Witness in the Dark

by Allison B Hanson

He nodded and stood, not making eye contact.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “No. Let’s get going. It’s a long drive.”

  It was a long drive. A long, silent drive. As each mile passed, she became more nervous.

  Garrett was lying to her.

  They weren’t getting supplies. They had passed ten stores. Not to mention they were heading back in the direction of the house they’d left.

  When he stopped for gas the next time, she moved her Glock from the glove box to the back of her jeans and covered it with her sweatshirt. It was uncomfortable pressing against her spine, but she’d rather have discomfort than be unprepared.

  She didn’t like not trusting Garrett. But something was definitely up.

  That phone call, and his behavior. It was all pointing to the unwelcome truth—she was in big trouble.

  A few hours later, he pulled off the highway and down a lane to a lumber yard which, according to the signs, was out of business.

  The parking lot was empty, but a black SUV was parked at the back of the building. Garrett pulled in next to it. “This way,” he said as he got out of the truck.

  She didn’t move. She scanned the area, expecting ten men in black to descend. She looked up at the roof of the warehouse anticipating a sniper, but there was nothing. Nothing she could see, anyway.

  Garrett opened her door, his gaze not lifting from the ground. “It’s going to be okay. It’s safe,” he said.

  Right. She’d heard that before. The very fact he’d felt the need to say it was safe, told her it wasn’t. So far, everything that was supposedly safe turned out to be the exact opposite.

  It was like déjà vu. She’d known something was up at the first safe house because Wendy had been too nice to her. Now Garrett was being quiet and remorseful with her. As if he didn’t want to do what he had to do, but—as he’d said—he had no choice.

  She reached for the glove box, forgetting for a moment that she already had her weapon, but Garrett put out his hand.

  “No. Leave it. You don’t need your gun.”

  Wow. Something was definitely wrong.

  Since the first night she’d learned to shoot it, Garrett had made her tote that gun around everywhere. Even to the bathroom. Now he wanted her to leave it behind? Oh, hell no.

  She was glad it was already in the back of her pants.

  Her mind started working out a plan as she slid out of the car and followed him toward the building. He didn’t know she had a gun. He trusted her enough to walk in front of her. That was her edge. That, and the fact she knew he was wounded.

  Whatever—or whoever—was waiting for her inside that building were wild cards, but she knew she could at least take down Garrett.

  But if it came to that, could she really kill the man she loved? No matter how terrible his betrayal?

  With that question burning in her mind, she swallowed down the uncertainties, and followed him into the building.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  As soon as they walked inside, Sam heard footsteps approaching.

  Her heart sank like a lead weight. Garrett had actually done it. He’d double-crossed her.

  Even as she pulled the Glock from the back of her jeans, she couldn’t believe it. She punched him in the arm, right where his new stitches were, then kicked him in the crotch, causing him to drop to the floor.

  Take that, Magic Kingdom.

  She put her foot on his neck and aimed the gun at his head.

  A man and woman rushed into the room, saw Garrett, and immediately held up their hands, showing they had no weapons.

  Garrett moaned. “What the hell, Sam?”

  “Don’t ‘what the hell’ me, asshole. You’re the one who slept with me, then turned me over the bad guys.”

  He struggled to sit up. “You’re—”

  She pressed the muzzle into his scalp. “Don’t move! Don’t any of you move! I swear, I’ll shoot the first person who so much as twitches!” Okay, she sounded like a bad movie, but it wasn’t an empty threat. She was really going to do it. “Give me your damn keys.”

  “I’m not giving you my keys,” he said firmly, though wincing in pain.

  That stumped her for a split second. Fuck. Now what? Did she really want to shoot him?

  As she tried to come up with an alternative, an older man stalked in behind her. “You slept with my daughter?” he snapped, glaring at Garrett.

  Wait. What?

  She whipped around so she could aim at any one of them. She was so confused.

  Garrett looked up at her and rolled his eyes. “Just shoot me now. It’ll be easier that way.”

  Her brain took another second to process what was happening. It didn’t help. But one thing had stuck in her mind.

  She aimed the Glock at the older man. “Daughter? What the hell are you talking about?”

  “McKendrick? Why is Samantha holding a gun on me and my best deputy marshals? Can you do something about that, please?” The older man didn’t seem too worried about the gun she was pointing at him.

  Garrett staggered to his feet. To his credit, he wasn’t holding his crotch. Maybe she’d missed.

  “I will shoot you,” she warned, her voice as steady as her hand. Which was to say, not so much.

  “No, you won’t,” Garrett said. “Please put the gun down. Nobody wants to hurt you.”

  She backed away in case he planned to lunge for her. “Seriously, Garrett. I will shoot you if you take one more step.”

  “Sam, this is my boss, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Josiah Thorne, and these are Deputy Marshals Ryan and Larson.”

  She snorted. She wasn’t about to believe a single word out of his mouth. “Don’t even try with that shit. You screwed me over, and I. Will. Shoot. You.”

  “Sir?” Garrett winced as he looked at his arm. Blood was soaking the sleeve of his gray sweatshirt. “Damn it, Sam! You ripped my stitches.”

  The man’s brows flickered. “Enough, already. Get control of this situation, McKendrick.”

  “Me? This is all your doing, sir. I distinctly recall telling you this was not a good idea.” Garrett glanced at her, worry clear on his face. “Besides, I think she’s really going to shoot me.”

  He should be worried.

  The older man growled, “Good. Save me the goddamn trouble.” Then he waved at her gun. “Dane.”

  “Sir?” Deputy Marshal Ryan appeared uneasy.

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake!” The older man threw his hands in the air. “Will someone please take the goddamn gun away from her?”

  Ryan was the unfortunate one who moved first. Since he was unarmed, she only shot him in the leg. He went down, and she retrained her gun on Garrett.

  The man on the floor moaned. “She shot me. She goddamn shot me.” He actually sounded shocked.

  Do these people not know how to listen?

  Garrett put his hands up. “You know what? I do not want to get shot again. Let’s talk this out. Keep the gun. But no one here is going to hurt you. I swear it.”

  “Oh, good. You swear. Because you haven’t been fucking lying to me this whole time.”

  “Okay, sure. I did lie. Today. But not before today. Think about it. Why would I teach you everything you know if I just planned to turn you over to Howe’s people?”

  This wasn’t the first time that particular thought had crossed her mind.

  “Why wouldn’t I have turned you over the minute you were in my Jeep, or when I knocked you out with the drugs?” He glanced over his shoulder at the older man, who had started scowling fiercely. “Accidentally, with pain meds. Because you were in pain.”

  “You drugged her and slept with her?” the other man demanded, clearly about to blow a gasket.

  “I am so fucking dead,” Garrett muttered. He glanced at her accusingly. “Go ahead, shoot me. If you honestly believe I would betray you, after—” He shook his head. “Go on, shoot me. Right in the heart.”

  The look in his eyes when he
said that last part made her pause and take a giant mental step backward. He looked perfectly sincere.

  What the hell was going on here? Was the older man really his boss? And had she just shot a deputy marshal?

  Oh, shit.

  No one had made a move toward her, threatening or otherwise. The older man was standing his ground, fuming. Deputy Marshal Ryan was moaning and muttering while the woman tended to his wound.

  A wash of guilt slowly diluted Sam’s fear. Oh, God. Had her lack of trust just caused her to make a huge mistake?

  “Tell me what’s going on,” she demanded of Garrett. “And I want the damn truth.”

  His shoulders visibly notched down and he took a deep breath before casting the older man a reproachful look. Garrett looked back at her, and she could swear there was a hint of apology in his voice when he said, “Samantha Hutchinson, I would like to introduce you to…your father, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Josiah Thorne.”

  For a second, she froze in place, a chaos of emotions tumbling through her.

  Followed by an avalanche of anger. Seriously? This was their game plan?

  “My father is dead, and his name wasn’t Josiah,” she snapped. “Try again, liar.”

  Garrett struck like a snake. One moment he was still rubbing his arm and breathing heavily, and the next the gun was out of her hand and she was pinned to the floor with his weight on top of her.

  Instantly, he moved off her again. “Sorry. Had to do that. Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m not okay! Are you crazy?” she yelled. “You are all insane!”

  “Sam, let’s have a seat and discuss this. It’s family business,” the older man—Josiah Thorne—said as he held out his hand to help her up from the cold floor.

  “Sir, I wouldn’t do that. You’ll want to stay back,” Garrett warned, as if she was a dangerous animal.

  It was at that point, she broke. Something inside her just…broke.

  Maybe it was sheer exhaustion from running for her life for months. Maybe it was the fact that the man she loved and trusted had betrayed her so badly.

  Maybe it was because the other man had called her “daughter,” vividly reminding her of the happy family she had always dreamed of—and never had—as a child. And that the closest she’d ever come to it was a Christmas spent with a stranger in a borrowed house.

  Whatever it was, the fight went right out of her.

  She didn’t care what happened to her anymore. She had no one. What was the point?

  She pushed both their hands away and stood on her own, glaring at Garrett as she followed Thorne into a glass-enclosed office. She flopped down in the chair by the desk. Garrett stayed outside the door and closed it, blocking her exit. What did it matter? She had nowhere to go.

  “I have to say, I’m impressed you took down two of my best deputy marshals.” The older man smiled.

  She didn’t.

  She just stared at him. At his graying hair and the creases by his green eyes.

  Her own eyes were green. Her mother had always told her she had her father’s eyes.

  She thought about the photo that had hung in their living room. The young man with his arms wrapped around her mother. He was strong and tall. Like this man.

  She glanced down at the watch he wore. It was identical to the one on her own wrist.

  “Are you noticing the similarities?” he asked. His voice had gentled from the harsh orders he’d given in the other room.

  “My father’s name was Samuel Hutchinson. He was killed in a car accident before I was born.”

  “Sam, you also supposedly died in a car accident. Yet, here we both sit.”

  “Yes, but…”

  But what? The whole idea was so insane, she didn’t know what to think.

  He spread his hands. “Are you not willing to entertain the possibility that I’m still alive?” He smiled.

  And with that smile, her doubts faded away. His smile was the same as the one she saw when she looked in the mirror. The same one on her face in every school photo and selfie.

  It was her smile. And this man…

  Could he really be her father?

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Sam’s head was spinning. Was it really possible?

  She’d demand a DNA test, of course. She needed more solid proof than a smile. But in the meantime…

  “Tell me about the watch.” She held up hers and looked at his matching one.

  “Garrett told me you were upset about him taking it, but it was needed to help prove your identity in the explosion. I tracked down a duplicate to use instead.”

  “How do you know Garrett?”

  “I’m in charge of Task Force Phoenix, it’s an elite team of marshals who—for different reasons—were forced to start over much like you will. Only they chose to use their fresh start to protect others. Garrett is the top senior inspector on my team. Or at least he was, until I found out he took advantage of you.” He frowned.

  Sam was suddenly worried about Garrett. She doubted Thorne would actually kill him. But he might get fired. His boss seemed seriously pissed off.

  She suddenly felt the need to protect him. “He didn’t take advantage,” she said. “That’s all on me. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Garrett had gotten her this far, he deserved credit for his efforts, even if he had lied to her. And she’d told the truth. She had been the one to relentlessly pursue him. He’d simply given in to her advances.

  “There’s no future with him,” her father said.

  God, it felt so strange to think of this man as her father.

  “So he told me. He was very upfront about that.” She narrowed her eyes at Thorne. “Which is a lot more than I can say for you.”

  He sighed. “I didn’t know your mother was pregnant when I took a job on a black ops undercover team in the CIA. Our marriage was already failing because I couldn’t tell her what I did, just that I worked for the government. I was gone all the time, and she was always suspicious and angry. Things weren’t good between us.” He looked down at his hands.

  “So you took the easy way out and faked your own death?” Sam said incredulously. “Who does that?”

  “The CIA. All the time. And back then, well, I was a much different person, with much different priorities.”

  “What about when you found out Mom was pregnant? Did you even care?”

  “By then it was too late. I was already signed up, and officially dead.” He shook his head. “The CIA doesn’t allow their people to change their minds. Trust me when I say, I wish I’d handled things differently. It’s the biggest regret of my life. For what it’s worth, I never married again, never had any more children, even after I left CIA and started Task Force Phoenix.”

  She stared at him. “You think that makes up for it? For me having to grow up without a father?”

  “Of course not. But believe me, it works both ways. There have been times when I watched you and it was all I could do to sit in the same restaurant and not walk over and introduce myself. But I did try to be there for you, behind the scenes, when I could. Your scholarship, for instance.”

  She gasped in shock. “I didn’t earn that?”

  “I wanted you to go to Georgetown so I could be close to you. I just added to the scholarship money you were already granted, so you’d come to D.C. Besides, it was my responsibility to pay for your schooling. Anytime you’ve ever needed something, I’ve tried to provide it for you. Having someone show up with another life insurance policy your mom didn’t know about, giving you a good deal on a car.”

  “Then blowing it up,” she grumbled. She’d actually really liked that car.

  “When I found out you were involved in the Howe case, I immediately sent out SI McKendrick to keep you safe and alive. And to make sure you were handling everything well.”

  “I’m not handling anything well. I’m just trying not to be killed for telling the truth.”

  Her father’s eyes met hers. “I’m so prou
d of you. So proud of the amazing person you’ve become. I’m sorry about my questionable role in your past, but I assure you, I’m going to be there for you from now on.”

  Her heart squeezed in her chest. These were the words she’d always wanted to hear. Every major decision she’d made had been with hope of making this man proud.

  But now? They just seemed hollow. Too little, too late. “Right. Because we’re both dead and we have these nifty father-daughter watches,” she muttered.

  “No. Because I love you.”

  At those unexpected words, all the longing she’d felt her whole life came rushing back. Longing for affection and acceptance, and a warm, loving family.

  She told herself she couldn’t trust the man…but even a manipulative bastard of a father might be better than having no family, at all. Especially under the circumstances.

  “Does that mean we would get to see each other? That sort of thing?”

  He nodded. “I would like that. If you’re willing.”

  It was a lot to take in at once. “Can I have some time to think about it? And maybe a DNA test?”

  He smiled. “Of course. McKendrick warned me that your father showing up would be too much for you to handle on top of everything else right now, and he’s probably right. But I couldn’t wait any longer.”

  “You’ve had my whole life to show up. Why now?”

  He grimaced. “You’re in danger, and suddenly I was terrified you could be hurt, or disappear into WITSEC before I could get to know you. You’ve been handling things better than you give yourself credit for. But the urgency of the situation brought home how important you are to me. I’m a selfish old man, and I want to know my daughter.” His smile was strained, as if he was expecting her rejection at any moment. As angry and hurt as she was, she wasn’t able to dismiss her only chance at having a family. However small it might be. And however belated.

  His words made sense, she supposed. How many important things had she put off simply because it was easier to do it tomorrow?

  “Besides,” he went on, “I wasn’t sure how you would respond. I worried you might hate me.” He glanced out to the room where the others were gathered. “I sure didn’t expect it would go down like this.” A smile tugged at his lips, and she couldn’t help but smile back.