disaster, we stole her for Bone Frog."

Max lifted an eyebrow and looked at the woman. "How long have you been doing this?"

"Altogether?" She wet her lips. "Twenty years."

Max's cock flexed and he had to swallow a moan. "That's a long time."

She nodded. "My husband was based out of there. I had a degree in computer science and a specialty in languages. They were looking for someone who could track chatter, and a friend opened doors for me." She swallowed. "After Dylan was killed, it just made sense for me to keep my job. I had a circle of friends in the area, and I really liked my job. At least I felt as if in some small way I was helping him and his team. Doing something to get the people who killed him. It gave me a tremendous feeling of satisfaction, especially when I found out I had a knack for it."

Her husband was killed? Max wondered how long ago.

"She has a gift for plucking information from out there and making sense of it," Si told him.

"I'm sorry about your husband," he told her.

"Thank you, but the possibility of it was something always in the back of our minds. The nature of his work, you know." She ran her tongue over her lips again.

Max was sure if she did it too often he'd come just sitting there. Damn. This was what abstinence did to you,

"Would it be inappropriate for me to ask what he did and how he was killed?"

"He was a SEAL," Si told him. "Like you. His team was ambushed on a mission, and everyone was killed. Regan's got incredible skills, and she insisted she could find whatever information the Navy was looking for to see how the disaster happened and why. She knew how to search and what to look for, and went after it with ferocious determination." His smile was anything but humorous. "She was as good as her word. After that, there was no question of her leaving."

Max looked at Regan. "Can I ask how long ago that was?"

"Twenty years. My husband was twenty-four when he was killed."

Max felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. She'd been a widow for twenty years? Devoting her life to helping take down bad guys who were very dangerous? Well, damn!

"I don't know what to say," he told her, "except I know we are all grateful to you."

She shook her head. "I don't want gratitude. I want to get as many of these bastards as I can. My husband died, like many others, to prevent people like this from gaining control of our country. I want to help in any way to make sure they didn't die in vain."

"Okay," Si broke in. "I think we're all in agreement here. What we need to do now, Max, is share with you all the information Regan discovered plus everything we've learned. It won't make you happy, especially this latest bit."

Max leaned forward. "Then we'd better get started."

While George Lorenzan busied himself setting up electronic equipment, Regan looked around at everyone.

"Last night I plucked some additional bits of conversation out of the stratosphere that frightened even me. We can definitely confirm that it's going to happen on July 4th."

Kevin whistled. "Holy shit! This country will be filled with targets of hundreds of thousands of people celebrating the holiday. I hate to even think of what can happen."

Si nodded. "That means our married couple here has to be thoroughly drilled so they can pass muster, get into the three-day meeting, find out what's going on, and make sure we know about it ASAP." He nodded at Kevin who plucked sheets of paper from a folder and handed them around. "These are the people involved. They have the money to finance this without any outside help. That's one of the reasons this is so easy for them. However, as an added benefit, the Alvaros also are connected to one of the largest drug cartels. There's probably an unlimited supply of funds available from that source."

"Will they be at this little get-together?" Max asked.

Si shook his head. "Luis Rojas isn't part of the core group. He is keeping a low profile, at least for now. But be aware he could insert himself more visibly at any time. Your job, and Regan's, is to get to this meeting, get pictures of everyone there so we have proof of their participation, record what you can so we have the evidence [K1]we need, the location of whatever they have planned, and get the fuck out of there. Once we have that info, we can proceed to set up protection for the target sites although we really need to stop this before it gets any further. The protection is in case something falls through the cracks. Once we have the information, however, we can move forward to arrest this unholy group."

"You'll need a shitload of proof if they're as wealthy and connected as you tell me," Max pointed out. "They'll have the best attorneys putting up roadblocks."

Si nodded. "Exactly. Okay, Regan, the floor is yours."

Regan Shaw moved to the head of the table, opened a slim laptop, and searched until she found the file she wanted then clicked to open it. A photo popped up on the screen.

"Jed Whitlow, the nominal leader of the group, and his wife Anna."

She took them through each of the people who made up the cabal, explaining who each of them were.

"Being rich isn't enough for them?" Kevin asked, his tone edged with sarcasm.

"It isn't the money," Regan told him. "It's about the power. That's what drives them and what made them bond together."

She clicked again, and a timeline filled the screen that had been set up.

"Si, you already know all of this." She looked at the other two men. "George and Kevin, you know most of this, also. But since you gentlemen are to be the lead in our backup, Si and I agreed you can't hear it too often."