A SEAL's Triumph Page 22

  “You should have told us,” Boone said.

  Eve was studying Elizabeth. “You didn’t because of me, right?” When everyone turned to her in surprise, she added, “Remember? I came here and tried to stay with you so I could expose Hansen Oil, but Fulsom said I wasn’t allowed to stay unless I would marry someone.”

  “That’s it exactly,” Elizabeth told her.

  Avery watched as the others absorbed the information. She wasn’t surprised when Riley turned to her. “You knew, didn’t you?”

  “I found out recently.”

  “Whose wedding have you been planning, then?”

  “Mine,” she admitted. She pulled the chain out of her bodice, undid the clasp, took the engagement ring off it and put it on her finger, holding it up for all to see.

  Riley let out an exasperated huff. “I can’t believe you kept that from us. Well, thank God for that, anyway. I would have had to kill Walker if he married Elizabeth.”

  “Wait—hold on, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Boone said. “You testify in two days?” he asked Elizabeth.

  “That’s right.”

  “And all we have to do is put you on a plane? What then?”

  “I’m being met on the other end by a group that will take me straight to Congress. I figure if someone’s going to take me out on Capitol Hill, there’s not much I can do about it.”

  “I think I’ve been following this story so far,” Cab drawled, “but who are you?” He pointed at Gabe.

  “I’m Elizabeth’s fiancé.”

  “Fiancé?” several people exclaimed at once.

  Avery turned to Renata. “You got me Elizabeth’s fiancé as a backup husband? How did that happen?”

  “I got in touch with Renata as soon as Elizabeth told me her plan and I realized I couldn’t stop her,” Gabe said. “I thought it was crazy for her to come here. Hell, I still think it’s crazy for her to testify at all. I don’t want her to be a target.” He let out a sigh. “I didn’t know what else to do, so I told Renata everything. Begged her to find a way to get me on the show. I still think we should have gone somewhere no one could find her.”

  “They would have found us wherever we went,” Elizabeth said. “That’s why I had to come here.”

  Avery recognized this was an argument they’d had before. It probably was what they’d been talking about the day Gabe had arrived and she’d found them squared off on the bunkhouse steps.

  “So you knew everything?” Boone asked Renata.

  “Wait, I don’t understand this,” Savannah said loudly, her voice cutting through everyone else’s. She was holding Jacob tightly in her arms. “You came here knowing someone was after you. You deliberately put us in danger. There are seven pregnant women here—not to mention two babies!”

  “And there are seven billion people and counting in danger because our planet is heating up past anything we’ve ever known before,” Elizabeth snapped back at her. “Isn’t that why you’re building a sustainable community? You’re letting your lives be filmed in order to light a fire under the viewing public’s asses. Well, I’m trying to save the entire human race. Not to mention the animals and birds and fish and trees and every other living thing on this planet. Do you really not understand that we’re hurtling toward a cliff, and we’ve got about a second left—maybe—to swerve in a different direction before we all go over it?”

  Savannah stared back, wide-eyed. “But—”

  “But nothing!” Elizabeth burst out. “No one’s willing to inconvenience themselves the slightest bit to stop it. No one’s even paying attention! There are fires and droughts and hurricanes and heat waves and mass migrations and extinctions, and no one even cares! Maybe I should have let that guy shoot me. At least I wouldn’t be alive to watch it all happen!”

  “Elizabeth.” Gabe reached for her. She warded him off, still facing Savannah.

  “Don’t you get it? We don’t have any more chances. We don’t have any more time. We’re right at the brink, and I don’t know if what I plan to do will change a damn thing! Even if I make it to Washington. Even if I give my presentation. I mean, who’s going to listen to me? What happens if I fail?”

  “Honey—”

  Elizabeth stopped Gabe with a raised hand.

  “My family has passed down stories from generation to generation. My grandmother’s grandmother remembered when there wasn’t a single paved street in Montana. Her grandmother’s grandmother remembered when there wasn’t a single White person in the territory. What kind of stories will my grandchildren’s grandchildren have? One in which I’m the person who let it all go to hell?”

  “You won’t,” Gabe told her. “You’ll make them see sense.”

  “What if I don’t?” She looked around her, challenging each of them in turn. “What if I don’t?”

  It was a question they’d all been asking themselves through their year of filming Base Camp.

  Avery couldn’t bear to see Elizabeth’s anguish or the way Savannah was cradling Jacob close, tears slipping silently down her cheeks. “We’ll keep on fighting,” she said when no one else spoke up. “All of us. No matter what happens when you go to Washington. Because there’s no end to this fight until there’s an end to us all. This is existential. We all live or die—together. Which means no one in this room is going to tell Fulsom what’s happening until it’s over, right? Right?” She faced off with the crew.

  After a long moment, Renata came to stand next to her. “That’s right. This is too damn important for anyone to break ranks. By now everyone in this room understands what’s riding on Elizabeth’s testimony. We’ve taken a lot of risks, pushed the envelope a lot of times on this show. Anyone who’s willing to risk not just Elizabeth’s life but the future we all share needs to speak up right now.”

  No one said a word.

  “William, Craig, you with me on this?”

  Both of the older cameramen nodded.

  “Byron?”

  “Of course.”

  Renata ran through the crew’s names one by one until each of them had vowed to keep the secret.

  “You realize you’re putting us on the wrong side of a billionaire,” Craig said.

  “I realize that. Want to change your answer?” Renata challenged him.

  “No. It’s the right thing to do—unfortunately.”

  Elizabeth dropped her head into her hands. All the fight went out of her, and she allowed Gabe to embrace her. As he murmured into her hair, the rest of them moved away as best they could in the enclosed space to give the couple privacy.

  Riley was still pressing her hands to her belly.

  “Are you okay?” Avery asked her.

  Riley nodded. “She’s right, though. What kind of world are we going to give them—our babies?”

  “The best one we can,” Avery promised her.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‡

  “Everyone ready?” Boone asked three days later.

  Walker wondered if anyone had slept the previous night. For the last two nights they’d given up the separate sleeping arrangements and moved back into the bunkhouse. They’d given up almost all their other activities, too. Elizabeth never left the bunkhouse. The rest of the women spent almost all their hours indoors. One party of the men worked only the most crucial chores as a group while the rest stood guard.

  Renata split the camera crews, too, some keeping to their normal task of getting footage for the show, others manning cameras pointed in different directions from the bunkhouse to capture any approach by an intruder. When the sun went down, they set up the enormous lights they used for nighttime filming in a circle around the bunkhouse pointed outward and kept them on until sunrise, lighting up the exterior until it was bright as day.

  Now it was time to get Elizabeth on her plane. They were all going to the airport with her, figuring it was safest to keep together. The most dangerous part of the operation was getting from the bunkhouse to the fleet of trucks they used. The men, bolst
ered by the deputies Cab Johnson had sent to help them, formed an armed corridor, and Elizabeth and the rest of the women hurried along it, Savannah and Nora with their babies in tow. The men fell in behind them, bringing up the rear until everyone was loaded into five trucks. With a cruiser ahead of them, one behind them and one in the middle, plus several vehicles filled with the camera crews, they made their way, sirens blaring, for the twenty-minute drive to the airport. Walker was one of the drivers. Gabe rode shotgun. Avery, Elizabeth and Hope squeezed onto the bench seat in back.

  Walker didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until he let it out after pulling up and parking in front of the terminal. Chance Creek’s airport was tiny, which made things simpler. The men spread out, a wary perimeter protecting the women as they hurried Elizabeth inside. Gabe accompanied her, and they all flocked into the building, saying their goodbyes and wishing the couple luck as they made their way to the ticket counter. Cab Johnson met them there.

  “I’ve got deputies stationed throughout the building. I’ll take it from here.”

  Walker turned to Elizabeth. “Are you going to be okay?”

  She nodded. “I’m fine. Thank you for everything you’ve done.” She went up on tiptoe and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “Really, Walker. Thank you. I know I’ve caused you a lot of headaches.”

  “Thank you for being willing to speak for all of us.”

  She turned to Avery.

  “I hope your wedding is wonderful. I’m sorry I’ve been stealing your thunder all this time. I promise this is the last you’ll see of me today.” She made a show of turning off her phone and sliding it into her purse. “After I testify, I’m going to head to a hotel and get a good night’s sleep!”

  Still, no one wanted to leave even after Elizabeth and Gabe had gone through security and disappeared into the waiting area for their flight. When they heard the announcement that their flight was boarding, the rest of them went back outside to watch it take off.

  “Nothing more we can do now,” Walker said, relieved that everything had gone so smoothly. He wondered where the gunman was now. Had he been injured badly enough he needed to go to a hospital? If so, he hadn’t gone to the local one. Maybe he’d already left the state.

  “Is there any way her attacker could be on that flight?” Savannah asked, cutting into his thoughts.

  Boone shrugged. “Anything is possible, but let’s hope not. Cab beefed up the security here; it would be hard to get on the plane armed with any kind of weapon.”

  Walker knew no one would rest easy until they’d heard that Elizabeth had testified late this afternoon, but this was his wedding day, and Avery deserved for the rest of it to be about her. “She’ll be fine,” he said loudly. “She’s got Gabe with her and people on the other end to help keep her safe.”

  “Meanwhile, we’ve got a wedding to prepare for!” Riley said brightly. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been so caught up in worrying about Elizabeth, I haven’t had time to think about tonight. Thank goodness Maud and James are arranging everything.” Avery had told everyone about Maud taking charge of her wedding.

  “Lunch first,” Savannah said. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m starving, and we’ve got plenty of time. Let’s go home and eat, catch up with the chores and rest a little before we head to the Russells’ at three. I’ll help make sure you’ve got everything you need, Avery.”

  “We’ll need a truck just to carry all our stuff,” Hope joked.

  “Two trucks.” Avery beamed at them before turning to Walker. He couldn’t help himself. He bent down to steal a kiss from her, and she met him halfway.

  Riley tsked. “Enough time for that after the wedding! Avery, you ride home with us. We have lots to talk about.”

  “Let’s keep being careful,” Boone cautioned them. “Let’s walk out to our trucks together. And drive together, too. We can’t assume we’re out of danger.”

  Walker reluctantly let go of Avery as her friends flocked around her, joking and laughing now that Elizabeth was safely away. Boone was right: they needed to keep their guard up, but a weight had slid off his shoulders. By the end of the day, this whole long nightmare would be over.

  It was finally happening.

  Avery blinked back tears as she looked into the full-length standing mirror in one corner of the enormous, beautiful room Maud had assigned to her.

  Her wedding gown fit like a dream. In less than an hour, the ceremony would start. Walker and the rest of the men should be on their way from Base Camp now. Jericho, Kai and Angus were already here, taking turns standing guard and getting ready for the event in a room of their own. Her parents were on their way from the airport. In seven and a half hours the show would be over, the contest won, all the cares and worries of the last year gone in a puff of smoke.

  She and Walker and all their friends could get down to the business of really living. Building their community. Making their dreams come true.

  She couldn’t believe they’d almost made it.

  “You’re shaking,” Win told her. “Are you cold?”

  “Not at all.” Avery laughed. If anything, she was warm. It was the last day of May, but it felt like July. Her cheeks were flushed, and if she didn’t watch out, she’d start sweating in her wedding gown.

  She fanned her face and backed away from the mirror. “Finish getting ready,” she admonished her friends. Everyone had been so helpful to her they had neglected themselves. They all looked pretty in their blush-red bridesmaid gowns, but half of them needed to finish makeup, find jewelry and the like. “I’ll be over here not wrinkling my gown.” She moved out of the way and left the others to it, pacing slowly around the room, trying to keep the butterflies in her stomach in check.

  Were Walker and the others here? Maud and James’s house was so well built you couldn’t hear a thing once you closed a door.

  She went to open the one that led to the hall.

  “Don’t you dare,” Win cried, darting over to stop her. “You can’t let Walker see you! We don’t need any more bad luck!”

  Avery supposed she was right. She wandered across the large room in the other direction, to the sliding glass doors that led to a wooden deck. The day was beautiful, the light softening now that it was late afternoon. The sun wouldn’t set until nearly nine thirty tonight, and she expected much of the party would spill out into the Russells’ beautiful grounds.

  She slid open the screen door and stepped outside gingerly, appreciating the sweet scent on the air from the blooming shrubs that ringed the house. Surely Walker couldn’t see her here. If he’d arrived already, he would have joined the other men in their room that faced the front of the house. A light breeze lifted the tendrils of her hair and cooled her cheeks. She leaned on the railing and took a deep breath.

  Too bad she couldn’t stay right here until it was time to walk down the aisle. She needed to go back inside, though, and help her friends. Check and make sure her hair hadn’t slipped.

  Get her veil secured to her updo.

  As she turned, something caught her eye. One of the strings of fairy lights wrapped around a nearby tree had come undone and was trailing down to the lawn, an almost jarring sight among the Russells’ perfectly manicured grounds.

  Avery had no doubt once the sun set, the whole place would be a fairy-tale setting for the reception. She couldn’t wait to dance with Walker after their sit-down dinner. She had to hand it to the Russells and the way they paid attention to every detail. Who would even come back here behind the house? They’d made sure that no matter where their guests wandered, they’d find something beautiful to see.

  She stepped down the stairs carefully and tiptoed across the grass to set the fairy lights to rights. She knew if Riley or Savannah saw her, they’d read her the riot act for putting her gown in jeopardy, but the grass was completely dry, and the tree was only a few steps from the deck.

  She bent to pick up the end of the trailing lights, straightened�
�

  A hand clamped over her mouth. An arm hooked around her waist. She was lifted in the air.

  Everything went dark.

  “Finally,” Boone said. “I can’t believe we’re pulling this off.”

  “This time tomorrow we’ll have it made,” Jericho said.

  “Hell, in about seven hours we’ll have it made,” Kai said, checking the time on his phone.

  “Midnight can’t come fast enough,” Angus said.

  They were putting the final touches on their wedding outfits, the Revolutionary War uniforms they’d worn for every ceremony so far. Walker knew Sue would think it ridiculous, but he didn’t mind. Traditions formed in all kinds of ways. This was the last time he’d wear one, most likely. The show was coming to an end.

  “You did it.” Boone clapped Walker on his shoulder. “Wasn’t sure if you’d sort out things with Elizabeth in time, but you got it done.”

  “Thanks to all of you.”

  “When does Elizabeth’s testimony start?”

  “She’s the last witness. She thought it would be late afternoon, but sounds like things got started late.” Gabe had texted him several hours ago to tell him they’d touched down in Washington. Had texted him an hour later, sounding half-annoyed, half-jubilant that they were finally reaching the capital.

  You wouldn’t believe the crowds, he’d written. Protestors everywhere. Avery really got people whipped into a frenzy. The start of the hearing was delayed—some of the senators couldn’t get past the protestors. Elizabeth won’t go on for a while.

  Good old Avery. She certainly knew how to get the word out.

  “You got the rings?” Walker asked.

  Boone produced a small box. “Got them.”

  Walker pulled out his phone to check the time just as another text pinged. “Gabe again.” His fingers tightened around the gadget as he read.

  “What is it?”

  The other men gathered around.

  “There’s been a bomb scare at the Senate building. They’re clearing everyone out of there.”

  “Is Elizabeth all right?”