Uncovered by Truth

by Rachael Duncan

  Fuck.

  We’ve gotta get out of here.

  Fast.

  On the way back to the bathroom, I stop and grab the money, keys, phone, and gun from the kitchen counter. I find Elizabeth sitting on the toilet biting her nails. “Let’s go,” I whisper as I grab her hand and help her stand up. Keeping her close behind me, I look out the back window. Right as I’m about to open it, the first guy walks around the corner of the house. “Get down.” I pull on Elizabeth’s arm as we both go to the floor.

  “Shit, we’re not going to make it to the car. They’ll shoot us before I even get the thing started.”

  “What are we going to do?” she asks with a shaky voice. I shake my head not sure how I’m going to get us out of here safely.

  I pull out my phone and send Turner a text.

  SOS

  My phone vibrates in my hand immediately.

  Sending back up now.

  “Oh my God, Alex. They’re going to kill us, aren’t they?” Her lip quivers as she grabs onto my arm.

  I grab both of her shoulders and stare into her eyes. “No, they’re not. We’re going to stay right here and we’ll be fine, okay?”

  “But they’re going to come in after us. We need to leave.” Her voice rises with urgency and I know I need to calm her down before she does something stupid out of fear.

  “Good. Let them come in after us. We know they’re out there. They’re not expecting us to be ready for them. We know the layout of this cabin. They don’t. We’re going to position ourselves in a way that makes it impossible for them to surprise us. In here, we have the advantage.”

  From this back room, I have a clear view all the way to the front of the house. Once anyone comes through the front door, they’ll only have to take a couple steps for them to be in my line of sight. And when they are, it’s not going to be pretty.

  “Let’s move this couch and get behind it.” We get up and push the couch off of the side wall so that it’s facing the door and we can get behind it for cover. It dawns on me that we’re setting up the same way as when that asshole shot me. I pause for a moment as the memory of the flash from the barrel crosses my mind. I quickly shake it off and concentrate on the situation at hand. “You sit right there and don’t get up unless I say it’s okay, understand?” She hugs her knees to her chest and nods.

  It feels like I’m sitting here forever waiting. The moment brings me back to my time in the service when we’d have to wait out the enemy. My ears strain to hear any type of sound, but it’s quiet, almost too quiet. Right after that thought crosses my mind, I hear a crash coming from the front letting me know the door has been busted down. Elizabeth whimpers beside me and I feel her trembling against the side of my body.

  The first guy strides into the open and right as he turns toward me, I squeeze off two rounds. Both hit him in the chest and he crumbles to the floor. I keep my gun drawn, waiting for the second guy to enter. Suddenly, bullets come ricocheting off of everything in the room. Elizabeth screams and I throw my body on top of hers to shield her. Debris flies up in the air and it feels like the assault is never going to end. Then it goes quiet again, the only sound is our labored breathing. I place my hand gently over her mouth and whisper, “Shhh,” into her ear.

  After a few moments, footsteps crunch over the mangled pieces lying on the floor. Once he stops, I take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. I pop up from behind the couch and squeeze the trigger on my gun once I have it raised, hitting him in the shoulder. He stumbles back a few steps and tries to bring up his weapon, but I beat him to it and put another three rounds into his chest. He drops to the floor with a loud thump. I get up with my gun still out and kick their weapons away before I check their vitals to confirm they’re both dead.

  Rushing back over to Elizabeth, I squat down in front of her where she’s still curled up with her eyes squeezed shut. “Elizabeth, you’re okay.” When she doesn’t respond or open her eyes, I cup her face in my hands and say, “Look at me, sweetheart.” Her eyes finally look up at me and all I see is this sweet innocent girl who is scared out of her mind. “Those guys aren’t going to hurt you, okay?”

  “Are th-they d-dead?” I almost don’t hear what she asks her voice is so low.

  I nod in response, not knowing really what else to say. Yes, you just watched me kill two men, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat. It was either them or us, and I’ll choose them every damn time. I just hope she sees it that way.

  Before I can say anything else, I hear cars pulling up, their tires kicking up the dirt driveway. Her eyes widen as soon as she hears it. “Oh, God, they sent more.”

  I get to my knees and look out the window to see Turner and one other guy. “No, it’s the cops.”

  “The cops? How did the cops get here? Are they going to take you to jail?”

  I hold my hands out in front of me to stop her questions. “Relax. I text messaged a friend saying that I needed help. He must’ve called the cops. It was self-defense, so I’m not going to go to jail. Just do whatever the officers ask you to do, okay?” She nods her understanding.

  “Police! Put your hands up where I can see them!” Turner shouts. Even though he knows it’s me, he still has to follow procedure to keep my cover.

  “Stand up slowly with your hands up,” I instruct Elizabeth. We both rise to our feet, hands in the air. She gasps loudly and starts to cry as soon as she sees the second dude bleeding out all over the carpet. I wish I could shield her from that image and take this memory away.

  After we’re brought outside in handcuffs and patted down, they uncuff us to get our stories. “I need you to step over here and tell me what happened,” Turner says to me. He leads me away from Elizabeth so she can’t hear us.

  “How the fuck did they find us?” I ask, seething with anger. Then it hits me.

  Her backpack.

  I never searched it to see what she packed.

  “Her bag. She must have a phone or something in there,” I say.

  “You didn’t look through it?” he asks in disbelief.

  “Everything happened so fast I never thought about it.” Hell, we almost got caught leaving.

  “Where’s her bag?”

  “Inside the house.” My hand runs down my face roughly.

  “I’ll go get it so you can look through it.” He runs back in and I walk over to Elizabeth.

  “What did you pack in your bag before we left?” I ask her.

  “Just a few clothes, some toiletries, and my cell phone. Why?”

  I look down at the ground and shake my head. I’m disappointed in myself for failing to do something that should be routine. “That’s how they found us.”

  “But it’s not on.” Her eyebrows dip down in confusion.

  “It doesn’t have to be. We need to ditch it before we go.” She nods in agreement, but the blank stare on her face tells me she’s still in shock. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Turner come back out of the house with Elizabeth’s bag in hand. “He has a few more questions for me, but he wanted to get your bag out of the house for you first. I’ll go through it and toss the phone.” I kiss her on the cheek and walk back over to my boss. “This is going to shit quickly, sir. What are we going to do now? We can’t exactly stay here.” My hand rakes through my hair and tugs on the ends in frustration.

  “You’ve got some cash, you might have to get a hotel for a night or two while I figure out a place to put you.” I’m about to say something when he nods his head at the person behind me. His partner stands next to us. “What’d you find?”

  “These are cartel guys.”

  Shit. “How do you know?” If the cartel is after our asses, then we’re in deeper than I originally thought.

  “They have ‘Mal’ tattooed on their necks. It’s their signature mark for all members of the Los Malvados gang.”

  “Son of a bitch,” we say at the same time.

  “I’ll get this cleaned up. You two get the hell out of here.” I don’t waste an
y time. I wave over Elizabeth, they give her some bullshit excuse about not needing her statement right now since they have mine, and we get on the road.

  We’ve been driving for about an hour and she hasn’t muttered two words to me. I’ve left her alone knowing today was probably a lot to take in. “How are you doing over there?”

  She turns toward me. “I’m okay, I guess.”

  “I know that shit is hard to see, but you have to know that I did what was best for us. I had no ch—”

  “Alex, I know. I’m thankful you stopped them. Lord knows I wouldn’t have been able to defend myself. Do you know who they were?” Even a few hours later, the fear in her voice is clear as day.

  Keeping my eyes on the road, I shake my head. All she really knows about this whole fucked up situation is that Cal wants me to murder Hutchison. She has no clue about all the other shit, and I plan to keep it that way until all of this is over with.

  I drive us another two hours in the opposite direction before my eyelids feel like they’re made of lead and I can’t hold them open anymore. Stopping at the first place I see, I lay down on this lumpy, dusty mattress with Elizabeth in my arms, and the day’s events come crashing down on me. Whenever bad things went down while I was deployed, this would always happen. My brain has too much time to think and process things right before I go to sleep. Maybe that’s why I get nightmares sometimes. I’m replaying everything in my mind and trying to see if it was at all avoidable. I should’ve been on my fucking game and thought to check her bag. Just like before, she clouds my mind and my only thought at the time was getting her the hell out of there. I was sloppy and can’t afford to make mistakes like that again. It almost cost us everything.

  “HEY,” I SAY into the phone as I stand outside the hotel room. It’s cold as balls this early and I can see my breath as I talk. Elizabeth is still sleeping, so I want to get this over with before she wakes up and starts asking questions again.

  “What’s up, Matthews?”

  “Sir, I need a favor.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I need you to have someone leave another gun in my glove box.”

  “Why?” he asks confused.

  “I want Elizabeth to have one when I have to leave the motel for shit.”

  He lets out a deep sigh. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “It’s not like she’s going to be carrying it and I’ll give her the run down on how to use it. I’d just feel better with all this shit going on if she had it just in case. Can you make that happen?”

  There’s a long pause and I’m starting to get pissed knowing he’s about to reject my request. “Fine,” he finally says, much to my relief. “I’ll have someone dump one in there overnight. Just make sure she knows how to use it, alright?”

  “You got it.”

  “Hang in there, okay? We’re real close to ending all of this.”

  I’m kind of tired of hearing him say that. I’m not sure how much longer Elizabeth can deal with this. Shit, it’s starting to wear on me. She’s strong as hell, but I can see the stress is starting to take its toll on her. It’s obvious in the way she worries her lip between her teeth, how she bites her nails, and when she stares off into space in deep thought. I want her to be in control of her life. Not have some asshole like Cal drag her down, drowning her in misery. As long as he’s out there, she’ll have to keep looking over her shoulder, afraid he’s found her. I have no doubts that if he ever locates her, he’ll kill her.

  I’m sure the cartel is out looking for me more than her since I know what they’re trying to accomplish. Seeing how close they got to us makes me wonder if I should have left her at home and came for her when this was done. I shake my head to myself. The deadline was fast approaching and Cal told me he’d hurt her if Hutchison wasn’t killed in two weeks. I made the right decision. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

  After I hang up the phone, I walk back into the hotel room to find Elizabeth sitting up in bed, staring at the wall. “Good morning, sweetheart.” I walk over to her and plant a kiss on her lips. I can’t help it. It’s just a natural reaction now. Pulling back, I flash her a smile.

  “Good morning. Where were you?” She’s guarded, waiting for me to tell her that I can’t say. I hate keeping secrets from her, but I have to right now.

  “I was outside making a phone call.”

  “Let me guess, you won’t—or can’t—tell me who you were talking to,” she says in a monotone voice that lets me know she’s getting sick of the same answer.

  Sighing, I close my eyes and shake my head. When I open them, I see her posture sag in disappointment and I want to punch something for making her feel this way. Moving toward the bed, I sit down on it. “Come here.” I grab her arm and move her to sit in front of me between my outstretched legs. I wrap my arms around her and hold her to me. She resists at first, but soon melts back into me. Releasing my hold on her, my hands go to her shoulders and slowly kneed the muscles. She’s wound up tight and I’m hoping this provides a little bit of relaxation for her. A moment where she can close her eyes, shut off her brain, and forget about the last twelve hours.

  And hopefully not be so pissed at me.

  Her head lolls to the side as I work her neck, rubbing small circles with my thumbs. “Mmm, right there,” she moans. “Harder.” I apply more pressure as demanded. “Yeeeeesssss,” she drags out. I’m a bastard for having these thoughts given the timing, but damn if I don’t want to bury myself in her.

  “You keep making those noises and your shoulders won’t be the only thing I’m rubbing.” Her breath hitches giving away the affect I have on her. I couldn’t stop the cocky grin that spreads across my face even if I tried. With my dick pressed firmly against the front of my pants, I continue to rub her back.

  “When was the last time you talked to your mother?” I ask, wanting to know how she’s doing.

  “I talked to her last Monday, same as every week. She might get worried if she doesn’t hear from me tomorrow.”

  “How’s she doing?”

  “She’s doing really well. Her energy levels have increased and she seems . . .” she trails off for a second, “happier.”

  “Do you ever talk to her about you and Cal? How miserable you were? The things he did to you?” I try to hide the anger in my voice, but I know I fail miserably. If her mother knows, she’s just as bad as that prick in my book.

  She lets out a deep sigh. “Yes and no. I’ve tried in the past to talk to her about how I wasn’t happy. She always brushed it off. Does she know he hits me or that he—” She stops abruptly. My hands pause against her lower back waiting for her to finish her thought. “No, she doesn’t know the details of the monster I’m married to.”

  “You were going to say something and stopped. What were you going to say?”

  “I was going to say that she doesn’t know he cheats on me.” The whole sentence comes out choppy, like she’s making it up as she speaks. My eyebrow arches in suspicion.

  “Why wouldn’t you just say that then?”

  “Because I’m sick of dwelling on the past. There’s things that can’t be changed no matter how much I wish they could and I’m tired of thinking about it,” she says angrily. Her whole body tenses again and I fight to hold my tongue. The detective in me wants to push the issue and get answers, but the guy that loves her and wants to keep her from feeling pain wants to let it go. For now, the sap in me wins.

  “Have you hung out with Catherine lately?” I feel bad that I’m about to use her to get information, but I’ll do whatever it takes at this point.

  “Actually no,” she says in a calmer voice. I’m relieved she seems to have let her anger go. “I haven’t seen her in about two months or so. It’s definitely been since before my little episode on stage that day with Cal. A part of me thinks she’s embarrassed since people were speculating that I was crazy and not fit to be the next First Lady and she didn’t want to associate with me. God forbid her
name be tarnished.” She sighs. “Oh well, I think it’s for the best. I didn’t really like her that much anyway. I was only friends with her because of Cal.”

  Bingo.

  That’s just the opening I need. “Why would Cal want you to be friends with her?” My hands travel gradually up her spine, massaging along the way until I reach her neck.

  “His family’s company provides the steel for her husband’s shipping company. It just looks good to be friendly and helps keep the contracts. Although I never understood why it was me that had to kiss Catherine’s ass. I always felt like it should’ve been the other way around given the favors Cal was constantly doing for Henry.”

  “What favors?” I ask coolly.

  “I don’t know the specifics. I just overheard Cal on the phone one day talking about getting the votes so I think he might have sponsored a piece of legislation that helped him in some way.”

  “How do you know that had anything to do with Henry?”

  “Because he had just gotten off the phone with him prior to that and seemed on edge and agitated. I assumed one had to do with the other.”

  That might be the connection we were looking for.

  True to Turner’s word, the next morning I find an extra glock sitting in the glove compartment. I put it in the waistband of my jeans before getting out of the car and heading back to the room. Elizabeth is sitting on the bed watching television when I come back in. “I wanted to talk to you about something,” I start.

  “Sure,” she says, turning toward me. “What is it?”

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately after the cabin incident, and I think it would be a good idea if you had something to protect yourself.” Her head tilts to the side in confusion until I pull out the gun, causing her eyes to widen.