by Rebecca Deel
“Go. Zoe and I have this.”
Simon moved a short distance away and called the detective.
“Chisolm.”
“It’s Simon. We found a wounded man up here.”
“The shooter?”
He glanced back at the man sprawled on the ground with Liam and Zoe working to render aide. “I haven’t gotten the whole story out of him, but I don’t think so based on his own wounds. His name is Chris Hollister. He’s one of our trainees at PSI.”
“What’s he doing here? Are you sure he didn’t shoot your father?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’m hoping to find out before the EMTs whisk him off to the hospital. He needs a medevac. Hollister isn’t mobile. He has a gunshot wound to the left side of his torso and his left leg. He’s lost a lot of blood.”
“Is there a place for the chopper to land?”
“Nope. The pilot will have to lower a basket.” He gave the detective the coordinates. “Call me with an ETA on that bird.”
“Copy that.” He ended the call.
Simon knelt beside Zoe at Hollister’s side. “Chopper will be here soon.”
“We’ve done as much as we can,” Liam said.
“Do you have water?” Hollister asked. “I haven’t had anything to drink for hours.”
He grabbed a bottle of water from his pack and elevated Hollister’s head enough for him to take a few sips. “I’d give you more, but you’ll probably be in surgery in the next hour or so. We shouldn’t give you too much in case the anesthesia makes you sick. Did you shoot my father?”
“No, sir. I tried to hunt down the shooter and stop him before he took the shot.” He grimaced. “I didn’t know both of the Barones were here.”
“Garrett and Blake?”
A small nod from the trainee. “Isaac and I tried to talk them out of their vendetta. They wouldn’t listen.”
“Why were the Barones funneling money into Wendy’s second account?”
“How do you know about that?”
“Focus,” Liam snapped. “You don’t have much time before you’re out of here and we need answers. My wife’s life is at stake.”
“We were being paid to find out any information we could about you and Murray.”
“For what purpose?”
“We didn’t know there was an agenda behind the request. Garrett asked us to keep tabs on you to make sure you and Murray didn’t continue the smear campaign against the family. He said he needed information about your activities and the people you cared about to make sure you weren’t given the chance to extend Matteo Barone’s time in prison or try to set up another family member.”
“You’ve trained with us for three months, Hollister. You’ve watched us in and out of the classroom, seen us with our families and friends. We don’t operate outside of our missions based on personal agendas.”
“With all due respect, sir, you and Murray aren’t loose-lipped about your private lives. Isaac and I only knew that you were fiercely protective of your wife and Murray was nuts about Ms. Lockhart. We also knew when you were out on missions, but not where you were deployed.”
Simon glared at Hollister. “No one knows where we operate except for two people at Fortress. Most of our missions are out of the country. Several are government-sanctioned which means they’re classified. In our business, loose lips endanger people’s lives. Our families don’t know the details of our missions. There’s no chance we’d talk to trainees about our missions.”
“You tried to find the shooter,” Liam said. “What happened when you did?”
Hollister winced. “They spotted me before I saw them. They ambushed me, stripped my weapons, and took off.”
Liam snorted. “They didn’t check to see if you were dead?”
He shook his head.
“Sloppy.”
“Did you know they were targeting my father?” Simon asked.
“I tried to talk them out of it. They threatened to kill Wendy, sir. I had to protect her so I pretended to see reason and promised to keep quiet.”
“They would have killed you. You’re a loose end.”
“They tried hard enough.” Disgust rang out in Hollister’s raspy voice.
“You should have come to me and Liam. We would have helped you.” And maybe a sweet woman and Hollister’s friend wouldn’t have been murdered, and Zoe and Piper wouldn’t have been injured.
Simon’s forehead furrowed. If the Barone cousins were behind the attacks on Piper and Zoe, why didn’t they kidnap or kill the women? Something must have spooked the killer before he carried out his agenda.
Either that, or this was an elaborate scheme to set up Simon and Liam so they would end up behind bars like Matteo Barone. That would explain the clumsy attempts to frame Simon. If the efforts had been successful, the frame job would have shifted to Liam.
Simon’s phone rang. As soon as he answered, Chisolm said, “Ten minutes. You need to give the pilot some kind of signal so he knows exactly where to hover and lower the paramedic with the basket.”
“Copy that.” He looked at Liam. “Ten minutes. We’ll have to signal the pilot.”
With a nod, the sniper turned his attention to Hollister. “You and Lyons were to feed the Barones information. Did they kill Lyons and Macy?”
A slight nod. “We met them for dinner a few weeks ago and they tried to recruit us to kill you. We pretended to think about it, then turned them down. We hoped that would be the end of it and the Barones would move on to another plan.”
“You tried to handle it yourselves.” Simon dragged a hand down his face. Good grief.
“Why didn’t you come to us?” Liam asked. “We would have helped you. Macy and Lyons would still be alive if you had talked to us.”
“We took bribes to spy on you. You would have kicked us out of the program.”
“Kicking you out was one option. Instead of learning the punishment and taking it like a man, you skulked around in the shadows and tried to sneak up on a viper that whipped around and bit you.”
Another hard swallow. “Yes, sir.”
“Lyons’ attitude since nearly the beginning of his training was prompted by the false information, hasn’t it?” Simon asked.
A slight nod. “The Barones contacted us two weeks after we arrived at PSI. We believed what they told us. You don’t understand, sir. They’re practically royalty where we live.”
“Matteo tried to kill us and Piper several times, all to continue lining his pockets with money on gun sales. Garrett and Blake lied to you and Lyons.”
“I see that now.” The trainee glanced at Zoe. “I didn’t know they planned to hurt you. And I sure didn’t know they would kill Macy.” His voice broke on that last word. “Isaac was crazy about her. He lost it when he found out about her death.”
“Why did he blame me?”
“The Barones said they were going to scare you, rough you up a little, and set up your boyfriend to take the blame. But Macy was working that morning. She wasn’t supposed to be there and the Barones had never seen a picture of either one of you.”
“They killed the wrong woman.” Simon’s gut clenched.
“I didn’t know they planned to kill Zoe. I swear. I would have come to you if I’d known.”
“But you thought it was okay for them to hurt her to frame Simon?” Liam scowled at Hollister. “Our mission is to protect the innocent. You seem to have forgotten that part of the training.”
Abruptly, Zoe stood and moved to the other side of the clearing, her back to the trio of men.
Simon and Liam looked at each other. The sniper gave a slight nod and Simon followed her.
“Sweetheart?” he murmured.
“It’s my fault,” she whispered.
“None of this is on you.”
“I asked Macy to give me a hand because I wanted to spend a few minutes with you before the shop opened. If I hadn’t, she would still be alive.”
“And you would be in the morgue.” Simon t
urned her to face him. His heart clenched at the sight of her tear-stained cheeks. “I’m sorry that she’s dead, but lay the blame for her death at the feet of the ones responsible. The Barone cousins. One or both of them killed your friend. They had a choice to walk away and come at me and Liam directly instead of using the people we love in some sick act of revenge.”
Her gaze lifted to his face, eyes wide. “The people you love?”
Rotten timing and the wrong place, but he’d own it. “Didn’t you know? I’m falling in love with you, Zoe Lockhart.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Zoe stared in wonder at Simon. “What did you say?”
His lips curved. “You heard me. I don’t want my feelings to scare you off. If you don’t love me, I’ll find a way to deal. However, I’m warning you up front that I’ll use every skill in my arsenal to change your mind.”
Her laughter was soft and husky. She wouldn’t expect any less of a man who fought against the odds and won on a regular basis.
“We’ll get back to that later. What I’m trying to say is that Macy’s death isn’t on you.” Simon cupped her face between his palms. “Don’t let the Barones convince you otherwise. One or both of those clowns killed her to get back at me for my role in the downfall of Matteo Barone.”
“That’s what the scrawled words on my bedroom wall meant. They killed the wrong woman.” How could people she’d never met decide the best way to reach their goal was to kill her?
“So it seems.” Simon wrapped his arms around Zoe and held her tight. “We’ll track them down and stop them.”
“Promise?”
“Count on it. We won’t rest until it’s done. No one is going to take you from me, and my teammates and I will fight to the death to protect Piper and the baby.”
Zoe rose to her tiptoes and brushed her lips over his in a gentle kiss.
“Simon.”
He glanced over his shoulder at his teammate.
“Chopper’s close.”
Simon brushed the moisture from Zoe’s cheeks and led her across the clearing. He reached into his pack for a larger, more powerful flashlight.
He flicked on the light and aimed the beam upward. Liam did the same with his flashlight. Two minutes later, the chopper hovered over the clearing. A figure lowered a basket to the ground and followed it down.
“What have we got?” he asked, voice raised to be heard over the helicopter’s rotors.
“GSW to the left torso and leg. He’s lost a lot of blood.”
A quick nod. “Let’s get him into the Stokes basket. You friends of his?”
“That’s right.”
“We’re taking him to Hanover Medical Center. You can catch up with him there.”
Following the paramedic’s directions, they loaded Chris into the basket and another EMT in the helicopter hauled the wounded man into the belly of the machine. When the rope was extended to the ground again, the paramedic hooked his safety belt to the line and was pulled up. A moment later, the helicopter flew away.
“Call Trent.” Liam gathered the trash from their medical triage on Chris. “He should be on hand in case the Barone boys find out Hollister survived and decide to snip off another loose end.”
Simon grabbed his phone. When he finished the call, he said, “Trent’s on his way to meet the chopper. He wasn’t happy with Hollister.”
“Will Chris be kicked out of PSI?” Zoe asked.
“I don’t know. At the very least, he’ll be rolled back to the next class. He can’t train until his injuries heal and any physical therapy prescribed is completed.”
“Maddox could go either way on that decision,” Liam said as he stood, the last of the medical trash in his hand. He shoved the garbage into a bright red bag and stashed it in his pack.
“Did you find the sniper’s hide?”
“Yeah, right when you called.”
Simon glanced at Zoe. “You up for a short hike?”
She didn’t want to be left behind or for Simon to be away from the hospital longer than necessary. “Of course. Can we use a flashlight now?”
“No problem.” He removed the small flashlight from his cargo pocket and flicked the switch.
Zoe breathed a sigh of relief when the darkness receded far enough to see where to put her feet. To require a second run by the EMTs to get her off the mountain if she sprained an ankle or broke a bone would be embarrassing.
She considered Simon’s broad shoulders and muscular arms. Then again, if the injuries weren’t too bad, Simon would carry her out himself. While she wouldn’t mind a lift if it was necessary, Zoe didn’t want to further delay their return to civilization. She looked forward to a hot meal and perhaps a cup of hot tea. It might be summer in Texas, but she was downright chilly at the moment.
Simon wrapped his hand around her free one and followed Liam. Within ten minutes, they stood in front of an outcropping of rocks.
Liam inclined his head toward the stones. “The sniper took position up there. View’s good with a clear line of sight. I’m not sure if your father moved at the last second or if the shooter isn’t that good. Either way, your father is lucky to be alive.”
“What did he leave behind?”
“He didn’t police his brass and left behind a couple of cigarette butts as well.”
“Probably didn’t think the cops would find this place.”
“His mistake. Fingerprints and DNA will nail the shooter’s hide to the wall.”
Satisfaction swept through Zoe. If the police arrested the right man, the physical evidence left behind would help convict him. Maybe Simon would be satisfied to allow the law to exact justice for his father’s injury. She and Simon might not have been an official couple for long, but she knew him well enough as a friend to understand he would balance the scales of justice himself if law enforcement couldn’t do it themselves.
Simon looked at the rocks and blew out a breath. “I want to see for myself. May I borrow your rifle?”
Without a word, Liam slid the weapon from his shoulder and handed it to Simon.
He clambered up the rocks and lifted the scope to his eye. Within a couple minutes, he climbed down and handed the rifle to his partner. “I’ll notify Chisolm.”
Simon glanced at Zoe as he pulled out his phone. “We may be up here a while if he wants us to wait until he arrives with the crime scene investigators.”
“No problem. Is it safe to sit on one of the nearby rocks?”
“Let me check it out first.”
She eyed the fat boulder glowing in the starlight. Right. In this wild, untamed part of the ranch, snakes and who knew what else might lurk in the darkness surrounding the rock. Zoe shuddered and stood where she was while Simon called the detective.
After he slid the phone away, Simon inspected the area around the rock Zoe had indicated. Finally, he said, “It’s clear.”
Thank goodness. Zoe perched on the rock and settled in to wait for the police to arrive. She listened to Simon and Liam as they reported in to Trent first, and then Maddox. By the time they finished, the lights from the police flashlights were cresting the hill.
Chisolm picked his way along the uneven terrain to stand beside Simon. “Where?” His gaze scoured the rocks.
Using the beam of his flashlight, Simon showed him the place where the sniper had hidden among the rocks and propped his weapon.
The detective motioned for the crime scene techs to see what they could find. He turned back to the two operatives. “The man you found arrived at the medical center a few minutes ago. The doctor is examining him now. Who is this guy?”
“Name’s Chris Hollister. He’s one of our PSI trainees.”
“What’s he doing out here?”
“He’s AWOL.”
His eyes narrowed. “Is he your father’s shooter?”
“No.”
“You sure this isn’t a case of partners in crime turning on each other?”
Zoe’s respect for the police detective rose
a notch.
“He says not.”
Chisolm eyed him for a moment. “Do you believe him?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
Simon glanced at Liam. “Your call.”
“No choice.”
Simon explained about the Barones and his and Liam’s roles in the downfall of the Barone empire. After he finished summarizing the events in Otter Creek and repeating the information Chris had given them a few minutes earlier, Chisolm dragged a hand down his face.
“I’ve heard of the Barone organization. People in law enforcement circles speculated about the group who had brought down Matteo Barone. We all figured it was an interagency taskforce of some kind. Should have known a taskforce wouldn’t be able to get the job done. Barone probably had people tucked away in key positions in law enforcement to give him a heads-up about action headed his way. I doubt a taskforce would have been weasel free. How many Fortress people got the job done?”
“Two full teams. About ten operatives.”
The detective’s mouth gaped. “How many people did you go up against?”
“About forty.” Liam’s lips curled. “We didn’t have time to take a count.”
A soft whistle. “Holy cow. And the local cops didn’t have anything to say about it? We usually don’t cotton to outsiders taking over our operations and snagging credit for a big bust.”
“They were persuaded to stay out of it by the feds. The feds were on cleanup and claimed the credit. Operatives who work in the glare of media spotlights don’t stay alive long.” Simon wrapped his arm around Zoe’s shoulders. “I have an excellent reason to stay alive.”
“Incredible work, then. I’m amazed no one dropped the Fortress name in all the media interviews.” He glanced at his cell phone. “Look, I know you’ll want to go back to the hospital to check on your father, Simon. I’ll need a statement from all of you about Hollister. I’d like to take care of that when I leave here. I’ll swing by the hospital and we’ll take care of it tonight. The sooner I get everything down, the better. I need every detail I can get. I’ll run the Barones through the system, see what pops. My guess is, though, that they cleared out of the area. These guys seem like the type to hit and run.”