Ben was dead.
That man had looked at him and decided his life was pointless.
She could still see the moment the first bullet hit Ben in her mind. Like a perfectly captured picture.
“Hey,” Ryan whispered.
Carson closed her eyes. She wasn’t ready.
“The detective is here. Do you want to call a lawyer?” he asked.
She swallowed. Her ass was already on the line. Agent Walker was going to come down on her hard for this. She didn’t know how she could fix the situation. With Ben dead, how were they going to decipher the files? No one knew who Ben’s clients were except him.
“Carson, please talk to me?”
She turned her head and looked at Ryan. He’d shown up, her ginger knight in a blue Mustang that she didn’t deserve.
“Agent Walker. I should talk to him,” she said.
“Agent? What agency?”
“FBI.”
Was that too much? She didn’t know anymore. This was all out of control. She’d agreed to a couple days in hiding, that was it. This was supposed to be over.
“Carson Adair?” A man in a brown suit with a badge hanging around his neck ambled toward him. He was older, with gray hair and a bit of a belly on him. It was the eyes that made her shiver. This wasn’t a man that gave her a good feeling.
“This is Carson. I’m Ryan. Her boyfriend.” He pushed up and offered the man his hand.
Boyfriend?
She stared up at his broad shoulders.
Not that long ago he’d looked at her as if he wanted to strangle her, and now he was claiming her? Was there a reason behind this? Or did it mean something?
He had rescued her, and he didn’t have to do that.
Her heart fluttered for the breath of a moment before she tamped down on that hope. She had enough problems without creating another. As far as she knew, Ryan wanted nothing to do with her and this whole thing was some kind of obligation. He was the good one between them after all.
“You’re one of those Aegis boys, aren’t you?” The detective didn’t sound pleased.
“I am.”
“I need to speak with Miss Adair.”
“We can arrange that.” Ryan turned toward her and offered her his hands.
“Alone,” the detective said.
Carson let him take a hold of her and lift her to her feet. She was too unsteady to manage getting upright herself.
“You can talk to her now, with me, or later with a lawyer.” Ryan glanced over his shoulder. “Your pick.”
The detective grimaced. “This way.”
He turned and strode toward a sandwich shop at the corner of the building.
“What’s going on?” she whispered for Ryan’s ears alone.
“That’s Detective Blew with Seattle PD. Let’s just say, we’re not a fan of each other. You don’t want to talk to that man alone, got it?” Ryan wrapped his arm around her waist. “Eyes ahead. Don’t look back.”
“Why?”
Wheels rattled on the pavement.
She turned her head. Ryan lifted his hand to her cheek and kept her looking straight ahead.
“You don’t need to see that,” he whispered.
Carson gulped.
That? What was that?
She wanted more answers, but she was too grateful for his steadying presence to press for more.
Together they followed in the detective’s wake. He led them into the shop and took up a table in the corner. Ryan pulled out a chair for her right before her knees gave way.
“Want a drink? Coffee? Water? Something to eat?” Ryan asked her.
“I’d like a coffee,” Detective Blew said.
“Then get yourself one.” Ryan kept his gaze on Carson.
“Water? I—I don’t know.”
“Water and a coke then. Sit right here.” He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
Both men approached the counter. She saw a few words spoken but there was clearly no love lost between the two men.
Carson cradled her head in her hands.
What did she say? What could she say?
She buried her face in her hands.
If she said nothing to the detective, was that the right thing to do? Agent Walker wouldn’t want her answering any kind of questions, but he wasn’t here. Should she call him? Or should she pray that the local police could do what Walker and the FBI hadn’t?
“Drink some of this. It’ll make you feel a bit better.” Ryan sat down next to her and pushed a cup of soda toward her.
“How is Coke supposed to make me feel better?”
“Drink it.”
Detective Blew settled in across from them with his coffee and placed his cell phone between them. She knew a recording app when she saw one.
Carson drank deeply from the soda cup, the bubbles tickling her nose and the carbonation burning the back of her throat.
Did she answer truthfully?
“Miss Adair, can you tell me the events of today?” Detective Blew took out a pen and pad of paper.
“Starting when?” she asked.
“What do you mean, starting when?”
“Do you mean what happened at my apartment? Or when I was kidnapped?” It was all jumbling together in her head.
Ryan squeezed her knee under the table.
“Start at the beginning,” Detective Blew said.
The problem with that was—what was the beginning?
For them to understand what happened today, they needed to know what happened weeks ago.
“I left Ryan’s house and went to the gas station. While checking my phone, my client—Ben Grewing—approached my car with a gun. He told me to get in his car and drive.” She folded her hands together and stared at her nails, examining her torn cuticles.
“And Ben Grewing, that is the name of the deceased?”
“Yes.”
“Why did he have a gun? What did he want?”
Carson swallowed.
She had to make a decision.
Agent Walker didn’t have her best interest in mind, and he didn’t care about her sister. Carson had to do what was best for them.
“A few weeks ago an FBI agent arrested my sister. He said I could make that go away if I helped them. They were investigating one of my clients—Ben. They wanted records to determine if he was working with people living in countries with US sanctions barring them doing business here. I refused and Agent Walker said he’d deport my little sister back to Ghana because the record room of the county she was born in burned down. There is no digital record of her birth certificate and her parents were here illegally.” Carson sucked down a breath. She couldn’t think about the threats to Frankie without getting pissed off.
Ryan slid his arm around her and gave her a hug, showing his silent support. Her story didn’t absolve her of guilt where he was concerned, but maybe he’d understand her choices now.
“So...I gave Agent Walker what he wanted. About a week ago the FBI raided Ben’s office, but they missed him somehow. What we—I—think happened is that he broke into my apartment while I was at Ryan’s and used my laptop to move frozen funds into an offshore account. He must have found the details of my deal with the FBI. I...I recorded my conversations with Walker and his partner because I was afraid. Ben knew I was the one who told on him and that’s the only way I can think how he’d have known. The FBI told me that Ben had fled the country, but clearly he was here today.”
The detective sat there staring at her, not writing a single word.
Should she keep going?
“He took me back to my apartment today. I guess his clients found out their money is frozen and they’re after them. His plan was to tell them I could fix this and throw me under the bus for everything. I don’t think we were at my place for more than...five? Ten minutes? These guys, they kicked in the door and—and they started talking. I can’t remember what they said, but the one took off his mask and told another to shoot David.” Carson covered he
r mouth with her hands and shut her eyes, that moment of his death burned into her mind.
“You’re okay,” Ryan whispered as he rubbed her shoulder.
Was she though?
Ben was dead and without him his code was a mystery.
Detective Blew tapped his phone screen.
“I don’t need to hear this.” He held up his hands. “What I heard was, some men broke into your house. They had a beef with your client over money, and you were caught between them. End of story, thank you for your time.”
“That’s it? You aren’t going to do your job?” Ryan glared up at the detective.
“There isn’t anything for me to do. This is a federal investigation as far as I’m concerned. I’ll make my report, but the feds are the ones who will want everything. Me knowing any of it? It’s pointless. I want no part of whatever this is.” Detective Blew gathered his things.
“You weren’t saying that when there were cameras around from what I hear.” Ryan twisted to look over his shoulder. “What a fucking coward.”
“What...what just happened?” Carson stared at the door swinging shut behind the detective.
“He decided he heard too much and bowed out.”
“That—he can do that?”
“A chicken shit like him would. Don’t worry about him. We’ll handle this. Do you have those recordings anywhere else?”
“Yeah, my phone. I put them on my laptop as a backup.”
“Perfect. I want to back those up on our server, something secure in case Walker tries to come after you.”
“Why are you even here?” Carson laid her cheek in her palm. If she thought she could get away with lying on the table, she might do just that. Today just wouldn’t end.
“I realized something after you left. You hadn’t told me the whole truth. I wasn’t going to let you go without getting to the bottom of it all.”
And now he knew.
A lump lodged in her throat.
Would he leave now that he had his answers?
What was she going to do about Frankie?
Agent Walker?
Those men who’d killed Ben and tried to kidnap her?
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. More tears leaked out of her eyes. She couldn’t do anything except cry. She was in over her head to the point that she was utterly lost.
“It’s okay. We’re going to fix this.” Ryan pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t agree with what you did, but I get it. And...I’m going forgive you.”
That was all Carson could ask for.
KAWA CLIMBED OUT OF the beat up rental car.
“Burn it and let’s get out of here,” he said.
What a fuck up.
This was out of control. They should have grabbed Ben and the girl then gotten out of there. When they’d gone out in the parking garage was when everything went wrong. He’d frozen. They’d all froze, because this wasn’t Syria. They couldn’t react in the same way they would here in America. The rules were different, and they had thousands of lives at stake. Every action they took had consequences that rippled out to form tidal waves.
He had to find out where the girl was before she talked. She was the new lose link. It could be too late if the cops found her or if she knew Ben’s code.
At this point it wasn’t about the money. They could get more. Steal it. Borrow it. Whatever.
The real problem was intel.
Who knew what? And how would it influence the world leaders?
If he could hold their deal with the senator together, then the only remaining loose end was the girl. She knew too much. If she started talking if she could connect Ben to their budding government it would all be over. The Americas were looking for any reason to wash their hands of Akkadia’s bid for independence because supporting them would be too costly. The shooting of a single man might be enough to sentence their entire movement to a swift death at the hands of their enemies.
Kawa wasn’t going to let one woman stand between a country and its independence. He’d lost too much to go back now.
Chapter 10
Ryan stared straight ahead, his hands on the wheel at ten and two.
Things had spun quickly out of control on a much larger scale than he’d been prepared for. When he’d decided that there was something chasing Carson, he’d thought it was perhaps an ex or pseudo-friend that she wanted to hide from, maybe someone she owed money to or perhaps she was a snitch. The reality was much bigger and complicated. He didn’t know how to keep her safe and he needed to somehow ensure her well being and that of her family.
“Where are we going?” Carson’s voice was weary. They hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep last night and today would have exhausted anyone.
“The Aegis Group office. The guys went there after they were released.” The sun had almost set. The sky was turning into a dark blanket overhead.
“My car—”
“We took care of it.”
“Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because I lied to you?” Her voice was soft, almost a whisper drowned out by the engine and radio.
“I told you, I want to forgive you.” And he meant it. Sure, there was still a bit of a sting deep down, but that didn’t matter as much as a life.
“You want to, but you haven’t.”
“I just need a little time. By tomorrow morning it will be history.”
“Why?”
“Do I have to have a reason?” He glanced at her face mostly in shadow.
He cared about her regardless of what she hadn’t told him. The lies were a hard thing to swallow, and he didn’t entirely trust her, but he understood her better.
There were questions he wanted to ask her, like: why not ask for help? Those would have to wait. Their first order of business would be to put a name to the unmasked man. Only once they did that could he ensure her safety and the time to work through how they’d gotten to this point.
He turned into the parking lot of the Aegis Group offices. The only vehicles left all belonged to his coworkers.
“This is us. Come on.” He killed the engine and got out.
Ryan made it around to Carson’s side and opened her door before she’d finished unbuckling her seatbelt. She was moving slowly. The first responders had checked her over and agreed she was uninjured, but they couldn’t touch the invisible wounds or prescribe her something for the fear.
“Give me your hand.” He helped her out of the car and kept her close for the short walk inside and up the elevator to the floor they’d recently taken over.
In the beginning they’d shared a suite with another company. It hadn’t been long before they needed to move into their own space. And then they’d annexed a bit of an empty suite, then another until now they had this whole floor. With the way business was growing they’d be looking to break ground on their own facility in the future.
“Merida, do you live here?” Ryan paused inside the door leading to their reception area.
The dark haired, no-nonsense woman glanced up at him. She was still dressed in slacks and a blouse, every inch the professional woman.
“Someone has to keep you in line.” She nodded at the hall. “Gavin’s running facial.”
“Who else is here?”
“Who do you think?” Ian strolled out into the open dressed in sweatpants and nursing a cup of coffee. “Hell of a time to get the short end of the fuckin’ stick.”
“Ian and Travis are covering nights while Zain is on vacation,” Merida said.
Ryan remembered Ian telling him something like that.
The home office in Illinois had always been manned twenty-four hours, seven days a week due to their work all over the world. It wasn’t until recently that the Seattle office had considered maintaining the same schedule. Ryan didn’t want to work those hours, but he knew from firsthand experience how much it could matter in a tight spot to be able to call up support directly
at any hour.
“It’s like we don’t have any work to do around here or anythin’.” Ian turned toward Carson and held out his hand. “Ian. You must be the one keepin’ Ryan on his toes.”
“Don’t let that ugly face fool you. He’s harmless.” Ryan nudged Carson out of her trance.
“Nice to meet you,” she blurted.
“Want to come back? See where we are with things?” Ian nodded at the hall.
“Yeah. Come on.” Ryan kept his hand on Carson’s lower back, guiding her down into what had become their war room.
It was probably intended to be a communal work space. For their purposes they had clusters of desks and computers, each with a specialized focus.
Ryan’s housemates stood around a set of computers while the projector showed a live stream on the wall of a young man with unkept hair and several days of stubble on his chin.
“Gavin, anyone teach you how to shave yet?” Ryan asked.
“Haa, haa. Fuck you.” Gavin flipped off the camera without looking.
“Client,” Ian barked.
Gavin visibly started and glanced at the camera, then lower. “Sorry, ma’am.”
“I’m not really a client...” Carson glanced at Ryan.
“Gavin needs the practice.” Ian winked at her.
“What do we know?” Ryan asked, eager to get to the bottom of the day’s events.
“Well, Ben Grewing never left the country,” Gavin said. He really was a mini-Zain. It was downright eerie. “Our TSA friends were able to track his movements through the airport. Looks like he went there, tried to get a plane ticket at a kiosk, then split when he realized he was grounded.”
“Then where was he for the last week?” Ryan asked.
“No clue.” Gavin shrugged.
“That’s not an appropriate answer,” Ian said.
“Fuck. Sorry.” Gavin winced. “I mean, we don’t yet know his whereabouts. But we will. Better?”
“Always, always, always give an answer. Even if it’s a fancy way of sayin’ you don’t fuckin’ know.” Ian sipped his coffee.
“You just said fuck and I can’t?” Gavin glared into the camera.
“I’m Irish,” Ian said, as though that explained everything.
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