Nadia’s father.
And shit, now he realized why the name Byrd had nagged at him. Aloud, he said, “Voronov means raven.”
“What?” Flyte asked.
“Shit. Voronov means raven. In Russian. Byrd. Raven.”
The room went silent. Every person stared at him as the dots formed a picture in his mind.
“Byrd is Maxim Voronov. Nadia Maximovna Voronova’s father.”
Kira Hanson was the first to respond. “Russians and their convenient patronymic naming conventions.”
Teague nodded. It had been staring him in the face for hours and he’d missed it. “I never saw Maxim Voronov’s photo because Nadia never posted it on social media. No doubt her father forbade it.”
A loud boom sounded. The fireworks show had begun.
Chapter Sixty-One
Chris was feeling itchy. The display had started five minutes ago, and everything was going smoothly. The pyrotechnician who’d altered the sequence had been arrested. It wasn’t the man on the barge manually running the show. No, it was one of the men from Malta, who’d been seamlessly integrated into the team of experts sent to consult on the display by the generous anonymous donor.
The man had tried to flee, but between SEALs and Coast Guardsmen, he’d been contained and handed over to the FBI.
This was a win. They’d found all the explosives and replaced them with time to spare. Only one conspirator remained at large. They’d get him. He was probably trapped on base.
Still, something felt very wrong.
A year and a half ago, the attack on the Lake Olympus Lodge Exercise had been personal. Laskin had a mole who ensured that Xavier and Chris were both in the forest that night.
Laskin hated SEALs, but he especially hated the two who’d survived when his daughter had died.
Xavier and Chris.
Xavier Rivera was no longer a SEAL. He’d done his best to legally disappear. His home was in his wife’s name. They were vigilant about staying out of the news and internet searches. Audrey didn’t post photos online or speak of her marriage to Xavier, and all their friends knew the risks and protected their privacy.
Chris had stayed out of the news when Diana was in the headlines. There were no photos of them together in the news reports. It had been as important to keep him and Rand hidden because they were active duty SEALs as it was to protect Diana when she became the center of billionaire-worshipping sycophants who targeted the woman who brought their hero down.
Chris would never understand fools on social media.
But Chris could only be so careful. There were only two bases in the US that were publicly known to be the home of SEALs. Chris had previously been at Coronado. He was coming up on his one-year anniversary at Little Creek in about a month.
It was possible—even probable—Laskin had personally targeted him a second time.
The only remaining terrorist was a man who’d worked for Laskin for decades. He’d been held personally responsible for the failure at the lodge and had fled his boss, abandoning his daughter, according to what Teague had been able to find out.
Maxim Voronov couldn’t fail again. He’d need to deliver at least one of the two SEALs. His daughter’s marriage to Aleksandr was even a reasonable reward for success.
He sprang to his feet. “I need to go home. Now.”
“You can’t. The base is locked down and the show’s started,” Commander Gleeson said.
“I think I know where Voronov is.” He pointed to three men from his team. “Collins, Kramer, and Burns. You’re with me.” To his commander, he said, “Tell the gate to clear the way. Let me through. Diana is in danger.”
Chapter Sixty-Two
Fireworks sounded in the distance, but even though Chris knew to expect it, he was so focused on Diana that when he drove by the wastewater treatment plant, he was startled by the sudden blasts in sequence.
They were near the end of the display, then.
Smoke filled the air as planned. It was a convincing hoax.
Maxim had to be feeling really good about now. Social media was already lighting up with reports of blasts on the base. He knew because they’d recruited several base residents to start posting within moments of the first fake blast.
It had been four minutes. Two more and the show would be over.
If the man had harmed Diana, Chris wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. He never should have left her alone during the marathon work session, but she’d assured him she was fine—nearly fully recovered from surgery a week ago.
They’d all been so focused on the danger Kira had been in, he’d forgotten to protect Diana.
He’d sent her a text right after he settled in the driver’s seat. He’d been careful in the wording in case her phone wasn’t in her hands.
Chris
Long day. I want a Moscow Mule when I get home. Do we have vodka?
