Liam's Witness Protection (Man On A Mission 4)

by Amelia Autin

  Cate grabbed her clothes and hurried back into the bathroom—the screen gave her some privacy, but not enough to dress. “Oatmeal’s fine,” she said right before she closed the door. “I’m not picky.”

  * * *

  Liam’s agency-issued cell phone rang just as he was pouring himself a second cup of coffee. He answered it, but lost the signal before he could find out who was calling, so he excused himself from the table and took his coffee cup and cell phone outside onto the front porch. Sure enough, it rang again almost immediately.

  “Yeah?” Even though supposedly no one but the agency, his brother and Callahan had the number, Liam wasn’t about to answer with his name.

  “Liam.” Alec’s voice sounded in his ear. “I’m glad I reached you. Angel’s desperate to know how Cate is.”

  “She’s fine.”

  “Don’t tell me where she is, but how safe is she? All Cody would tell me was that Nick D’Arcy has her stashed someplace. But he says he doesn’t know where that is.”

  “Yeah, as far as I know, he doesn’t know.” Liam laughed a little under his breath at the irony of hiding out in Cody’s cabin without Cody’s knowledge. “I’m staying with her for now.”

  “You are? That’s good.” Alec’s voice had betrayed his initial surprise, but it had quickly been followed up with approval.

  “Yeah. And you can tell your wife to stop worrying. Even if someone knew where to look, I don’t think they’d find us. And if they did, we’d have plenty of warning,” he added cryptically.

  “That’s good to hear.” There was a muffled sound, as if Alec was holding his hand over the phone and talking to someone. Probably Angelina, Liam theorized. His theory was confirmed when the warm contralto belonging to his sister-in-law spoke in his ear.

  “Liam? Please, may I speak with Cate?”

  “Sure. Hold on.” He stepped to the doorway and called, “Cate? Angelina’s on the phone. She wants to speak with you.”

  He handed Cate the cell phone when she came outside, but as he did he warned her, “Stay out here. Remember what Callahan said, that reception inside the cabin isn’t the greatest. He’s right—I already had one dropped call inside.”

  Cate nodded and flashed Liam a grateful smile, then took the phone and moved a little away from him before speaking. He tried not to listen to her end of the conversation with her cousin, but even though she was speaking in Zakharan he couldn’t help understanding most of what she was saying. He reached out quickly and grabbed the phone from her just before she revealed their location.

  “Need to know,” he reminded her, dead serious, holding the phone against his shirt so their voices couldn’t be heard on the other end.

  “But my cousin...surely it’s safe to—”

  “I didn’t tell Alec. Don’t tell Angelina. Especially not over the phone. You don’t know who’s listening.”

  Cate’s silvery-blue eyes were huge in her suddenly pale face. “I thought we were safe here.”

  “We are,” he explained patiently. “For now. But in order to stay safe, we have to think safe. Act safe.” He lifted the phone and spoke. “Put Alec back on, will you?” And when he heard his brother’s voice he said, “Cate was just about to tell Angelina where we are.” He winced at the curse from the other end, followed by staccato reminders. “Yeah. I know. I know. And she knows, too. She just didn’t realize—look, you don’t have to tell me how to do my job. Just tell Angelina I won’t let anything happen to Cate, okay?”

  “I’ll tell her,” his brother said.

  “And, Alec? Do we know anything about how the guns were smuggled into the courthouse?”

  “The FBI is working on that. The agency, too, but separately.”

  “I’ll bet. I got the impression D’Arcy doesn’t trust the FBI at this point, and from what he had to say I don’t blame him. I just hope it wasn’t them. Or the US Marshals Service. Or...oh hell, you know what I mean. Keep me posted if there’s something I need to know, okay?”

  “Will do.” Liam started to disconnect but Alec stopped him. “Oh wait, I forgot to tell you.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “Remember the two men chasing after you in the courthouse? The ones you thought might be FBI or backup killers?”

  “Yeah?”

  Alec chuckled softly. “Turns out they’re neither. You won’t believe this, but they’re from the Zakharian National Forces.”

  “What? How...why...?”

  “Long story, but they were trying to help you. They weren’t armed—no way they could get firearms into the courthouse past security—but they were sent to protect Cate. I just found out, or I’d have told you sooner.”

  “Thanks. That’s one less thing to worry about anyway. Talk to you later.” Liam disconnected, then glanced over at Cate, who was standing exactly where she’d been a minute before. And her absolute stillness worried him. “Cate?”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  He brought his thoughts back to what she’d almost done—reveal their location over the phone. “That’s why you have me.” He smiled to ease her alarm and self-blame. “You’re careful, Cate. And like you told D’Arcy, you stayed alive and on the run for six years, even with a price tag on your head. That takes smarts. But you’re not a professional at this—I am. This is what I do for a living—keeping people alive.”

  “You and Alec.”

  That little imp of jealousy returned when she spoke his brother’s name, but he fought it off. “Yeah, Alec used to be a bodyguard, too. But not anymore. Now he’s the regional security officer at the US embassy in Drago.”

  “Yes, I know.” She breathed deeply all of a sudden. “But he and Angelina were watching over me in Zakhar, making sure I was safe. And Alec told me he’d never forgive himself if anything happened to me because he convinced me to testify.”

  “You mentioned before he was the one who got you to testify.” He took her arm and led her to the porch steps, then sat down and drew her down beside him. “But I thought you weren’t supposed to have any contact with Alec before the trial because he’s a witness, too. He didn’t tell me you were living with Angelina and him.”

  “I wasn’t. I was living in the royal palace.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  She shook her head. “No, the king arranged it. It’s kind of an involved story, and I don’t know all of it, but...”

  Liam glanced around the clearing. “We appear to have plenty of time. There’s nothing urgent we have to do as far as I know.”

  Cate looked at her hands, then at him. “The king had recruited Alec’s assistance in stopping a human trafficking ring that was operating between Zakhar and the US. It also entailed corruption and visa fraud at the US embassy—that’s where Alec came in.”

  “That much I know.”

  “Yes, well...” She paused to consider her words. “I told you Vishenko was directly involved in trying to assassinate the crown prince, didn’t I?” When Liam nodded she continued. “He’s also suspected of having the king’s cousin murdered in jail.” She shivered, despite the sun’s warmth. “I don’t know where the investigation on that stands. And no one knows just how much involvement Vishenko had in the attempted assassination of the king a few years back, and the woman who is now his queen. But the attempt on the life of the crown prince—responsibility for that has been established beyond a reasonable doubt.”

  “One of the shooters confessed, naming Vishenko as the man who supplied the money,” he remembered. “Isn’t that what you said?”

  “Yes, but they’ve nailed down the money trail, and it leads right to Vishenko. If they ever get him in a Zakharian courtroom...”

  “Yeah, but D’Arcy told me that’s a big ‘if.’”

  “I don’t know about that. The king is...
” There was admiration in her voice, and an obvious desire to believe the king would not allow Vishenko to escape justice, no matter what he had to do. Then she picked up her story again.

  “The king told Alec it mattered just as much to him that Vishenko pay for his role in the human trafficking conspiracy as it did for the part he played in trying to kill the king’s son. When the king learned I had evidence against Vishenko and was willing to testify in court about what I knew, he insisted on providing me with round-the-clock protection—the same protection the royal security details provide for the king, the queen and the crown prince.”

  Now it made sense to him that men from the Zakharian National Forces were in the courthouse, guarding Cate as best they could without firearms, but he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to interrupt her.

  She smiled softly. “The king was so kind—he said it would be best for me to live in the royal palace while I waited for the conspiracy trial, because it would be easier to protect me there than anywhere else. But of course, every time I came over here—depositions, prepping for the trial, the trial itself—I was guarded by US Marshals.”

  And Zakharian agents, he added in his mind.

  Her smile faded. “I knew Vishenko would stop at nothing to silence me. I tried to warn everyone, especially the prosecutors. I really did, Liam.” Her eyes beseeched him to believe her.

  “I believe you.”

  “Alec believed me, too. And Angelina. And the king. They all knew I was the key witness. And they all knew Vishenko had killed every witness who’d ever tried to testify against him. No proof—he was too smart for that—but...” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I never wanted anyone to die because of me. I should have known...should have expected...”

  “How could you know? How could anyone predict what would happen in the courthouse?”

  Cate suddenly stood up, and her voice was hard, cold and unforgiving—of herself. “I could have. Because I know him. I should have killed him years ago, but I was a coward. Instead of killing him, I took all the evidence I could lay my hands on...and I ran.” Self-recrimination colored her next words. “I told you I was a coward, Liam, but you didn’t want to believe it. That prosecutor? The other witness? They’re dead because I didn’t kill Vishenko when I had the chance.”

  Before Liam could react, before he could stop her, Cate stormed up the steps and entered the cabin, slamming the door shut behind her.

  Liam started to go after her. But he’d only taken two steps when a faint sound from the other side of the clearing had him whirling around, his SIG SAUER in his hand.

  Callahan froze in his tracks, but by no other sign did he indicate a gun was aiming at his heart. “Guess I should have called to let you know I was on the way,” he said laconically.

  Liam chuckled softly and holstered his gun. “Yeah, might have been a good idea.” He met Callahan halfway and relieved him of the cooler he was carrying.

  “Brought you some milk, eggs and butter. Fresh bread, some cookies and an apple pie, too. Mandy—my wife—likes to bake when she’s worried. And she’s plenty worried right now, so we’ve got more bread and other baked goods than we know what to do with.”

  Liam honed in on the most important fact as they walked toward the cabin. “What’s she worried about? I thought this place was as secret as we could wish for.”

  “It is secret. But no place is perfect. Even though Mandy doesn’t know who you are, she knows why you’re here...and she’s remembering the two times we’ve been holed up here ourselves.”

  “Keira mentioned you’d used the place for this kind of thing before.”

  “Yeah. The first time was before we were married—right after Mandy’s home was firebombed by men trying to kill me. The second time was right after our nearest neighbor showed up on our doorstep bleeding out, trying to warn me I headed up a hit list—and our kids were with us. Not good memories, either of them.”

  “But—”

  Callahan mounted the porch stairs ahead of him and opened the cabin door. “Mandy’s worrying for nothing. D’Arcy’s got our backs on this, so we’re good.”

  * * *

  “Every man has his price,” Aleksandrov Vishenko repeated to himself in Russian, as he’d been doing almost hourly while he was awake—and even sporadically during his sleep—ever since he’d met with the government official and made him the offer. A day had passed, and he still hadn’t heard back. Not a single word. “Ten million dollars. How can he turn it down? He cannot,” he reassured himself. “He is merely trying to see if I will raise the price. He is a cunning one, that man. Oh yes, cunning as a fox. He has tried to bring me down for years, and has failed every time. So now he will join hands with me instead.”

  He filled his snifter with cognac, trying not to think of how he was drinking more and more these days. How the stress over the impending trial was driving him to rely on the Courvoisier L’Essence he loved but had always drunk sparingly...until now.

  He owned the world. His world. But unless Caterina Mateja could be silenced, his world would collapse around his ears. That was not going to happen. He’d killed to reach the top, and he’d killed to stay on top. He’d killed small men and great ones. He’d killed men who were nearly as vicious and ruthless as he was, but not quite. Not quite. He had always been the victor. That was not going to change. So one slight woman—a woman who couldn’t even prevent him from taking her body wherever and whenever he wanted—was not going to vanquish him. Caterina would die. And Vishenko’s empire would be secure again.

  * * *

  After Callahan left, reminding them he’d be back to check on them that evening, Liam told Cate, “We’ll go stir-crazy cooped up in this cabin. Let’s take a walk.”

  Cate finished putting away the breakfast dishes from the dish drainer. “Okay.”

  Not the most enthusiastic response, but Liam didn’t care about that. He needed to get Cate talking to him again, to find out exactly what she meant about not killing Vishenko when she had the chance. Not just because his curiosity had been piqued, but because he needed to understand. And at the same time, needed to make her understand something important, too.

  Not killing someone—not even someone as evil as Vishenko—didn’t make you a coward. Not everyone could kill. Liam didn’t have that strict moral inhibition, but that didn’t mean he took killing lightly. He didn’t.

  He’d killed three times now, the last being one of the shooters in the courthouse. The first time he’d taken a human life he’d brooded over it until Alec had forcefully reminded him of what would have happened if he hadn’t done it—that the diplomat he’d been protecting would have been assassinated, and the peace deal the man had been trying to broker would have been destroyed. The second time, Liam had handled on his own. He’d examined his conscience minutely, but had walked away secure in his belief that he’d done the right thing for the innocents involved.

  The same went for what he’d done in the courthouse. He regretted the necessity, but he didn’t regret the killing. He was even more convinced now of the rightness of what he’d done than he’d been at the time, because he knew Cate now. Because he knew what she’d suffered at Vishenko’s hands. Because he knew she didn’t deserve to die for trying to put Vishenko behind bars where he belonged.

  But, just because he could kill and Cate couldn’t, didn’t make her a coward. He didn’t know the circumstances, for one thing. In a life-or-death situation he could pull the trigger. But a preemptive killing? He didn’t think so. The rule of law had to be the rule of law for everyone, himself included, or society as a whole would crumble.

  He watched as Cate sat at the kitchen table, tugged her sneakers back on and tied the laces. Her slender wrists caught his attention as she did that—wrists that bore the evidence of how brave Cate really was. Somehow he had to make her understand.

 
They walked in silence for a while, uphill mostly, saving their breath for the climb. Occasionally a leafy branch or two from the tall bushes lining the path blocked their way, and Liam did his best to hold them back so Cate would have clear access. He’d chosen this path because he thought he remembered it led to a waterfall, and the faint sound of rushing water in the distance grew louder the farther they went, confirming his hunch. Eventually the path opened up into a rocky clearing at the base of a pristine waterfall, and they both stopped short.

  The water wasn’t a rushing torrent, but a steady stream, and as it fell fifty feet and splashed into the basin at the bottom it was even more beautiful than memory had painted it. Cate grasped his arm and said, “Oh, Liam! How lovely!”

  “I thought you’d like it.” He deliberately didn’t look down at her hand holding his arm, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that she was touching him voluntarily. But just the idea sent a thrill coursing through his body.

  The face she turned to him was soft and vulnerable, almost the same way she’d looked sleeping in his arms last night, and her silvery-blue eyes were lit from within. “I do like it. Oh I do.” She faced the waterfall again. “How close can we get? Can we walk behind the falls?”

  “If you don’t mind getting wet—and that water is cold—we can walk behind it all the way to the other side. I’ve done it before.”

  “Oh let’s do it.” Her excitement was contagious. “I don’t mind getting wet.”

  “Take my hand then. The rocks can be slippery.” She hesitated for a second and glanced down, as if she suddenly realized she’d taken hold of his arm as if it came naturally to her. Then she slid her hand in his, and carefully they picked their way across the rocks. Spray from the waterfall hit them occasionally, and Cate squealed like a little girl each time. It made Liam smile, because he’d never seen this youthful side of Cate. Had never known her as anything other than the somewhat somber woman she was now. But at the same time his heart ached that her life for the past nine years had been so restricted, had contained so little fun. She was only twenty-five. Far too young to be so serious.