by T. K. Leigh
“That’s why he was able to convince her to sign off on wiping the slate clean,” Brayden interjected.
Jenna nodded. “Yes. Instead of facing a very public divorce based on who he was and everyone learning what she had done, he offered her a way out and she took it.”
“Well,” Brayden said, raising his own wine glass. We both followed suit. “Here’s to both my girls being happy with the men they love once again.”
“Here, here!” Jenna said.
“I’ll drink to that.”
Tyler
EARLY SATURDAY MORNING, I parked my Bronco at the back of the club. I had been back on South Padre for less than forty-eight hours, but it was time to finally get back to work. There were still more questions than answers, even more so now that the CIA handler who had reached out and asked for our help with this case had been missing for several months. Was it connected? I didn’t know, but it was a bit too suspicious.
Walking through the back door, I heard voices echoing down the hallway. I headed toward my office and entered, eight men and one woman immediately ceasing their conversation when they saw me. Scanning the room, I made mental notes of who everyone was. I had reviewed their files earlier that morning as I determined who I should keep and who I should send back. Apart from Eli and Martin, they were mostly new faces to me, except one…
Rage washing over me, I stalked toward a tall, muscular man of similar build. “You asshole!” I bellowed out, surprising everyone, Benson included, as I landed a harsh blow to his face.
He stumbled back, attempting to maintain his balance.
“We were on the same training team! We were friends!” I spat. “And this is how you repay me? You agree to fuck with her memory? I thought you were better than that!”
Straightening his spine, he wiped at his lip, smearing the bit of blood that was visible. “I did it for you, Tyler. Do you think I liked having to do that? I hated it. I knew you’d never forgive me for betraying you like that, but it was all about keeping her safe. From day one, everything we’ve done on this island has been to keep her out of harm’s way.”
“How?!” I shouted. “Please tell me how you staying at my house and telling her you’ve lived there for years could possibly keep her safe? If anything, it just confused her more!” I pulled back, about to take another swing when I was swiftly disabled and pushed against the wall.
“No plan is without its faults,” Martin growled, restraining me. His eyes met mine as if he was trying to tell me there was no other way.
“My brother said the reason he gave the go-ahead on gaslighting her was to protect the integrity of the mission, to make her think she never met me, to protect my ass. He didn’t mention anything about trying to protect Mackenzie.”
“That was one of the reasons. We had to go through every possible scenario,” he explained, releasing his hold on me once he grew confident I was no longer going to do Benson any more harm. “I was the only one who had been made aware of some of the details of the mission and I had to act quickly. My biggest concern was her safety and protecting her true identity. What was one way of putting her on the radar?” Martin asked.
“A police report,” I mumbled under my breath. I had done my fair share of interfering with a few police investigations while working the case in order to keep her true identity hidden. I understood all too well.
“Precisely. What if she went to the police with everything? I knew it was a long shot, but I had to consider the possibility. ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’ I had to do everything within my power to ensure her true identity never made it into a public record of any kind. That could have been disastrous. What if, as you believe, her father’s not behind all of this and someone else is trying to silence anyone and everyone who could prove his innocence? What if they found Mackenzie? I couldn’t stand aside and do nothing. The best way for me to protect her was for her to doubt whether any of it happened, that she never met you. So don’t blame your brother or Benson. Blame me,” he said adamantly, straightening the lines of his dark suit. “He was simply following orders, just like you when you took this assignment.”
I stood in place, absorbing Martin’s words, as several pairs of eyes stared in nervous anticipation. If I could listen to and trust anyone in this room, other than Eli, it was Martin. He was practically family. He had been my father’s right-hand man when he was still alive and running the company. Growing up, I couldn’t really remember a day when I didn’t see him at my father’s side. After my father was killed on an assignment, Martin temporarily ran the company while we figured out what to do. When Alexander requested an honorable discharge and left his SEAL team to come run the company, we were all surprised. Suffice it to say, Martin knew what he was talking about. Despite not wanting to believe there could have been any valid reason to gaslight Mackenzie, maybe there was.
Taking a breath, I ran my hands over my face as I considered his words. He was right. Following orders and chain of command was all we had to make our missions and operations successful. Without it, there would be disorder, chaos. I knew I would do anything to protect Mackenzie. And Martin would, too, despite the effect it had.
“We okay?” Benson asked, slowly approaching me and extending his hand.
Eyeing him, I nodded, shaking it. “Yeah. We’re okay.”
“Well, good,” Eli’s voice cut through. “We’re all ready to start if you are.”
“Right.” I took a seat at a large round table, everyone following my lead. “I know you have all been answering to Martin over the past several months.” The agents surrounding me nodded. “Not anymore,” I said, my voice firm and demanding, trying to demonstrate that I was in a position of authority. This was the first time I was leading a team this size. I had been part of protection teams in the past, but now that I was calling the shots, it was nerve-wracking. I was no longer following my brother’s orders. The success or failure fell on my shoulders, and mine alone.
“Eli will be running point here. Everything goes through him. He has been working this assignment with me since day one and is the only one, other than me, who is fully aware of all the intricacies of this case. He’ll bring you all up-to-date with what we know, so pay attention.” I nodded to him.
Raising himself, Eli stood in front of the assembled team. Pressing a button on his laptop, an image of Mackenzie’s father from his army days appeared on the large television monitor on the far wall. “This is Colonel Francis Mackenzie Galloway. He was our original target in this operation.”
“Original?” Benson interjected.
Nodding, Eli said, “Yes. Galloway was thought to have been the mastermind behind hundreds of acts of treason against the United States, including selling military arms and secrets to known terror organizations, drug cartels, anyone who would pay top dollar. Allegedly, his defining act was the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Liberia almost seventeen years ago.” A still of a charred building with dozens of bodies covered with dark blankets appeared on the screen.
“But you no longer think he’s responsible?” Maxwell, an agent with blond hair and medium build, asked. It was apparent he was rather intrigued by what he was learning.
Glancing at me, Eli hesitated briefly, waiting for my permission to proceed. I nodded.
“We’re not one hundred percent certain but, based on many suspicious events, we’re exploring the possibility that Galloway wasn’t the man behind any of these acts and was simply a scapegoat.”
“But if he was accused of all those acts in the first place, why is this the first we’re hearing about this guy?” Maxwell asked.
“We’re not sure of the details, but we do know Galloway was presumed to have died in the embassy fire he was accused of setting. A subsequent investigation, led by the team at Army Counterintelligence he had previously commanded, found evidence of his misdeeds. Communications with foreign terror organizations and drug cartels. Wire transfers into off-shore accounts, which they were able to link to Galloway. Howe
ver, someone issued a gag order. With many unanswered questions still lingering, the case was sealed and all agents who had been working on it were ordered not to discuss what they had found with anyone.”
Returning his attention to his laptop, he pressed another button and Mackenzie’s photo appeared on the screen. “This, as you all know, is Mackenzie Delano. She was born Serafina Galloway.” Another image appeared on the monitor beside that of Mackenzie. “This is her mother, Magdalena Galloway. Shortly after the attack on the embassy, they went missing. A two-year search yielded nothing and it was assumed they were killed. Our theory is perhaps someone knew Galloway was being set up and needed to ensure his wife’s and daughter’s safety as a precaution.”
Pausing, he took a sip from his water bottle and surveyed the members of our team, their eyes glued to him. “Fast forward eight years. During her first year of college, Mackenzie began to date this man.” A photo of Charlie in his service uniform appeared on the screen. “This is Charles Patrick Montgomery. At this point, I’m sure you’re all aware of who he is.”
“Yes,” a petite woman with auburn hair I recognized as Gretchen said. “He’s wanted in connection with a string of murders.”
“Correct,” Eli replied. “He was working for Army Cryptology while he was dating Mackenzie and, from what we’ve been able to ascertain from his file and from Miss Delano, he was asked by an acquaintance to look into a missing person’s case – one Serafina Galloway.”
“Who was this acquaintance?” Martin asked.
“We don’t know. There’s certainly more questions than answers in this case and, unfortunately, the two people who could help fill in the blanks are in hiding. Now, it didn’t take Montgomery long to figure out Mackenzie was Serafina Galloway and he approached her to verify this. They dated for most of the year until, one day, he was committed to the psych ward at Walter Reed, where he spent the next eight years being treated for schizophrenia. When he was being taken away, he warned Miss Delano of her mother’s death. The following day, Miss Delano went home to find her mother was killed in a car crash.”
“Have you determined whether there was a connection?” Kevin, an agent who looked more like a playboy than a retired Marine, asked.
“Nothing firm. You’ll soon learn that Montgomery’s involvement here is open to two different interpretations and we’re not entirely sure what to believe about him. So, as far as all things having to do with Charles Montgomery go, exercise an overabundance of caution. Now, back to what we do know. During all of this, keep in mind it was assumed Galloway was dead. It wasn’t until about two years ago that intel surfaced indicating he was alive.”
“And what was that intel?” Martin inquired.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know. The CIA handler who had contacted the company to hire us to investigate all of this has now disappeared.” Eli pressed another button on his laptop and a photo I had never seen before appeared. There was a distinguished-looking older man in all black staring at the camera, a forced smile on his face. “This is Benjamin Collins. We tried to find as much information about him as we could but, given he was working for the CIA, we were met with several dead ends. I couldn’t access any information about his family or whether he has any sort of connection to Galloway. We are unsure of whether his disappearance has anything to do with this case, but we are operating under the theory that it does.”
“So, what is your working theory then?” Martin asked.
“Well, this isn’t set in stone, but here’s what we think. Galloway is innocent. We think he was set up to take the fall for someone else, someone with power, either in the military or the government. This is why the investigation was stopped and a gag order was issued. At first, we thought we were getting too close to figuring it all out so Collins was abducted, perhaps by someone thinking they could squeeze him for information, but we don’t think that’s the case anymore. He’s CIA and is trained to withstand days upon days of the most brutal interrogation techniques there are. We think he may have some sort of connection to Galloway and that’s why he went missing, although we’ve been unable to find any link between them. Then there’s Montgomery, the loose cannon. We have no idea whether he is responsible for the deaths of which he’s accused or whether he’s being set up, too.”
“Now, the murders Montgomery’s accused of…,” Gretchen interrupted. “They seem random. Are they, or is that just the police not finding a connection?”
Eli nodded. “A little bit of both. Some were random, but some were connected, although the police could never find what that connection was, considering the file’s been sealed. Montgomery was the sole survivor of the attack on the embassy attributed to Galloway. The theory is that he conspired with a man named Justin Whitman, more or less a hired gun, to carry out his plan of revenge against all those who took his family from him. Many of the murders attributed to Whitman and Montgomery were of several men and women who it was thought helped Galloway in his attack on the embassy, although it was never proven. Montgomery had top-level security clearance during his time in Cryptology and used this access and training to eliminate those who killed his family. It is thought his next target is Galloway and he would use Mackenzie to get to him. He escaped Walter Reed a little over four months ago and broke into Mackenzie’s place, as did Whitman. Okay, that’s one theory.
“The other, as you can probably guess, is that Montgomery stuck his nose somewhere he shouldn’t have when he was working for Cryptology and paid with his freedom. Then, when it was discovered he had escaped Walter Reed, whoever is behind all of it wanted to find a way to silence him once more, preferably forever, and planted evidence to set him up for a ring of murders he had nothing to do with.”
“But isn’t it a bit suspicious that a number of people who helped to kill Mr. Montgomery’s family were then killed?” Martin asked.
“This is true, which is why it is important we not settle on any theory when it comes to any of this, particularly in light of new information Tyler has.”
All eyes turned to me and I nodded at Eli. He pressed a button, a photo of a man and woman in their sixties appearing on the screen. “These are Mr. Montgomery’s alleged latest victims, Mr. and Mrs. Sheperd,” I explained. “Emily Sheperd used to be Emily Mills before getting a divorce, then remarrying. At the time of the embassy attack, she lived next door to the Galloways. Incidentally, her former husband, Harrison Mills, disappeared several years ago. He simply never showed up for work one day. He had been estranged from his wife and family for years, so they were no help in finding him. After a year, he was assumed dead.
“Mills was close to Galloway, having served under him in the Rangers, then in Counterintelligence. In fact, after Galloway’s disappearance, he was the one who had been tapped to lead the investigation into the embassy attack.”
“Have you looked into him?” Benson asked.
“Yes. We believe he’s a victim and not involved in any of this. Further, Harrison and his wife had a son together, Damian, who was Mackenzie’s best friend growing up. Coincidentally, he hasn’t been heard from since the day Montgomery was implicated in all those murders, adding yet another level of what the hell is going on to this case. Going forward, what we need to focus on is getting to the bottom of everything, finding out what really happened, including who’s responsible. All of these pieces may lead us to the answer.”
“Why don’t you ask Galloway?” Martin asked, staring at me. “Sir, talk to the girl and convince her to take you to see her father.”
I shook my head. “I’ve thought about it, but I just can’t. I need you all to come up with a different course of action.”
“I don’t think we have one,” Martin insisted. “From where I’m sitting, anyone else who may be able to offer help or information is missing, on the run, or dead, which is a bit suspicious, if you ask me. I don’t think you have a choice. I think you need to do whatever it takes to finally talk to Galloway.”
“But she knows I’m still wor
king this case.”
“True…,” Eli offered, “but it’s not the same case as before, Ty. A lot has changed, including our motive. You’re not asking her so you can bring him to justice. You’re doing this so you can help clear his name. I’m sure she wants nothing more than for her father to finally be able to come out of hiding.”
“He may not know any more than we do.”
“Still,” Eli responded, “it’s worth a shot. He may not think he can help, but maybe he has a missing piece that could bring all of this full circle.”
I sat there, surveying my team members, their eyes intense. In truth, I knew this was a way to find out more information, but things had just gotten back to a new sort of normal with Mackenzie. I hated the idea that I had to do this so soon, which would certainly remind her of why I dated her in the first place, reopening old wounds.
Life sometimes forced you to make difficult decisions, and this was another one of those times. But Mackenzie had urged me to be open and honest with her about everything and I knew this was no different. I needed to see her father. I just hoped she understood and didn’t think I was using her.
“Okay… I’ll see what she says. In the meantime, everyone remain at your posts and keep an eye on Miss Delano,” I ordered the six individuals who had been part of her protection detail. “Report anything suspicious to Eli immediately.”
“What about us?” Benson asked, gesturing between himself and Maxwell, who had both been living at my house and were charged with convincing Mackenzie her reality was anything but.
