Darren shifted, his gaze sliding from Nikki to Kade. Some of the hardness faded, replaced with alarm. “You think Bobby’s involved?”
Kade shook his head. “No, I don’t. But I think he’s being drawn into this whole mess out of fear—fear of what he knows. His memories are slowly resurfacing.”
“Then what does this have to do with me?” Darren’s hand flew from his waist, and he jabbed a single finger into his chest.
Nikki kept her voice even this time. She had to make Darren believe she was on his side. She needed to know what he knew and see if she could find any holes in his story. He’d voiced suspicion about her brother from the get-go, so either he was right or he had a serious axe to grind with Bobby. If she asked enough questions, maybe she could figure out which it was.
“Darren, we need to know about the mission in Colombia,” Nikki said. “The one where Bobby was abducted. We believe it may be connected with everything that’s happening now.”
Darren swung his head back and forth forcefully, leaving little room for argument. “You know I can’t talk about it. We’ve been through this.”
“Why were you there? You can tell us that,” Nikki prodded.
His jaw flexed. He looked into the distance. The silence was unnerving. Kade peered out the window again. Nikki halfway expected men to explode through the door, as if this was a setup of sorts.
“We were helping train the Colombian army,” Darren finally said.
Kade shook his head. “You and I both know that was a cover. You were only there for two weeks. That wasn’t long enough to train anyone.”
Darren frowned. He’d been caught, Nikki realized. The whole mission had been cloaked in secrecy. But what was the military hiding?
“The truth is that ARM was trying to take over the Colombian military. The government called us in to help with the situation. If ARM took the reins of the military there, the whole country would fall into the hands of a South American ISIS of sorts.” Darren sounded solemn, nervous, and maybe even apologetic.
“So your mission was to assassinate members of ARM?” Kade clarified.
Darren’s jaw muscles flexed. “Only the leaders of the group. Cut off the head and the rest of the group withers, right?”
“Did you accomplish the mission?”
He shook his head. “No, we didn’t. ARM seemed to know we were coming.”
The other members of the team suspected that Bobby had given someone a heads up, Nikki realized.
“But ARM didn’t take over the Colombian military, even though your mission failed. What happened?” Kade asked, looking out the window again.
Darren glanced away before letting out a long sigh. He ran a hand over his face, stared in the distance again, and finally crossed his arms. He almost seemed resigned.
“Part of me thinks their entire plan was to get us there. It was never to overthrow the military. ARM has a greater enemy than their own government.”
“Who’s that?” Nikki held her breath.
“Us. Americans. There’s a lot of resentment about what happened in the country back in the eighties.”
“What happened in the eighties?”
“It was during the war on drugs,” Kade said, nodding slowly, as if things were beginning to make sense. “The US sent troops there. It was all on the down-low. The mission was poorly executed, though. Innocent people died when the wrong village was raided.”
“How does a village raid have anything to do with my brother?” Nikki shook her head, desperate for the pieces to fall into place.
“Easy. They wanted revenge.” Kade stared at her as if waiting for a reaction.
Nikki tried to make sense of that, but her conclusions all felt too big for reality. “What you’re telling me, if I understand correctly, is that people with connections to that village are still bitter—bitter enough that they’re trying to exact revenge thirty years later?”
“Some people never forget their history,” Darren said. “You know what they say: here in America we live for the future. Other cultures hold tight to their heritage.”
Nikki shook her head, not wanting to believe any of this was true or that it was connected in some way with her brother. “I still don’t understand why you think Bobby’s a terrorist. He was just a toddler thirty years ago.”
“We have our reasons to believe he has a stake in this.” Hardness formed in Darren’s eyes again.
“Please, Darren,” said Nikki. “If I’m going to help, I need to know.”
He let out a long breath and stared into the distance for a moment. His stance made it easy to see his inner turmoil. Finally he rubbed his lips together and turned to Nikki. “Okay, listen. You didn’t hear this from me. We found letters your brother wrote.”
Nikki stole a glance at Kade. “What kind of letters?”
“Letters to you, mostly.”
Surprise echoed through her. Letters? She’d never received any letters from Bobby. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“He wrote a bunch of letters to you. They never made it, though. He was captured before he had a chance to mail them. We found them when we went through his things following his abduction, but we were asked to stay quiet about them.”
“Why?” Kade asked.
“Because not everything should be public. The military considered them evidence and held on to them.”
“And what was so incriminating about these letters?” Nikki asked.
“They didn’t make much sense. But he mentioned something about America treating the people of Colombia horribly. How we deserved their wrath. How his eyes had been opened to things.”
Nikki still wasn’t able to jump to the big, overwhelming conclusion that Darren obviously had. “Letters showing compassion? What’s so horrible about that?”
“You can’t understand without seeing them. They weren’t compassionate so much as disjointed. And angry. I mean really, really angry. He said something about never wanting to go in the military and your father pushing him to do so. It sounded like he had a lot of resentment toward your dad.”
Darren’s words washed over her. She wanted to argue against them, saying they didn’t sound at all like Bobby. But that last line had gotten to her.
Her father had pushed Bobby to join the navy. Bobby’d actually wanted to go into sports medicine.
The horrible truth stared Nikki in the face again: What if her brother was fighting for the other side?
CHAPTER 27
Two hours later, Kade pulled to a stop in front of an old farmhouse in the middle of the Virginia woods. He put the car in park and sat there for a minute.
Surprisingly they hadn’t been followed on their way through the secluded countryside. If Darren had called the authorities, it was well after they’d departed. Kade had actually expected it to be harder, more complicated. He’d expected a fight, a chase, a tail.
The fact that it wasn’t left him feeling unsettled. It had been too easy.
But Darren hadn’t touched them. He’d had no opportunity to put a tracker on them. And Kade had stood by the window, keeping an eye on the front yard and on the SUV. No one had approached it.
Maybe Darren was afraid of being implicated himself. Maybe he truly was just fame hungry, not evil or conspiring with terrorists. But Kade still wasn’t ready to totally write him off yet. At this point, he was one of their best leads.
“Where are we?” Nikki asked. She’d been quiet on the ride here, and he’d let her have time with her thoughts. She had a lot to process, and he didn’t want to rush her.
“I stayed here a few months ago.” Kade stared at the house. It was more of a log cabin, which made it out of place in the hilly, rural community that was better known for tractors and cornfields than mountain villas.
The place was warm and cozy, though, and it would offer them somewhere safe to stay for the night. When he’d been here before, he’d had no idea what his life would turn into. “Come on.”
He walk
ed around the back of the house, found a lockbox, and put the code into it. A moment later, the metal box popped open, and Kade took the house key out.
He’d rented this property previously through an online site. Normally he’d have to e-mail the owner for a reservation, put in his credit card information to hold the dates, and then show up to a list of instructions from the property owner.
He’d checked the availability online before he left Cape Thomas and had seen that it wasn’t booked. He knew his credit cards had been flagged. Using them wasn’t a possibility. He needed free.
So he’d taken a risk by coming here. He’d leave some cash for his stay. This was secluded enough that there were no neighbors to report them, and Kade still remembered the code to the lockbox.
He and Nikki couldn’t stay here long, but this would give them a chance to regroup.
After Kade unlocked the door, they stepped inside the house. “Let me check everything out first.”
He wandered through, room by room, to make sure there were no surprises. The house was simple and decorated in a typical mountain home theme—lots of plaid and figurines of bears and deer, furniture trimmed in rustic wood.
“It’s all clear,” he told Nikki, joining her by the back door.
“How’d you know about this place?” Nikki glanced around the kitchen, a dim room with low ceilings that diminished its spaciousness. There was only one window, and daylight was already beginning to fade outside.
“Every year I like to have a personal retreat so I can evaluate my goals, and I came here this year. I like to spend time in prayer and meditation and reading my Bible. It really helps me get my focus. We’ll be safe here for a while.”
Nikki nodded. “I see.”
Kade leaned against the wall a moment. He’d been sitting down for most of the day, and all he wanted to do now was stretch his legs. “Do you think your brother wrote those letters?”
Something had changed in her expression when Darren had talked about them. He’d seen the change. The doubt. The loss of hope.
Nikki sighed and shrugged. “I want to say no. But if Bobby didn’t write them, someone who knew him did. Bobby never wanted to be in the military, but my father had big expectations for him.”
“Your dad was Homeland Security, though.”
Nikki nodded. “But remember that he started in the military. He wanted Bobby to follow in his footsteps.”
“I don’t think I ever told you, but I’m sorry about your parents. That must have been horrible.”
“I went from having a full life to being alone. To say it was an adjustment would be an understatement.”
“I can only imagine. Did you ever learn what caused the accident?”
Nikki shrugged, crossed her arms, and stared into the distance. Grief seemed to consume her, dragging her shoulders down with unseen weights. Her eyes became glassy and nearly vacant. “It was icy outside. My dad lost control of the car. It spun and ended up crashing into the side of a mountain.”
“Where were they?”
“On vacation in the mountains. Funny thing is that my mom didn’t even want to go, but my dad insisted. It almost makes me wish my mom had been more assertive. Then maybe they’d still be alive.” She straightened. “Anyway, what do we do now?”
Kade pulled out a bag of food they’d grabbed at a gas station on the way. “We’re going to eat. You’ve had a serious lack of nutrients since this whole ordeal started. You need your strength if we’re going to keep up this pace.”
Nikki didn’t argue. She pulled out a ham sandwich. She only took small bites, but at least she was eating something.
“Where do you think Bobby is?” she finally asked.
“I have no idea.”
“And Desmond . . .” She shook her head mournfully. “I hope he’s okay.”
Kade needed to steer her thoughts toward the positive. “This battle isn’t over yet, Nikki. We both still have a lot of fight left. There’s a good chance that Bobby and Desmond both are okay.”
Nikki pulled a crusty piece of bread from the sandwich, now just picking at it. It was almost like she didn’t hear him. “I was thinking on the ride here . . . I want to go see Raz.”
“Why?”
“He said he’d have an investigator look into Steel Guard—that’s still our best lead. I want to know what he found out. And I want to convince him that what’s happening is real.”
“People are probably watching him,” Kade said. “It would be risky.”
“I know. But he works at home on Thursdays. I was thinking we could go there and catch him.”
“That’s tomorrow.”
“I know.”
He thought about it a moment and then nodded. “Let’s do it. In the meantime, I want to check in with Ten Man and Marti and see if they discovered anything. Then we’ll plot out our next steps.”
While Nikki fixed some coffee in the kitchen, Kade peeked out the front window one more time before putting the phone to his ear. He didn’t see anything suspicious, but he wasn’t ready to let down his guard.
He knew they hadn’t been followed on the way here, but he had to be careful. The government was resourceful, and given time, they would find Kade and Nikki. That’s why they couldn’t stay in one place for too long.
Ten Man answered on the first ring.
“Where are you?” Kade asked.
“I went to a friend’s place in Norfolk. It’s someone I can trust, and I can stay here overnight at least. I didn’t think it would be very smart to go back to my apartment.”
“Good thinking.”
“I did call the police and alert them that there was an intruder at the house in Cape Thomas. They shouldn’t be able to trace me, at least not for a while. The only problem is that the sheriff has seen my face. He could have taken my license plate number.” He paused. “I have some other information I think you might find interesting.”
“I’d love to hear it.”
“Okay. I did some digging into Darren Philips’s background. He’s clean.”
Kade frowned. “There are absolutely no connections between Darren and ARM?”
“He’s an all-American boy. Grew up with his biological family—no adoptions or connections with other countries. Didn’t travel out of the US for the first time until he joined the military. He may be fame hungry, but I don’t think he’s trying to kill anyone.”
Kade’s stomach clenched. Darren had been their best lead. But Kade had to agree with Ten Man—the man didn’t seem to have any motivation.
Unless perhaps it was money. ARM was funded mostly by ransoms and the drug trade. They could have offered a big payout for information.
“Did you look into his financials?” Kade asked.
“I asked around to some of the guys who know him,” Ten Man started. “None of them said Darren boasted about a big payout or did anything that would raise red flags. I know that’s not concrete, but it’s the best I’ve got right now.”
“It looks like we’re back to square one then.”
“Not exactly. While I was investigating some past missions by the military to Colombia, I discovered that Garrett Wright was once sent there.”
“What?” Certainly Kade hadn’t heard correctly.
“It’s true. I confirmed the information with two sources. It was during the drug raids. The details of the mission are confidential, but it couldn’t be a coincidence.”
“I agree. Listen, Ten Man, given what you just told me, can you look up one more thing?”
“Of course.”
Kade hesitated only a moment before diving into his question. “I want you to look at the deaths of Garrett and Yvonne Wright. They died in a car accident in the mountains of Virginia. I need to know if it really was an accident or not.”
CHAPTER 28
Nikki turned off the TV when Kade came into the room. She’d been watching the latest news updates, but there was nothing on her or Bobby.
She looked at Kade and could te
ll he had something to share. Her shoulders tensed against the bad news she was sure was coming.
“What’s going on?” She pulled her legs closer and tugged the blanket over her lap. Though it was only six thirty, enough had happened today to make it feel like a week had passed since she got up that morning. She was exhausted and would give anything for a night of good, solid sleep.
Kade pressed his lips together before speaking. “I just got off the phone with Ten Man. It looks like Darren Philips has no part in this.”
“But?” She knew there was more.
Again he pressed his lips together. He had something heavy to say, Nikki realized, something he feared she didn’t want to hear.
“He discovered that your father once worked an operation down in Colombia.”
Nikki blinked. “What? I never heard about that.”
“I’m sure he didn’t share all of his missions or operations with you. Hardly any, I’d guess.”
“No, he didn’t. But . . . I’m just surprised he didn’t mention anything when he found out that Bobby was going down there.” She let out a long sigh. “I know I’ve said this before, but I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess.” She was thankful every moment that he was here. He’d been her rock throughout all of this. Despite what had happened between them. Despite their differences. It was time to put that behind them.
“I could have backed out at any time.”
Nikki shifted her legs beneath her. “Do you think the Colombia connection with my father has anything to do with this?”
Kade shook his head slowly. “I don’t know, Nikki. But I think it’s worth looking into.”
“What if my dad was a part of that botched raid Darren told us about?”
“I suppose it’s a possibility. Do you think Raz would know?”
“Maybe. He and my dad were friends for a long time.”
“We’ll talk to Raz then. Maybe he has some insight that can help us.”
“Tomorrow?”
Kade nodded. “Tomorrow.”
Disillusioned Page 17
