Better Off Dead

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Better Off Dead Page 17

by Meryl Sawyer


  Brock agreed to the meeting, saying he would contact him at the Mayan Princess. He hung up, a little uneasy. He was breaking one of his rules. Never meet an operative in person.

  He reminded himself that he didn’t have a choice. His number one priority was killing Samantha Robbins. He couldn’t risk another debacle like Santa Fe. If he intended to take over Cassidy’s position, he had to whack the bitch.

  He tried Jordan again. Her damn machine kicked on, but this time the message said she was away on business and would return calls from the road.

  Brock had bigger fish to fry than some dumb twit who didn’t call him back. He would take care of her later. He needed to find someone to take his place when he moved into Cassidy’s position.

  “You’ve been way too smart on this,” he said out loud.

  In keeping his operation a one-man-show, Brock hadn’t trained his replacement. No one had any idea how to run the sensitive, super-secret equipment. Most of it wouldn’t be hard to learn, but deciding who could be trusted to head security, was another matter.

  A big problem.

  Anyone who took over his job had to know exactly what Obelisk was doing. It wasn’t the first time the thought had occurred to him, but only now did he appreciate how difficult this was going to be. Virtually all of the personnel at Obelisk were operating under the illusion that they were doing a patriotic service to help America.

  It was better to go to the outside, Brock decided. A disgruntled worker at the Pentagon or CIA would be ideal. Someone like him, a guy who wasn’t being given the credit he was due, a guy who wasn’t being paid enough.

  A lot of guys fit the profile. He just had to do a little research.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAD LEFT RORY to put the house back together on Monday morning and drove into town. He’d used the infrared gadget Danson had given him to track Devon after she’d left the wedding. He’d told himself he was testing the device, but in the bright light of the island sun the next morning, he couldn’t kid himself.

  Devon Summers captivated him in a way no other woman ever had. After what he’d seen last night, he was even more intrigued.

  And suspicious.

  On the infrared screen, he’d watched her return home. The GPS coordinates told him exactly where she lived. That was the information he wanted, and he’d almost turned off the tracker when a person came to her door.

  At midnight?

  Why, he’d wondered.

  He’d kept watching, unwilling to admit he was actually jealous. The device didn’t tell him if Devon’s visitor was a man or a woman, but he was betting on a man. He’d waited to see if the man was spending the night. Curiously they both had come out with Zach and went to a vehicle parked down the street.

  The device didn’t tell him exactly what they were doing, but it appeared that they had removed something, then returned to Devon’s apartment. It appeared to have been done purposely so darkness concealed them.

  She’d seemed sincere about moving here to get away from a troubled relationship. Now he wondered if—despite her denial—she could be involved in some illegal activity like drugs. She might not be out to bilk Eddie, but she was wearing contacts to disguise her blue eyes, and she refused to give out personal information.

  He planned to find out what she was up to.

  First, he had to contact Danson. DARPA should know their gadget had a flaw, if the murdered man testing it hadn’t already told them. He found a pay phone on King Street and called Archer Danson.

  As usual, Danson said he would contact from a secure line. While he waited, he bought a packet of crackseed and a bottle of Surf’s Up water from the Stop N Go Minimart.

  He’d been snacking on Hawaii’s version of trail mix since he was a kid. In ancient times, Chinese warriors had carried bits of dried, salted plum to eat when food wasn’t available. Shanghaied sailors had brought the treat to the islands where it became a popular snack.

  The pay phone rang and Chad tossed back a handful of crackseed and washed it down with some water before answering on the third ring.

  “You have something to report?” Danson asked.

  “The device is sound as far as I can tell, except it has problems when objects are on the water. A small boat with people aboard will show on the screen as a watercraft. For some reason it doesn’t pick up humans or animals onboard.”

  “Christ! No one else mentioned this.” Danson grunted the way he often did when he was thinking. “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. I’ve tried it in several different situations.”

  “I’ll have the engineers get on it.”

  “Do you want this one back?”

  “No. Keep testing. Remember to watch your back. Report anything suspicious.”

  For a moment Chad was tempted to tell Danson about Devon and ask him to run a check. He decided that wasn’t the best way to handle the situation. He needed to investigate her himself. He wasn’t being arrogant, but he had plenty of experience when he’d been with Delta Force. Besides he had a personal interest in the situation.

  DEVON STARED at the three boxes from her office in Houston. They’d been transferred to Santa Fe when WITSEC had sent her there. She’d shoved them into a closet, hoping one day she could go back to her old life and would need some of the financial books and computer disks.

  Where was she going to put them now? Unlike her place in Santa Fe, this studio didn’t have a closet big enough to store all the boxes. She should throw them out. It didn’t seem likely she would ever return to a financial career.

  “What’s wrong with you? Stop being so pessimistic.”

  Zach cocked his head and gazed up at her. She remembered her promise to take him to the beach. She decided to leave the office stuff stacked in the corner, and unpack the clothes. She wanted to save her winter coat and a few suits.

  Eventually Rutherford and Ames would come to trial. If it was winter, she would want heavier things. She also considered the possibility she might be forced to run and need a warm wardrobe. She began to sort through the clothes, selecting a few. The others she would drop off at the Salvation Army on her way to the beach with Zach.

  She was halfway through the clothes, when she heard a knock at the door. Cold fear prickled her skin. Who could it be? Warren was the only one who knew where she lived, and he was gone.

  Zach was wagging his tail, but then, he was a golden retriever who thought everyone was his friend. Approaching the door without making a sound she decided it was probably a neighbor or a Jehovah’s Witness. She peered out the peephole.

  Chad Langston.

  Oh, my God! How had he found her? She thought she’d taken every precaution.

  Devon considered pretending she wasn’t home, but decided against it. A man like Chad would be persistent. She might as well face him now. She swung open the door and tried for a surprised smile to hide her anger. A busybody like Chad could get her killed.

  “Good morning,” Chad greeted her.

  She couldn’t force herself to be flirtatious. She motioned for him to come inside. Naturally Zach rubbed Chad’s long legs, begging to be petted.

  “How did you find me?”

  Chad looked up from stroking Zach’s head. “I planted a location transmitter under the bumper of your car.”

  She knew about the thumb-sized devices that could be hidden—unnoticed and difficult to find—on any vehicle. All it would take to track the transmitter’s signal would be an FM receiver that could be bought at any electronics store. Considering Chad’s Delta Force experience, this was a low-tech approach, but it had worked.

  Her disheartened feeling at being so easily found morphed into something darker, uglier. She was angry with Chad, true, but more that that she was profoundly discouraged. Devices purchased at any electronics store had led Chad to her. What could Rutherford and Ames do with their unlimited funds?

  In a way she was flattered that he’d taken the trouble to find her. In another way she was furious.
He had a lot of nerve, but then that was probably why he was so successful. He didn’t let anything get in the way of what he wanted.

  “This place is a mess,” she explained, stalling, wondering how to handle the situation. “I’m unpacking. A friend brought me some of my things late last night.”

  Chad eyed the boxes she was unpacking and the clothes strewn around the small studio. Relief clicked deep inside his chest. Devon wasn’t up to anything illegal.

  He wanted to ask why the delivery in the middle of the night, but that would expose his location transmitter story as a lie. No one could know about the DARPA tracking device. He also wanted to ask if the friend was a man or woman, but didn’t. He sensed her hostility and didn’t want to alienate her more than he already had.

  “This place doesn’t look big enough for you to have a roommate,” he commented as he stroked Zach’s silky fur.

  He didn’t think she was going to answer. He was pushing his luck, but he couldn’t help himself. He wanted her in a way that he’d never wanted a woman. Okay, okay, it was physical, but she intrigued him on many levels.

  She was attracted to him, yet she kept holding him off. Something was wrong and he was here to find out what it was.

  “You’re petting my roommate,” she said, her tone bitter.

  He smiled inwardly. She hadn’t quite told a lie, but she’d cleverly managed to evade the truth. Her reluctance to out-and-out lie told him a lot about her.

  “You have electrical service, but your name isn’t in their database.”

  For a second, he thought she was going to punch him. “Why are you checking on me?”

  He stepped forward and brushed his knuckles against her cheek. She grabbed his wrist but didn’t pull his hand away.

  “I care about you, Devon. I know it’s crazy because we don’t know each other that well, but it’s how I feel. I think you’re in some kind of trouble. I can help.”

  His tone was so sweet, so sincere that it brought the sting of tears behind her eyes. No one could help her and she knew it, but she was touched that he wanted to try.

  “You can help me by leaving me alone,” she replied, pushing his hand away from her face. “Don’t tell anyone where I live or anything you’ve learned about me.”

  He’d expected her to refuse help. After watching her at work, he’d seen the kind of independent woman she was. He plopped down on the sofa on top of a winter coat. “I’m not leaving here until you talk to me.”

  His response didn’t surprise Devon. She’d been around him enough to realize he didn’t know anything about not winning. She hated herself for what she was going to do, but she had her story ready.

  She paced the small studio for a few minutes, pretending to be distraught. She finally sighed—not too dramatically she hoped—and walked over to the sofa. She removed a pile of sweaters intended for the Salvation Army and set them on the floor. She sat down as far away from Chad as possible on the small sofa that doubled as her bed.

  “When I was working at the Four Seasons in Chicago, I coordinated a large corporation’s Christmas party. It was before the dot-com meltdown so it was a lavish affair.”

  As she spoke, Devon made certain to look directly into Chad’s eyes. Looking away or looking down was a tip-off that you were lying. She was, of course, but she’d rehearsed this story many times. She prayed she could pull it off.

  “One of the guests was Nathan Albert. We were introduced and chatted briefly. That evening when I returned to my condo, exhausted, I found one hundred crystal vases filled with red roses. Each note had the same message: Beautiful roses for a beautiful lady. Nate had signed each note.”

  Chad watched Devon closely. Her gaze was steady and her voice showed little sign of emotion. She was good at holding her emotions in check, he decided. He had a troubling feeling he knew where this story was going.

  “It took me a minute to remember who Nate was. It was shocking that he’d done something so over-the-top after meeting me for just a few minutes. I was a little put off.”

  “Some guys can’t resist trying to impress women,” Chad commented.

  She nodded, slowly, thoughtfully. He seemed to be buying her story so far. “The next day, Nate called and asked me to dinner. I really didn’t want to go but after all those roses…how could I say no? We went in Nate’s limo to Tango, one of the nicest restaurants in the city. Naturally, we had the best table, and he was on a first-name basis with all the staff.

  “I went out with him a few more times, but then I decided to cut it off. When he touched me, I cringed. I didn’t like kissing him, and I knew soon he’d expect…more. Also, I suspected Nate had ties to the mob. I made a few excuses when he phoned. Then he called and simply said he was picking me up at seven. I was angry, but I went out with him, intending to explain that I couldn’t see him anymore.”

  Chad knew this guy wasn’t taking no for an answer. Devon was a woman no man would want to lose, but a reasonable guy would have let her go at this point.

  “Nate said he’d made up his mind. I belonged with him.” She looked away and tried for a grim expression. “I had no say in the matter. I told him to drop dead. I walked out of the restaurant and took a cab home.

  “I didn’t hear anything for over a week. Then my best friend called from the hospital. Two men had pulled her off the street and had beaten her up. Next time, they promised to kill her. They said for her to give me a message: Nate was the best thing that would ever happen to me.”

  She paused here and swallowed hard. “The following day, a courier brought me a package. Inside were telephoto shots of my sister, Tina, and my niece, Ariel. No message. Just the photos. I understood what he meant. Nate knew where my sister lived, and if I didn’t cooperate, she was next.”

  The bastard, Chad thought, the image of his own sisters in his mind. If anyone ever harmed them, he knew without a doubt he would kill him.

  “Naturally, I went to the police. There was nothing they could do. Pictures were just pictures.”

  “What about your friend? Those goons who beat her up and used Nate’s name.”

  “She changed her story, said she couldn’t remember what happened.” Devon shrugged. “I can’t blame her. She was in pretty bad shape. Next time, they might kill her. She moved back to Sioux City and refused to take any of my calls.”

  Chad heard the sadness in her voice and knew this must have been more difficult than he could possibly imagine. “Did you have anyone who could help you?”

  “Not really. I had friends, and ex-boyfriends, but no one as close as Melissa. Even if there had been someone, I couldn’t jeopardize anyone else’s life. I tried to get a restraining order, but the police said Nate would have to threaten me or do something first.”

  Chad waited for Devon to continue. When she didn’t, he prompted, “What happened?”

  “I had no choice but to see Nate until I could figure out what to do. I didn’t want anything to happen to my sister.” She shuddered and drew in a sharp breath, a move she’d practiced in front of the mirror dozens of times. “It meant sleeping with him, but it bought me time. I researched how to disappear and create a new identity.”

  He imagined Devon forcing herself to submit to this creep. He could see the prick pawing her lush breasts and shoving himself between her thighs. Something deep in his gut clenched, the way it had when he’d been behind enemy lines during Desert Storm. He knew he was going to have to slit the throat of an Iraqi guard. He couldn’t shoot without jeopardizing the mission and exposing his team’s position.

  It was kill or be killed then.

  This was different. Nathan Albert was no threat to him, but he wanted to put a knife through the guy’s heart for what he’d done to Devon. All of this flashed through his mind in a second. With it came the realization that she meant even more to him than he’d admitted to himself.

  He was ready to kill for her.

  “Nate, the conceited ass, never suspected a thing. He showered me with gifts, an
d I accepted them. I never told him how important my sister and niece were to me. In fact I subtly implied the opposite. All the while, I prepared to run, but it took me almost a year.”

  There was an odd twinge in her voice, and she stopped for a moment. Chad waited, not wanting to interrupt her chain of thought.

  “I converted cash to money orders and forwarded them to Portland where I intended to move. I took the train to Philadelphia and New York to hock the jewelry and furs Nate had given me. The money went to Portland. When I had liquidated all I could without alerting Nate, I bought a one-way plane ticket from Indianapolis to London and left.”

  “What about your sister?”

  “I’d told Tina. She and my niece stayed the summer on a private island in the Caribbean. Nate sent someone to question my brother-in-law, but I don’t think he believed they knew where I’d gone because we’d been down to Nate’s penthouse in South Beach several times, and I’d never gone to see my sister. He didn’t think we were very close.”

  Chad nodded, thinking there were a dozen ways the jerk could track Devon unless she’d taken elaborate measures to cover her tracks.

  “I left when I knew Nate was going to be in the Caymans for a week so I’d have a head start. I took only a few things. My computer, a few family pictures and some clothes. I didn’t leave a note or anything.”

  “What about your job?”

  “I told them I had a sick aunt in Phoenix. Then I flew from Indianapolis to London.”

  “You must have gotten a passport in a different name,” Chad commented.

  Devon shook her head, a smile of pride curving her lips. “I wanted Nate to think I was somewhere in Europe.”

  Clever, Chad thought. Very clever. Portland was halfway around the world. “You must have gotten a new passport to get back to the States.”

  Again Devon shook her head. “With all the terrorist activity, I couldn’t risk getting caught with a phony passport. I’d figured out a way to get back without leaving a trail or getting a new passport.”

  Chad stared at her, more than a little amazed. He could think of a few ways of entering the country without going through immigration, but he was trained in covert operations. She wasn’t.

 

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