by Dale Mayer
“What the hell is she doing over there with you? Did I miss something here?” There was outrage in his tone, as if somebody had slipped one past him.
Cade smiled. “No, her best friend was in a bad accident. She came over, hoping to see her before she passed away. Instead her friend is clinging to life, and Faith is clinging to the hospital bed beside her.”
“And you just thought, out of the blue, it was a good idea to show her the photo of a man who ran down Laszlo’s father?” Erick sounded as if he wondered about Cade’s mental health.
Cade sighed. “I know it sounds stupid. But we helped her a couple times, and then somehow we ended up in the discussion of getting accident reports, and she asked for the report from her best friend’s accident. We got that for her, and then she heard us discussing chopping down the number of rental units to investigate to just a couple. Anyway, I ended up showing her the picture from the city cameras. It’s only his lower face. I figured that, since she was a pilot, she might have seen him in the airport. And she recognized him.”
“And she’s sure it’s him?”
“Yes, she said she recognized him.”
“Then I need to see that photo, and we should find out exactly what bank and any other details she can give us about the car he was driving, how old he is, etc. So that’s your job as soon as you can.” Erick added, “I was trying to sleep, but apparently that’s not happening.” His tone was all business now. “Are we assuming somebody else here is in trouble?”
“We must assume he might be going after somebody else, one of us. I’m not sure who’s got family in Santa Fe right now, but what we don’t want is for him to go after girlfriends. None of us have wives, but two of you now have somebody you care about.”
“And, if he’s involved—like we’re thinking from our original accident—he’ll know about Kat and Honey.”
“Exactly,” Cade said. “Both those women need to be aware and hypervigilant.” He waited a moment and asked, “What about Badger? How’s he doing?”
“He’s doing better. The blood clot was a game-changer. But now he has to face surgery again.”
There was silence at the table. Laszlo, Talon and Cade all exchanged glances. “Shit. If you get a chance, tell him we are there with him. And make sure you tell Kat to be on the lookout. For her and for Badger. She’s already been through hell. We can’t have somebody going after her too.”
“I’ll handle our people in Santa Fe. You guys find out everything you can about Laszlo’s father. Sounds like it was worth going there after all. But it might be time to leave, to see if we can track this asshole back here.”
“Sure.”
“Oh, and, Cade, just in case, make sure nobody gets the impression you and Faith are an item.”
“She’s over here, so I highly doubt it. That guy is back with you. I’d be more worried about Honey and Kat and Badger.”
“I’ll also do a search on all of us, to make sure there’s no more family here.”
“Okay. I’ll get on the phone again with Faith and gather more details.” Cade put down his phone. “It makes a sick kind of sense that this asshole would have gone back to Badger’s hometown if he’s trying to make maximum pain.”
“So he kills family members, and now you’re thinking he may go after girlfriends?”
Laszlo whistled. “How sick is this guy? I mean, if he already blew us all up two years ago, why does he still care so much now about hurting us further? We’ve all suffered more than any of us ever deserved to suffer.”
“Because he’s still hating,” Cade said, slowly working his way through it. “For whatever reason he still hates us. And to know we’re still alive, still doing okay, while he’s not, … it’s eating at him.”
“Nobody hates us like this.”
“Somebody does,” Cade said. “And the sooner we find out who, the better.”
Talon said slowly, “Erick’ll handle Santa Fe, right?”
Cade nodded. “He’s also doing a search on all our families, ensuring nobody else is in New Mexico. I don’t know how much family any of us have left. I know Geir transplanted to Santa Fe.”
“He moved to just outside, but that won’t make a damn bit of difference. Somebody needs to warn him.”
“And Jager is still on a blackout, I imagine. At least Erick didn’t say otherwise.”
“We need to ask him. And we have to get to the bottom of this fast. Before somebody else ends up dead.”
Chapter 7
Faith sat beside Elizabeth all morning. Not once did Mary show up. Not once did Elizabeth’s mother show up. Were they both so sure Elizabeth would pass away that they couldn’t be bothered to come and spend what time she had left here? It really bothered Faith. At the same time, she knew she had no right to judge. It was just so damn hard not to.
There’d been no other communication from Cade. But she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the man outside the Santa Fe bank. She’d been extremely unnerved at the time. But she hadn’t seen him since. She remembered something about his car but not a whole lot.
Her phone rang. Cade.
“Can you give me any more details about the man you saw? The vehicle?”
“I was just thinking about that. It was a small black Lexus.”
“Do you happen to know anything about car models?”
She laughed. “No, I don’t. I’d probably recognize it if I were to search them online. And there was a G and a T in the license plate number.”
“Anything else?”
“He was tall. I remember that. Lanky build.”
“How tall?”
“I’d say over six foot. Kind of scrawny when I say lanky build. You know? The tall, thin guy. But he looked strong. More like a wire restrained. Somebody you wouldn’t want to underestimate.”
“Hair color?”
She frowned. “The beard was a brown with a slight reddish tinge. He was definitely a Caucasian male, but I don’t know a whole lot more.” She sounded apologetic. “The Lexus had a soft top,” she added suddenly.
“What made you remember that?”
“Because I was thinking, when we almost hit each other, that it would damage the roof and then realized it was a soft-top convertible.”
“What kind of hat?”
That stopped her. She frowned, thinking back. “I don’t know. Just like a baseball style. But I don’t remember seeing any kind of a name or ad printed on it.”
“Clothing?”
“Jeans.” She thought back to when she had watched from the bank window. She’d taken a close look at him. “He had scars on the back of his right hand.”
“How did you see that?” he asked.
“When I was staring at him from inside the bank, he was thrumming his fingers on the roof of his Lexus. He was standing behind the open door, glaring at me. But I remember his fingers were long, muscled. And they were red, maybe dark lines up and down his hands, as if he’d been recently badly scratched.”
“So maybe not scars as much as newer injuries?”
“Yeah.”
“So then how do you know he had jeans on?” He sounded apologetic. “I’m not doubting what you saw. I just need to know that what you saw was real.”
“Because of the Lexus and that he was tall. I saw the belt buckle over the jeans.”
“Belt buckle?”
“Yeah, it was weird. It was large, almost like a symbol of some kind. Like wings but not. I don’t know. I just saw it in one very fast glance, so you can’t really count on anything I’m saying here.”
“Shirt?”
“Button-up, rolled up at the sleeves. I could see most of the forearm. Hairy.”
“Color?”
“Blue-and-white check.” She surprised herself with all the details. But now that he’d mentioned the shirt, she could see the man quite clearly. “He had some kind of a necklace on.”
“And you saw that how?”
“Top couple buttons of the shirt were open. Ther
e was a white undershirt beneath, and it was a metal chain. There was some metal hanging off the chain, maybe two pieces at the end of the chain.”
There was silence on the other end. Then Cade said softly, “Two metal pieces? Like dog tags?”
“Yes, that’s it. That means he was ex-military of some kind, wasn’t he?”
“It could be.”
“But it might not be, right? I don’t know if this guy is one of those poser kind of guys who just likes to look tough. But I can tell you that the attitude, the set of his shoulders, the firmness to his jaw and the twitching muscle on the side of his face meant he was pissed.”
“But you didn’t hit the Lexus?”
“No. I swear I didn’t.”
Cade was silent for a few moments.
“Look, I really didn’t see him for all that long. I’m not sure what else I can tell you.” She cast her mind back then shrugged. “I think he saw me watching him through the window. He just seemed to fall back into the seat and slammed the door shut. Next thing I know he reversed and pulled out into traffic.”
“And is that when you saw his license plate?”
“Yes.” She frowned as she thought about it some more. “There was at least one zero and a five in the license plate.”
“But you can’t remember the rest?”
“No, he drove away pretty fast.”
“As in very fast?”
In exasperation she threw up her hands. “It’s not like I can measure the speed of his acceleration. All I can tell you is, he hit the gas pedal and whipped out of sight. For all I know, he was afraid I would call the cops on him or something, and he didn’t want to be seen.”
“That makes sense, in an odd way,” Cade said quietly. “Let me know if you remember anything else or if you hear any news on your friend.” And he hung up.
She stared at the phone in her hand. “Why do you care about Elizabeth?” And yet he’d been keeping abreast of Elizabeth’s development the whole time Faith had been here.
The rest of the day passed in a blur as Faith surfed the internet, talked with Elizabeth, went to the cafeteria for a meal, then returning as soon as possible, visited some more with Elizabeth. Faith spoke with the nurses; she spoke with the doctors as much as she could. Several of the nurses spoke English, but none of the doctors appeared to. However, everybody said the news was good, and the longer Elizabeth held on, the better.
Later in the afternoon, the door opened again. She looked up to see Cade.
He gave her a bright smile. “How are you holding up?”
She jumped to her feet, both hands outstretched. He caught her hands and tucked her into a hug. She went willingly. It was amazing how much that single human contact helped when she was under so much stress. She cuddled in close and said, “Thanks for stopping by.”
He nodded toward Elizabeth. “She looks to be better.” His tone was even.
She searched his gaze to see if he was just trying to make her feel better, but he had seen Elizabeth earlier. “That’s what I thought. But her sister doesn’t seem to think there’s any improvement.”
“How often has her sister been here? Every time I see you, you’re alone.”
She winced. “I know. It’s one of those sad facts that, I think, if I wasn’t here, Elizabeth would be alone.”
“Is there just her sister?”
“And her mother. But honestly they both think she’s one step away from the grave and that I’m wasting my time because Elizabeth doesn’t know anything.”
He slanted a gaze at her in surprise.
She shrugged. “My mother would be the same, I imagine. Instead of wanting to spend every last minute with me, she would be the one to walk away and have the doctors pull the plug.”
“That’s unusual in a mother,” he commented.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Faith said quietly. “I think it’s their way of dealing with their grief. If they see her again, it’s just a massive wrench to the heart.”
“And you?”
“I’m not named in vain,” she said with a smile. “I’m not religious either,” she explained at the questioning look in his eyes. “But I certainly believe in hope. And having faith in the human body and the human spirit. But I think Elizabeth needs to know somebody is here and to know that somebody cares.”
Cade nodded. “As somebody who almost died several times on the operating table and was in a coma for several weeks, I can tell you there is truth to that.”
She looked at him in astonishment. He smiled and lifted his pant leg. And that was the first time she noticed he had a prosthetic leg. “I had no idea,” she said. “Of course I saw your gloved hand, but …”
He nodded. “Talon is missing a leg and an arm too.”
“Bad accident for both of you?”
“You could say that,” he said, his voice hard. “Our military truck blew up while we were on a reconnaissance mission. We drove over an antitank land mine. Seven of us were badly injured, and one of our team died.”
“Oh, my God.”
He nodded. “That’s one of the reasons we think we have the right man. As a mockery to the man who died, he took his nickname as a middle name.”
“Mouse,” she said out of the blue.
He stared at her.
“Remember I overheard you and Talon talking in the hallway.”
He turned to look at the hall and nodded. “Normally we’re better at keeping information like that to ourselves.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry. I won’t tell anyone.”
He smiled. “Thank you. We don’t know exactly what’s going on yet.”
“But this case is connected to others? You think somebody is connected to that accident?” She was guessing, not sure how taking the dead man’s nickname on a car rental application played into this.
He was silent for a long moment; then he nodded and quietly spoke. “We are afraid our land mine accident was no accident. And the person behind it either meant to kill all of us or at least some of us. He successfully killed Mouse. Now it’s all too possible he’s mocking us by using Mouse’s name on the rental.”
“He’s taking a chance that you guys would even understand the connection …”
“Exactly. It only occurred to us after we realized several of our family members had been subsequently killed in accidents.”
He emphasized the last word, and she stared at him, figuring out what he meant. And then it slowly dawned on her. “So you think the hit-and-run accident Laszlo’s father was involved in was a targeted hit?” Her voice rose.
He reached out and squeezed her hand, motioning toward Elizabeth. Instantly Faith shot Elizabeth a quick glance and then turned to look at him. She pushed him lightly toward the door.
He stuck his head out in the hall to make sure they couldn’t be overheard, then leaned forward. “Yes, that’s what we’re afraid of.”
She stared at him, her jaw dropping. “That must be a nightmare.”
His face, already grim, turned more stone cold than she’d ever seen before. “Not only that, we’re also concerned other family members of the seven of us might be targeted.”
“Why would he do something like that? And particularly if you seven were already blown up. Wouldn’t it make more sense to come back around and take you guys out one at a time instead of taking out your family members?”
He nodded. “Yes, and all of us would welcome a chance to see him one-on-one.” His tone was hard, vibrating with anger. “But he’s a coward. And he’s too busy playing cat and mouse. We think it’s a case of serious hate for all of us. And he wants us to suffer in the worst way possible.”
“By killing innocent family members?” She had never even contemplated such a thing. And yet, in the twisted mind of a serial killer, it was all too possible. “I’m so sorry. That has got to be tough.”
“What’s tough is we’ve just come to this kind of a theory, and now we’re tracking down all the supposed accidents over the last two ye
ars. And that’s opening everybody’s barely healed wounds.”
She nodded slowly. “I can imagine.” She motioned to Elizabeth. “I’m here because I can’t bear not to spend every moment with her that she has. I can’t imagine having all this ripped open a year from now when I’m still dealing with the grief.”
“Exactly.” He sighed. “At least Elizabeth was in an accident, and she has a chance of pulling through this. Every day she lives is a day her body has a chance to heal.”
“That’s what I told her sister.”
“And what did she say?”
“She just thinks we are prolonging Elizabeth’s pain, and it wasn’t fair to her. We should let her die in peace.”
Cade shook his head. “In that case, I’d be checking to see if Elizabeth had any life insurance. And who the beneficiary is.”
Faith stared at him in horror. “Don’t even joke about something like that.”
He gave her a hard look. “In the world I come from, that attitude is never without a motive.”
Faith shook her head. “The trouble is, I know her sister and mother. They’re very similar to my mother. It’s why Elizabeth and I became such great friends. All three of them are pessimists. They would never try anything for fear of failing. They would never go after what they wanted because, in their minds, they wouldn’t get it. And it would be a typical attitude of all three to let Elizabeth go rather than giving her a chance to fight for her life. They’d say that, even if she did fight, the doctor said it wouldn’t work. And that she would die anyway. So why force a body to struggle through all these extra days for nothing?”
“If it was me, I’d want to know somebody was on my side, fighting for me,” he said harshly. “My sister was there every step of the way after my accident. When I lost her seventeen months ago, it hit me hard. Even now, just the thought of somebody taking her life, instead of her death being accidental, cuts so hard, so deep.”
She reached out and gently stroked his cheek. “Let’s hope that’s not what happened. You don’t have any proof yet. Did you have any suspicion at the time?”
