Chapter 7 - The Enemy InsideAnton Varga was taken underground before sunrise.
Walls delay people.
Information stops them.
By the afternoon, we had a strategy.
Varga wanted access to Emma because he believed she was leverage.
He did not understand me.
Threatening my daughter would never make me surrender classified intelligence.
It would make me hunt him without sleep.
Rebecca wanted patience.
“We find the network first.”
“He’s already watched her school.”
“And if we grab him prematurely, three associates disappear.”
“I’m comfortable with that.”
“The president isn’t.”
I stared at her.
She stared back.
“That wasn’t meant metaphorically.”
I swore under my breath.
Varga’s network intersected with an ongoing operation involving missing weapons material in Eastern Europe.
Taking him alive mattered.
I hated it.
But I understood.
So we built a trap.
Sarah became unexpectedly useful.
Varga’s people still believed she was gullible.
For once, we wanted them to believe correctly.
Rebecca sat across from her.
“You will post one photograph.”
Sarah looked nervous.
“Of Emma?”
“No.”
“Absolutely not,” I said.
Rebecca nodded.
“A photograph of yourself outside a pediatric clinic.”
Sarah frowned.
“Why?”
“Caption: ‘Long night. Family emergency finally over. Caleb refuses to forgive me, but at least Emma is going home.’”
Sarah understood.
“They’ll think she’s leaving.”
“Yes.”
“We leak a false transport route.”
“Exactly.”
Michael looked at me.
“You’re using Sarah as bait.”
“She’s not bait,” Rebecca said. “She’s a communication channel.”
“Sounds like bait.”
Sarah touched his hand.
“It’s okay.”
“No, it isn’t.”
She gave him a sad smile.
“I helped create this.”
“You don’t owe anyone getting shot.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“But I owe Emma something.”
I shook my head.
“You owe her changed behavior. Not martyrdom.”
Sarah stared.
Then nodded.
It was the first time I saw something new in her.
Humility.
The operation started at 6:40 p.m.
A decoy ambulance left a military clinic in Bethesda.
Inside were four tactical agents.
An unmarked SUV followed.
Sarah’s post went live.
Within seven minutes, the fake veterans’ account viewed it.
Within twelve minutes, we detected movement from a known Varga vehicle.
I stood in the command room watching maps.
Michael stood beside me.
“You do this for a living?”
“Sometimes.”
“You look very calm.”
“I’m not.”
“You always look calm.”
“That’s training.”
He studied me.
“What does fear look like on you?”
I looked at the monitor tracking the decoy ambulance.
“Preparation.”
The convoy approached a highway interchange.
A black SUV appeared behind it.
Then another.
Rebecca spoke into her radio.
“Hold.”
Agents waited.
The vehicles followed the ambulance for nearly three miles.
Then the first SUV accelerated.
“Hold.”
A second vehicle blocked the rear.
“Hold.”
The first SUV pulled alongside.
Its rear door opened.
“Now.”
Federal vehicles emerged from three ramps simultaneously.
Tactical teams boxed both SUVs.
The suspects attempted to flee.
One vehicle struck a barrier.
The other stopped.
Agents swarmed them.
“Three in custody.”
Rebecca looked toward me.
“Varga?”
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Not him.
My stomach tightened.
“Where is he?”
Nobody knew.
Then the house alarm sounded.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Rebecca turned.
“What the hell?”
A security officer shouted from another room.
“Perimeter breach!”
I ran.
The monitor showed smoke near the west fence.
A small explosion had destroyed an exterior sensor.
“He knew,” I said.
Rebecca understood instantly.
“The convoy was diversion.”
We had sent tactical teams away.
Exactly what Varga wanted.
Another alarm.
North wing.
I sprinted toward the stairs.
“Emma!”
My mother had been with her.
I reached the second floor.
Smoke filled the hallway.
“Dad!”
Emma screamed.
I ran toward her room.
The door opened.
My mother emerged holding Emma.
Two security officers covered them.
“Go!”
We moved toward the secure stairwell.
Glass shattered downstairs.
Gunfire.
Michael appeared behind us.
“Where’s Sarah?”
I stopped.
She had been in the kitchen.
“Mike, stay with Emma.”
“No.”
“Stay with my daughter!”
He took Emma.
I ran back downstairs.
Two intruders were already down.
A third moved through the rear hallway.
I saw him.
Gray jacket.
Dark hair.
Anton Varga.
For the first time in six months, we were in the same room.
He smiled.
“Colonel.”
I raised my weapon.
“Hands.”
He lifted them.
“You won’t shoot.”
“Test the theory.”
He laughed.
“You Americans.”
Then Sarah appeared behind him.
Wrong place.
Wrong second.
Varga moved instantly.
He grabbed her and pulled a knife to her throat.
She screamed.
Michael shouted from the stairs.
“Sarah!”
Varga backed toward the rear entrance.
“Drop it, Colonel.”
I kept my weapon raised.
Sarah shook violently.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Stop talking.”
Varga smiled.
“She finally understands her value.”
I looked at Sarah.
“Do you trust me?”
Her eyes locked on mine.
A tiny nod.
Varga laughed.
“How touching.”
I fired.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
Sarah dropped exactly as I had signaled with my eyes.
Agents rushed him.
Varga crashed onto the floor.
His knife skidded away.
Michael ran to Sarah.
I stood over Varga.
He looked up, furious.
“You could’ve killed her.”
“No.”
“How did you know she would move?”
Sarah answered from the floor.
“Because unlike you…”
She was crying.
“…he actually pays attention to people.”
Agents handcuffed Varga.
Rebecca entered moments later.
“He’s alive?”
“Unfortunately.”
Varga laughed despite the blood soaking his sleeve.
Then he looked at me.
“You think this ends tonight?”
I crouched.
“What does that mean?”
His smile widened.
“You still haven’t asked who gave me your classified personnel file.”
The room went silent.
Rebecca’s face changed.
Because there were only a handful of people in Washington who could have accessed that file.
Varga leaned closer.
“I didn’t find you because of your foolish sister-in-law.”
May you like
He smiled.
“She only confirmed what someone inside your government had already sold me.”
