Her life was getting weirder by the moment.
"Let's just get this over with," Ella said, her hands trembling by her sides. She was glad it was dark. She didn't want Tobias to know how frightened she really was.
"Always in a hurry, aren't you, dear?"
She hated it when he called her dear and darling. It was so condescending.
"Cut the crap, Tobias. How do you want to do this?" Zach called out.
"Why, bring me the files, of course."
Zach looked at her and dropped his voice. "You stay here, understand? No matter what happens, just stay here."
She nodded once. But there was no way she was staying put if Zach was in trouble.
Zach started to walk towards them when Tobias put his hand up. "Not you. Her."
"You deal with me, or you deal with no one."
Tobias sighed so loudly that they could hear it from where they were standing.
"I do not like the changes that have taken place here tonight, but you haven't left me much choice. Very well. Bring me the files, but leave your weapons behind."
"Not a chance in hell," Zach answered. "If your guys drop theirs, I'll leave mine behind. Otherwise, my gun stays with me."
Tobias said something to the guy standing beside him and nodded.
"Fine. Keep your hands where we can see them."
Zach held his hands up as if in surrender and walked slowly towards Tobias. When he reached them, Ella sucked in a breath. She didn't like how close he was. All it would take is for one of them to shoot him in the head, and Zach would be gone. She silently prayed that the other guys from their own team had their eyes on him, and their guns on the thugs standing around Tobias.
"I'm going to reach into my pocket and get the drive. Everyone cool?" Zach said.
Tobias nodded.
Zach reached into his pocket and pulled out the drive, placing it into Tobias’s hand, then slowly backed up, turned, and walked back to Ella. Ella watched as one of the guards took out a tiny laptop-looking device, while Tobias handed him the drive. The goon put the drive in.
It was like everything that happened next was in slow motion. The guard nodded his head, and Tobias took the gun from one of the guards, pointed it at Zach's back, and shot twice. Ella opened her mouth to scream, the sound seeming to disappear in the air as Zach fell to the ground.
Ella ran towards Zach, not caring that the guns were now pointed at her. Kneeling next to him, she tried to see where he'd been shot, but all she could see was blood. Lots of blood.
"Zach! Zach, honey. Are you ok?"
Zach didn't answer. He just lay there, not moving.
Someone grabbed her, yanking her off the ground. Ella pulled her hand back to punch whoever it was, but her arms were locked in place behind her back.
"Leave me alone, Tobias. He needs help," she cried.
"I told you not to mess with me. I'm going to kill you. Then, I'm going to hunt your mother down and kill her, too. I'll find her. I have connections."
"Wait, I—"
"You thought you were so clever, hiding her away and changing the location of the drop. But you can never get the best of me. Stupid bitch."
Tobias dragged her towards the fence, and Ella knew that if she let him put her in that car, she'd die. She glanced around, wondering what the men from their own team were doing, and why they hadn't opened fire once Zach had been shot.
"I have the files. Do whatever you want with me. Just leave my mom out of this," she blurted out, digging her heels into the ground to halt their progress.
"Don't play games with me," Tobias sneered.
"I'm not. I have them. Promise me."
"Fine. You die. Your mom goes free."
Ella reached into her pocket and drew out the drive that she'd taken from Zach's bag earlier in the day. She'd known Tobias might have a trick up his sleeve. She knew Zach had made a replica that should have tricked them, so something was off. If they thought they had the files, why had they opened fire on Zach?
"He didn't give us the right files?" Tobias asked.
"Wait, you didn't know?"
Tobias threw his head back with laughter. "We do now. Silly girl. I had a feeling you might pull a stunt like this. Plus, I really enjoy killing people." He nodded towards Zach, who was still lying on the ground, motionless.
"You killed him even though you didn't know the files were fake?"
"Of course. But I'll take this anyway," Tobias said, and plucked the drive from her fingers.
"No!" Ella shouted, grasping for the files that were now out of reach. Tobias turned to one of the goons and handed him the files. While he was distracted, Ella tried to pull away, but Tobias held her fast.
Tobias pulled her up against his body, and Ella felt the cold barrel of a gun being pressed against her temple.
"I mentioned I like killing, yes?"
Ella nodded, her fear choking her. Her eyes caught a movement on the ground in front of her. Had Zach just moved?
Tobias shoved her forward.
"From my research, it seems that there's a lovely seventy-five-foot mine shaft over here. No need to make a mess and have to deal with cleanup, when I can just shoot you and dispose of your body here."
They walked past Zach, and Ella inconspicuously tried to check to see if she'd really seen him move. Nothing. He was as still as he'd been earlier. Tears threatened to spill over, but she pushed them back.
She wasn't sure what had happened to Marcus, Noah, Rico, and Joseph. Maybe they'd decided not to do anything since Zach was dead. Was he dead? It was too much to comprehend. Ella needed to get away, but things weren't looking up for her.
Tobias stopped them just short of a hole in the ground surrounded by bushes and rocks. This was the mine shaft. Tobias bent down and scooped up a rock, then dropped it down the shaft.
No sound was heard.
"Seventy-five feet is a long way down. It will be weeks before anyone finds your body, or what's left of it after the bugs and snakes get to you. If they find you at all."
He smiled, then raised the gun and pointed it right at her head. Ella closed her eyes. She was grateful that she'd loved Zach. It would have been nice to have had more time with him. She hoped that he was still alive and that he would go on to love again.
Ella wanted him to live.
She heard the report of the gun but felt no pain. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked into the shocked face of Tobias. A small round hole was in the middle of his forehead, a trickle of blood flowing from it down his nose. He dropped the gun from his hand and fell backwards. Ella watched as his body fell into the darkness of the mine shaft, never hearing his body hit the ground.
Slowly, her hearing returned, and she whirled around to see all-out chaos. Guns were going off from all over the valley. Someone shouted her name. Her eyes searched the valley, but all she could see were the flashes of gunfire and dark figures moving from one boulder to the next.
There it was again. Trying to make sense of the figures running around, she saw him.
Zach.
"Get down, Ella!" he shouted, his gun raised as he fired twice, and one of Tobias's goons fell dead right behind her. She dropped to the ground and army crawled behind the nearest rock. After a few minutes, the gunfire stopped.
Footsteps approached, and Ella crouched, ready to fight.
It was Zach.
She jumped up from where she'd been hiding and threw herself at him. He caught her with an oomph of pain, and Ella pulled back in horror.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. You were hit. Zach, there's blood."
"Shoulder wound. In and out. I imagine I'll have quite a few stitches. Rico!" he shouted.
Rico came jogging up. "Send Joseph and Noah with the rental car. Ella and I will ride in the van. She's too shaken to drive, and I need to be stitched up. Can you do that?"
"Of course. Brought my kit."
"Good. Let's head that way now. I'm not feeling so well."
Ella saw that his co
lor was bad, and he was sweating profusely. He stumbled a bit as they walked towards the van.
Zach pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed.
"Sully, I need cleanup." He rattled off the address. "Dead. They all are…can you have the plane ready for us in an hour?…Great. Thanks."
He hung up and slung his good arm around Ella's shoulders. Whether it was affection or his attempt to steady himself, she didn't care. It was just good to be near him.
"Ready to go home?" he asked.
Home. A word that usually incorporated so many good feelings. For Ella, it brought up heartbreak and longing.
"Where's home?"
He pulled her tightly against him and pressed a kiss to her temple.
"Wherever you are."
* * * *
The flight back to D.C. was quiet. They'd said their goodbyes to Zach's Army buddies, and had rushed out to the airport. Ella wondered whom you had to know to get to travel on private jets. The plane wasn't outlandishly flashy, with its white leather chairs and wood paneling details, but to have their own flight attendant and the plane to themselves was glorious.
Ella and Zach sat side by side in the seats, holding hands during the five-hour flight back to D.C. Ella tried to sleep since it was the middle of the night, and they wouldn't arrive in D.C. until nine a.m. But she kept replaying the jerking of Zach's body as the bullets hit him.
The first bullet had hit his Kevlar vest, which had knocked the breath out of him. The second had nicked his arm. He'd felt it best to act as if he were unconscious, and had told the guys on the comms devices to stand down until she was safely out of harm's way.
Ella wished she'd known all this. She hadn't even realized they'd had comms devices. But she was glad that Tobias was dead. Zach had said that Sully was sending the FBI to his residences and businesses all over the country to check for women being held against their will. They would comb through all his computers and files, but Ella knew it wouldn't be that easy. He'd have some sort of plan in place in case of his death.
It was time to tell Zach about The General.
Ella knew that if she was going to have any future with him, she had to be honest. She glanced to her right to find Zach with his eyes closed, his mouth slightly open. Rico had whispered to her that he'd given Zach a slight painkiller. Nothing too major, but Ella was glad he was resting. Zach didn't rest enough.
She could tell him on the plane, where he had no choice but to sit and listen to her, or she could wait, enjoy these hours she had with him, and then pull the whole team together to hear her story.
It really wasn't a question.
The Castle Investigations team deserved to know the truth. And she would be the one to tell them, even if it meant that her future happiness was forever destroyed.
Chapter 24
Zach paced the floor of the conference room. Ella had told him to call a meeting with the entire Castle team, that she had something she needed to share. She wouldn't say what it was, just that it was important, and that she needed to get it over with before she slept.
Ella had gone upstairs to freshen up while they waited for the team to arrive. But he was nervous. Something was off, and he had a feeling it was going to change things.
He didn't want things to change. He wanted Ella, by his side, for the rest of his life.
Sully clapped him on his good shoulder as he walked by, taking his seat at the head of the table.
"What's this about?" he asked, propping his feet on the table.
Zach shrugged. "No idea. She wouldn't tell me."
"That girl of yours sure has a lot of secrets."
"Wouldn't you, if you'd been in her shoes the last ten years?"
"Touché." Sully paused and looked at him. "You love her."
It wasn't a question, but Zach nodded anyway. Sully sighed heavily.
"All my operatives are getting soft on me. Going and falling in love and getting married and having babies. Before you know it, we'll need to open a nursery school. We'll be wiping butts and noses instead of kicking them."
Zach grinned. "Don't tell me you don't have your eye on a pink-haired vixen yourself."
Sully growled and suddenly became very interested in the folder of paperwork he'd brought with him.
Isabel and Ethan walked in holding hands, her waistline seeming as trim as it had ever been. Ethan had told him that she'd started showing, but that unless you saw her without her clothes on, it was hard to tell. Zach had changed the subject.
Cate and Gabriel walked in next. Cate was working for them part-time now, doing investigative research along with her freelance writing. Lucas strolled in last, but Ella was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Ella?" Isabel asked.
"She went upstairs to freshen up. I assume she'll be here any minute."
"I'm here," Ella said from the door.
She looked nervous, wringing her hands in front of her. As if she knew he'd noticed, she quickly pulled them behind her back. She lifted her head high and took the chair at the other end of the table. Not the one next to him.
He felt the distance all the way to his heart.
Ella took a deep breath and began her story.
"Thank you all for meeting with me." She took another deep breath. "When I was seventeen, my father was murdered. I witnessed it, and the man who killed him shipped my mother and me off to Arizona to keep us quiet. I thought that was the end of it, until I saw him again years later in Bruno's bar. He had orchestrated my capture. He’d been the one pulling the strings."
The way she said “pulling the strings” sent a chill down Zach's spine. They'd used those exact words in this room before, referring to one person in particular. The person they all hated more than anything.
"When I met you all in Vegas, you mentioned someone who went by the name The General. I called this meeting today to tell you that I know who he is."
She stopped and looked around at each person before resting her gaze on him and him alone. Her eyes held apology and sympathy. But Zach was having a difficult time putting it all together.
"Wait, so you've known all along who The General is? Even while we were in Vegas?" he asked.
Ella nodded. "Yes."
"And you say that that's who killed your father?"
"Yes."
"Why?" he asked, anger starting to rise in his heart.
"Why?"
"Why did he kill your dad?"
"My father worked for him. He was an accountant by trade and had been working in politics for many years. The General used him, hiding money and using my dad's resources without his knowing. When my dad figured it out, he confronted him. I was supposed to have been gone that night. I heard the shouting and crept down the stairs."
Tears fell down Ella's cheeks, but she didn't seem to notice. It was as if she'd been transported back to that day ten years ago.
"I hid in the hallway near my dad's office. My dad was facing me, and The General had his back to me. My dad was furious. He called The General all sorts of names. At the time, I didn't understand what was going on. I peeked my head around the door, and my dad saw me, his eyes going wide with fear. And then shock. The sound of the gun hit my ears after I saw the look on my father's face when The General pulled the trigger and shot my father through the heart."
Ella's hands shook as she told her tale. No one at the table even seemed to be breathing, riveted on her story.
"I was terrified. But I knew my dad needed help. I ran to him, not caring that The General was standing there with a gun in his hand. I knelt by my father as blood pooled underneath him. He tried to say something to me, but it was too late. When I looked up, I was staring down the barrel of a gun. But then The General seemed to think twice about killing me and told me to pack some things.
"I sobbed, telling him to save my dad. He told me that it was too late, and that unless I wanted my mother to face the same fate, I'd pack some things and never tell anyone what I saw that day. And I haven't."
&n
bsp; She met their gazes then, her head held high in the face of the criticism she'd thought she would receive.
"I know I was a coward. And I know I should have told you from the beginning. But I thought that telling you would put you more at risk. With everything that happened with Tobias, though, I thought it was time you knew. What you do with the information is your own choice. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner."
Those last words she directed at Zach. His emotions were swirling around. He couldn't get his mouth to work. He wanted to tell her that it was ok, that he understood, but he just sat there staring at her.
Ella took a piece of paper from the middle of the table and wrote something down, then pushed it towards Sully.
"That's his name. His real name. I hope it helps."
With those parting words, Ella stood and left the room.
It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. finally, Isabel spoke up.
"You idiot! Go after her!"
"What?" Zach asked, trying to shake the cobwebs from his mind.
"Go. After. Her. You love her, right?"
Zach nodded.
"Then don't be a fool, and go after her. She's hurting. You need each other. She was trying to protect you, not keep things from you. So don't be stupid, and go stop her before you spend months trying to find her again."
Zach jumped up from the table and ran out of the room and down the stairs to the front door. Ella was walking towards the street, her head bowed low. He could tell from the shaking of her shoulders that she was crying.
Oh, how he loved her. He never wanted her to feel fear or heartbreak or sorrow again. He wanted her to feel only love.
"Ella!" he shouted, lifting his hand as he jogged after her.
She'd reached the sidewalk and turned around to face him.
"Zach?" she asked, hope filling her eyes.
He smiled and jogged faster.
A black sedan pulled up along the side of the road. Two men jumped out.
Zach opened his mouth to warn her, but before he could, they grabbed Ella and pulled her into the car.
Zach reached for his gun and realized he'd taken it off earlier and hadn't put it back on. The car spun away from the curb, and fear punched him in the gut. Zach chased after it, noting the license plate number.
Castle Investigations Box Set Page 97