Table of Contents
Title Page
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
To Kill For
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
One
Two
Three
True Deceit
A.J. Carella
PUBLISHED BY:
A.J. Carella
Copyright © 2015
One
The dim bulb barely reached the dark recesses of the room as one by one the men took their seats.
Once the eight men were seated around the weathered wooden oval table, the figure at one end spoke. “Thank you all for coming.” He looked around the table, looking each man in the eye. Each of these people had been handpicked to take a seat at this table.
“Why did you call us here? I had to cancel a meeting at the White House for this,” the man on his immediate right complained.
“I have a new target gentlemen.” He gestured at the folders on the table in front of each of the chairs.
“Wait a minute, this goes against the rules,” another one of the men spoke up. “They are very clear; no more than one target every six months.”
“Don’t tell me the rules,” he snapped. “I wrote the damn rules.”
“So what is this then?” Another man held up his folder. “You don’t have to abide by them, is that it? The rules are in place for our own protection, to minimize our risk.”
He nodded, acknowledging the point. “Yes. But this case is unusual. This is personal. This is about Michael.”
He watched the glances pass between them all and knew that he had won. Not one of them would dare to vote against him now. This is why he had called them here: to vote. No action could be taken by any one member without the others. There was only one outcome if they agreed. “So, are we ready to vote? Who is in agreement?” He smiled to himself as everyone raised their hands. “Good. It’s decided then.”
He stood up from the table. “Don’t forget to shred your files before leaving the room.”
All the men picked up their file. With the exception of one, they made their way over to the shredder in the corner of the room. The one who remained stood and came over to him.
“Can I have a quick word?”
He turned to face the man who had complained about cancelling his meeting. “Of course.”
“Seeing as I’m already here, I thought I might stay awhile if that’s ok.”
He smiled. “Of course,” he said again, reaching for the keychain on his belt. “Any particular choice?”
“The redhead.”
The man reached for the key as he held it out but he pulled it out of reach. “I don’t want a repeat of last time. She was out of action for weeks after you finished with her and she hasn’t outlived her usefulness yet.”
“I’ll be careful.” The man was visibly struggling to contain his excitement as he looked longingly at the key. “I promise.”
“Make sure you are,” he said, handing it over.
He watched as the man quickly went and shredded his file before letting himself out of the room. He waited until everyone had left before opening his own copy and looking at the pictures inside. He knew that Michael would thank him for this one day.
Meticulous about security, he shredded it before leaving the room and locking the door behind him. Once outside, he paused. He should leave, he had work to do, but the temptation was so close and he was feeling very pleased with himself. I deserve a reward. Instead of taking the stairs that would take him back upstairs, he turned left.
The tunnel had been hewn out of rock a long time ago and he’d come across it quite by accident. He’d bought this property when he’d first known that he needed somewhere private to go. Somewhere out of the way, remote. This abandoned farm had fit the bill perfectly, miles from anywhere on the outskirts of a town that was dying a little bit more with each passing year. The discovery of the tunnel system had been an unexpected bonus and one he had made full use of and improved upon.
At first the rudimentary lighting system showed nothing more than bare walls as he made his way deeper into the tunnel but after a few hundred feet, he started passing heavy wooden doors built into the rock. He’d passed several before he heard the sound of a woman screaming out in pain and chuckled to himself. It sounded like he was having a good time. The sound got louder as he got closer until he was right outside the door. He paused for a moment, tempted to slide open the small viewing panel built into the door at eye level, but decided against it. He had his own entertainment to get to and he didn’t want to deny himself any longer.
The screams faded once more as he carried on walking until he could no longer hear them and before long he found himself at his destination. The door was the same as all the other doors along the tunnel but this one was his favorite. Behind it was the one he’d selected for himself, the one no one else was allowed access to.
Taking a key off his belt he slid it into the lock and turned, the metallic groan as the bold slid free alerting the occupant to his arrival. She scampered off the dirty mattress on the floor where she’d been sitting and pressed herself against the far wall. He smiled. He loved to see their fear.
“Missed me?” He asked as he closed the door behind him.
Two
“I just don’t understand why you’re going.”
Jennifer let out a sigh against the mouthpiece of the phone. She knew her sister was only looking out for her, but she didn’t understand. “Sarah, we’ve been together since we were in high school, how can I just walk away from that without trying to make it work?”
“You’ve been trying to make it w
ork for the past two years and you’ve been utterly miserable. What makes you think things are going to change? Come on, you’ve done the hard part, you made the break, please don’t take a step backwards.”
“Look, I’ve got to go,” Jennifer interrupted.” I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” Not waiting for a reply she gently placed the phone back in its cradle and let out a long breath. She loved Sarah dearly and they were very close, but sometimes Jennifer wished she would just butt out. Despite what she’d told her though, her mind pondered her words as she went upstairs to get changed and ready for her dinner date with her estranged husband.
After nearly ten years of marriage it had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done when she’d finally summoned the courage leave. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Michael any more, it was just that she wasn’t in love with him. He’d changed over the years— as had she—and all those things that she’d found wonderful about him when they’d first met had become an irritation. She’d always been the quieter of the two, bowing to Michael’s wishes, letting him take charge. At first she had appreciated this show of masculine strength, but as time went on and she’d become more confident in herself, she’d realized that in fact it was none of those things and was just plain controlling.
She wasn’t sure herself why she’d agreed to have dinner with him but when he’d called he’d seemed so lost, so desperate, that in a moment of weakness she’d agreed. In all the time they’d been together she couldn’t remember a single time he’d cooked for her so it would be a new experience at the very least.
Checking in the hall mirror one last time, she looked herself over critically. Never having had any children, she’d retained the slim boyish figure she’d had in high school and apart from a few more wrinkles and a few strands of grey in her long dark hair, she hadn’t changed much. Satisfied, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, grabbed her car keys from the table under the mirror, and left the house. When she’d been looking for a place to rent she had consciously chosen a house across town it would take her at least twenty minutes to get to their old house. She didn’t want to be late. One of his pet peeves was lateness and it wouldn’t make a good start to the evening.
***
Jennifer pulled her car onto the drive and switched off the engine. Stepping out she looked up at the house, surprised at her sudden desire to get back into the car and leave again without even going inside. She’d only been gone a few weeks but maybe she’d moved on more that she realized if the thought of revisiting her marriage again was filling her with dread. Before she could do anything about it though, the front door was thrown open and light spilled onto the front porch.
“Jennifer, right on time.”
Forcing herself to smile, Jennifer walked up the steps to where Michael was waiting for her in the doorway.
“Hi, Michael,” she replied, turning her face and offering her cheek as he leaned in to kiss her. She couldn’t fail to spot the shadow that fell across his face at this but he quickly recovered and the smile returned.
“I’m so glad you agreed to come.” He ushered her in and closed the door. “It’s really good to see you, Jennifer; I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.” And it was true, she had missed him. But she wasn’t sure if that was because she had missed him or because she just missed having someone around. She’d never lived alone before; she’d gone from living with her parents to moving in with Michael so it was a completely new experience. One that was taking a bit of getting used to.
Hanging her jacket on the rack in the hall she followed him through to the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks. He’d obviously gone to a huge amount of effort. Candles were flickering on just about every available surface and the functional kitchen table now bore a thick red tablecloth at the centre of which was a vase containing long-stemmed red roses.
“Wow,” was all she could manage.
“Do you like it?”
She nodded. She did like it, but she couldn’t help but wonder why he’d never made such an effort when they were still together. “It looks lovely.”
“Take a seat, Madame, your waiter will be with you shortly.” Michael gestured to the chair he was holding out for her, smiling.
Jennifer sat down and watched as he went into the main kitchen area to put the finishing touches to their dinner. It was very obvious that he wasn’t at all at home in the kitchen from the mess he’d made whilst cooking, but that just made it all the nicer that he’d gone to such a lot of effort.
“You made this yourself?” she asked as he placed a steaming bowl of pasta in front of her.
“From scratch” He grinned as he took his place across the table from her. “Wine?”
She nodded. “Just a small one, I’m driving. So, how are things? How’s that job going?” She knew he was still working on a new apartment block that was being built just outside town.
He shrugged. “Okay, we’ve had a lot of down time because of the shitty weather so I’ve had quite a bit of spare time. What about you? Did your boss get that contract he was going after?”
Jennifer worked as a receptionist for a gym equipment supplies company. Her boss had been chasing a contract from a national chain of gyms which could quadruple the company’s turnover overnight. On more than one occasion she’d accompanied him to dinners and drinks in an attempt to charm the owners.
“He got word last week actually that he’d got it.”
“Pay raise?”
Jennifer laughed. “I don’t know about that but once all the excitement has died down I might well ask!” She took a bite of the pasta. “This is really good. You know, you should cook more often.” She was starting to relax a bit now. Things had been incredibly tense between them since she’d left and it was nice that they were now able to laugh in each other’s company again.
“If I did, would you come and eat it with me?”
“Sure,” she had to be careful how she answered. Though it was nice that they were starting to be friends again, she had no idea if there was any hope for them and she didn’t want to be unfair. “That’s what friends do isn’t it?”
He frowned and didn’t reply, looking down at his food instead of at her.
“Sarah’s doing well, picking up a lot of freelance work,” Jennifer offered in an attempt to change the subject. “I don’t understand all that computer stuff she does, but she seems to be good at it.”
“That’s great, but do we have to talk about your sister? Just once can we have a conversation without ending up talking about her?” he snapped.
She should have known better. Michael and her sister didn’t get along, which had added to strain on their marriage recently as Sarah and she were incredibly close. More like best friends really.
“I didn’t realize that it bothered you that much.”
“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “It’s just I’ve been looking forward to tonight so much and I really want it to be just about us.”
Sarah was right, Jennifer thought, I shouldn’t have come. He clearly had very different ideas about what tonight was all about than she did.
“Mike, listen, it’s great that we can do this, really, but nothing’s changed.” She tried to find the words that would explain without hurting him. “I love you, always will, but things are different now. We’ve both changed such a lot since high school, we want different things now.”
His face darkened and he picked up his plate before sending it crashing to the floor. She jumped and covered her mouth with her hands.
“No, you want different things. I never wanted it to change, I was happy.” He glared at her, breathing heavily. “You had to go and spoil it all.”
“Okay, I think it’s time I left.” She didn’t want to get into another row with him, wouldn’t get into another row with him. She didn’t have to any more. She pushed her chair back and stood. “I’m sorry Mike but it’s obviously too soon.”
“No.” he grabbed her arm. “Please, Jen
nifer, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my temper.” He looked at the mess on the floor. “It’ll only take a minute to clear this up and then we can start again. Please.”
She didn’t want to stay though, she wanted to get out of there and never come back. If she’d had doubts before, he’d chased them away. They were done.
“I’m sorry Michael.” She looked at his hand pointedly before shaking it off. Without another word she left the kitchen, retrieved her coat and walked out of the house. And it felt good.
Three
Michael spent another sleepless night lying in bed just staring at the ceiling. It had been a few days since the disastrous dinner with Jennifer and he’d barely slept since. He just kept replaying it over and over in his mind almost as if he was expecting a different outcome. The sun climbing higher in the sky outside his bedroom window finally forced him to get out of bed. It was the first time in a while that he hadn’t woken to the sound of rain lashing against glass and it lifted his mood.
Get up. Go to work. His boss had been quite understanding over the last few weeks since Jennifer had left, putting up with his sporadic attendance and lack of focus on his work, but he couldn’t count on it for much longer. If he didn’t get his shit together he was going to be unemployed on top of everything else.
He got in the shower and ran the water hot as he could bear. The needles of water stung as they hit his skin, driving away the weariness in his body, leaving him refreshed. It didn’t take him long to get dressed and he was soon making his way downstairs. Checking his watch he saw that he still had a little time to have breakfast before he needed to leave.
The post hit the mat before he reached the kitchen. He turned back and scooped it up, flicking through it quickly. It was mostly bills and junk mail, but one envelope stood out from the others. It was cream coloured, thicker than usual and obviously not a bill. Leaving the rest on the hall table, he took the envelope to the kitchen and sat at the table to open it.
He forgot about work as he read the words. He had to read the letter twice, sure that he must have got it wrong the first time, but he hadn’t. Jennifer had filed for a divorce. Angrily he balled up the letter and threw it in the trash. No way. No way was he letting his marriage end without a fight.
True Deceit (Blindsided Book 1) Page 1
