Dangerous Victor: (Soldiering On #3)

by Aislinn Kearns

  “Yeah, apparently he’s a local drug dealer. Small time.”

  “That’s good news! Sort of,” she finished, when she realised what it must mean. Her friend had been a drug addict after all. How had she not known?

  “Yeah,” came Zack’s voice.

  Radha frowned. “You don’t sound so convinced.”

  He hummed thoughtfully. “The detectives seem pretty sure, according to Destiny.”

  “But?” she pressed.

  “But it just doesn’t sit right with me,” he answered.

  “Why not?” she asked, lying back on the couch. May as well get comfortable.

  “The stuff with the financial records is too coincidental. I would have bet money on the money and Louis’s murder being related.”

  It didn’t sit right with her, either. Louis had worked too hard to throw his life away like this. Still, it did absolve her of some of her guilt. Surely the detectives couldn’t have got it completely wrong? It was their job to arrest the right people, after all.

  Radha breathed through the swarm of confusion. “So, what are we going to do?”

  Zac sighed. “Keep investigating the money. It’s what I was hired for, and it’ll tell us whether or not the detectives are right about this gang member being the killer.”

  “Have you found anything yet?” she asked.

  “Not a whole lot. It’s slow going. I have found the month when whatever is happening started. It began small—tests, I’d guess—and then soon got to where it is now.”

  “Tests? So, someone is doing this on purpose? It’s not just an error?”

  “No, not an error.”

  “Darn,” she breathed, the last hope that it was a human mistake disappearing. She settled deeper into the couch.

  “Yeah.” He cleared his throat.

  “And no clues as to who is doing it yet? And why?”

  He hummed in thought. “Not yet. But I think the why might lead to the who.”

  “Yeah. God, I hope you find something quickly. Is there nothing I can do to help?”

  “No,” Zack responded instantly.

  “Oh.” Her stomach twisted in rejection.

  Zack cleared his throat. “Sorry. It’s just, like you said, we shouldn’t spend much time together. Or people might get suspicious.”

  “Yeah, of course.” But she didn’t quite believe that was the real answer.

  “How did you get your scars?” Radha asked Zack a few nights later through the phone during a break in the conversation. They’d talked every night for the last week. As usual, their conversation had long ago drifted away from work, meandering from one topic to the next. Radha couldn’t quite fathom how they talked so easily on the phone, but he was so much colder to her in person, avoiding her whenever he could.

  She held her breath, waiting to see if Zack would answer her. He always seemed so uncomfortable talking about his injury, and Radha wondered whether he’d ever talked to anyone about what he’d been through.

  After a long, fraught pause, Zack sighed. “I was on patrol. Everything seemed normal enough, but we were hit by an IED. The jeep was engulfed in flames. I don’t remember much. Just the heat and the smoke and the pain. And the screams of my squad. I’ll never forget those. I don’t even know how I got clear—how I survived. But somehow I did.”

  His voice was raw and rough, as if part of him was reliving that terrible day. The words had been almost monotone as he spoke, but Radha could hear the agony behind them.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, meaning every word.

  “It’s fine,” Zack said dismissively.

  “Did…did your squad—” she broke off.

  “They died,” Zack replied harshly. “I was the only survivor.”

  Tears sprang to Radha’s eyes and she let them fall where he couldn’t see. Her heart ached for him, for what he’d been through.

  “Thank you for telling me,” she whispered into the phone.

  He made a dismissive sound, but when he spoke again the rough edges from his voice had been smoothed away. “I don’t tell people that often,” he mused.

  Warmth spread through her that he’d trusted her that much. “Maybe you should,” Radha suggested carefully. If the memories were so raw after all this time, surely he was still affected by them.

  He hummed softly. “Maybe.” But Radha could tell he was putting her off.

  She settled further back into her couch, lulled by the soft intimacy of their conversation.

  “How did you join Soldiering On?” she asked.

  “Duncan and I met in rehab. We all did, except Paul and me. We knew each other from before.”

  They’d served together, Radha surmised. He’d mentioned Paul before, said he had also been a Marine.

  “Anyway, when Duncan came up with the idea for the company, Blake, Sam, and I were the first ones to come on board. Paul took a little more convincing. Now there’s a few more, but we’ve always been the core team.”

  “You guys seem really close,” Radha commented, her eyes closing.

  “Yeah,” he murmured. “They’re like family.”

  “And your real family?” she asked, curious.

  “My parents bought a farm a few states away and retired there. They sell their vegetables at the local market. I go out to visit them a couple of times a year. I’ve never seemed them happier.”

  She smiled at the affection in his voice. “You sound close.”

  “We are.” He paused infinitesimally, as if weighing whether he should say his next words. “I think you’d like them,” he said. “And they’d definitely like you.”

  Radha yawned, her mind drifting into sleep. “I’d like to meet them one day,” she murmured.

  “Hopefully you will,” Zack replied. “Sleep well,” he told her.

  She tried to reply, but sleep claimed her before she could utter the words.

  “Radha, you haven’t come around much this week,” her mother said in a reproachful tone. “Is that boss of yours working you too hard?”

  Radha sighed as she forked up some sambar. “It’s just a busy time,” Radha told her. No need to mention the late-night conversations with Zack as he reported in with what he’d found each day. They hadn’t cracked the case yet, but the conversations regularly meandered away from work, anyway. She blushed hotly at the thought.

  Chandrika narrowed her eyes. “Is this about the boy that drove you home the other night?”

  Radha froze, then very deliberately took another bite of sambar. “Why would you say that?”

  Chandrika shrugged, but her eyes were watchful, looking for any sign Radha was involved in a torrid love affair with Zack Walker. Radha wished.

  “He’s a colleague. I only see him at work.” She did hear his voice as they spoke on the phone, but no need to discuss that with her mother. She would start getting ideas.

  “Hmmm,” she murmured, clearly unconvinced. “Well, your father and I have found a nice boy for you. Recently arrived from India.”

  Radha knew the subtext, but chose not to comment. “I’m too busy right now.” It was easier to put her parents off for eternity than give an outright no.

  “You’re always too busy.”

  “Not like this.” She thought of Louis, and the reports, and everything else going on in her life. “I really don’t have the time.”

  Chandrika eyed her, and then took her hand, gaze fixed on her. “You aren’t getting younger.” When Radha would have protested, she held up a hand. “This isn’t about Diego is it?” she asked, suddenly and completely unexpectedly.

  Radha dropped her spoon back into her bowl with a clatter.

  A sick feeling bloomed at the pit of her stomach at the mention of Diego. It had been so long since she’d thought about him. About what she’d done.

  “Because if you aren’t dating or married because of what happened, I don’t want this to—“

  Radha shook her head vigorously. “It’s not about that. I haven’t thought about that in a
long time.” Which was mostly true. But the effects of that night still lingered with her to this day, including her loyalty to Jeri, her overblown respect for authority, and her inability to disappoint her boss.

  Chandrika didn’t reply for a long moment, just searched her face. Then, she gave a slight nod and pulled back. Radha didn’t know if it was because her mother believed her, or because she accepted Radha didn’t want to discuss it, but either way, she was relieved.

  She and her parents rarely discussed what had happened when she was a teenager, but it still remained between them. It had irrevocably changed their relationship forever. She’d become the disappointment of the family. Since she’d always been the studious, academically-minded sibling, it had been a surprise to all of them when she’d gone so far off the rails.

  And all over a boy.

  She’d been so stupid as a teenager, but it had been a worthy life lesson. Now, Radha couldn’t help but think the reason her mother pushed her so hard about getting a husband—even more so than the typical Desi mother—was because she saw it as the last sign of Radha’s journey back to responsibility. And penance.

  “Please meet this boy,” Chandrika said. It took Radha a moment to remember they were discussing a new guy—not Diego.

  She thought of Zack, and his coldness to her in person, and the warmth of his voice on the phone. “Just…give me a few weeks. Then I’ll meet him.”

  Chandrika smiled smugly. “Good. You can bring him here for dinner. I’ll make him something special.”

  Radha snorted. “No way am I bringing a date here.”

  “It’s a date now?” Chandrika asked archly.

  Radha knocked her lightly on the arm. “Very funny. If nothing else, he probably doesn’t have many friends here. It will be nice for him to have someone that understands both worlds.”

  Chandrika eyed her for a long moment. “You have a generous heart, kannaa.” Her voice sounded like a compliment, but her face betrayed worry.

  “It’s okay. I’ll be careful.” Her heart had got her into trouble once before. Never again.

  Chapter 9

  Zack squinted, trying to distinguish details on the security camera feeds. Was that chip red or pink? He couldn’t even tell.

  With a sigh, he turned to Brett. “I’m going to go walk the floor,” Zack told him. He stood, mentally preparing himself for his foray into public.

  “Really?” asked Brett, then coughed to cover his surprise. Zack had been riding him hard, making sure he was doing his rounds, so it must be a shock that now he offered to do a task usually reserved for the security guard. “I mean, cool. I’ll man the feeds.” Brett stuffed a fry into his mouth.

  Zack had no idea how the guy stayed so average in size, considering what he ate. Must be some kind of medical miracle.

  “Do you work out?” Zack asked, hesitating in the doorway as he turned back to Brett.

  The guy nodded. “Every morning for about two hours. You?” he asked in return, eyeing Zack’s scars, no doubt wondering what he was capable of since his injury.

  “Yeah. But not as often as that.” He didn’t say it was much harder, now. He no longer had sweat glands on the right side of his body, so he had trouble regulating his temperature when he exercised. Plus, there were a lot of things he just couldn’t do, like weights. The skin on his right hand pinched too much, meaning his grip could be weak and painful sometimes.

  Brett didn’t need to know any of that, though.

  Zack stepped out of the office and strode down the stark corridor towards the employee entrance. Again, people looked nervously away as he came close, skittish. He swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat.

  He brooded on his conversation with Radha that had become so deeply personal. He should never have told her those things. About his injury, about his parents. But she was so easy to talk to when he wasn’t face to face with her, and a part of him wanted her to know these things about him.

  In person, he couldn’t help but remember what he looked like, but on the phone he felt safer, more anonymous somehow.

  He knew his behaviour sent Radha mixed messages. He should stop. He had to. But every night he found himself calling her on some pretext of a work conversation, and every night the conversation quickly drifted into other, far more personal topics of conversation.

  Things he’d never told anyone before.

  She was a good listener, and he found himself fascinated by her, too. He wanted to know everything about her. Every facet of her life, everything that had made her who she was.

  She was so opposite to him, so open. And he was drawn to that like a dying man to water.

  Jeri appeared from behind a crowd of people, interrupting his brooding. Zack ducked his head, trying to stay as invisible as possible. He’d managed to avoid her for more than a week, but it hadn’t been easy. The woman loved floating around her casino, casting her “good vibes” wherever she went.

  Zack would never understand why and how such a New Age woman came to own a casino, and didn’t want to ask. If she saw him again, she’d probably be reminded of his bad aura or whatever.

  Jeri didn’t see him, so Zack slipped into the room where the magic happened. A soulless, windowless arena, with people battling against the odds and losing. Here, at least, people were less concerned with him, and more concerned with what was in front of them. Many of the people at the tables and slots were regulars he’d seen numerous times recently.

  He found the table he was looking for. Anton dealt cards with nimble hands while the patrons watched him hungrily. Zack hung back and watched, catching the nuances he’d missed when watching through the cameras.

  Was Anton dealing cards to specific players? He needed a few more hands to be sure.

  Suddenly, Anton looked up, as if he’d sensed he was being watched. His eyes narrowed on Zack, who gave him a polite smile and continued walking. Anton inclined his head and focused on the cards again, but Zack suspected he’d been made.

  It was no surprise Anton was involved in any of this. With that new watch, he’d been at the top of Zack’s suspect list. But there was no way Anton was the mastermind behind this. He worked for someone, but who—and why—were the real questions.

  And were any of the other staff members involved?

  Zack meandered back to his office, pondering the situation. He needed to get back to those financial reports. Months and months of transactions were a dry and time-consuming read. He often worked for hours when he got home, reading and making notes.

  He updated Radha each night, more as an excuse to talk to her than anything else. But he wanted to hear her voice, learn more about her. She was as lovely as he’d suspected, which was a shame. He’d been half hoping that getting to know her more would sink his crush like money into a casino’s coffers. Instead, it had made it worse.

  Patterns were starting to emerge in the data now. He had his suspicions about what was happening with the money, but he wanted to dig a little deeper to make sure before telling Radha.

  It was almost a shame the detectives had caught someone for Louis’s murder. Otherwise, he could have got Destiny to look into Anton’s bank accounts, see if there were any clues in the payments he must be getting. Unless they were all in cash, of course, which would make sense. Untraceable.

  The more Zack thought about it, the more he realised having confirmation of Anton’s involvement didn’t really help him find the mastermind behind all this. Anton was only one cog in a large machine—one Zack could only see portions of so far.

  He sighed as he slipped into the safety of his office once more. He blinked when he saw Brett leaning over Louis’s—his—desk, flipping through his notepad.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  Brett jumped, startled, and spun around. “Uh, nothing much. I was looking for the name of the drunk guy from yesterday. I thought I saw him again today.” He gestured vaguely to the screens.

  “Is that so?” Zack asked.

  “Yeah. I tho
ught I’d give him a stern talking to, you know?” He held his fists up like a boxer, bouncing enthusiastically on his feet.

  Zack sighed. “You skip the gym or something this morning? You’ve got too much energy. Go do a lap around the floor.”

  Brett’s fists fell to his sides. “Aw, do I have to?”

  “Casinos are very prone to being served with bogus lawsuits from people that think security guys like you take people around back and kneecap them. They watch too many cheap mob movies. I can’t have you threatening customers, whether they were banned from here or not, okay?”

  Brett hung his head sheepishly. “Yeah, boss.”

  Zack let out a breath. “Great.”

  He waited until Brett had left, then double checked his notepad. It looked normal enough—no marks, and Brett hadn’t been copying anything onto separate paper that he could see. Maybe he was checking for a name as he’d said.

  But Zack would have to keep an eye on him, just in case.

  Duncan made his way to a park bench halfway around the block from the Soldiering On office he’d seen before but never been to. His leg pained him today, so the walk probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do. But he needed the privacy.

  Plus, the weather was nice. Maybe the sunshine would improve his mood.

  He tugged his list out of his pocket and ran through the names until he found Zack’s.

  Duncan hesitated before pressing the call button. Then, he flipped over the phone and ripped off the back to triple check what he already knew to be true—there were no bugs in his phone. He couldn’t account for the line and whether it was tapped, but Paul had assured him many times that the Soldiering On phones were as secure as a person could make them.

  Still, he never quite trusted technology. Probably because he didn’t fully understand it.

  Finally, he dialled Zack’s number. He answered on the first ring.

  “Hey.”

  “What’s up?” Duncan asked. Even that one word had sounded far more sullen than he was used to from Zack.

  “Nothing, I’m just being an asshole. How’s it going with those kids?”