Expired Hero

by Lisa Phillips

  Basuto dipped his head to the side, his directive for Savannah to go to Kaylee. When Stuart reached the door to Conroy’s office he said, “She shouldn’t leave.”

  “Savannah won’t let anything happen to her.” Tate’s voice was hard. Cold.

  Stuart had no choice but to trust them. Kaylee was one of their own, and they would take care of her. She knew the truth now. He didn’t remember what had happened to her brother. But to be fair, he knew more than what he’d shared.

  Maybe fear, or shame, kept him from opening up to her.

  Either way, Kaylee had shut him out. She’d determined he wasn’t the one she should give the flash drive to. No way would she accept him in her life now. Not beyond this. Whatever it was that Brad had left her, he needed it—whether she was going to turn it over or not.

  Which meant he might have to steal it.

  “Okay.” Basuto shut the door. “Tate?”

  “I got an email from Stuart and ten thousand in my account.”

  Basuto moved to his cell phone.

  Stuart said, “And you assumed it was from me? That I’d hire you to kill someone?”

  He didn’t want to argue that if he wanted a man dead, he’d do it himself. Stuart didn’t need to spend ten grand to hire Tate. Plenty of others would do it far cheaper. He had so many options available to him. He’d hire any one of those guys before even considering Tate. He was a good guy; a private investigator who’d eloped with a cop. But he wasn’t going to explain that to these men. They already considered him to be an outlier they couldn’t control. A wildcard.

  Still, they knew about ten percent of what he was capable of, and then either made up the rest or assumed he was so broken he’d never be able to truly function in this community.

  Tate pulled out his phone.

  “Send it to Ted,” Basuto said. “I’ll get him to take a look and get us the origin where the email came from.”

  “Good.” Stuart lifted his chin. “Because it wasn’t from me. Not only would I never do that, but I’ve also been here the whole time.”

  “You couldn’t have sent an email from your phone?”

  Stuart drew out his cell and flipped it open. “Calls. Texts. No email or photos.” He waved it at Tate. “Means no, I couldn’t have. So that email didn’t come from me.”

  “And the money?” Tate asked.

  “I’d have to log in to my accounts. Or Ted can since he has full access.”

  They needed to know the extent to which Stuart had no secrets from the men he lived with. That level of accountability was part of his healing process and the reason he was making so many gains.

  Tate seemed surprised.

  Stuart didn’t know how to explain everything without sounding belligerent. And why did he need to anyway, since it was none of this man’s business? “I didn’t do this. End of story. There’s nothing else to explain except that—whoever is behind this?—they had a guy pretend to be a federal agent who so convincingly passed a cursory check you guys let him arrest me. Then there’s the sniper. If you think there aren’t others already in town, you’re kidding yourselves. And they have a computer expert on their payroll.”

  “So, you’re being set up?” Basuto set down his phone. “I’m sure Ted can confirm if that’s the case.”

  Stuart pulled over a chair and sat down. He should just go. Grab his bag and take off. That would be safest, right? The people after him knew he was here. Until his mind healed enough to remember what happened, he wouldn’t know who to trust. So why hang around and wait to be picked off.

  He ran his hands down his face.

  If he could get Kaylee to give him the flash drive, he could take it with him, and then he’d have it when he was ready to take them down.

  The people here were more than capable of protecting her.

  But why did the thought of leaving her—maybe never seeing her again—make him feel like he was tearing his own heart out?

  “If they’re implicating you,” Tate said. “That means you’re a threat to them.”

  “They don’t know that I can’t remember what happened. But they know Brad sent his sister a package, and they’re right that it contains incriminating evidence.” He motioned to Kaylee with a finger.

  He’d come here initially assuming she was part of it, intent on uncovering that, first, and then “dealing” with her, second. Whatever that would have looked like.

  “So, we need to flush them out. Right?” Tate glanced between Stuart and Basuto.

  The sergeant laced his fingers over his flat stomach. “How do we do that when we don’t know how many there are? If we lay Stuart and Kaylee out as bait and jump too early, we’ll get a few, but not all of them.”

  Stuart nodded. “What if we let Tate take the guy you have in custody, make it look like he’s going to do what I supposedly asked him to. I’ll lie in wait and see how many there are.”

  He figured the others would rescue their friend. Though, maybe they wanted him dead since the sniper did his own thing and killed the fake Homeland agent.

  He asked, “Has the guy in custody said anything?”

  Basuto shook his head. “He hasn’t even asked for a lawyer.”

  “He won’t.”

  “He’s said nothing.”

  Stuart dipped his head to the side. “He likely won’t. Even under torture.” After all, he knew he wouldn’t bend in that same scenario. The men who’d held him and Brad had figured that out. Then they’d plied them with drugs to try and trick them into talking.

  He lifted a shaky hand and shoved hair back from his forehead. It immediately flopped back into place.

  “Whatever we do, I don’t want Kaylee in danger.” Basuto said, “And I’m not releasing the man who shot Conroy. So, figure out a different plan if that’s what you want to do.”

  “I don’t mind being bait,” Stuart said. “We can make it look like I’m getting whatever Brad sent to Kaylee.”

  He needed to know what was on the flash drive. Then he’d have a better idea of who these people were.

  He continued, “I’ll pretend I’m taking it and leaving town. They’ll swoop in—”

  “And you’ll be dead a second later.” Tate leaned against the wall. “They’ll take the flash drive off your dead body and come back to kill Kaylee as well.”

  “That’s where you come in,” Stuart said. “Saving my life, all our lives, and bringing these people to justice.”

  Last Chance had its own team, but they were barely back from their last mission—even though they’d started their renovation project already.

  Stuart needed to figure out how they were going to solve this without Zander and the boys’ help. “The fewer people involved, the better. Means less risk.”

  He didn’t trust Tate, but he figured the man didn’t want to deal with a dead body. He was close to an FBI agent, as the man was his brother-in-law.

  Tate nodded. “If you’ve got a plan, I’m all ears. We’ll get this cleared up so no one else ends up in the hospital like Conroy.”

  Stuart looked at Kaylee, sitting at Savannah’s desk. The two women spoke with their heads close. He wanted to know what they were talking about. Then he’d be able to help her.

  Live a life where he’d be a part of her world. Help her figure out if she could, or should, really trust Trina. Stuart knew which way he leaned. The bank manager’s daughter was one of those people who said one thing and did another, who showed a face to people based on what they thought others wanted to see. And she wasn’t even good at it. Though, truth be told, he was measuring her against some of the world’s best covert operations tactics.

  Trina was small town, small time, and Kaylee should let her go from her life.

  He wanted to help her try to solve the case of that missing woman. To be there when the police found who West was, and support her through anything else she faced.

  Stuart didn’t even know what a healthy relationship looked like. He didn’t know anyone personally who ha
d a marriage that’d actually lasted, though there were some older couples at church who’d been together for years.

  Could he make it work with Kaylee? Would she let him?

  Maybe they were too far gone. Too much deception and mistrust. Most of it was understandable. He’d withheld information from her. She didn’t trust him.

  They might never be able to work through those things and get to the other side where life was supposed to be good. And was, if Conroy, Tate, and Dean were anything to go by. Things weren’t perfect, but he’d seen the transformation in those men. They were happy.

  Something Stuart didn’t think he’d ever experienced, not once in his entire life. He had very few good memories beyond the last year; zero traditions, no family to speak of, and nothing in his history, as far as romantic relationships. He’d been about the job, and downtime consisted of hiking and rock climbing. Alone. Usually in a country where he didn’t speak the language—which was entirely on purpose.

  Kaylee loved her brother, and she was a part of this community. She didn’t need his barren wasteland of a life invading hers and dragging her down. Sure, he’d made friends here. He might be building something. But how did he know if he was capable of carrying it on beyond a month from now, let alone years or the rest of his life?

  The desk phone rang. “Sergeant Basuto.” Basuto twisted in his chair, the phone to his ear, listening for a second. “Thank you.” He hung up. “The chief is out of surgery. His injury was extensive, but it’s looking good.”

  Stuart’s head filled with memories of Brad, gasping for life. Pain. Both of them bleeding. The world swam in and out around him, and he swayed as he got up.

  “I’m going for a walk.”

  He didn’t need these people, not for permission to do whatever he wanted and certainly not for protection. If there was a team here gunning for him and Kaylee, then Stuart was going to draw them away from her. He would take care of them. Before they got anywhere near her.

  Stuart pulled the door open and stepped into the main office. Kaylee looked over, eyes wide. Surprise and concern there in her expression. She wore it all right there, out loud for all to see.

  No way they’d get anywhere near her. Not again.

  She started to speak, but he ignored her and crossed the room. He opted for the back hall since that was where Ted’s office was located. Plus, then he didn’t have to have Kaylee let him out the front door. Stuart didn’t knock on the door. He strode in and faced down his younger roommate.

  “I need you to do something for me.”

  “Will it save someone’s life and put a bad guy out of commission?”

  “Yes.”

  Ted grinned. “Then shut the door.”

  He shoved it closed, but a blue canvas shoe shoved its way between the door and the frame.

  Fourteen

  “Not so fast.” Kaylee didn’t think about it. She just went on instinct, shoving the door open and waltzing into Ted’s tiny office where she stopped, folded her arms, and stuck one foot out. “What are you guys talking about?”

  “Nothing.” Stuart’s expression was flat. Not exactly dead, just completely neutral in a way that gave away precisely the word he’d just used.

  She changed tactics. “Ted?”

  He opened his mouth, but his attention was snagged by his computer monitor. One of them, anyway. The man had three, one turned vertical. Kaylee hadn’t even known they could do that.

  “Everything okay?”

  He’d been very busy lately, trying to identify all the men in an old photo from Vietnam. A group of soldiers, all local. Men who had founded Last Chance.

  One of whom was his father. A man Ted had been looking for.

  Ted shoved his chair back and stood, muttering a word he probably shouldn’t have said. He dove for the wall and hit the power button on the extension cord. Then ran to a shelf on the far side and unplugged the modem. Or the router. She wasn’t sure which was which, or what they did, and every time he’d tried to explain it to her, he wound up getting frustrated.

  Stuart watched him. “Ted?”

  “The phone we took off the guy in custody.”

  “The guy who shot Conroy?” Kaylee asked.

  Ted nodded. “There was a worm on the phone and when I connected, it activated.” He scrubbed his hands down his face, and then back into his hair. “I hope it didn’t get into our network.” His face had paled, and he looked like he wanted to be sick. “I have to go talk to Basuto.”

  Ted squeezed past them, glancing at Stuart as he moved. “I’ll be back.”

  Stuart nodded.

  When Ted had gone, Kaylee said, “What was that about?”

  He shrugged. “What?”

  “You want to take on these guys, right?” That had to be it. “You’re shutting me out so you can go in single handedly and what…eliminate the threat?”

  He said nothing.

  Kaylee let out her frustration in a groan. “You were going to leave without me. Leave me here, and go put yourself in danger.”

  She didn’t want to get sucked down again, mired in the past and all those fears she lived with every day. Like they were a parrot on her shoulder or something. There was no escape. No matter how she wanted to be free of it, those memories and experiences were part of her.

  “Kaylee—”

  “No.” She shook her head. “What did I expect? You’re a lone wolf, right? Just like Brad, you want to fix all the problems yourself and no one else needs to help. It’s how you protect people. By going off on your own.”

  “Protecting people is a problem?”

  “You think I can’t handle what’s happening.” Maybe she couldn’t. She didn’t know. And yeah, she’d lived her life in a way that was safe and protected. But this was as good of a time as any to face down those fears and see if she could get free of them.

  To make her own choices as to what her destiny was going to be.

  Right?

  He studied her, his expression still giving nothing away. “Isn’t that what you want?”

  “I don’t want to be afraid.” She sucked in a long breath. “I don’t like being afraid.”

  Stuart shifted closer. “No one is without fear. It can keep you safe and help you make better choices. You have to use the fear.”

  “Even when it’s paralyzing.”

  He touched her elbow. “I know what that feels like, and I don’t like it either. My mind was so fractured. I still don’t remember exactly what happened. Sometimes, right as I wake up, my mind tricks me into thinking I’m still there. Or I wonder if all this is a dream. That I’m still there, my mind broken, living in my head in this delusion.”

  “And you made up me?” She shook her head. “I’m sure you could’ve thought up someone better than me to be your friend’s sister. Someone brave and beautiful.”

  “That’s how I know it’s not a dream.”

  “Because I’m a hot mess?”

  Stuart touched her cheek then. “Because I’d never have been able to dream up someone as beautiful as you.”

  Kaylee’s mouth dropped open.

  “That’s why I want this done, so you’re not in danger any longer.” He dropped his hand and took a step back. “I need you to give me the flash drive.”

  She frowned.

  “I want to flush out these guys first, but then I need whatever is on it.”

  “Do you even know the password?”

  Stuart started to speak, then hesitated. “There’s a password on it?”

  “The note said if you don’t enter it within thirty seconds, the whole flash drive wipes, and everything is gone.”

  He scratched his jaw.

  “That’s why I haven’t looked at it. And why I’ve been waiting for the right person.” When Ted had tried to access that phone, he’d run up against a similar problem. “Do you think they’re related?” She motioned to the phone. “Is that type of security something you guys do?”

  Stuart said, “You can buy wha
tever computer program you want online if you’re willing to pay for it. Or you hire someone to write it. But it stands up to reason that Brad would want to keep the information safe.”

  He didn’t look super happy, though.

  She said, “You don’t know the password, do you?”

  His brow furrowed. “If Brad told me, I might’ve forgotten.”

  “True.” He had said his mind was fractured. “Maybe you’ll remember.” And, in the meantime, he had plenty of things to take care of. She didn’t exactly want to be part of it. “I just don’t want to sit here doing nothing, feeling useless and being too scared to live my life.”

  “So, you decide now to stand up to it?”

  “I want to make my own choices.” She shrugged. “It sounds hokey, but I really should be in control of my destiny.”

  “A sniper shot Conroy.”

  She winced. “I know.”

  He shifted closer to her. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. I want you to stay here, where you’re safe.”

  “A biker gang stormed in and shot the place up a few months ago,” she pointed out. “It’s not a foolproof plan.”

  “Maybe Basuto was right, and you do need to be in a safe house.”

  “Nowhere is safe.” Kaylee lifted her chin. “I know that better than anyone. And it means I need to learn to live with it.”

  “It’s hard to say no to you.”

  She waited.

  He chuckled. Before he could say anything, her phone buzzed. Kaylee pulled it out. “Trina. She’s outside, in case I want to make a break for it. Get out of here.”

  She shook her head and tried to figure out what on earth Trina was thinking. The woman made no sense sometimes. She’d been distraught about what had happened at the bank but still hadn’t managed to figure out Kaylee had only gone there to see what would happen if she checked her safety deposit box.

  Maybe she shouldn’t expect Trina could figure that out. She wasn’t a cop, or some kind of secret agent.

  “You wanna go with her?”

  As he asked the question, the back door popped open. Kaylee braced. Stuart moved in front of her. Protecting her with his own body. A shield.