Sanctuary Deceived WITSEC Town Series Book 4

by Lisa Phillips

  **

  They’d passed two sets of warning signs and gone through a gate that stretched across the river in a spot where it narrowed to less than eight feet. Nadia had thought it locked until the old man entered a code and clicked the padlock open.

  “Kind of interesting,” the older man said as he piloted the boat upriver between two fields of coconut palms, toward a dock. Nadia glanced at him. “You wanting to be brought to this exact spot when locals don’t even know the dock exists. They’ve all heard the legends of the man-eating catfish that lives up here.”

  He grinned, which emphasized the lines around his eyes. This man had laughed often, and yet there was a darkness there now. “They say he protects a group of people who live in this ‘uninhabited’ portion of the island. Like some giant guardian…you know…fish.”

  Nadia wanted to laugh, but this guy might know something. He might be able to help her get to Bolton faster. “Aren’t there helicopter tours? You’d think tourists would see someone on the ground as they were flying overhead.”

  “People see what they wanna see,” he said. “The waterfall, the canyon. Tiny person in a sea of palms? Not so much.”

  Nadia folded her arms. “So there are people who live here secretly?”

  He grinned and shook his head. “You’re the one who wants to risk the wrath of the guardian and go looking.”

  “Question is, are you going to help me or stop me?”

  “Depends on you, little lady.”

  She stared at him. “Who are you?”

  “You mean, can you trust me?”

  Nadia shrugged. “Kind of the same thing. Depending.”

  He navigated to the dock, jumped out, and then tied up the boat. A phone rang. The man reached in his pocket and pulled out a satellite phone.

  Nadia stared. Should she make a run for it?

  “Yep.” His eyes narrowed on her as he listened. “I see. Thanks for the info.” He locked the phone and tossed it on the dash. “Nadia Marie Carleigh. You wanna tell me how a resident of not here shows up at the wrong Sanctuary?”

  How did he…

  The man was working for, or with, someone who had access to information that was supposed to be buried. Someone like Remy. Or the federal government. She’d been so wrapped up in the adrenaline—about getting there to warn them Dante was here, how he’d been one step ahead of them—that she hadn’t even noticed.

  She said, “I’m here to warn them about the danger. Dante is here, on Kauai, and I don’t know how you hide these people but they can be found. Nowhere is completely secure. We found that out when a rogue SEAL tried to blow up our town.”

  Crusty eyebrows rose. “I heard they made a lake out of the hole.”

  “They…what?” She shook her head. “What’s important is that the people who live here are in danger, and I have information pertinent to helping them.”

  “You say Dante is already here?”

  She nodded, suddenly wary. There were things he needed to know. But what if he was like Will, coerced into being on Dante’s side? Or what if he worked for Tristan? There had been so many varying hues of gray in her formerly black and white world that she didn’t even know where on the scale this man was going to fall. Right now she didn’t even know where she fell. All she knew was that no one was totally innocent.

  He opened a cabinet at the front of the ship, pulled out a shotgun, and then a handgun. He stowed the handgun in the back of his belt and switched out his flip flops for sneakers. As he stood, he pumped the barrel of the shotgun. “Let’s go.”

  Nadia raced after him. “You’re going to help me?”

  “The day Dante Alvarez escaped from federal prison it hit the wires that certain people we protect could be in danger. That’s why I was sent here.” He glanced back with a neutral look on his face. Just doing my job. Probably with a ma’am at the end of it. “My job is to blend in, to watch the perimeter and keep an eye out for anyone coming and going. You’re the first who showed up with a story and a good reason to make contact with Colt.”

  “Who is Colt?”

  “Tried to make him the mayor, but he refused.”

  Nadia shuddered.

  “Something personal you have against mayors?”

  “The one in my town isn’t so good.”

  “Colt is…well, he’s just Colt, really. You either like him or you don’t. Not that I’ve ever met the man, but I’ve seen his type plenty of times.” He stopped, looked both ways, and then continued. “I read his file. Or at least, the parts I was allowed to read.”

  “If you haven’t made contact, how do you know where they are?”

  “I was read in on the town, along with a zillion page confidentiality agreement that’s an addendum to the zillion page contract that gets signed when a marshal does anything with witness protection.”

  “So you are a marshal.”

  “I didn’t say that?” He stopped and cocked his head to the side then stuck his hand out. “Deputy Inspector Paul Harrell.”

  “You already know my name.”

  “Know more than that.” He blew out a breath and continued walking. “One thing you can say for this state, they certainly know how to make sure you get your ten thousand steps in.”

  Nadia smiled. She felt more at ease than she had in weeks, lost in the woods with a stranger. At least, she hoped they weren’t lost. “It’s nice to meet you, Paul.”

  He chuckled. “Come on then, girlie. You can help me bring Dante Alvarez in, and I’ll split the glory with you. But the commendation I’m keeping for myself, you understand?”

  “I totally understand.”

  “So tell me, who are we up against besides Dante. Any other players in this I should know about?”

  “Sure.” Nadia tried to breathe as she climbed the hill after him. She really was getting a work out, only the kind where sweat covered your whole body and fainting wasn’t out of the question. “Well, a friend of mine, Bolton Farrera is here.”

  “Yep, got read up on him.”

  “And Ben Mason. Plus I think his brother Grant is missing, and Remy said he was here, too.” Nadia glanced up a split second before she slammed into his back. He’d stopped. “What?”

  “Ben and Grant Mason?” Paul’s eyebrow rose. “Both of them?”

  “I think so. Things have been squiffy since I got kidnapped, so it’s hard to say. But Ben is here for sure.”

  “Well. Okay then.” He swallowed. “Let’s keep walking.”

  **

  Bolton had six weapons hidden on his person. As he readied the seventh—a shotgun—a helicopter flew overhead of the cabin he’d been brought to.

  “Not good.”

  He glanced at Colt, who frowned. “I take it the chopper isn’t one of yours?”

  Colt shook his head. “Not a scenic tour, either, flying low like that.” He grabbed his radio. “Anyone got a ‘20’ on that helicopter? I want eyes. Find out who it is.”

  Bolton waited until he was done barking orders. Whoever he was, Colt was clearly in charge. “Our Sanctuary, we get military deliveries each week. Supplies, mail, that kind of thing.”

  “No mail around here,” Colt said. “No phones, no communication of any kind. We’re totally cut off. Supplies and mail come in once a week, middle of the night. A ship off shore drops it over the side. Tide washes it in, done.”

  “All your food?”

  “What we don’t grow or catch, yeah.” Colt shrugged like it was no big deal to be entirely and completely separated from the rest of the world. There could be people who lived here who didn’t even know that 9/11 had happened, not unless they got the newspaper. It would be a particular kind of torture to receive no news from outside and then have to scour those columns of text to find out what was going on in the world.

  Bolton tried to process why the marshal’s service would feel the need to cut off these residents in that way. Were they dangerous or in danger? “Who do you have here?”

  Colt didn’t answe
r.

  Bolton came at it from a different angle. “How many of you are there?”

  “Fifteen. Give or take Chuck. He likes to roam the woods when he’s in a mood, stays gone for days at a time usually.”

  “Fifteen.” Bolton could hardly contemplate being forced to live in such a small community. Everyone already thought they knew his business in his town, but if there were only enough people to fill one large dining table the way his mom had forced them to on holidays, then everyone would know what he did every second of the day. Bolton was pretty sure he would be that guy who disappeared into the trees for days. It was that or, you know, friendship.

  “More than that in your town?”

  Bolton nodded. “We’re bumping two hundred.”

  “Seriously?” Colt blew out a breath. “I didn’t even know there were that many people in witness protection at any given time.”

  “That’s only the ones who can’t show their faces in any regular city, so they hide them in my town. I guess you got the ones that need even greater security than Sanctuary provides.” Maybe they were a danger to anyone they came into contact with. Otherwise, why cut them off from communicating even when it might be completely benign?

  Who was Colt?

  “I guess so.” The man gave absolutely nothing away. He could probably talk himself in or out of anything, while Bolton had been forced to learn how to do that.

  Lucky for him, Ben had taught him how to lie his way out of a tight spot.

  The radio crackled to life. “Colt.”

  He lifted it to his mouth. “Go ahead.”

  “Caught sight of the chopper after it hovered over the ridge. Six men, full tactical gear. Whoever’s coming, they’re here. Sent a team to do the job, and they mean business.”

  “Tell everyone to back off. Hole up in your spots.”

  “Copy.”

  Four more distinctive voices repeated the communication.

  Colt stowed the radio on his belt. “Time to move.” He was already out the door.

  Bolton’s back certainly had something to say about his sudden need to move around. The shot of adrenaline had gotten him up. Colt’s poor excuse for a medic happened to have been an army ranger but knew nothing about complicated spinal procedures. Unfortunately. But Bolton wasn’t exactly raring to go.

  “I’m not going to let them get near Thea or Javier. If you tell me where my family is hiding I can guard them until Ben gets back. And one of those radios wouldn’t go amiss.”

  Colt’s mouth curled up. “Nice try, but you don’t leave my sight. By my guess, Thea grabbed Javier, and she’s long gone.”

  Bolton’s middle turned to stone. He lifted a gun and pointed it directly at Colt. “You know this terrain. Which way did she go, and how far did she get?”

  “Or you’ll shoot me?” Colt didn’t back down even an inch.

  Neither did Bolton. “Tell me where to find her.”

  “Thea is no business of yours. Not anymore. But you’re here, which means you get to assist in the protection of my town.”

  Bolton didn’t lower his gun. “Did you have someone follow Ben?”

  “You really think I’d let two strangers into my town and not enact every protective measure I have at my disposal? These aren’t victims kept here.” Colt let one eyebrow rise. “Now put the gun down before one of my men puts a bullet in your back. We have less than two minutes until either that tactical team gets here, or your friend gets back with his brother and the man they’re escorting.”

  Bolton glanced over his shoulder and then the other. Two men flanked his back, weapons pointed at him. “Like I don’t have enough back problems I need you to shoot me there, too?”

  “You so much as move in a way I don’t like.” He waited for Bolton to lower his gun, then said, “Now we go hunting.”

  Colt set a punishing pace. They tore through trees and bushes in an arc until Colt gave the signal to hold. Two men caught up to crouch with them behind foliage. Rough men.

  The tactical team strode down a winding path ten feet away. Machine guns. They looked like soldiers, probably hired guns. Tristan. He was in the center, men at his front and back. Cover against whoever they met with. Bolton had no way to get word to Ben. Brotherly loyalty just might be overriding everything at the moment, which didn’t bode well for the rest of them.

  He needed Ben on the big picture, not just out to save his brother. Bolton glanced at the men with him, they were not trained soldiers. Not that Bolton was, but he knew enough to spot one.

  Colt whispered into his radio. “Get eyes on Mason.”

  “On it. They’re just—”

  The voice broke off with a crack of gunfire over the radio.

  Chapter 21

  Nadia’s lungs burned from the exertion. Clearly Paul was in better shape than she was, though she wasn’t about to admit it. After all, he hadn’t had the week she’d had. There was no contest. Paul’s stride slowed, and she came to a stop behind him.

  A woman followed by a teen boy made their way at a fast clip down the path toward them. Both were carrying guns.

  “Weapons down, people,” Paul said.

  The woman lifted her gun so fast Nadia hardly saw the movement with her eyes. She squeezed off one shot, and Paul spun. His body fell back into the brush.

  “Why did you—” Nadia moved toward him. Was Paul dead? And who was this woman? It couldn’t be Thea, could it?

  She fired again, closer to Nadia but still at the ground.

  Nadia froze. “You’re going to shoot me, too? I don’t even know who you are.”

  “Like that’s a reason not to kill you?”

  The boy stood beside her, a little back from—presumably, given the resemblance—his mom’s shoulder. His eyes were blank. What had he gone through that he saw his mom shoot a man and didn’t react at all?

  “Gun on the ground.”

  Nadia crouched and laid Will’s gun down. When she straightened, she lifted both hands palms out. “What now?”

  “New plan.” She pulled a phone from her pocket and stared at the screen. “Guess those blobs of heat signature weren’t who I was looking for. So now we go that way.” She waved her gun toward the trees. “Walk.”

  “At the risk of you shooting me, I’m going to venture a guess.” Nadia trundled through the foliage. She didn’t turn back but could hear the two of them walk behind her. Close enough it was a point blank shot to her back. No chance of survival. “You’re Thea?” Nadia pointed behind her without looking. “And that’s Javier?”

  Paul’s body disappearing into the brush replayed in her head until a lump settled into her throat.

  “Mom, how does she know who we are?”

  “Shut up, Javier. Be quiet until I tell you.”

  Nadia pressed her lips together. “What I don’t get is why a supposedly innocent woman put in witness protection needs to murder a US marshal sent to protect this town, which includes you and your son.”

  “What I choose to do is my business.”

  Nadia wanted to go home now, more than ever. But could she go back to Sanctuary, knowing what the world had brought upon her? She didn’t want to be scared, but what else was she supposed to be feeling? Bolton had protected her, until it had been beyond his control. She didn’t want to be scared of him, but it was hard to separate in her head.

  Bolton, Dante, and Earnest. Now Thea. All she’d seen was danger. Everything that had come at her since she’d climbed in that helicopter and flown out of town was peril. Fear had settled in her until it felt like her heart was a stone. Would it shatter before she managed to get home? Because, yes, Sanctuary was her safe haven. It always had been, and that was entirely the point of a town like that. The world wasn’t a safe place. Nadia had been so blessed to be able to live a life there that was full of friendship, laughter. Blessings God had given her.

  And yet, those things were still true out here where the danger was. God was still God, and He was good.

  Even if she c
oncluded that it was all Bolton’s fault, she didn’t blame him. There was too much feeling there for her to shovel condemnation on his head. It was complicated, and it felt like her insides were going to tear apart. Why couldn’t things just go back to normal?

  Nadia swiped the tear from her cheek. She wanted to curl up and cry, but there was no rest here. There had been no rest since she left Sanctuary. Safety was wrapped up in those Idaho mountains and, yes, still in Bolton to an extent. Nadia just had to finish this, and then she would be able to figure out where she was supposed to be. Surely Sanctuary could be her home still, even though she felt like the woman she had been in that town wasn’t who she was anymore. Too much had happened, but her friends would still love her. They’d help her.

  “Just up ahead. You should be able to see them.”

  Great. If they wanted to shoot, Nadia would be the one hit first. She was okay with that if it was her instead of the boy, but not if she was taking a bullet for Thea. No way.

  But it was Ben. And Grant…

  They didn’t look good.

  Nadia started to say, “What is…” Thea shoved her out of the way and ran past her…all the way past Grant and Ben, who Nadia now realized were tied up, to the man who stood behind them. Holding a gun on her friends.

  Dante. And three of his friends, too, dressed in street clothes. Where had they all come from? She’d brought the only boat, and the helicopter had landed much farther away. She’d seen the men rope down. These weren’t them. Had they hiked in, or did they have another boat at a different inlet?

  “What happened?” Even as Nadia asked it, she reached Ben. Close enough to see the stain of blood that trailed from his shoulder to soak his black shirt. “He shot you?”

  Ben gritted his teeth. “One of them got lucky. A couple of the residents here were following us, and decided to join Dante’s cause. I don’t like it when people shoot me.”

  Grant lifted his chin to her. “You okay?”

  “Better than you guys by the looks of it.” Both of them had their hands tied in front, and painfully by the way the ties cut into the skin of their wrists. Grant’s bled, and it also trailed from his temple down the side of his face. She probably looked similar after Dante gave her to Earnest—or when her mom had freaked out in the hospital. He’d given Grant something, likely, to get all the info he’d needed on this Sanctuary.