Christmas Witness Conspiracy

by Maggie K. Black

  “Who?” Liam demanded. “Who are you helping?”

  Too late, he felt the prick of a mini–stun gun against the back of his neck. Seth was bait. The real threat was standing behind him.

  “He’s helping me.” A voice—male, young and unfamiliar—filled his ear as electricity shot through Liam, bringing him to his knees.

  ELEVEN

  “Hello?” Kelly called into the phone. “Hello?”

  She glanced around the empty winter night. The music from the vigil had surged. Hannah’s voice had been there a moment ago and now she was gone again. And Kelly couldn’t see Liam anywhere.

  “I’m almost there.” Hannah’s voice was back in her ear. “Can you walk down the road and we’ll meet you there?”

  “I...” She swallowed hard. If she left now she might never see Liam again. That was more than she was willing to risk. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I need to wait for Liam. He—he did a really great job of taking care of Pip.”

  No answer. Just more crackling came down the line. She sighed. Kelly wasn’t sure what to make of the fact Hannah hadn’t asked about her daughter yet. But it was possible she was worried the call was being hacked somehow. Not to mention the signal kept cutting out and they’d barely exchanged a handful of sentences. Her phone had almost no bars. If only she hadn’t promised Liam she’d stay on the bench, she’d go wander for a better signal. She glanced to the streetlamp behind her. Then again, she hadn’t agreed to anything about how she’d stay on the bench. She stood up, bracing her feet on the slippery metal seat, and leaned against the lamppost. Bingo. She now had another bar. Not to mention a better view. She could now see the road on one side, cold and white, and the glittering candlelight vigil on the other. But she still couldn’t see Liam anywhere.

  “Okay, we’ll come find you,” Hannah said. “Just driving down the road toward your GPS signal now.”

  Okay, but where was Liam? Even if he didn’t come with her, even if this was the last time they saw each other again, she wasn’t about to let him leave her life without saying goodbye. And asking him to please find a way for them to stay in each other’s lives. She closed her eyes and prayed.

  I lost him once, Lord. I can’t lose him again.

  “I need a minute,” Kelly said. “Liam just needed to sort something, and I promised I wouldn’t go anywhere without telling him.”

  “We don’t have a minute,” Hannah said.

  A horn honked and Kelly turned to see a black SUV with tinted windows pulling up on the road. Faint snow blew between her and the van, catching the light like glitter. The driver was a dark and featureless shape. Then the van’s back door slid open, and she saw the young woman sitting in the back seat, her figure silhouetted in the van’s interior seat. And even though she couldn’t see clearly from the distance, snow and combination of darkness and shadows, Kelly’s heart leaped.

  It was her daughter. It was Hannah. Safe, alive and in one piece.

  She leaped off the bench and jogged toward her, across the snowy ground.

  “We’ve got to go.” Hannah’s voice came through the cell phone and Kelly wondered if she was intentionally keeping her voice low instead of yelling out.

  Come on, Liam. Where are you?

  “I don’t want to leave without Liam,” she admitted.

  “Where is he?” Hannah’s voice came through the phone.

  “I don’t know,” Kelly said. “Somewhere close. It’s a long story.”

  “Just get in the van and we’ll drive around and look for him.”

  Her eyes glanced to the falling snow and to the sky above.

  Help me, Lord. If I leave now, will I ever find him again?

  “Let’s go!” Hannah called.

  Kelly’s footsteps faltered. Something was wrong. Her daughter’s tone was off and now that she was closer she could tell her daughter’s body had barely flinched. She stopped. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” her daughter’s calm voice said on the phone.

  Yet, as she watched, Hannah’s body moved, and she was tossing her head violently and jerking toward Kelly as if forcing her unwilling limbs to move. And then Kelly saw it.

  Hannah’s mouth was gagged.

  The voice on the phone had been a deep fake, just like the video of Liam. Hannah wasn’t safe. She wasn’t with Renner. The Imposters still had her. Hannah’s desperate eyes met Kelly’s, as if silently begging her to run.

  I will. I’ll find your father. And then I’ll find you again.

  Kelly turned and ran, her feet crunching over the snow. Behind her she could hear van doors opening and people pounding after her.

  “Liam!” she screamed, feeling his name rip from her throat. “Help me!”

  She had to find him. She had to reach him before it was too late.

  A sudden body blow came from behind as one of the Imposters tackled her. It was too late. She fell forward, her body hitting hard against the snowy ground. She thrashed hard, trying desperately to fight. But there were too many of them. One Imposter was pushing her down. A second was tying a gag around her mouth, silencing her screams and barely giving her time to clench her jaw the way Liam had told her about. A third tied her hands behind her back. Then she felt her body yanked backward, half-carried and half-dragged through the snow. Her body was flung into a seat beside Hannah. The SUV doors closed. Kelly met her daughter’s eyes. Their shoulders leaned into each other, as mother and daughter silently passed each other faith, strength and hope.

  The van drove off into the night.

  Please, Lord, may someone find us before it’s too late.

  * * *

  Of all the problems Liam had envisioned when Seth had joined their team, finding himself stunned and dragged into the back of a freezing van by some unseen accomplice hadn’t exactly been at the top of the list. But now, as Liam’s head was beginning to clear and he could feel the cold metal beneath his knees and hear the wind whistling through a cracked door, he suddenly realized that he cared a whole lot less about the identity of the unknown man behind him, who had one gloved hand clamped on Liam’s shoulder and the other holding a knife to his throat, than he did about the hacker now crouched on the van floor in front of him. The man behind him, whoever he was, was just one more threat and menace in a long line of people who’d tried to take Liam’s life over the years.

  But Seth was something far more important.

  “Believe it or not, Seth,” Liam said, “I cared about you and I respected you. I considered you a friend. So whatever this is, it’s low. Even for you.”

  Seth rocked back on his heels and his face paled so suddenly it was like Liam’s words had actually winded him. “You’ve never called me a friend before.”

  “And you’ve never kidnapped me!” Liam’s voice rose. “Now are you going to tell your buddy here to let me go and explain why you joined forces with the Imposters and what it is you think you’re doing? Or do I have to break his arm, risk getting myself stabbed and fight my way out of here?”

  Seth cast a glance at whoever was still holding Liam hostage at knifepoint. The figure was a man, judging by both the grip and the voice he’d previously heard. There appeared to just be the three of them.

  “Let him go,” Seth told the man.

  “Not yet,” the man behind Liam said. “Not until we’ve talked things out and know for sure whose side he’s on.”

  “You want to know what side I’m on?” Liam snapped. “I’m on the side of both following the law and taking care of the people I care about.”

  He had to get back to Kelly. It had only been a few minutes since he’d left her alone on the bench. But a lot could happen in a few minutes. He gritted his teeth. Then again, it always amazed him how much intel he could get out of someone who was threatening his life. He prayed for wisdom and listened to his instincts. Maybe he didn’t need to be
told what was going on.

  Maybe there was only one answer that explained everything. But was he right?

  “Fine, I’ll listen,” Liam said. “But not while Kelly’s in danger. Because I left her, out there on a bench, talking to Hannah on the phone and waiting for Renner to pick her up.”

  There was a sharp intake of breath from the man behind him and the knife flinched half an inch away from his throat. But it wasn’t enough. Not yet.

  “Actually, I owe you an apology, Seth,” Liam said. “I haven’t been fully honest with you. I’m not the clean-nosed, by-the-book guy everyone thinks I am. I made a major mistake years ago, one that by rights should’ve derailed my career if someone hadn’t altered Kelly’s witness-protection files to cover it up. Kelly and I were romantically involved. I asked her to marry me. I thought she moved on without me. What I didn’t know is we had a daughter. Her name was Hannah Phillips. I’m Hannah’s biological father. Her daughter, Pip, is my granddaughter, and Kelly is the only woman I ever fell for. And no matter what ridiculous story you’re about to tell me, I’m not about to let anything happen to them.”

  This time the knife fell ever farther from his neck. The hand gripping his shoulder began to shake. There, now that was the signal he was waiting for.

  Liam struck, grabbed the knife with both hands and spun hard to the side. He slammed the offending arm against the side of the van wall, forcing the knife to fall from the man’s grasp. Then he glanced at his kidnapper. The man was of average height, average build and masked. Also seemed he wasn’t about to give up that easily. The man swung. Liam rolled out of the way and almost made it, absorbing the glancing blow in his shoulder.

  Liam almost sighed. He was getting too old for this.

  “Stop!” Liam shouted, crouching up on his feet and holding up his hands. “I get that you’re scared, desperate or whatever it is that’s motivating you right now. But you really think three grown men throwing punches in the back of a van is going to solve anything?”

  “Hey, I wasn’t about to punch anyone,” Seth muttered.

  Maybe not, but the masked man was about to try to. Liam ducked his blow, shoved him back against the van wall and yanked off the man’s mask.

  “Renner Phillips, right?” Liam said. Renner nodded without answering. “Rumor has it you’re dead. But that seems to be catching right now.”

  “Where’s my daughter?” Renner demanded.

  “Safe.” Liam sat back without letting Renner up fully. The curly-haired young man looked younger than Liam expected and every bit as desperate as Liam had felt when he’d first realized, so long ago, that he was falling in love with a woman whose life was in danger.

  “I get why you’re an emotional, irrational wreck,” Liam added. “If what you feel for my daughter is half what I felt for her mama then your brain is a mess right now. And that’s not even considering Pip. The woman and baby you love are in danger. I feel that. So, I understand why you’re being dumb.” Liam let out a long breath. Then he glanced at Seth. “You, on the other hand, should’ve known better.”

  Seth opened his mouth, like some big explanation was hovering on his tongue, then wisely thought twice and shut it again.

  “Now, if I didn’t need your help, I’d arrest you both,” Liam said. “Even without a badge and presumed dead.” He looked at Renner. “Please tell me that you’ve been texting Kelly, you rescued Hannah and she’s filling Kelly in on everything right now.”

  Renner shook his head. “I haven’t been texting Kelly. Her phone was compromised and I had to go dark. I don’t know where Hannah is. The Imposters have her.”

  That was what Liam had been afraid of.

  “I tried to tell you not to use that phone,” Seth said.

  Liam leaped out of the van.

  “I’m getting Kelly,” Liam called, turning his back on the men his brain wanted to interrogate and instead following his heart. “I left her on that bench talking to who-knows-who. Join me if you want or run off and keep up with whatever foolish thing you think you’re doing. I don’t have time to try and stop you. Not while she’s out there alone.”

  He sprinted across the snowy ground, back toward where he’d left Kelly.

  Lord, please help me get there in time. Please keep Kelly safe.

  He pushed through the snow, hearing the other two men running behind him. A motor sounded in the distance. He reached the bench and sank to his knees.

  Kelly was gone, leaving nothing but the signs of a struggle spreading out like ugly gashes in the snow where Kelly had fought for her life.

  He looked up as Renner and Seth reached his side.

  “You’re going to tell me how to find her.”

  TWELVE

  A few minutes later, the three men sat in a diner. It was the kind with stained mugs, cracked saltshakers and faded vinyl tablecloths that looked like they hadn’t been changed in so long they were now melded to the table. It also was the type of place where nobody looked at another person twice and the waitstaff ignored you unless called. Liam had met with dozens of informants in this exact place and countless others like it, while wearing all number of different personas. But not once had he done so with his heart burning like a furnace inside him, threatening to consume his rational mind.

  He glanced from Renner to Seth and back.

  “So,” Liam said. “The Imposters still have Hannah and presumably now have Kelly, too. Her supposedly secure phone was compromised this whole time and Renner was never messaging Kelly.”

  He thanked God the phone’s battery was dead for as long as it was.

  “The world thinks you’re dead and took your special master-key decryption device to the grave,” he continued. “The Imposters don’t believe that, though, and are willing to cause chaos to get their hands on it.” He reminded himself Kelly said there was no decipher key. “And the world still thinks I’m dead,” he added. “Now you two are going to help me fill in the gaps.”

  “Are you sure my daughter is safe?” Renner asked.

  It wasn’t the first time he’d asked the question, but it was about time Liam did more than give him an answer.

  “Yes,” Liam said. But before he put Renner’s heart at ease, he had to ask Seth something. He turned to the hacker. “Please tell me you’re not a criminal, you had a really good reason for letting the Imposters kidnap Kelly and I and that you’re about to convince me to trust you.”

  Seth nodded. “Yes. I promise.”

  Liam believed him. “Then text Mack and tell him where we are and who’s with us.”

  He turned back to Renner. “Now, fill me in.”

  “What makes you think you’re Hannah’s father?” Renner asked. His voice was so stretched thin with stress Liam was surprised it hadn’t snapped.

  Fair question, Liam thought. It’s not every day a man accidentally kidnapped and tried to fight his father-in-law.

  “Kelly said I was,” Liam said, “and that’s all the proof I needed.”

  She was the first person he’d ever trusted implicitly. He glanced from Seth to the twenty-four-hour television screen now showing his own vigil. Kelly had been the first. But maybe not the only one.

  “Seth,” Liam said. The hacker glanced up from his phone. “Like I told you, I had an inappropriate and secret relationship with Kelly when I was a rookie. If word had gotten out, I’d have faced even more severe consequences than Mack did and my career would’ve taken a major hit. I might’ve even been fired. Instead, someone blocked her attempts to contact me and her RCMP file was changed. I trust you can figure out how and why.”

  Although he suspected he didn’t want to know the answer.

  Liam turned back to Renner. “I care about Kelly. I’ve risked my life to protect her, Hannah and Pip, and I will do everything in my power to ensure they’re safe. Now talk.” As much as he was dying to ask Renner how he’d broken
the code, his gut told him Renner wasn’t about to tell him that yet. “You hacked an unbreakable code. Then what happened?”

  “My life changed instantly,” Renner said. His face paled at the memory. “My email, phone and social media were flooded with job offers and people trying to buy my method, which was overwhelming. Some were really pushy. But what was far worse were the threats. All these anonymous accounts and criminal groups were threatening to find my wife and do terrible things to her if I didn’t give them the master key.”

  “And you didn’t trust the government to keep you safe?”

  “My vehicle blew up!” Renner barely caught himself from raising his voice. “If someone could do that to me, who’s to say they couldn’t do worse to Hannah. She was only a few weeks pregnant with Pip.”

  So Hannah had gone into RCMP witness protection and Renner had gone underground.

  “Then when the original Imposters stole the RCMP witness-protection database a few weeks later, you knew people would be looking for Hannah’s identity,” Liam said, “so you got Kelly to get to her file first. Someone had to talk her through how to do it. She couldn’t have done it herself. Was it you?”

  Renner shook his head. Liam glanced at Seth.

  The hacker raised his hands. “It wasn’t me.”

  Okay, that he believed, too. So who was left then?

  “So,” Liam continued, “then the original two Imposters died in a shoot-out with our friends Noah and Holly. Everything dies down. You decide instead of coming forward, you’re going to try to set up a new life somewhere, off-the-grid, with Hannah and Pip, where you’ll all be safe. Then a bunch of copycat Imposters emerged, and they decided they wanted your nonexistent decipher key. Got all that right?”

  Renner sat there stone-faced. Liam took that as a yes.

  He rested his elbows on the table and leaned in toward Seth.

  “Now, where did you two meet?” he asked.

  “Online,” Seth said. “I’ve been curious about Renner for a while, found him online, told him about my own background and offered to give him a hand if he needed it. We have similar backgrounds and I figured we were like-minded individuals.”