Silver Shield Security Box Set

by Dee Bridgnorth

  They made the rest of the trip in silence. Before long, they arrived at the Silver Shield office. As they drove into the underground parking, which was a later addition to the house, Drew felt the satisfaction of knowing that he’d delivered the package without incident. Not that the woman standing before him was a package, but she was at the HQ and she was unharmed.

  **

  Janey watched the huge screen along with everyone else. They were finally about to find out the contents of the thumb drive.

  “What do you think is in there?” she whispered to Sierra. Passing on the thumb drive to her earlier had been a huge relief, even if she was disappointed to discover that Sierra had no knowledge of her sister or her whereabouts.

  “Probably his hit list or something,” Sierra said. “Though knowing my luck, it may turn out to be nothing more than an old grocery list.”

  “Not unless the only thing he’s shopping for is cold, hard cash,” Rusty said from where he was behind the computer. Yeah, Rusty…since she’d seen him almost an hour before, he hadn’t lifted his head from the computer, simply waving an absent “hello” to them when they’d come in.

  “What are you saying?” Sierra asked.

  He pointed to the screen. “Take a look at that.”

  All eyes focused on the screen. There were rows and rows of financial records in different offshore banks all across the world. The total amount from what they could see was running into a couple of billions of dollars.

  “I don’t get this,” Sierra said suddenly. “It’s not illegal to keep money offshore, is it?”

  “No, unless it wasn’t reported. Then the IRS will be all over that like a rash,” Rusty said.

  “We should report this before he can do it himself,” Sierra said.

  As a business owner, Janey knew a bit about how the tax system worked. She knew that if the senator came forward and voluntarily reported himself to the IRS, then he would simply be fined a reduced amount. But if the IRS got to find out before he could come forward, he would not only face a steep penalty, he might also face criminal proceedings.

  “This is not enough to make him so desperate, is it? He might be bankrupt, but that’s all, right?” Janey asked hesitantly.

  “Men like him can’t survive without their money,” Sierra said.

  “It’s not just about the money,” Emily spoke, her eyes still on the figures before them. “This is a lot of dough. People are bound to ask where all that money came from. It’s hard to believe that it’s from his income as a senator of the US.”

  “Ah…follow the money trail, huh?” Drew picked an apple from the fruit basket placed there by Mrs. S; that was what everyone else called the petite woman who was Emily’s mom.

  He saw her looking at him and picked another apple, which he threw to her. She caught it expertly. Drew winked and she smiled. He was a nice man and under different circumstances, maybe she might have flirted a little. But her heart was heavy with thoughts of her sister and she was beginning to think that she might also be in as much danger as her sister was.

  Emily touched a button and the screen went blank. The lights came back on. She walked to the conference table and sat at the head. “So tell me again about the trouble you had getting here.”

  Drew shrugged. “Nothing much. Janey here shot up two of their tires.”

  All eyes swung to where she was sitting, making her uncomfortable. “He was driving, someone needed to handle the gun.”

  “What is your analysis?”

  “They were after Janey.” Drew threw her an apologetic look, but what he said was not anything she had not guessed already.

  Janey knew she looked pale and no one could miss the tension and stress radiating off her body. But it was a small price to pay if she could only find her sister.

  “Guess they already knew she was headed here with the thumb drive,” Emily said.

  All the others except Drew and Janey exchanged meaningful glances.

  “Wait, what happened while I was out?”

  “Ryan was the mole.”

  Janey turned her attention to the other woman who had just spoken. She was introduced as Tamika and hadn’t said a word except for the hey she’d given them when they got in. She seemed somber and very much an introvert.

  “What the hell?” Drew looked shocked and mad at the same time, making her wonder who Ryan was.

  “We’ll need to move them out ASAP,” Emily said.

  “For how long?” Drew asked.

  “Until they have all been arrested by the cops.”

  “Wait a minute. You want to keep me locked up till whenever the police decide to apprehend these people?” Sierra was visibly upset. She crossed her arms. “I object.”

  “Sierra.”

  Janey studied the man who spoke. He’d hardly said a word all through the meeting, but his eyes had followed Sierra everywhere. There was this bond between them, almost as though they were the only two inside a strange force she couldn’t describe. It made her sigh with envy. She had no idea if they were an item, but there was definitely something going on between them.

  “Fine,” Sierra said grumpily without looking at the man.

  “Ace, Drew and Tamika, you’re on this. Your task is to keep Sierra and Janey safe until both the senator and the Abrantes have been apprehended. You leave immediately.” Emily placed her hands like a steeple on top the table.

  “Ah, I need to find my sister. I’ll leave for D.C.” Janey knew that she was placing her life in danger by heading to Washington D.C., but there was no other choice.

  “Please, you need to stay safe, Janey. Rusty and I will find out Diane’s whereabouts,” Emily said.

  Janey wanted to weep with gratitude. For some reason she could not explain, she had absolute confidence in these people. She knew that somehow, someway, they would discover just what had happened to her sister.

  “We’ll leave as soon as we get briefed,” Drew said.

  The others nodded.

  Sierra stood up and walked over to Emily. She said something to the other woman only she could hear. Emily nodded and spoke quietly to Sierra. The other woman hugged her and walked out of the meeting room, what the operatives had called the command center.

  Janey sighed. Diane, where are you? She sent a quick prayer then, hoping that her sister was okay.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Sierra sat on the single armchair and looked pointedly at the man sitting in front of her. She leaned back against the chair and crossed her legs. She was here to get some answers and she was not leaving without them. She did not care how long she had to sit here and watch him, she would get the truth out of him whether he wanted to speak to her or not.

  “Why are you here?” His voice sounded weary.

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “Look, Sierra—”

  “Why, Ryan? Why did you do it?”

  “Because I’m a bad person.”

  Sierra shook her head. She knew Ryan. Yes, she also knew that people changed and war had a way of messing up people, but she knew Ryan. She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward.

  “Tell me why.”

  The quiet intensity in her voice got to him and he lifted world weary eyes to her. The bleakness in his eyes made Sierra want to weep.

  “Ryan?” she called his name in a softer voice.

  He stood up and walked to the window. “Leave it, Sierra,” he said tiredly.

  Sierra watched him. They were in one of the guest rooms in the Silver Shield HQ. Ace had wanted them to throw Ryan out, but Emily had decided that he should stay on the premises until they were in a safe place. They did not want him informing the senator’s men about their whereabouts. His phones and devices had also been confiscated.

  Sierra stood up and walked towards him. She stopped a few inches away. “I know you, Ryan. You were like a brother to Ricky. You would not betray his sister unless there was a really good reason.”

  He turned to face her then, his eyes burnin
g with rage. “What is it with you, Sierra? Back the hell off!”

  “Shut up, Ryan! Just shut up!” She made no effort to tamp down the anger burning inside her. “What the hell is wrong with you? You don’t have to be the lone ranger all the time.”

  “Back off, woman.”

  She placed her hands on her waist. “Okay, fine. I’ll leave.” She half turned to leave, then paused. “Where’s Lara these days?”

  Ryan froze, then shook his head with wry laughter. “You just don’t give up, do you?”

  “Damn right.”

  Lara was Ryan’s little sister. She was several years behind Sierra in school, so they didn’t get to hang out much. But they had hovered on the edge of each other’s social circles. Lara had become a model and moved to New York, but Sierra hadn’t heard about her in the last couple of years. Like her, Ryan had also lost both parents and Lara was the only family he had. She remembered how protective of his sister Ryan used to be, openly affectionate. If Sierra had been asked to pinpoint one weak spot Ryan had, it was Lara.

  “Why don’t you tell me everything, Ryan?”

  “Ricky was right; you are like a hounddog on a scent.”

  Sierra ignored the dull ache in her chest at the mention of her brother. She never got to talk about him with anyone. After he died, her father had been so focused on his investigation of Senator Coleman that he’d had very little time for her.

  “I miss him.”

  Ryan covered the distance between them and pulled her into a bear hug. She held on to him, determined not to cry. She had already cried enough and her brother would have been unhappy to know he’d caused her so many tears.

  Almost as if he were reading her mind, Ryan stepped back and looked at her. “He was crazy about you, you know. Always felt bad that you had to handle everything after you lost your mom.”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t mind.”

  “Yeah, but he would have done anything for you. Anything at all.”

  Sierra read the truth of that statement in his eyes and hugged it to herself.

  Ryan went on. “He taught me how to be the best big brother I could ever be.” He sighed and walked back to the window, gazing out with sightless eyes.

  Sierra moved closer and touched his shoulder. “What happened to Lara, Ryan?”

  “The damn senator happened to her.”

  Sierra drew back in surprise. She’d been shooting in the dark, but she hadn’t expected that she’d hit her mark. She took his hand and drew him towards the bed. “Sit.” She pointed then sat beside him.

  “Talk to me.”

  He buried his head in his hands in anguish. “I failed her, Sierra. I should have been there for her. After she went to New York, she just cut me off, no explanation. I tried to reach her, but she wanted nothing to do with me, or with anyone else. I was hurt and angry and so I just stopped calling or checking up on her.” He lifted tortured eyes. “That was the worst mistake of my life.”

  Almost as though he could not contain the agony of his thoughts, he stood up and began to pace absentmindedly. Then he walked back to the window again.

  “By the time I decided to reach out to her, I couldn’t find her. I flew to New York, but no one had seen or heard from her in so long.” He turned back to Sierra, some of the bafflement he’d felt still visible on his face. “It was like she’d never existed. She’d stopped modeling. She had no friends. No one had had any real contact with her in more than a year. She’d moved out of her apartment with no forwarding address.”

  “How is that possible?” Sierra asked in shock.

  “It happened to my sister.”

  They both turned at the quiet voice and found Janey standing by the door.

  “Who is she?” Ryan asked.

  “I’m sorry for butting in like this, but I was on my way and the door was open…” Her voice trailed off.

  “It’s okay, Janey.” Standing up, Sierra ignored Ryan’s hard stare and walked to where Janey was standing by the door. She grabbed her hand and pulled her in gently. “What did you say happened to your sister?”

  “She got involved in a secret affair with Senator Coleman. Then gradually, she just cut off all communication with her family.” She shook her head in confusion. “I couldn’t understand it. She wouldn’t return my calls, would reply to emails with one-liners. Wouldn’t even visit home!” She looked at Ryan. “My brothers did exactly what you did. They cut her off.”

  Ryan’s face became taut.

  “But you went looking for her, right?” Janey asked softly.

  Ryan nodded.

  She sighed. “She’s lucky to have you. It’s more than my brothers were willing to do for Diane.”

  “Did you find her?” Sierra asked.

  He stuck a hand in his pocket and nodded.

  “Is that why you betrayed me to the senator?”

  Ryan looked at her with sad, sad eyes. “I’m sorry about that, Sie. I would rather die than hurt you. But it’s the only way I can get Lara. I’ve gone to the police…” he shrugged to show the futility of that.

  Sierra stood up and went to him. “I understand. You’re her big brother. It’s your duty to protect her.”

  “I promised our mom that I won’t let anything happen to her. And I failed.”

  Their dad had walked out on them when Lara was still a baby. Sierra had known Mrs. Moore and loved her too. They hadn’t had much, but she had made Ricky feel at home and had extended the love to Sierra as well. She died of cancer when Lara was in high school. Sierra was already in college then and Ryan and Ricky were both in the navy. She knew it had been tough and Sierra had made an effort to be there for the other girl.

  “When I came to you…” Sierra looked at him, silently asking if he had made the plan to sell her out right from the first day she came to him for help. It didn’t make sense, because he could have given them her location when she was at the cabin, but no one had come for her then.

  “After I helped you get out of town, I got a phone call. It was the senator letting me know that he could tell me where my sister was if I led him to you. I wasn’t going to do it…I was going to find another way to get Lara.” He took his hand out of his pocket and put it on the bridge of his nose. “But then Ace came to see me.”

  “Ace?”

  He gave her a piercing look. “That man is crazy. But he’s crazy about you.”

  Sierra felt color rush to her face. She did not want to think about her feelings for Ace just then.

  “How is Ace involved in this?”

  “He came to see me about where you were. I guess he was followed because right after he left, I got a visit from the senator’s people.”

  “Did they tell you where Lara is?” Sierra thought about the beautiful woman with corn blonde hair and was flooded with concern.

  He laughed bitterly. “They did better than that, they showed me a video of her.” He clenched his fists in fury. He went on. “I knew Ace would protect you with his life so I took a gamble.”

  Sierra nodded. Strangely, she understood him completely. If she had an opportunity to save Ricky, she would do the same, or worse.

  “You should have told us.”

  Ace stood at the door. His mind registered Sierra’s hand on Ryan’s arm and he wanted to snatch her hand off him. He suppressed the instinctual jealousy. His eyes met Sierra’s and something flashed between them. He moved his glance to Ryan’s and found the other man regarding him steadily.

  “Really? And how was that conversation supposed to go?”

  Ace did not care. The man should have come clean. “You put Sierra’s life in danger. You almost got us killed at the senator’s house.”

  “Please, give me a break.” Ryan said dryly. “Those gym-bred goons against three ex-military operatives. It was not a fair match.”

  He acknowledged the truth of that. Still, it could have been fatal for Sierra.

  “I sure wish I had a brother like him,” Janey said quietly. “Your sister is one luck
y woman.”

  Ace glanced at her. He saw the sadness and wistfulness in her eyes and knew that if there was a way he could have saved his sister or kept her from dying he would have done so without thinking twice about it.

  He still felt like punching the lights out of Ryan, but he had a feeling the man would fight back this time—which actually made it even more appealing. He flexed his hands. He glanced at Sierra and saw the warning in her eyes. Damn.

  “First we’ll sort this thing out, then we go after your sister.”

  Ryan took a few steps forward then stopped. “You would do that?”

  Ace shrugged. “Technically, we would need Emily to okay it, but I’m definitely in.”

  “And I okay it.”

  Ace moved away from the door so Emily could walk in. Drew and Tamika were behind her.

  “Ryan, we look out for each other here. For some of us, we’re all we’ve got. Putting any of us in harm’s way was not okay.”

  He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

  “Believe or not, I get why you did it. We’ll rescue your sister, Ryan, and yours as well, Janey.”

  “He’ll need to play along with the senator, maybe even feed him some info.”

  All eyes turned to Tamika. “Why would he do that?” Drew asked.

  “That senator is pure evil. If he thinks Ryan’s no longer feeding him information, he might harm his sister.”

  There was a murmur of agreement.

  “What should I tell him?” Ryan asked.

  Emily cocked her head and thought for a moment. “I’ll get back to you on that. For now, you all need to leave for the safe house ASAP.”

  Ace watched as the others filed out of the room. Sierra gave Ryan a huge hug. As she walked past him, she touched his wrist and walked out. He felt his lips twitch. He swallowed the desire to grin for no apparent reason and turned to Ryan.

  “If you ever put Sierra’s life in danger like that again, I will personally shoot you.”

  Ryan regarded him with a steady gaze. Then he laughed. It was the first time Ace had seen him laugh and he was taken aback.

  “I’ve got just one thing to say to you, Ace: Tell her.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”