Vendetta Target: Six Assassins Book 5

by Heskett, Jim

  If this meeting this morning didn’t pan out, Isabel didn’t know what she would do. She had hit every dead end imaginable. With Layne and Serena on her side, she would have a fighting chance to uncover the truth.

  So much depended on this one meeting.

  For now, Isabel waited. A few minutes to herself. Her thoughts were on various meetings with Marcus over the last few weeks. He had told her many things, and Isabel had never known how much of it was true. The fact that they had both “inherited” Ember Clarke from other people inside the FBI had always felt like a strange thing for them to argue about. Only now did Isabel question if there had even been any truth to it — had she truly “inherited” Ember? Or had something else entirely happened?

  Also, for some reason, she thought about that episode in high school, out at the lake. She didn’t like to think about that night, and it passed through her thoughts less and less often these days. The football player who had charmed her out to the water’s edge, far away from the bonfire and far away from her friends who had the power to stop the terrible thing that was about to happen to her. She thought about how bitter she’d become after, not only because of what had happened in those few minutes, but because of what happened for years after. The lingering effects. How she had feared sex, even when she’d wanted it. Even when she would find a suitable partner who made her feel safe, she still couldn’t feel safe. For years, that awful fear persisted.

  Why this was all so prevalent on her mind right now, Isabel didn’t know. But it was like a child in class with his hand urgently raised, waiting for the teacher to call on him.

  The car stopped at the end of the alley. It sat there for a moment, tinted windows, looking like a snarling dog sizing up a threat from afar. Isabel cleared her throat and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. She took her hands out of her jacket to show that she wasn’t hiding a weapon.

  Then Isabel’s eyes were drawn to the right as Layne entered her vision. He was in a large down jacket, so puffy it made him seem to be twice his size. Isabel didn’t want to tell Layne that puffy jackets were pretty far out of style now. But a guy like that could wear whatever he wanted.

  Once Layne entered the alley, the driver door of the parked car opened, and out stepped Serena Rojas. There they were; Isabel’s last combined hope.

  Layne and Serena fell in step and approached Isabel. They were quite a formidable pair; the physically gigantic Layne and the slender and sleek Serena. Isabel had not forgotten the other night in Ember’s condo, how Serena had sprinted across the room and disarmed her before Isabel had even had the chance to gasp.

  “Thank you for coming,” Isabel said.

  Serena stopped about five feet short. “Where’s your gun?”

  “In its holster. I’m really hoping it doesn’t end up being that kind of encounter, so I’m extending the olive branch and I’m not going to ask you if you’re packing.”

  Serena glanced at Layne and then back to Isabel. “I’m here because Layne talked me into it, and I don’t know myself what to think of all this mess with you and Allison Campbell. He bought you a couple minutes, so let’s hear it.”

  “Stop your mission to kill Ember Clarke--or Allison Campbell--and cease all communication with Marcus Lonsdale.”

  “That second part isn’t a stretch, because I haven’t heard from Marcus in days. According to his secretary, he’s on assignment in Alaska.”

  “Do you believe that?” Isabel said.

  Serena chewed on her lip for a couple seconds. “No, I don’t. I don’t know where Marcus is. It’s not the first time he or his office has lied to me, actually. They haven’t even bothered to give me that ‘need to know basis’ crap, either.”

  “There’s something going on out here in Denver,” Isabel said. “I don’t know how all the pieces fit yet. I need more time, and I was hoping not to have to monitor keeping you away from Ember while I do it. Marcus wants her dead because of his mess. He’s had me convinced that the rest of the FBI knowing about her and letting her live would damage the Bureau. But it’s all been lies.”

  “I have information,” Layne said. “I haven’t had a chance to tell either one of you, but it’s big.” He nodded toward Isabel. “You asked me to look into Marcus Lonsdale. I called in a few favors and learned something interesting. He was here, in Denver, two weeks ago, despite what his actual travel itinerary said.”

  Isabel raised an eyebrow. “He was here?”

  “Yeah, with a couple of guys who were not FBI. As far as I can tell, they’re private security. Marcus and his guys visited Gabriel Jackson at an apartment in Boulder. You know who that is?”

  A cold chill slithered up Isabel’s spine. “Yes. Gabe was someone Ember mentored.”

  “Well, Marcus visited him—off the books—and tried to get him to turn against Ember. Gabe said no, and then a week ago, Marcus visited Denver again. This time, only for a day, and he was at the motel where Gabe was shot and killed.”

  “Marcus killed Gabe because he wouldn’t do what… become an informant?” Serena asked, frowning.

  “That’s what it looks like,” Layne said. “All of this is under the radar. Marcus has nothing in his travel plans about Denver, nothing at all about Gabe Jackson. All of it is wiped and looking like he’s been visiting field offices in various states around the country.”

  Isabel breathed for a few seconds, her mind spinning. Could it be possible he had murdered Gabe? Was Marcus capable of something like that? “This is verified?”

  Layne nodded. “Like I said, there’s nothing official. But you'll have to trust me when I tell you my info is solid. I wouldn’t testify to it in court, but it’s as close as we’re going to get to an official account.”

  Isabel studied Serena, who was wearing an expression too hard to read. Isabel caught her eye. “What do you think now?”

  “If true, this does change things.” After that, Serena closed her mouth and said nothing further, back to that unreadable expression. But her eyes moved around, taking it in. She seemed to be processing everything, which Isabel took as a good sign. Better than an about-face and storming out, as she had done more than once when these meetings concluded.

  “When are you due back in DC?” Layne asked Serena.

  “Not for another week. I was hoping to go down to Texas and see my folks, but I don’t have plane tickets purchased yet or anything like that.”

  “Would you mind sticking around the area and helping out?” Layne asked. “I think Agent Yang could use our help, if you’d be willing to let her run point on this, or, at least, treat it as a cross-department cooperative assignment.”

  For a few seconds, Serena said nothing. Her gaze moved back and forth between Isabel and Layne. This Latina beauty had a face that could alternate between caustic harshness and sympathetic softness multiple times within the span of a few seconds.

  Her lips twitched several times, as if preparing to speak and then changing her mind. Something in her face morphed to an expression Isabel had never seen there before. Maybe it was respect? For the first time, Serena wasn’t looking at her like she was an adversary.

  Finally, Serena said, “Okay. I will stay and help you investigate what Marcus is doing. As long as it stays under the radar and my involvement never makes its way into any reports. I’m a ghost here. That part is non-negotiable for me.”

  “Same goes for me,” Layne said. “You take all the credit you want. We can’t be involved in any official capacity.”

  Isabel felt a million pounds lift from her shoulders. “Absolutely. I’m not sure there ever will be a report, to be honest. I don’t know for a fact that I still have a job back in Washington. But that’s not important. Whatever is going on out here in Denver, we need to know. Marcus could be somewhere in town, right, Layne?”

  He shrugged. “It’s possible. I don’t know for sure. He did make an actual appearance at an FBI field office in Oklahoma City yesterday, but no word on his movements since then.”

  I
sabel felt it before she saw or heard anything. A change in the wind, maybe, or that eerie feeling when someone’s gaze lands on you. She felt it first in the pit of her stomach, then as a slight ringing in her ears.

  “You okay?” Layne asked, one eyebrow raised at her.

  “There’s…” Isabel said, then she took a step away from the two of them. She put her hand inside her coat, feeling the grip of her pistol. But she did not draw it from the shoulder holster yet.

  “What are you doing?” Serena said. She took her hands out of her jacket, clenching her fists at her waist.

  A glint of light shined in Isabel’s eye. She looked up to the roof of Ember’s condo building. She saw it a split second before the gun fired. The long barrel of a sniper rifle, a scope pointed down at her. Layne and Serena both sprang into action, but it was too late. They didn’t get to Isabel in time.

  The shot came like a crack of a whip, the round sailing down toward her. The bullet entered her temple just above her right eye, and her brain shut down immediately. No time to move, no time to think, no time to do anything other than succumb to the sniper’s attack.

  Isabel sank to her knees as her eyes closed, and she descended into darkness.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  EMBER

  Bullets flew over her head as Ember dropped into a foxhole. She had no idea how many in total were out on the field shooting at each other, but it had to be more than thirty. More streaming into the woods every minute. Seemed like the entirety of Five Points and Westminster were now here, engaging in a full scale war. She had seen at least five die already.

  And she didn’t want to run, because she had a gym bag with three bombs slung over her shoulder, bouncing around as she skulked through this subterranean trench. She wasn’t a bomb expert, despite all the recent practice. Ember had no clue what would accidentally set them off.

  In a few more feet, she reached a junction, then turned right. She skidded to a stop to find two guys in full camo, pistols up. They both aimed their guns at her, shouting something about identifying herself. Instead of doing that, Ember backpedaled around the foxhole the way she had come, except now there were a couple of Westminster members down this lane, hustling in her direction. Nothing good in either direction.

  Ember had to pick. So, instead of running headfirst into a hail of bullets, she grabbed onto the side of the foxhole and hoisted herself up to ground level.

  There, she could see the main Ace Paintball building a couple hundred yards to the east. Her car was parked behind a dumpster at the edge of the parking lot. It seemed like a million miles away amid all this chaos, though.

  Ember bared her teeth and ran. In her peripheral, there were at least half a dozen men and women in the nearby vicinity shooting at each other. Bullets zipped around, chipping bark off trees, sending chunks of dirt up into the air. This was madness. Ember had never seen a war between two Branches before. How had it come to this?

  As she ran, she noticed a lanky guy in camo and a helmet stop what he was doing and stare at her. Arms at his sides, a pistol in one hand. With his other hand, he ripped off his helmet.

  Bam stood there, mouth open, eyes wide as Ember was escaping with his bombs. He must have recognized her by the gym bag. He lifted a hand to point at her, and his mouth opened, but in the commotion, Ember couldn’t make out what he was saying.

  Bam broke out into a run after her.

  Ember kicked it into high gear, sprinting, fleeing as fast as she could. None of the combatants out here in the woods were actively targeting her, as far as she could tell. But there were so many bullets in the air, she wouldn’t be safe until she was away from them all.

  A limb of a tree cracked and fell ten feet to her right. She could feel the zipping of bullets through the air all around her.

  She pushed her legs until she could feel her heartbeat in her throat, continuing to change direction and pivot as much as possible. But above all, she focused on an all-out sprint to ward off the bullets. Shouts and screams echoed off the hills and trees, bullet ricochets, the sounds of boots crunching through dried fall leaves and patches of leftover snow warming in the sunshine.

  She hit the paved area outside the main building and rushed through the gate, then felt gravel crunch under her feet as she ran toward the dumpster. Fifty more feet, and she would be there.

  A bullet cracked the air over her shoulder. “Stop!”

  Ember considered continuing to run, but the voice sounded only about twenty feet away. If the next shot hit the gym bag, everyone here could end up incinerated, including the civilians who worked here. If they were smart, they had all fled as soon as the shooting started. But in Ember’s experience, civilians weren’t smart, and tended to hide when caught in the middle of a gunfight.

  She turned to see Bam standing there, shoulders heaving up and down, spittle on his lips. “Where… do you think… you’re going with my shit?”

  She considered using the bag as a shield, but Bam was crazy enough to shoot her, anyway. Ember lowered the gym bag from her shoulder to her hand. “What were you going to do with these? What’s the plan?”

  Bam, still holding the gun, took a few steps closer to her. “None of your business. I need them back. That’s my property, and I worked my ass off to get it, and you can’t just take it because you found it. This is no finders-keepers shit right here.”

  “All that stuff you said about how if I found the bombs, you would face me one-on-one? Were you lying about that? Because I found the bombs, Bam. Let’s have it out. But put your gun down, because I choose knives.”

  He shrugged. “I was sort of improvising when I said that. We're not doing it that way.”

  “You don’t care about blowing me up at all, do you?”

  He took a few more steps toward her, now within only ten feet. “Oh, I do. You absolutely need to pay for what you did, and I’m still going to make that happen. But I found a better use for those bombs.”

  “What?”

  He grinned and took another step. Ember tried not to look down, but she figured he was about eight feet away. She needed him to come a little closer.

  “I’m going to blow up the Denver Consolidated Holdings building and finally get rid of the Review Board. See, I didn’t care about the revolution. I really didn’t. But I’ve had a lot of time to think, and I can see Niles and Payton were right. It all needs to go. All of it. It needs to start fresh, because you can’t keep cutting out the rotten parts of the apple forever. This seems like the best way to honor their memory, you know?”

  She now understood that Bam had never had a grand plan. He’d been playing it by ear all week, letting his need for revenge drive him. “No, I don’t know.”

  Another step toward her. “You should be angrier than anyone at them, Ember. They screwed you over big-time, didn’t they? Six weeks of trial by combat? Doesn’t that make you angry?”

  “Dozens of people work in that building. You would kill them all to make a point, even the ones who have nothing to do with how the Review Board operates?”

  “I’m making an omelet,” he said, and took one more step.

  That was close enough.

  Ember whipped the gym bag toward him. As it flew through the air, blocking his sight, she launched forward. Bam pulled the trigger, but the blind bullet sailed off to her right.

  Her ears rang from the proximity of the shot, but she didn’t let it deter her. Ember closed the distance and then opened her arms to tackle him, wrapping around his wiry frame.

  She pushed all her weight forward to drive him into the ground. Air whooshed out of his lungs as his back connected. His eyes bugged out, gasping, trying to breathe.

  No time to rest. Bam was incredibly fast and strong for such a skinny guy, so she had to press her advantage. Last time, he’d been faster. Today, Ember wouldn’t let that happen.

  She whipped a hand back and drew her blade, pressed the button to unsheathe it, then she drove it into Bam’s chest. His eyes grew even wider
. Ember gave the knife a twist, pushing it down deep into his flesh. Blood poured out, coating her hand, but she held firm, grinding the blade as far as it would go.

  Bam tried to speak, but only hissed air. Eyes bugging out, face red and strained. He tried to look down at the blade.

  “I’m sorry about Niles,” she said, herself out of breath. “I really am. But you can’t go around bombing civilians and killing worker bees at the Holdings building. I can’t let you do that, even if you and your Branch have an airtight point about the corruption.”

  Ember gave the knife one last push, pressing it deeper. Bam gagged as blood leaked out of the corners of his mouth, then he went still. He never got a word out, and that was fine.

  “I didn’t even want to kill you,” she said as she retrieved her blade, seething at him. “I didn’t want to kill anyone. I just want this shit to be over.”

  Ember sat back, blood on her hands, her chest, cooling on her face. She could once again hear the gunshots from the adjacent woods. Her entire body was tensed, and it all rushed out of her at once. Like someone had pulled out her pin and all of her energy had flooded out onto the gravel. Her eyes dimmed, and her hands felt like bulky kettlebells.

  Ember staggered to her feet, sucking in massive breaths as she returned her knife to its home in her back pocket. Then a shadow darkened the ground to her right. A forceful hand grabbed her hair from behind, exposing her neck, as a serrated hunting knife went up against her throat.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  EMBER

  She stood as still as possible to make sure she didn’t accidentally cut herself on the blade up against her neck. Cooper hovered behind her, his front pressed to her back. She could feel his hot breath on her neck. Also, she could feel wetness on her back. He was still bleeding from the two stab wounds. How he had survived all that blood loss long enough to stalk her across the field, she had no idea.