скачать книгу бесплатно
“The unofficial report?”
“He was arrested for treason and managed to hang himself in his cell.”
Ian flinched. He hadn’t heard this. How had he not known this? He looked back at Jase. Of course, the team would have covered for him to save his family from both the humiliation of having a traitor in the family and possible retaliation from those with a grudge against a man who would betray not just his country but also his team.
“What about Bandit?”
A shrug. “No one seems to know. He dropped off the edge of the earth about a year ago. If anyone knows where he is, no one’s talking. Not even to me. He’s either so deep undercover he’ll never surface or he’s dead and no one’s talking about that either. I asked Mac about him and got shut up fast.”
“And is Robbie Stillman still with Mac?”
“Yes. He took your place.”
“That’s what I heard.”
“He’s all right, I guess. Not the friendliest guy around but does a good job. I’d trust him with my back. Seems like he’s got a lot of personal problems, though.”
“Why are you helping us?” Ian stared hard at Jase, demanding a truthful answer, remembering his worry that he was trusting the wrong person.
Gina watched them from her seat behind the desk, quiet, almost invisible. Ian hadn’t forgotten her presence, though.
Jason paced from one end of the den to the next. “When you called me, I wasn’t sure if I should get involved.”
“Again—why?”
“Because you and Mario were close, like brothers. Then you disappeared. And then Mario’s behavior right before he died…It was so off.”
“That’s what you said. Can you think of anything more?”
“After one of our missions in South America, he seemed to withdraw from the rest of us. He would have surges of anger and would disappear for long periods of time…and other stuff. He even requested a leave of absence from the unit, but no one seems to know why.”
“Was the leave granted?”
“No.”
Ian frowned. “Why not?”
Jase shrugged. “I have no idea—he never said—but it was right before he died.”
Gina intervened. “His grandmother died about a year ago. Maybe he was upset about that. He never really had time to process the loss. The day after her funeral he was deployed to a mission in Venezuela, I think.”
“Could be—” Jase paced over to the bookshelf “—but like I said, the guys aren’t talking much. There’s something else going on and they’re covering for him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the fact they all basically clammed up when I started asking questions about him. Makes me think it was possible he was into something he shouldn’t have been and no one wants to be the guy to say anything about it.”
The bad feeling in Ian’s gut grew to mammoth proportions. “And you’ve no idea what it could have been?”
Jase hesitated once more, shot Gina another look then shook his head. “Not a clue.”
Narrowing his eyes, Ian studied the man. Was he hiding something or did he just not want to say something in front of Gina? He’d get Gina out of the room in a minute and find out, but for now he followed Jase’s line of thought. “Or, they could honestly not know anything to tell, especially if Mario was keeping his mouth shut because he didn’t know who to trust.”
“Yeah, that’s possible, too.”
“Hey, look at this,” Gina exclaimed.
“What?” Ian strode to her side to look over shoulder. She had a Bible open on the desk. It was the piece of paper in her hand that had her attention.
“It’s a letter from Mario.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when the window shattered, glass flying. Gina screamed as Ian tackled her to the floor.
FIVE
A whimper escaped Gina and she bit her lip. Heart pounding, adrenaline rushing, she prayed as she shoved the letter into her pocket with a trembling hand. God, what’s going on?
More gunshots sounded from outside, and she flinched at each report. Raising her head above the desk, she saw Ian crouched in front of the broken window, his gun pointed toward the darkness. He clipped off two more rounds. “Jase! Are you all right?”
Gina grabbed the phone from the desk and punched in 911.
Then realized she had no dial tone.
Throwing the thing down, she scrambled across the floor and saw Jason on his back, blood flowing from a wound to his head.
“Oh, no,” she whispered and worked her way to his side. She felt for a pulse. Strong enough to reassure her. “Okay, okay, Jase, you’re going to be all right.”
Ian fired another shot through the window, then turned to her. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“We can’t just leave him!”
“Wouldn’t think of it.” He held up his cell. “I’ve already called for backup and an ambulance.”
“What do we do until they get here?”
“Hold these guys off. Did Mario keep any guns around here?”
“I don’t know. If he did, he never told me where they were.”
A groan brought her attention back to the man on the floor. “Jase, Jase, can you get up?”
“My head,” he moaned. “What happened?”
Another bullet pinged against the old fireplace. Gina ducked, although the bullet wasn’t anywhere near her.
“You were shot, but I think it’s just a graze,” Gina whispered.
“Hey, buddy, you okay?” Ian asked as he kept his eyes on the action outside.
“Yeah. Yeah.” He blinked and Gina watched his eyes slowly focus, although they stayed narrowed against the pain. “Where’s my gun?”
Gina scanned the floor. “Over there.”
With a wince, he shifted his weight and rolled to go into a position where he could reach the weapon. Then he weaved his way over to the window.
“You got a concussion?” Ian asked.
“Probably.”
“I’ve got help up on the way, but I don’t want to have to take the time to answer the questions I know they’ll have. I hate to leave you but need to get Gina out of here.”
“I’m all right. I’ve been hurt worse. Get Gina somewhere safe and let me know you’re okay.” He swiped at the blood trickling down the side of his face and turned back to the window.
Ian grabbed Gina’s hand and pulled. She dug her feet in and repeated herself. “We can’t just leave him!”
“Jase is a Ranger. He can take care of himself. It’s up to me to take care of you. Plus, the cops will be here any minute. Once whoever’s shooting at us hears those sirens, they’ll disappear and Jase will have some help. He can hang on that long.” A quick glance at his friend resulted in a nod of confirmation. “Now, please, let’s move.”
Gina caved and hurried after him with one last glance over her shoulder at Jase, who motioned for them to get out. Sirens sounded in the distance and relief flooded her. Hopefully the sound would scare off the attackers and Jase could get some help. “Go, go!”
Ian kept a tight grip on her hand as he led her toward the back of the house.
“What are we doing?” she gasped.
“Jase will handle the police. You and I are going to find someplace safe.”
With a steady hand, Ian cracked the door leading to the outside and peered around it. The gunshots had ceased with the sound of the approaching sirens, but that didn’t mean the bad guys were gone—it just meant they weren’t shooting right now.
He scanned the area. All looked quiet. The car sat right where he’d left it. Untouched? Or a trap?
They’d have to chance it. Staying here meant talking to the police and having this take forever, trying to answer questions no one had the answers for and not knowing if they could be trusted anyway.
Hauling in a deep breath, he said, “Get in on this side. Duck low so you can’t be seen from the other side of the car.” He’d deliberately parked with the driver’s side two feet from the bottom step of the small porch. On the opposite side of the car, at the end of the pier, the sounds of the ocean registered on a subconscious level.
Gina obeyed, crouching low, moving fast. Ian crawled in right after her. Finally behind the wheel, he cranked the car and backed up the way he came in. “Stay down, Gina.”
“I’m down. Won’t the police stop us?”
“Nope.”
Five seconds later, he was in front of the house. No gunshots split the air. A police car wheeled past him, then did a one-eighty to give chase.
“He’s following us, Ian.”
Her voice held a breathless, fearful quality that gripped his emotions. “I’ll either lose him or Jase will radio the guy when he gets a chance and tell him to back off.”
For ten minutes, the red and blue lights followed his every move; then they backed off and disappeared from view.
Ian relaxed a fraction and drove without a specific destination in mind. Gina straightened in her seat, groaning at protesting muscles.
“I have an idea,” Ian offered.
“What?”
“I think I know a place we can hole up for a few hours to rest.” He glanced at the clock.
“Where? I’m almost afraid wherever we go, they’ll find us. How did they know to come back to the beach house?”
“Common sense. You didn’t find what you were looking for the first time you were there, so it figures that you’d be back.”
“So they were just waiting for us to show up? But why didn’t Jase spot them?”
He shrugged. “Maybe they got there after Jase, spotted him and laid low to see how things would go down. Who knows?”
“Or maybe Jase called them,” she whispered.
Indignation for the man welled up in him, and yet he couldn’t deny a little niggling of doubt tickled his mind. “Jase wouldn’t do that.”
“Mario…”
“Mario should have let someone know what was going on and that he needed help.”
“Maybe he did.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the letter she’d found in the Bible.
Gina stared at the single sheet of paper containing Mario’s slanting scrawl. She read aloud, “Dear Gina, if you’re reading this, I’ve failed. It wasn’t my plan to die on you, darling, but as you well know, some plans are doomed from the get-go. I guess this was one of them.’”
“What plan?” Ian interrupted.
“Who knows?” She went back to reading. “‘I’ve got some people after me. Really nasty guys. I’ve got something they want. If they haven’t come after you yet, get ready. I’m sorry, Gina, I didn’t want to do it this way but don’t have time to come up with something better. Something that doesn’t involve you. If I’m dead, they’ll be looking for the next person who might know something, and whoever it is probably knows about you. I promise I did my best to hide your identity, but these guys are good; they’ll find you, simply because I don’t know who’s involved. So, if they’re going to come after you, I’m going to do my best to give you a fighting chance. I don’t want to say what I’ve hidden, because if you know, you have no protection. If they catch you and you tell them, they’ll kill you immediately. If you don’t know, you can’t tell them. That might buy you some time. I hope you’ve called Ian. If you haven’t, do it. You’re going to need him. I love you, Gina….” Her throat clogged on the last part, and she stopped to take in a shuddering breath.
Ian clasped her hand, the warmth of his palm searing her, giving her strength to finish the letter. “I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to show you how much. Ian’s a good man. He’ll know what to do. Grandmother thought the world of you. You’re the only woman in her life who didn’t disappoint her. Thank you for honoring her and keeping her memory close to your heart. All my love, Mario.”
Silence filled the small rental. Tears dripped down Gina’s chin as she scanned the letter through one more time.
Ian cleared his throat. Gina sighed.
“You…um…didn’t have to read that out loud.”
“I know, but if there’s anything in there that can help us, you need to have the information.”
“You were close to his grandmother. Did he have any other family?”
“No, just the sister who died. I suppose his mother is still out there somewhere, but…” She trailed off with a shrug and stared out the window. Time for a change of subject. “So, are you going to check on Jase?”
“Yeah.” He dialed the number. Jase answered on the second ring. Ian asked, “Are you all right? What’s the situation?”
“I’ve got it under control. I’ve also got a slight concussion but was lucky. I’m still alive.”
Relieved, Ian said, “Good. Stay that way, will you? Listen, I’m going to take Gina someplace safe. I’ll be in touch.”
