MERCILESS

by Christy Reece

  Refusing to be deterred, Jazz went around the sofa and sat in a chair across from Jules. Her breath caught in her throat at the changes in Jules Stone. Gone was the lovely, composed woman who’d fooled them all. In her place was a pale, hollow-eyed young woman with shoulders slumped from what must be a mountain of pain weighing her down.

  Anger began to dwindle as doubts soared. This was not guilt, nor was it defiance. This was grief. An emotion that Jasmine McAlister had more than a passing acquaintance with.

  “Talk to me, Jules. What the hell happened?”

  A slight smile twitched at Jules’s mouth. “You and Ash have the same opening lines.”

  When Jazz didn’t respond, a ragged sigh rattled through Jules. “What did Ash tell you?”

  “Almost nothing.”

  “Very well. What do you want to know?”

  “Everything, but start from the beginning.”

  * * *

  Jules took a breath. Perhaps this was what she needed. Maybe a full cathartic cleansing would ease some of the pain. She had barely spoken to anyone since she’d left Ash and the cabin behind. Gideon hadn’t tried to talk to her, and she had been grateful for his silence. Having to discuss anything with the man who’d witnessed her embarrassing breakdown had been well beyond her.

  He had driven her to a quaint little town close by and walked into the hotel with her as if he was used to escorting traumatized women with ripped gowns and ill-fitting tuxedo jackets into elegant hotels. Who knew? Maybe he was.

  After arranging for her indefinite stay and escorting her to her room door, he had given her a sharp nod and left.

  The only surprise after that was the doctor who’d shown up an hour later. He had explained that he was there to ensure she was all right. He had checked her vitals, encouraged her to get some rest, and then he had left. The OZ tracker she had thought he would remove was not mentioned.

  Silly, she knew, but that one small omission had created a tiny kernel of hope inside her. The longer she stayed here alone, though, the smaller that hope became. It must have been an oversight on the doctor’s part, nothing more. The idea that she could still be a member of OZ was a useless fantasy. If anything, Ash had chosen to wait to have it removed because he wanted to know where she was at all times. Not because he cared, but because he didn’t trust her.

  Why would he?

  She hadn’t had the courage to talk to Kate yet. She had texted her and told her she would talk to her soon but she hadn’t yet reached that point. Not only had she hurt Ash, she had failed in every objective Kate had expected of her. Dealing with the guilt and a broken heart as well as letting down her best friend was all a little too much to deal with right now. Discussing things with Kate would have to wait until she could speak without falling apart.

  Kate had responded immediately, wanting to come to Jules and whisk her away. She had thanked her but requested she not come. For right now, she would deal with this heartache on her own.

  “Jules?”

  Shaking herself out of her stupor, she turned her attention back to the woman across from her. Even though she doubted anything would help, Jazz deserved an explanation. They had been becoming friends, and Jules mourned that loss. She recognized a kindred soul in Jazz McAlister—a woman who trusted few and would give her life for those she did trust.

  Jules took a breath and said, “My real name is Lucy Carson. My parents were murdered by John Leland Clark. He abducted me, kept me prisoner for several weeks. I managed to escape.”

  She saw the recognition of Clark’s name in Jazz’s expression and appreciated that she didn’t ask what Clark did to her during that time. Reliving that was beyond her. Just getting the bare facts out was going to take every ounce of energy she had left.

  “When I was found, I thought the nightmare was over. I was wrong. Clark continued to kill. At each kill, he left a letter saying that if I returned to him, the killings would stop.

  “At first, everyone sympathized. I was a victim, and he was continuing to torture me. But the longer it took to find him, and the more he inferred that I wanted him to kill my parents, the more angry people became. They needed a scapegoat, and I was the only available target.”

  Jules lifted her shoulder in a helpless shrug. “I had never seen Clark before that night. Turns out, he was a busboy at the restaurant where my parents and I ate dinner. My dad and I had an argument. Clark, for whatever reason, became fixated on me.

  “People started speculating that perhaps I did know him before. That maybe I did help him kill my parents and then ran away with him. That my escape was nothing more than a lovers’ spat.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  Despite the deadness she felt inside, Jules felt something like hope blossom within her. She shoved it down.

  “At first, it was only a few whispers, but the more Clark killed, the more people wondered if it could be true. Social media wasn’t at a frenzy then the way it is now. It was new enough that people could say all number of things and not have their opinions questioned. Before long, there were groups devoted to creating all sorts of theories about my involvement. People even created blogs about it. Clark became known as the Dear Lucy killer—in reference to his letters to me.”

  “How did people know about the letters? Seems like that’s something law enforcement would keep under wraps.”

  “The FBI tried to keep a lid on them, but there was a leak in local law enforcement in one of the towns where Clark had killed a young woman. A deputy sheriff who believed the rumors of my involvement told the local press about the letters. The news went viral. The Dear Lucy killer moniker came after the leak.”

  “Kate was the FBI agent in charge of the Clark case. That’s how you met her.”

  “Yes. She was my saving grace. If it hadn’t been for her, I would be dead.”

  “You don’t have any other family?”

  “My mother and father had no siblings. I was an only child. My grandparents are dead. My father’s law partners were kind at the beginning, but I think they began to question my innocence, too.”

  “You had no friends to help you?”

  “I had a boyfriend. He didn’t stick around long, though.” At the time, Rob’s defection had hurt. She had thought he loved her. It had been one more bruise to a soul that was already defeated. Now she could be glad that he hadn’t stuck around. She hadn’t known what real love was then…she did now.

  “So Kate arranged a new life for you?”

  “Yes.”

  But the new identity and new face were just the surface stuff. Kate Walker had quite literally saved her life. Not only had she still been dealing with her parents’ deaths and the brutality of what she’d endured during her weeks of captivity, she’d begun to believe what people were saying about her. That, in some way, she was at fault. If she hadn’t argued with her father at the restaurant, Clark might never have noticed her. Had he taken that argument as some kind of sign that she wanted her parents dead? She began to question everything about that night. Had she done something, said something, that had sparked his insanity?

  All of that, plus the knowledge of all the lives she could have saved if she had just killed Clark when she’d had the chance, had put her over the top.

  Her one thought was to end it all. If Clark was killing just to get her back, as he claimed, her only choice was to no longer exist. If she were dead, he would stop. She had thought to make that a reality. Her depression had been so deep, her guilt so all-encompassing, suicide had looked to be the only way out. Kate had convinced her that she had survived for a reason. She’d made her realize that living would be the best revenge.

  And then Kate did something she’d never done before. She broke the law, not once, but many times over. Not only did she fake Lucy’s suicide, but she created a new identity and new life for Jules.

  “Was that when Kate left the agency?”

  “Not then but it wasn’t long after. Her husband had been diagnosed with early-on
set Alzheimer’s around that time, too. She wanted to spend as much time with him as she could.”

  “I never got to meet him.”

  “Lars was an amazing man. Without him and Kate, I never would have made it.”

  “So once you became Jules Stone…what did you do?”

  “I had some scarring on my face so I had to have a lot of plastic surgery. Plus, thanks to the media’s obsession with Clark, my face was everywhere. Once I recovered from the surgeries, I began to train. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, but one thing I swore: I would never be helpless again.”

  “How does Ash fit into the picture?”

  That was both easy and hard to answer. Helping the man who’d singlehandedly taken down Clark, not once but twice, was a no-brainer. He had become her hero the moment he captured Clark. But when Clark had escaped and murdered Ash’s wife, a new emotion had been added. Jules felt a massive amount of guilt.

  Kate tried many times to talk her out of it, claiming that she was allowing the people who blamed her before to influence her decisions. And while some of that might be true, she knew she was partly to blame. Megan Drake would not have died if Jules had killed Clark when she’d had the chance. Some things were undisputable. Facts were facts.

  “When Kate told me about Turner, about what she did to Ash, I was infuriated but knew I could do nothing to change that. I continued to train, to find my path. I started a security agency, began to establish a reputation for being able to suss out traitors and spies. It was lucrative, but ultimately not what I wanted to do.”

  “Is that when you started hunting serial killers?”

  Jules winced. Apparently, there were no secrets left for her. “Yes. The first one was a fluke, but it made me realize that I could do more.”

  “How did you get involved with Turner?”

  Weariness began to tug at Jules. For the past twenty-four hours, she’d barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, Ash’s face would appear. The hurt in his eyes, the disappointment in his expression had torn her heart to shreds.

  Talking with Jazz helped. The load of shame and remorse didn’t seem as heavy, but exhaustion was taking a toll. Determined to get everything out in the open, Jules gave her the condensed version of how she and Kate created Jessie Diamond and why.

  “And then Turner decided that Ash needed to die instead?”

  “Yes. I don’t know why she’s suddenly in a hurry. The last time I talked with her, she seemed set to wait until I could give her something substantial.”

  “You haven’t talked to her since she texted you to kill Ash?”

  “No.”

  “So you don’t know what’s happened?”

  The dull thud of her heart spiked to rapid. “No. What happened? Is Ash okay?”

  “Ash is fine. Much better than Turner will be soon. They found the helicopter pilot that left them in Colombia. He should be able to place Turner there. Ash and Kate are on their way to interview him now.”

  Chapter Forty

  Key West, Florida

  Kate Walker stood on the tarmac of the private airfield and watched Ash come down the steps of his plane. He looked tired. After what he’d been through, he had earned every one of the shadows beneath his eyes. She knew he was furious with her, and there was little she could say to defend herself. She had believed, and still believed, she’d done the right thing. Getting Ash on board was another matter.

  They had agreed to interview Pete Lawrence together. The former airline pilot turned helicopter pilot for hire had agreed to meet with them, but that didn’t mean he would spill his guts. Ash had asked Kate to assist with the interview. At the FBI, they’d interviewed numerous suspects together. They complemented each other and should be able to use those skills to get what they needed. She knew there was another reason he’d asked for her help, and despite his anger at her, she was grateful he’d seen past his fury.

  Asher Drake was one of the most controlled men she’d ever known, but he did have triggers. Cowardice and greed were two of them. Lawrence was guilty of both. He had left those men to die. Instead of doing the right thing, the brave thing, he’d kept his mouth shut, taken a payoff of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and disappeared.

  “Hello, Ash.”

  Ash nodded. “Kate.”

  “I’m assuming you want to talk before we go see Lawrence.”

  “You assume correctly.”

  “I’ve got a private room in the hangar. Let’s go.”

  Ash raised a brow, but didn’t ask how that’d come about. Kate had to admit that being wealthy had its advantages. The money was nice, but she’d give up every penny for just one more day with the man who left her a brokenhearted but very wealthy widow.

  They were silent as they walked together toward the hangar. Waves of tension were coming from Ash. So much so that she wondered if he’d be able to control his temper until they got into the hangar. He did, but barely. They entered the small office, and the instant the door closed behind him, he exploded.

  “What the hell, Kate?”

  “That’s what I like about you, Ash. No preliminaries.”

  “Cut the bullshit and tell me why the hell you kept all of this from me.”

  “First things first. How is Jules?”

  “I figured you would have already talked to her.”

  “She texted me…asked me to wait. She assured me she was fine, just needed some time.”

  “There you have it. She’s fine. She’s holed up in a hotel room until we can get this figured out.”

  “I mean emotionally, Ash. You said she had some kind of mental breakdown.”

  “I sent a doctor to see her. Other than exhaustion, she’s physically sound.”

  “And emotionally?”

  “That remains to be seen.”

  “All right. And I’m assuming she told you her real name? And what she was doing working for Turner?”

  “Yes. But I want to hear it from you.”

  “I knew Turner was looking to infiltrate OZ. I mentioned that to you at one time, and you blew me off, saying there’s no way you would bring someone into OZ that you didn’t fully vet.”

  “And so you, what, decided to prove me wrong by sending Jules to me?”

  “Of course not. You know me better than that. I did it because I knew that Turner was going to get to you no matter what. If she couldn’t do it by infiltrating OZ, she was going to take you out. By creating Jessie Diamond, we bought you some time.”

  “Why Jules? Why not someone else?”

  “For two reasons. First, Jules is incredibly talented at undercover. I trained her myself, and she’s exceeded every expectation.”

  “You trained her?”

  “Yes. After she recovered from her surgeries, I thought she could move on. She couldn’t. She was determined to never be vulnerable again, and she was determined that, no matter what, her life would mean something. I helped her focus that anger into becoming the best.

  “She’s the one who decided to open a security agency. I backed away then. She needed the independence, not me hovering over her every decision.”

  “So I’m assuming it wasn’t your suggestion that she hunt down serial killers.”

  Kate visibly shuddered. “Absolutely not. But it didn’t surprise me. Jules has always gone her own way.”

  “Okay, so Jules is good at undercover. What’s the other reason you sent her?”

  “Because she wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t know if you know it or not, Ash, but Jules Stone has a backbone of solid steel and a stubbornness to match yours.”

  “Don’t give me that, Kate. You could teach stubborn to a mule. If you had told her you were going to use someone else, she would have backed off.”

  “I think you underestimate our girl, but okay, yes, there is another reason. When Jules was found, she was so damaged, so hurt, but she was rallying. She could have gone on to have a normal life if it wasn’t for that bastard Clark. He continued his tortur
e by leaving those letters, and then mob mentality ensued.”

  “I know the story, Kate. I was there.”

  “But only later. You read the file, knew the case, but you never met Lucy. She was already gone by the time you came on the case. You didn’t see how each day she blamed herself more and more. At some point, it was going to drive her to suicide. No matter how much counseling she received, it would have happened someday. I arranged her new life, but that didn’t alleviate her guilt. Then something miraculous happened. You found Clark, and you brought him to justice. You were her hero. You took down her boogeyman. She wanted to know everything about you. I told her what I could.

  “That was the first time that I saw real recovery in her eyes. Genuine peace. And then that bitch somehow helped Clark escape, and he killed Meg.”

  “She took a downward spiral?”

  Kate smiled, remembering. “Not so much downward as sideways. She got pissed. And as we both know, getting pissed is a good motivator.”

  “She felt like she owed me.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “She told me she had the chance to kill him and didn’t. Can’t believe she blames herself for that.”

  “She’s gotten better at putting the blame where it belongs, but when this opportunity to help you came along, she was the one I went to with it.”

  “And you didn’t tell me because…?”

  “One reason is because it’s her story to tell, not mine.”

  “All right, but why didn’t you at least let me in on the Jessie Diamond angle?”

  “Ash, if I had told you that Turner was putting out feelers for someone to infiltrate OZ, what would you have done?”

  She saw the knowledge in his eyes before he said the words. “I would have confronted her.”

  “For years, you have followed Turner around, basically stalking her, daring her to do something. If you’d found out she was not only targeting you, but also your team, nothing would have stopped you from going after her full force. I thought this was the best way to keep her in line until we got what we needed.”