by LENA DIAZ,
She glanced up at Kade. “These list Sebastian’s and Amber’s property holdings. And they’re signed by you.”
“Pass them to him,” Jace said.
“That’s not necessary.” Kade didn’t take his eyes off Bailey. “I didn’t know Sebastian or Amber. I didn’t lie about that. But part of my job on this mission is to make sure that every home, business, warehouse, boat, whatever that is owned by any Enforcers is thoroughly searched to ensure that they didn’t keep any papers or recordings or anything sensitive in nature relating to EXIT. Sebastian and Amber, as I told you, were taken before I came on the job. I requested property reports on everyone to double-check behind my predecessor to make sure he didn’t miss anything. That’s it. A global request for information on all of the Enforcers who were captured before I took the job, as well as those still remaining to be taken. I didn’t lie to you, Bailey.”
One of the reports crinkled in her hand. She set it down and absently smoothed it.
“Bailey?”
“I believe you,” she said, but her voice didn’t sound nearly as confident as it had a few minutes earlier.
“Let’s see,” Jace said. “You work with mercenaries, but not to hurt anyone of course. And you have reports on people you claimed you didn’t know. Have I got it right so far?”
“Bite me,” Kade said.
Jace chuckled. “Oh, by the way. How’s the leg, Kade? Doin’ okay?”
“What do you want?”
“The truth would be nice. Bailey, I’m curious. Did Kade tell you how he got injured? I’d love to hear the story.”
She frowned.
“Go ahead,” Kade told her. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
She gave a sanitized version of what he’d told her in Colorado Springs.
Jace made a show of looking through the documents in front of him. Around the table, the other Equalizers sat quietly, letting him run his little show.
Kade wanted to punch every single one of them.
“Ah, here we are. A police report for the night you were involved in that horrendous accident.” Again, he tossed the report to Bailey. “If you don’t mind, would you skim that and give us a summary?”
“Wait,” Kade said. “I already know what—”
Jace held up his hand. “You’ll get a turn. Bailey, please?”
Kade cursed beneath his breath. He’d figured out at least part of their game. They were trying to drive a wedge between him and Bailey, to prove he was the villain they believed him to be. And from the stricken look on her face, they were succeeding.
“It wasn’t even a car accident,” she said, her voice tight, barely above a whisper. “You were injured in your garage, working on your boat.”
“I know that’s what it says, but—”
“No gunshot,” she continued, her voice getting louder. “No wife. Why would you make up something like that?”
He gritted his teeth and tried again. “The report was falsified. My boss told me about it after I woke up from the coma.”
“You never mentioned a coma,” she accused.
“I also didn’t tell you that I was in the hospital for four months, that I was in rehab after that. There wasn’t a reason to share any of that with you.”
As soon as the words left his mouth he wished he could take them back. Because there was a reason that he should have shared. He and Bailey had formed some kind of bond, a tenuous one that was difficult to define. But it relied on honesty and openness between them. He should have told her those details. He realized it now. Caring about someone meant sharing exactly those kinds of details. And he definitely cared about her—as impossible as that seemed since they’d known each other for such a short period of time. But he was so used to keeping it all inside that he hadn’t stopped to consider the damage he might do by not telling her.
“The original police report was replaced in order to keep people from asking questions,” he told her. “Making my injury seem like a common household accident meant no one would look any deeper. The FBI wanted to investigate on their own because they . . .” His voice trailed off when he saw the next trap. He glared at Jace.
“Go on,” Jace said. “No reason to stop now.”
“Why did the FBI want to cover it up?” This time it was Bailey asking the question.
“Because,” Kade said, trying to keep his temper under wraps, “the man who shot through my car door, injuring me and killing my wife, was an Enforcer. It was a mistake. He went after the wrong person. But you can imagine that the FBI wouldn’t want anyone seeing the bullet hole in the door and investigating who the shooter might be.”
Her eyes widened. “You have a vendetta against Enforcers. That’s why you took on this mission.”
If Kade had a gun right now, he very much feared he would use it on Jace for stirring all of this up. Jace should thank God for small favors.
“I wouldn’t call it a vendetta. The Enforcer who killed Abby was taken to the retraining facility long before I got out of the hospital. I don’t even know who he was.”
“Then why did you agree to take the mission?” she asked.
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to see a way out of the quicksand forming beneath him. But all he seemed to be doing was sinking faster.
“The bullet that went through my hip and thigh did extensive nerve and muscle damage. I was addicted to prescription painkillers and pretty much made a disaster of my life. The FBI was going to cut me loose. An old friend of mine who’d heard about the accident contacted my boss, Faegan. Then Gannon—”
“Your friend?” Jace asked. “His name was Gannon?”
“Robert Gannon, yes. He’s with Homeland Security now but he used to be in the FBI. We were peers. We both worked for Faegan and Faegan worked for Kendall. Gannon called Faegan and pressured him to give me another chance. He knew my career was everything to me and that it would have killed me to lose it. That’s why I took the mission. It was the first thing available once I was out of rehab. The fact that my accident was caused by an Enforcer had nothing to do with it.”
“You sure about that?” This time it was Mason who spoke. He sat a couple of chairs down from Bailey on the same side of the table. “Did you know it was an Enforcer who’d caused the accident, assuming there really was an accident?”
“I didn’t even know what an Enforcer was until after Faegan agreed to put me back on active duty and gave me this assignment. What’s the point of all these questions? What’s the point of any of this?”
“What happened to your wife’s body?” Jace asked.
Kade slowly turned toward him. “Excuse me?”
“She’s not listed on the police report. Oh, wait, you said it’s a fake report. Okay, so in the real report, which we don’t have, what would it have told me about your wife?” He waited, arched a brow. “If I Googled her, what would I find? Where is she buried?”
He looked down the table at Austin.
“Already on it,” Austin said. “Nothing’s coming up for Abby Quinn.”
“Abigail,” Kade snapped. “We were only married a couple of months. Try Abigail Winters. That was her maiden name.”
Austin started tapping on the keyboard.
“While we wait for that,” Jace said, “I’m still puzzled. I should find a marriage license, or even a death certificate since that would be issued under her married name. Guess what? I got nothing.”
“Then you’re obviously looking in the wrong places.”
“Naturally. I figured that was the problem,” Jace mocked. “What’s the name of the cemetery where she’s buried.”
“She was cremated. Her urn is on my mantel at home.”
“I don’t recall a fireplace when I was there.”
“The house in Boulder was rented for this mission by the FBI,” Kade said. “My home is in Jacksonville, Florida. And, no, I’m not taking you there to show you my wife’s ashes. What the hell is all of this about?”
“Austin,” Jace said.
“Any luck with that Google search?”
“Nope. Can’t find a driver’s license, tax return, utility records, nothing for Abby Abigail Winters Quinn. It’s like someone made her up out of thin air or something.”
Kade shook his head. He didn’t know whether to scream or laugh at this bizarre conversation. “None of this makes sense. And it has nothing to do with my work to bring in the Enforcers.” He looked at Bailey, but she was staring off into space.
“You mentioned that Hawke’s death was an accident.” Mason’s deep voice cut through the room. “Who did you say was the lead agent you ordered to capture him?”
“I’m not sure that I did. His name is Simmons.”
“There was another Enforcer killed while you and Bailey were in Colorado Springs.”
Kade hesitated. “Yes. There was. Henry Sanchez. Why are you—”
“Who was the lead in that case?”
“That ‘case’ wasn’t a capture situation. I assigned an agent to perform surveillance. He ended up trying to kill Bailey and me. He’s one of the men I’m investigating, if I can ever get back to the investigation. There’s a strong possibility that he might be the one behind all of this, assuming the missing Enforcers really are being killed.”
Mason didn’t look impressed with his assessment. “His name?”
“The bad agent? Lamar Porter. Again, why are you asking?”
Mason motioned to Jace. “Show him.”
For once, Jace didn’t preface his search through the pile of papers with sarcasm. Instead, he was quiet, almost somber. He flipped open a folder that was beneath the papers and pulled out two photographs, which he set down in front of Kade.
Kade stared at the pictures, the blood rushing from his face, leaving him cold. Simmons had been shot twice, a double-tap to the head. Porter’s death had been less precise. Whoever had killed him shot him three times, none of them probably fatal by themselves. But he’d obviously bled out from the combination.
He shoved the pictures back toward Jace. “Your work, I presume? After all, you did follow Bailey to Colorado Springs.”
Jace gave him a droll look. “Nice try. The pictures are from police reports. One of our contacts in Colorado Springs brought the deaths to our attention. What did you do, sneak out of that house where you and Bailey were staying so you could tie up some loose ends? Pay the men back that you think double-crossed you?”
Bailey frowned and stared at Jace. Was she actually believing Jace’s theory? Or was there another reason altogether?
“I have no idea who killed those men,” Kade said. “I didn’t even know they were dead. If this little interrogation of yours was legit, this is where I’d be asking for my lawyer. Since it’s not, I’m putting an end to it. Nothing we’ve discussed is helping my investigation. You’re only muddying the waters.” He looked at Bailey, who was again staring off into space. “And making trouble,” he said softly.
“We’re almost done.” Jace reached beneath the table. He straightened and placed Kade’s leg brace in front of him. “Look familiar?”
Kade didn’t bother answering. His stomach was already sinking. Based on how Jace was twisting and turning everything else around, he already knew what was going to happen.
“Bailey, look at me. Please.”
She wasn’t looking off into space anymore. But she wasn’t looking at Kade either. She was staring at the GPS tracker disc that Jace had just pulled out of the lining of the brace.
“It’s a backup,” Kade said. “Remember, Bailey? I pulled one out of the brace in the hospital parking lot, because I didn’t want anyone finding us. Everyone has a backup. Right? But I didn’t use it. We’re on the same side. Jace, these men, they’re trying to trick you into thinking that I’ve been lying about everything all along. They want you to think that I’m using you—”
“Are you?” She was staring at him now, her arms crossed. Her face impassive. But it was her eyes that told him he’d already lost the war. They were cold, brittle chips of emerald ice without a hint of warmth.
“The disc isn’t activated. I’m not trying to lead anyone to you or anyone else. If I wanted that, I could have done it in Colorado Springs. Think about it. My own men were turning on me. I’m not conspiring with anyone against you. I want the truth, just like you. We’re a team, working to find out if the retraining facility is what Faegan says it is or if Enforcers really are being killed. Nothing has changed.”
He waited, hoping she would say something. When she didn’t, he tried again. “Before I met you in person, I wouldn’t have thought twice about tricking you so I could capture you. Because I believed in my mission. We’re way past that now. I’m not lying. And I wouldn’t lie, not to you, because I know you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t know me, Kade. You don’t know me at all.” And with that, she shoved back from the table and stalked out of the room.
Kade didn’t move, barely breathed, as the disaster of the last few minutes replayed itself in his mind. All the trust and respect that had been building between him and Bailey had been destroyed in, what, fifteen, twenty minutes? By a master manipulator.
He didn’t dare look at Jace, or the others yet. He was too angry. So angry that he knew the chains wouldn’t protect the men sitting around the table. In the hands of a desperate man, those chains would become nooses around their throats.
Instead, he sat very still, thinking about everything Jace had said. The reports. The Google searches. All the questions that had been raised. And Kade did what he always did with information. He began piecing it together in his mind, looking at every angle, searching for the simplest, most logical explanation. And asking the questions that Jace hadn’t asked.
Like why his boss had really hired him for this mission.
And whether there was another reason Faegan was so intent on keeping the retraining facility’s location a secret from Kade.
Then he wondered about one of the questions that Mason had asked, because it bore thinking about. Was it really a coincidence that an Enforcer had caused his accident, and then Kade was later assigned to run the program to supposedly save Enforcers?
While he knew the conclusions that Jace had drawn were wrong, there was only one conclusion he could put together after looking at all the facts.
Someone was setting him up for a very big fall.
He shoved back from the table and stood. As one, the others jumped to their feet, guns drawn, aimed at Kade. Even Austin held a gun pointed at him.
Kade ignored them all, all except Jace.
He shuffled around the table, metal jangling against metal until he stood beside Jace. He held out his hands, wrists up.
“Take off the chains. I’m taking you to the FBI lab.”
Chapter Sixteen
Tuesday, 11:12 a.m.
Bailey wasn’t sure what she’d expected of the FBI lab, but the lone whitewashed building visible through the panel van’s windshield wasn’t it. She braced herself against the wall to keep from falling as Austin pulled to a jarring stop behind the building.
“All right,” Jace said. “Kade, you first. Everyone follow his lead and stay alert.” He slammed the side door back on its rails and motioned for Kade to precede him.
Kade glanced at her, but she looked away, pretending to be busy rechecking the loading of her Sig Sauer. She heard his sigh, and knew he’d assumed the worst—that she didn’t trust him or believe in him anymore. But that wasn’t it at all. She was ashamed. She owed him an apology the size of Colorado for stalking out of the interrogation like she had. But she needed more than a quick glance, or a stolen chat in a hallway to tell him how truly sorry she was.
“Bailey, get a move on. Even Austin’s faster than you.” Jace stood outside the van, motioning for her to get out.
She was startled to see that she was the last one to leave. And true to Jace’s word, Austin was in his wheelchair with the others, waiting for her. Which meant she needed to get her head on straight, focus. Whateve
r this . . . thing was between her and Kade had to take the back burner for now. She had a mission again. The Equalizers had misread her anger during their questioning of Kade, just as he had, and now believed she was fully one of them.
The hell with that. She was still Team Kade, even if she’d been stupid enough to falter for a few seconds before her common sense kicked back in. And once she had a decent chance to talk to him, she’d make sure he knew.
Kade led them around to the front, which was apparently the only entrance and exit. Everyone was dressed in black with bullet-resistant vests—except for Kade. At his own insistence, he’d showered and changed into his usual jeans and a T-shirt before they’d left the Equalizers’ hideout. If anyone else showed up at the lab while they were here, he wanted to be able to run interference and pretend he was just here for his usual—to run some reports. Of course that only worked if the Equalizers, and Bailey, weren’t seen. Explaining their presence would be pretty much impossible.
In spite of the lack of fencing around the building, the security wasn’t completely lax. For one thing, it was in the mountains, surrounded by woods and little else. But as far as technology went, Kade had to enter security codes and slide his badge through a reader to get them into the building. Then he had to repeat the process through countless other doors to reach the room he wanted to show them.
As Bailey waited at the back of the group for Kade to get this next door open, she felt a tingle of nerves shoot up her spine. Swiping a security badge across a scanner seemed like they’d be announcing Kade’s presence to the world. If anyone was actively looking for him, wouldn’t they know the moment his badge was used?
But Kade had explained the security in this facility didn’t work that way. No one would know they were ever there unless they knew to specifically look in the lab’s databases to see who’d come and gone. And since this particular lab wasn’t used much anymore, that was unlikely. Most of the people who used to work here had long ago moved on to a more modern facility on the other side of Boulder, closer to town. Kade could only count a half-dozen other people he’d ever seen here. Which was why his boss had chosen this building to house the EXIT information. It was the last place anyone would expect something like that to be.