She showed no emotion on the outside just as he’d trained her. “Again, why did you want us erased?”
Reid didn’t remove his gaze from Boss. “You’d better answer the lady. Last chance or I’ll slit you just enough for your death to be painful, but certain.”
“You want the truth?” His eyes softened. “Fine, I can’t protect you any longer any how.”
Julianna kept a straight face despite the outrage that boiled below the surface. “Protect me? The only protection I need is from you.” Her voice cracked, “From ETE 7!”
“You foolish girl, you’d have been dead a long time ago if it weren’t for me!” His manic laugh sent chills down her spine.
Reid pressed the sharp edge deeper into the man’s neck, drawing blood. “Don’t talk to her that way.”
“You want to kill me? Go ahead. We’re all already dead anyway—just loose ends to be tied up.”
Reid narrowed his eyes. “As far as I see it, you’re the only loose end.”
“None of ETE 7 would have had to die if it weren’t for you. You ruined everything I worked so hard for.”
Julianna felt so much anger and disappointment for her former mentor. “What are you talking about? You tried to kill us. All Reid and I ever did was follow your instructions. I want answers. You owe me that, Brandon, or whatever the hell your name is.”
The use of his name caught his attention. He hands fisted the sheet, then smoothed it out. “It’s Brandon. Let me up and I’ll give you answers, but I promise you won’t like them.”
Julianna stood at the foot of the bed and kept her Glock trained on Boss. As much as she would hate the mess it would leave, she’d pull the trigger. “Let him up. I want to look him in the eyes when I hear what he has to say.”
Reid slowly removed the sharp knife and drew his own gun. Both were ready to take out the threat at any given moment.
Boss sat up against his headboard. “Julianna, your mom was my cousin. We’re family.” He smiled. The same trustworthy smile he used the day he picked her up from Mercy. “I tried to protect you, but Reid came along and screwed everything up.”
Neither Julianna nor Reid reacted. Though inside Julianna was close to screaming.
Boss shifted his eyes around the room. “Let me start from the moment you were conceived, Julianna. You were an unfortunate mishap. Your mom was Senator Grant’s steady mistress. He had others, but she was the only one dumb enough to stick around.”
Her heart dropped and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
“He didn’t know about the pregnancy until right after your mom had given birth to you. She called him at home and begged him to divorce his barren wife, to take you two in. She even threatened to tell the press. She had no idea who she was dealing with, but I did. I may have been in charge of ETE 7, but I was not its creator. Grant needed something to cover up his many sins. Infidelity and bribes among them.
“An insignificant mistress couldn’t ruin his reputation, take away his power. People had been killed for less. He had his sights set on Washington and was climbing to the top by any means necessary.” He cleared his throat. “Both of you would have been erased. I warned your mother, so she abandoned you at the hospital.” His eyes glazed over as if he were recalling the details as he saw them playing in this mind. “I took care of everything. I made sure you got into the foster care system and none too soon, when your mom came home from the hospital, a dump truck side-swiped her vehicle killing her instantly. Good-bye problem.”
Julianna’s stomach sickened. It couldn’t be true. That despicable man was not her dad. Having not known her parents was better than this horrific concocted story.
“Shut up!” Reid’s angry voice didn’t compare to what she felt inside.
Julianna shook her head calling Boss’ bluff. “No, let him continue.”
“But, Jewe—”
Her eyes didn’t break contact with Boss’. “I said, let him continue.”
“Senator Grant kept tabs on you all those years, just to make sure you didn’t learn the truth. When he discovered that you’d applied for the Baltimore PD, I offered to take care of it. He couldn’t have you snooping around, trying to find your biological parents. With police resources at your fingertips, that was a real possibility.
“I made you my responsibility, as a favor to your mom. I agreed you’d never know the truth.” He looked from Julianna to Reid. “You were my best… I didn’t anticipate that when I asked you to train her, that request would be my undoing. When I found out you two were engaged, I had no choice but to arrange the explosion. You two had to be separated—if Julianna were to ever have children and decided being an assassin for ETE 7 was no longer for her, if she wasn’t under my thumb any longer, the senator would take matters into his own hands. You already had two strikes against you. One more and you were out and so was I for taking responsibility for you.”
She swallowed. “How did you find out?”
“I saw the ring around your neck, so I followed you. Imagine my surprise when I saw the two of you making out in an alley.”
Reid glared at him. “Even if what you’re saying is true, why did you bring Julianna back from New Jersey? Why did you send us to kill each other?”
“I had no choice. Grant found out about you two—he had eyes on me. He thought I didn’t know, but I did.”
Agent Fuller.
“Grant told me the simultaneous hit would be a test, to see which one of you were loyal to ETE 7. One of you had to die.” His face softened once again resembling the nice man that had come to save her from Mercy hospital. “I believed you would survive, Julianna. Without your memories of Reid, without the emotion, I thought you would take him out without a second thought. I knew Reid still loved you, I could see it in his eyes; even after I told him you were in bed with the enemy.”
Reid pressed the barrel of his gun to Boss’ head. “You son of a bitch!”
Boss laughed in a way that frightened her.
Julianna felt her knees weaken. “If you are related to me, how could you? How could you keep all that from me?”
His face relaxed, then he frowned at her as if she didn’t understand something obvious to the rest of the world. “I told you, I was trying to keep you safe.”
The man was crazy. She wasn’t an expert, but Schizophrenia came to mind. One minute the man was Brandon Voss the next Boss. “All those threats that ETE 7 took out, who were they? Were they really going to harm the greater good? Bring down our city? Our nation?”
“Of course. Any threat to the future president of the United States of America was harming the greater good.”
Her stomach lurched. She wasn’t some heroine saving her country day by day, mark by mark. She was nothing more than a murderer. A criminal. How could she ever live with herself? “I want the files on anyone and everyone that ETE 7 erased.” She had to know how many lives were lost because of lies.
“I’m afraid I can’t provide you with that information.”
“Why not? ETE 7 is over. We are the only three left.”
He giggled. “Not quite. No the queen still rules the kingdom, so to speak.”
What the heck was he rambling about? The man was falling off the deep end.
“She’s angry and she’s coming for us all.”
Reid shook his head. “Who is? What the hell are you talking about?”
Boss looked at Reid. “She knew. She knew everything he did.”
“I know what you’re doing and it’s not going to work.”
“What am I doing?” He crinkled his forehead as thought he were trying to figure out a complicated equation.
“You’re trying to distract us by talking nonsense, acting crazy.”
His face grew serious and dark. “Don’t call me crazy.”
“You’re acting insane.” Reid glanced at Julianna as if to confirm.
Boss lunged at Reid, they struggled for the gun. She couldn’t get a shot on Boss without hitting Reid. A guns
hot sounded, Boss fell to the floor. Julianna screamed. The thick sticky blood pooled beneath him, soaking the cream colored carpet.
Julianna cried. “Brandon! Who is she? Who is the queen?”
He gazed up at her and blinked his eyes, blood sputtered from his mouth. He lifted a finger to the nightstand, then his eyes went lifeless.
Tears blurring her vision, Julianna rushed over to Reid. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Jewels, I wasn’t going to kill him. I know he was sick that he needed help—”
“It’s okay. It was an accident, self defense.” She hugged him. “We need to check the nightstand.”
“You don’t think his ramblings about some queen were true?”
She opened the drawer. “I know he sounded crazy, but I think there could’ve been some truth to his story. I hope I’m wrong.”
Reid removed the only item inside the drawer… a cell phone. He held it up. “Keep looking, there’s got to be more here than a phone.” He checked Boss’ pockets, but only found a key. “He had this in his back pocket. No wallet though, just the key.”
The whole situation was wrong and twisted. “What’s it for?”
“It looks like a house key. Hold on.” Reid went into the living room and tried the key. It worked. He walked back into the bedroom. “Mystery solved. It goes to the front door.”
Julianna knew it was ridiculous, but many times she had fantasized that Brandon Voss was her dad. Not once had she thought that he was Boss. She felt stupid now for not making the connection. There was still a lot to process and she couldn’t even comprehend that Brandon was really her second cousin. Unless he was lying, wouldn’t be the first time. She had to know. Holding her breath, she walked over to Brandon who was slumped over and pulled a few hairs from his head. “DNA. I have to know if he was telling the truth about being related to me and about my parents.”
Reid nodded. “I understand.” He started toward the door then turned around. He went over to the bed and picked up a pillow.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m searching his pillowcases.”
“Why?”
“Hiding place. Making sure he has nothing connecting us to ETE 7. He would have wanted to keep anything close. I once had a crazy foster dad that kept money in his pillowcase, because he didn’t trust the kids not to steal from him.” Reid held up five stacks of crisp new hundred dollar bills. “I was right. There has to be at least fifty grand here. But nothing else. He must have destroyed all of the ETE 7 documents.”
“We need to make certain.”
They searched the entire house, which didn’t take long in the one bedroom bungalow. Reid shook his head. “The phone is it. Nothing else, no pictures, files, not even a flash drive.”
Julianna took in their surroundings. The furnishings were meager at best. Not the luxury ETE 7 had always provided. The sofa looked too dirty to give away. “Well, the place isn’t home sweet home it’s set up more a safe house.”
“I agree.” Reid rubbed his face and sighed.
“Let’s get out of here.” A tear slipped from the corner of Julianna’s eye. She turned her head, so Reid wouldn’t see and said a silent goodbye to Brandon Voss.
Chapter 15
Reid and Julianna dropped off the DNA samples. An old acquaintance of Reid’s worked at a lab in the city. For a grand the man wouldn’t ask any questions. Lucky for them, they had money to spare. Julianna had almost changed her mind, but Reid talked her back into it. He knew she’d regret it, if she never learned the truth. Even if that truth was her worst nightmare.
Julianna was quiet all the way back to their place. He wanted to comfort her. Even though she was acting tough and unaffected on the exterior, he knew she was shaken up over what had just transpired.
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Everyone probably has crazy people they’re related to. At least you know about your family. Some people go through their lives never knowing.” He paused. “I’ll never know about mine.”
She looked over at him with a look that said he was saying all the wrong damn things.
“It’s going to be okay, Jewels.”
He parked the car and they climbed the metal stairs. As always, he entered with caution… old habits. How long would it take before they could walk into a room without scoping for threats?
Julianna looked exhausted. “Take a nap. I’ll be right here.”
They snuggled up on the sofa under the soft blanket. He held her protectively in his arms, until she fell asleep only minutes later. While she slept, he scrolled through Boss’ cell phone. When he came across the saved recordings his heart raced from excitement. There were ten total. Maybe, just maybe, Julianna would get the answers to questions he knew she still had.
He couldn’t keep the information from her even for a few minutes. “Jewels, wake up.”
She cracked her eyes. “Hmmm?”
“There are ten recordings on his phone.”
She sat up, her eyes popped wide open. “What of?”
“I haven’t listened yet.”
“Play them.”
The recordings were all similar and confirmed Boss’ ramblings about a queen ruling or rather a senator’s wife. Son of a bitch. Mrs. Grant was behind the whole operation. She’d started ETE 7 when Julianna’s mom had threatened to go to the press with their relationship, just one of his many transgressions. Mrs. Grant must have come from old money. She’d funded ETE 7, keeping the senator’s finances clean. She was going to make damn sure her husband became the president of the United States, no matter what she had to do or had to hide to get him there. Boss must have recorded their conversations for insurance. Reid would have done the same.
Julianna stared at the phone, then screamed. Reid’s heart jumped out of his chest and he leapt up.
“Jewels. It’s okay. I’m here.”
Her scream turned into sobs. “I had reason to feel threatened around that seemingly nice woman. You know she made me tea that day?”
He put his arms around her. She was always such a strong woman, but everyone had their breaking point. It broke his heart that she’d reached hers.
“Reid, she meant to kill me.” Her hand went to her mouth. “It wasn’t just creamer she was pouring into my tea, I realize that now. That woman is even sicker than Boss was.”
“Are you sure? She may not have known who you were.”
Julianna’s body trembled. “Of course she did. I probably look like my mom. Not to mention the pictures inside my file.” She sniffled. “She was going to erase me the same way I was taught to erase for her.”
Reid planted kisses all over her face. “Now that we know about her, I’ll take care of it. You don’t have to worry.”
“I wish I could repress these memories. I don’t want to remember finding Boss today or anything that I learned after. Now that I want to forget, I can’t. It’s so unfair.”
He cupped her face. “Look at me. It’s going to be all right. I’ll never leave you. We will get through this.”
She took a hold of his shirt. “You can make me forget. Just for a little while, Reid, make me forget.”
He ran his fingers along her arms, lifted her shirt and tossed it on the floor. He made love to her neck and shoulders with his mouth. She moaned and tilted her head back. Her fingers laced through his hair and pulled. He ran his tongue farther down her body and made them both forget. If for only a while, pleasure filled their minds and bodies. She took his breath away.
***
Julianna’s heart dropped. “I can’t believe the DNA results proved that I’m related to Brandon Voss. Are you sure that lab tech is legit?”
Reid sat on the sofa wearing only jeans. “He is. Are you okay?” He rubbed his face.
She thought she would feel anger or relief after the results came in. Instead she just felt numb, almost as numb as she’d been at Mercy. “I’m not sure.”
“He still could have been lying about your parents.”
Sh
e sat down beside him. “Doubtful.”
He rubbed his face. “I agree, it would explain why you were different from the rest of ETE 7.”
“I need to find my mom to pay my respects. Get some sort of closure.” She looked at Reid and frowned. “Maybe even thank her for saving my life.”
“We can do that. The hospital would have to have records. I can have Weasel do some digging.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
He kissed her head. “You’re welcome.” He stood up. “We need to plant the other assassins’ guns and wallets at the Grant residence. That way, when we take her out, everything will be tied back to the Grants’ as it should be. Leaving us free of this messy nightmare.”
***
Julianna and Reid sat in the car parked down the street from the Grant residence. Only one last loose end and they would finally be free of ETE 7. So close.
Her stomach was so nauseated she felt dizzy. “I don’t know if we should do this, Reid. As crazy as it sounds, we are not cold-blooded killers. We are not murderers. We aren’t helping the greater good by taking her out, just ourselves.” She’d always envisioned herself as a heroine. It had helped that Boss simply called what they were doing erasing instead of killing. She’d been brainwashed. They both had. She could see that now.
Reid loaded his gun. “How do you know? How many more people will that woman have killed? Because she is a murderer. Do you really want that woman running for office one day? Walking around the streets free after what she’s done?”
Julianna wrapped her arms around her sickened stomach. “I don’t think I can do it.” She frowned. “And if you do, I don’t know if that will change the way I feel about you.”
He sighed and shook his head. “You don’t mean that, Jewels. We are so close. It’s almost over. We can do this. One last mark.”
Her head agreed with him. Her heart fought against what they were about to do. Sirens screeched through the air bringing her out of her internal battle. Julianna glanced in the mirror as an ambulance, fire truck and police car whizzed by. All vehicles pulled into the Grant estate.
Protecting the Enemy Page 12