“Why does it matter now?” Trevor hissed out.
“She needs to know the truth about you.”
“So then she’ll hate me as much as you do?”
“Something like that.”
She bounced back into the room, clearly fueled by a mix of adrenaline and fear. It made her slaphappy. “Here.”
Trevor regained some strength with each step. By the time they got back to the wooden box, he’d shrugged out of his jacket and was pulling on the lid.
Zach didn’t waste any time. His hands moved as fast as possible over the rusty bolts. With the final chinking sound as the metal hit the floor, both Zach and Trevor grabbed the edge and lifted.
Sela glanced over Zach’s shoulder. “What is it?”
The smell hit him first. Rank and rotting, he recognized the stench of death. Through what looked like miles of plastic wrap and thick stretches of tape lay what once was a person. Releasing the lid brought the truth rushing to the surface.
Trevor’s shoulders slumped. “Oh, damn.”
When Zach felt Sela press herself up against him, his protective senses kicked into gear. “Step back.”
Sela didn’t move. Her face paled to the color of chalk. “Is that—”
“Yeah,” Trevor said.
Zach tugged at the tape. Slipping the knife out of his back pocket, he clicked the blade open and sliced through the crinkling plastic.
“Who?” Sela covered her mouth with both hands but Zach could hear the question.
Answering her was what killed him. “Rod.”
“Are you sure?”
Guilt and rage crashed through him. All those doubts about Rod’s loyalty, all that anger about how he left them. And he’d been dead the whole time. Zach wanted to smash through the stone walls with his bare fists, punch them until they bled and he didn’t feel anything.
He swallowed down the conflicting emotions flooding through him, forcing his mind and body to wipe clean. “I know the watch. I have one just like it. All the Recovery agents do.”
It was all he could stand to look at. He didn’t want to see Rod’s face or what was left of him.
“It could be—”
Zach felt Sela’s hand rubbing against his back and wondered how long she’d been touching him. “It’s Rod.”
Trevor backed up until he leaned against the wall. “I assumed, but seeing this…”
Zach shook his head, fought to keep out the darkness that threatened to swallow him. “It’s too much. It never ends.”
“Zach, it’s okay,” she said.
“It has to end now.” Zach focused all of his energy on Trevor. “Tell her.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with Rod.”
“It has something to do with the situation we’re in.” Zach didn’t know how, but it did.
Trevor didn’t say anything for a few minutes. When he finally did, his voice was low and flat. “A tape.”
Zach’s mind sputtered. “What?”
“When my marriage broke apart we had an understanding. I wrote checks and she kept her mouth shut. Then one day she decided there was more money in talking than keeping quiet and used our son to get her way.”
“What does this have to do with WitSec?” Sela asked.
Trevor shook his head, closing his eyes as his face grew darker. “In a drunken mistake, I talked with Russell Ambrose, a guy high up in witness protection.”
Sela’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t drink.”
“Not anymore.”
The admission let Zach shift his focus. If he didn’t know better, he would say that was Trevor’s goal. To provide a focus on something other than death. “What was on the tape?
Trevor stared back with a bleak, desperate look in his eyes. In that moment he was a man who had lost everything. The money and power didn’t matter. He spilled his guts and each word made him look physically smaller to Zach. It was as if the other man was folding in on himself. Crumpling.
“Trevor?”
“A conversation about making my wife disappear.”
Sela’s eyes closed as she let out a long breath. “Oh, Trevor.”
Trevor switched to pleading. Still shaky on his feet, he used his hands and voice to get his point across. “My son means everything.”
Zach wasn’t in the mood for any of it. He snapped back to the present. They had bigger issues than Trevor’s questionable morals.
Rod was dead. Just thinking the words pushed a crushing weight down on Zach’s chest. He’d figure out how to deal with that pain later. Right now he needed to make sure Vince didn’t add to his body count. He’d caused enough destruction.
And Zach would make sure he paid for it. “Save the speeches for another time. We need a plan.”
“Cause a scene and lure Vince down here.”
Trevor voiced the very plan Zach formed in his head.
Sela glanced back and forth between the men. “What if he’s not here?”
“Then we could walk right out that door, which is why I’m betting he’s here. He can’t afford to let us escape.” Zach tried to imagine what Vince was thinking and doing. “He has to make sure all the evidence is gone this time.”
Sela rubbed her hands over her arms. “Evidence?”
“Witnesses,” Trevor explained.
“A diversion,” Zach said, ignoring the way fear tugged at the corners of her mouth. He had to stay focused. “We bring him down and we have a chance of taking him out.”
Sela stepped in front of Zach, her eyes searching his face. “Or he could hurt you.”
“Always a possibility.”
“No.” She shook her head hard. “Not one I’m willing to accept.”
“I’ll play dead.” Trevor’s voice boomed through the small space.
Zach didn’t argue. It made sense. Trevor was debilitated from his fall. He wouldn’t be able to stage a fight but he might be able to get off a shot or draw attention long enough for Zach to have a chance. “I need a gun.” Trevor held out his hand. “Vince has mine.”
“Not sure I trust you with one.” Zach still wavered on Trevor. Sure, he was hurt, but the man played games. He could be involved with Vince even now and plotting his own takedown.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to Sela.”
It was the one thing Trevor could say to change Zach’s mind. He saw the way Trevor had shifted closer to her. The pose wasn’t threatening. It was more paternal, like Trevor was doing what he could to shelter her.
But it wasn’t enough. “Why?”
“Zach!” Red-cheeked and furious, Sela laid into him. “You can’t still believe…”
Zach wanted to hear Trevor say it. Wanted Sela to hear the piece Zach knew in his heart to be true. That there was one part about Trevor she got right. “Why?”
“Because she supported me without question, never caring about the money, and offered her loyalty.” The words rushed out of Trevor. “She was the only person who never wanted anything from me.”
Satisfied, Zach nodded. “Then it’s time to pay her back.”
“We’ll need a signal.”
He had the perfect one. “Sela will do that.”
“Me?”
“It’s time that humming of yours comes in handy.”
ADAM STOOD AT THE PASSENGER’S side of Luke’s car outside Vince’s house and rested his arms on top. “Vince slipped surveillance, not a trace of him in there or a clue as to where he went. Just a broken basement window from where he snuck out. And Zach’s gone dark. Ever get the feeling you’re in the middle of a setup?”
Luke couldn’t shut off the ringing in his ears or the slow burn in his gut. “Almost every day.”
“Where now?”
“You still can’t get through to Zach?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. He warned us he’d be underground, and that plays with the watch.”
Luke wasn’t buying the outward-calm act. He knew Adam harbored the same fears. “Whe
n was the last time the watches failed?”
“Never.”
“Right. You made them. They are your baby. You took into consideration things like underground rooms. It’s never been an issue before.”
Adam nodded. “So, we go to Zach. To last place we knew his location.”
They didn’t have a choice. This was about tying up loose ends. That made them all a target but put Sela and Zach right in the line of fire. Taking them out could buy time for Vince to leave town. To get away.
Luke couldn’t let that happen. “We go in with guns up, with one finger on the police emergency number.”
“You’re thinking this is going to go bad.”
“It’s the final play. If this is Vince, and I think we both know it is, he’ll have the big guns out. He’ll have planned this.”
Adam swore. “He’s going to take out Sela.”
“And anyone with her, which means Zach.”
“Let’s go.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sela screamed on queue.
Zach launched across the floor, nailing Trevor right in the stomach. The move sent them both flying back into the stack of cardboard boxes. Trevor groaned and the boxes crumpled over top of him.
His head shaking, Trevor dove for Zach’s knees. They crashed against the boxes and into the wall. Through the thuds and yelling, the harsh name calling and pounding of fists, Sela watched the door. The goal was to make noise—a lot of noise—and bring Vince running.
The crashing, the thundering booms and bangs, it all ricocheted around her until she had to cover her ears with her hands. For a game, the rage between the men looked real. They weren’t just making noise. They were working out whatever issues brewed between them.
But she knew Zach was holding back. He was stronger, younger and not hampered by a fall down the stairs like Trevor. Zach could have finished Trevor without much of an effort. That he kept from actually hurting Trevor was for her as much as for their plan.
Zach threw a box against the wall with a deafening crash. Slipping his gun out of his pocket, he fired a shot into the far corner. The echoing ricochet had them all ducking.
Then silence.
Trevor lay on his stomach, still, blood obvious on his shirt and hands, a gun a few feet from his waist.
For a second she thought Zach had slipped and actually killed Trevor. She started to go to him until she saw the sharp shake of Zach’s head. His chest rose and fell on rough breaths and his left arm hung loose at his side. She didn’t know if he was really hurt or just acting, but both men looked like they’d survived a fight to near death.
“I wondered who would come through that. For what it’s worth, I’m happy it’s you.”
Vince was halfway down the stairs with a gun aimed at Sela’s head before she even heard him.
Zach turned around slowly, his finger never leaving the trigger on his weapon. “Thought you’d be gone by now.”
“Soon.” Vince nodded at Zach’s arm. “Drop the gun and kick it to me.”
“Never.”
“I’ll put a bullet in your pretty girlfriend. You know my shot is as good as yours.”
Zach just stood there. He didn’t bring up his arm or follow the order. “Tell me something, Vince.”
“Go ahead. You’ve earned the right to a few answers before you die.”
“Was it all about the money?”
Vince smiled. If he was afraid or worried it didn’t show. He stood long and lean like a man in charge, fearless in his decisions. “Selling information is a lucrative business.”
“Pretty high price to pay for your soul.”
“Spare me the crap. It was a business proposition, pure and simple. The secrecy of WitSec helped hide the bodies, and you would not believe what people will pay for that information.” Vince smiled as he spoke.
Sela fought back the need to throw up. “You’re sick.”
“It’s called ingenuity.” He spied the gun on the floor. “Now, kick that to me. Zach, you’re only wearing jeans but, knowing you, you’re fully armed. I want all of the weapons or Sela gets a shot in the forehead.”
Zach kept right on ignoring the older man. “Your actions killed people.”
“Criminals.”
“Innocent people.”
Vince screwed up his mouth in a look of rabid distaste. “That’s the Hollywood version of witness protection. The real-life version deals with criminals getting new lives and second chances on the taxpayer’s dime.”
Sela kept as still as possible. She focused on Zach’s face instead of the gun pointed right at her. As Vince moved close, she wanted to bolt but she refused to show fear. They had a plan and it would work. It had to.
“We’re supposed to believe this is about a cause?” Zach asked.
“Sure.”
He shook his head. It was the only part of him that had moved since Vince came down the stairs. “I don’t buy it.”
“I don’t care.”
“Ego.”
Vince’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“This was about proving you could do it. About being smarter than everyone else.”
Vince barked out a laugh. “And I was.”
“You killed Rod.” The words ripped out of Zach.
It was the one time she saw his control waver. Through clenched teeth, he referenced the man she now knew meant so much to him.
“Rod figured out someone was cashing in on WitSec information. He told me about the list of participants he had compiled and I knew he’d eventually trace it all back to me.” Vince spoke with a cool detachment, like he was talking about a movie instead of a man whom he’d once called a friend.
The entire situation made Sela’s stomach heave. Seeing Zach battle his inner demons, hearing Vince justify the unjustifiable.
“It was a great plan until Luke insisted on poking his nose in where it didn’t belong.” Just as Zach predicted, Vince talked. He reveled in what he viewed as his accomplishments.
“What now, Vince?”
“The house blows up. I’ll be long gone before Rod is found.”
“You’ve thought of everything.” There wasn’t any inflection in Zach’s voice. He hid all emotion behind an unmoving body.
“It will just be part of a feud between two men over one very beautiful woman. People will know Zach had a job here and the equipment. The fact he’s mentally on edge will explain the rest.”
Sela’s heart flipped over. “That’s ridiculous.”
Vince shrugged. “It just has to be believable enough to buy me time to get away. The plan is set. Vince will just disappear, never to be heard from again.”
Through it all Zach remained stock-still. Not even a pinky twitched. “You’re leaving the country.”
“I spent a lot of time becoming an expert in hiding people right here. Now I can put that knowledge to work for me.”
“Luke will never stop looking for you,” she whispered. She’d known Luke for a few days only and she knew that much. He would go without sleep and everything else to avenge Zach and Rod.
“He will if he wants that young family of his safe.” Vince rocked back on his heels, clearly pleased with the plan he’d designed and what he viewed as his insights into the Recovery team. “I tried to get Trevor there to back off, but he kept checking into things and meeting with Luke.”
“You worried they’d start working together.”
Until Zach said the words that piece didn’t make sense. She couldn’t figure out why Vince was picking the loose ends he did. After all, Luke was more of a foe than she could ever be. Now she got it. He worried his enemies would meet in a joint resistance, so he sought to cut them off.
“It seemed far-fetched at first, but then Luke has always had a knack for doing the opposite thing and having it work.”
Zach didn’t even blink. “You know I’m not going down without a fight.”
“Which is why Sela will come stand with me. Come here, dear.” Vince waved at her with
his gun.
That was the one rule Zach insisted on. She did not get close enough for Vince to touch her. “No way.”
“I have to hand it to you, Zach. I never figured you’d finally find a woman by poaching on a man like Trevor. You should have seen him when she went missing.” Vince used his hands to mimic an explosion as his eyes went wide with amusement. “Lost his mind.”
“There seems to be quite a lot of that going on right now,” she whispered under her breath.
Vince shook his head. “I assure you, I’m sane.”
“Just greedy.” Zach’s harsh words brought the attention back to him.
Sela assumed that was the point. He wanted Vince’s eyes only on him.
“Call it what you want, but I put in my years, served the government all while collecting low pay and listening to jokes about how public officials never worked.”
“This is because someone didn’t appreciate you enough?” Zach asked.
“No one did, but I think we’ve chatted enough. Luke can’t be that far away, so it’s time to wrap this up.” Vince stepped closer. “Now, Ms. Andrews.”
She didn’t wait for another opportunity. Pressing air into her lungs she hummed a high off-key note. Vince winced at the sudden sound as all hell broke loose.
Trevor swept up off the floor, grabbing the gun by his side as Zach stepped in front of Sela, blocking her view and protecting her from harm at the same time. Sela dropped to the ground, curling into a tight ball as Zach ordered, but she could see the fight.
When Vince saw Trevor’s weapon, he hesitated. It was the opening Zach needed. He flew at the older man, putting all of his weight behind it. They both dropped. Zach and Vince rolled across the floor. Punches landed on the older man’s hand and torso, but he didn’t drop the gun. A shot went wide, pinging off the ceiling. Wrestling Vince to his back, Zach grabbed the hand with the gun and tried to slam it against the concrete floor. Just as Zach reached the knife in his pocket, Vince bucked him off and both men hit the floor.
Trevor followed the whole scene. He swayed on his feet, shifting from side to side as he blinked. He aimed the gun several times but as one man flipped over the other and arms flew, Trevor didn’t take a shot.
The Big Guns Page 13
