Betrayal

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

RORY LOOKED BACK at the sensational headline on the computer screen. TERRORIST ON THE LOOSE. Kills Swat Team At Her Apartment. He shook his head. On the trip up here he had played music, preferring to relax, so he had missed whatever the sensational story was referring to. Underneath the woman's picture was the name: Holly Rae Burnette and Fugitive Sought. He scanned through the writings underneath.

"I didn't do what they're saying I did," Holly said.

Rory continued scanning, using the mouse to scroll down the screen, "Yeah. And there's an old saying: The jails are filled with people who didn't do it."

Holly's eyebrows knit together, "Well...I didn't...."

Glancing at her, Rory considered the disheveled appearance, "You're with the NSA?"

Holly shrugged, "I just work in the commissary. I serve lunches and stuff."

"Uh-huh. It says here you're a computer network operator."

Looking over at the screen, Holly said, "They said that?" She shook her head, "They're not supposed to say anything like that. And I'm not supposed to...."

Straightening up, Rory rubbed his fingers against the dark stubble on his chin. "So exactly how did you kill a Swat team?"

Holly's face screwed up in anguish and anger at the same time, "I didn't do that. I didn't."

"So why do they think you did?"

Holly yelled, "I - don't - know."

Nodding, Rory took a few seconds to think and then he pulled out his cell phone, "Well, it's not my problem." He began punching in numbers, "I'll just call 911 and get the FBI here. Then I can get on with what I'm here to do–"

"No. Please don't do that. They'll throw me in jail and I'll never get out–"

Rory shrugged, "So you go to trial and you prove your innocence–"

"No," Holly said as she shook her head, "that won't happen. That's not how it works. I know. I know them. I know how the government works. Something is wrong here. Something is very, very, very wrong."

"Okay, that's a lot of verys," Rory said as he placed the cell phone on the desk "so why don't you tell me exactly what happened. And no lies this time."

Holly Rae Burnette looked conflicted. Her mind seemed to race through different options. Then she licked her lips and nodded, looking up earnestly into Rory' silver-blue eyes, "Okay. I work for NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland." She glanced at the computer screen, "I'm a...computer network operator. Although no one is supposed to know that. I'm not supposed to say that. Anyway... I was home at my apartment. It's my day off and...I got a call on my cell phone from my boyfriend, Nathan. He told me to leave my apartment and go across the street to the small coffee shop. That they had a report that some teenager was swatting me."

"Swatting you?"

Holly nodded, "Yeah, yeah. Some stupid kids think it's smart to call 911 and trick them into sending a SWAT team to some innocent person's house."

"Right. I've heard about it. A stupid Internet prank." Rory scratched the stubble on his chin again, "How did your boyfriend know someone was swatting you?"

Licking her lips, Holly said, "He works at the NSA as well. He's...he's an intelligence analyst."

"Okay. So a SWAT team showed up?"

Tears of anguish filled Holly's eyes as she focused internally, "Yeah. They did. I watched them from across the street. I figured, once it was all over and they didn't find anybody inside my apartment, we would all go back to normal. But... there... there was an explosion. It blew out several windows on the third floor. My apartment is towards the back of the building so... it must've been a powerful explosion."

Rory's narrowed his eyes as he listened, wondering about what kind of explosives have been used.

Holly continued, "I heard after, on the radio, they said I had booby-trapped my apartment. That I had killed a number of them." Her voice trailed off in choking tears and she shook her head, "No. I didn't do that." She looked up at Rory, "My place wasn't booby-trapped. I swear."

"How do you explain it, then?"

"I don't know. Maybe...the gas lines? I have no idea. I didn't do it. I swear."

Rory watched her, wondering if what she was saying was true. Or was she trying to manipulate him? He ran a hand through his black hair, "So how did you end up here?"

Holly licked her lips, "I...I wandered out into the street after. I couldn't believe what had happened. Everything was chaos. That's when I got another call from Nathan. Before I could tell him what had happened, he told me to get in my car and drive away. That they were putting out an all points bulletin for me as a terrorist. A terrorist? Me? I told him no, that I was going to stay and talk to the police. In fact, I started walking over to the members of the SWAT team that was still outside. But he told me not to. My apartment is...was in the old neighborhood in the New Carrollton area, right near the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Nathan told me to head to the Beltway Plaza Mall and he would meet me there. That we would get a lawyer before I turned myself in, to clear my name."

"Okay."

"But...when I got near the junction to take the Capital Beltway, the police were already blocking off the westbound route. So I took the ramp to the right and ended up going south. I was just in a panic. When I got near the junction of 495 and 4, there were police cars up ahead, watching. So I took Route 4 east and I just kept driving. I turned the radio on and listened to the news, hoping they would say it was a mistake–"

"Did your boyfriend call you again?"

"No. I turned the cell off. I knew they could track me that way. I figured I'd find a place and call him." Holly shrugged, "But I just kept driving because I was afraid to stop. Then late in the day, I heard them say on the radio that someone had spotted me in Calvert Beach. I didn't even know where that was and then I saw a sign that said it was a place up ahead on the road."

Rory c****d his head.

"So I took a road off the highway and then I was on some back roads and then I saw a police cruiser parked alongside the road. After I passed, I saw his lights go on and he started chasing me. I drove as fast as I could but I realized he would eventually catch me. I saw a chance and I veered off the road at a curve, figuring I could hide in the trees. But as soon as the trees closed behind me, I went right into a swamp. I barely made it out of my car before it sank. Lucky the window was down and I could swim...."

"The Battle Creek Swamp is all along the roads down here."

"Yeah, well I didn't know it was there and I was trying to get away. I guess I just panicked."

Rory considered the woman's story.

Holly's eyes fluttered as she glanced up at him and then her voice was faint, "You don't believe me, do you?" She shook her head softly and looked down, "I'm not sure I would believe me either."

He looked down at the shoes. They were ruined but there was no doubt they were an expensive purchase at one time. The dress looked expensive as well. Maybe she was desperate for money or trying to keep up a lifestyle she couldn't afford and she got caught up in something? Letting out a long, slow breath, Rory looked out the window, thinking. And then everything changed in the blink of an eye.