Sweet Jesus, that was a lot of information to process, but my mind was stuck on the part about taking Shane out. He had told me his job was dangerous. I wasn’t completely naïve, I had seen all the Navy SEAL action movies. I had a good idea what he did, but stupidly I was hoping he had been exaggerating.
I should’ve been more worried knowing a criminal was following me and taking pictures, but I couldn’t begin to process that part. I needed to be alone where I could break down without anyone seeing me. I couldn’t show any weakness in front of these men. They had to think I was just as mentally resilient as them, that someone stalking me and invading my privacy didn’t bother me. I had spent my whole life putting on a front. I was a master at concealing my emotions.
“Let me see all the pictures, and I’ll try and tell you when some of them were taken. Would that help?” I asked Clark. Shoring up my defenses, I chanced a look at Shane.
He did indeed look like he’d lost his mind. I was pissed and wanted to tell him to screw off, but this man in front of me did not look like a man you fucked with.
“It would.” Clark started to spread the photographs out over the table. “Can you tell me more about when Kincaid came to the center?”
Shane stomped away like a petulant child not getting his way. Inside I was secretly happy he was pissed too. My feelings were hurt, and I wanted him to feel just as annoyed as I was. Stupid bastard. He knew how badly it hurt me when I was treated like I was useless. His snide comment about the situation not being a silly charity event didn’t go unnoticed. That’s what he thought of me, that I was another spoiled Hollywood brat who had a cause to fill her pointless days.
“Sure.” I thought back to the day Calvin showed up. “You know, I was surprised to see him because he said he lived in the Bahamas. He bragged about his private island in the Exumas. He went on and on to the point of ad nauseam about the house and staff he kept. As if he was impressing me with his money. Sorry, back to the center. Nothing out of the ordinary. He asked me for a tour but didn’t seem all that interested, it was very obvious he had ulterior motives.”
“And what do you think his motives were?” Clark inquired.
“Well, he walked very close to me and flirted when he could. He was over-the-top charming to the point of being transparent about his reasons for visiting me. He didn’t seem to care about my center; he was sucking up. When he asked me out again, it confirmed my suspicions. I assume the only reason he even wanted to donate any money was to save face after I rebuffed his advances again. Then I took him to my office…oh my God.”
“What?” Clark stood up looking at the picture I had in my hand.
“My office. I have pictures of Shane and me from high school, his basic training graduation, and the trip from before his deployment. Calvin asked me about them.”
“Fuck,” Shane roared. “What did you say?”
“Swear to God, Lenox I am gonna lock your ass down if you don’t calm the fuck down,” Clark shouted back.
“Twelve goddamn years for nothing,” Shane mumbled under his breath.
“I am so sorry. I didn’t know. I would never have kept those pictures if I had known you were really alive galivanting around the world playing Captain America. How was I supposed to know you weren’t really dead?”
“Lily, you didn’t do anything wrong. When Shane went underground, the military scrubbed everything they could. But it doesn’t matter how good of a job they do, it is always the innocent slip that breaks the cover. Does that make sense?” Clark’s demeanor had changed toward me. His body language was no longer hostile, and his tone had softened.
“No, I don’t really understand any of this,” I answered honestly. “I think I need that whiskey now. I’m so freaking confused.”
“Okay. The military can’t control the human factor. Shane Owings is dead. But there are still photographs of him out there; the military can’t take all those back. You did nothing wrong. This is just one of those times we all hope never happens - when our past catches up with us.”
“I told Calvin about Shane. That he was my best friend,” I whispered.
“Did he ask any other questions?” Clark questioned.
“Yes, he asked what he did in the Army, and how he died. I told him that too.”
“Again, you did nothing wrong. Someone asked you about a friend that died, you answered. The good news is that your answers would’ve been natural, and your pain real. You didn’t have to put on an act or give a practiced response. Someone like Roman would’ve picked up on that in two point five seconds.”
“What now?”
“Now I hunt and kill the bastard,” Shane declared.
Chapter 12
My mind was reeling. How the hell had Roman found Lily? I very rarely believed in dumb luck or coincidences, but this seemed to be one of those one in a million instances. The stars aligned and he got lucky.
Son of a bitch, all those years flushed down the toilet. The pain I have caused her was all for naught.
I was pacing, and my hands were itching to kill. This was not going to be a nice clean death, I was going to strangle him with my bare hands and watch the life fade from his eyes. We had been chasing Roman for the last seven years. He was always one step ahead of us. His ammunition and guns have killed countless innocent people and an untold number of service men and women. He deserved it – a slow painful death.
“The Bahama line is gonna take a while. The Bohemian government is shit at keeping records if you have money. And there are too many ways in and out of the islands. The government gives zero fucks about seaplanes and yachts, it is a runners’ paradise down there,” Levi informed the room. He looked up from his monitors and addressed Lily, “Did Kincaid happen to tell you the name of his island? Any landmarks, location in the Exumas, anything? There are over three hundred cays that make up the game preserve.”
My gut was still turning, all the ways I tried to keep her safe was for nothing. Everything I tried to prevent from happening was unfolding. Not only was she in danger, we now needed information from her, further involving her in an investigation I wanted her nowhere near.
Roman was ruthless. He had nothing to lose, he cared about nothing. He wouldn’t think twice about disposing of Lily in the most horrific way possible now that he knew she meant something to me. Lily was the chink in my armor he was looking for. Now he would exploit it.
“Nothing I can think of. He did prattle on about his environmental concern and how he was trying to go green on his cay. I believe he said he has windmills. But, honestly, it sounded like he was trying to impress me, so I wasn’t paying attention. He never mentioned a name.”
“That’s a start. Any small detail will help,” Levi told her.
Clark kept cutting sideways glances at me. He looked like he had something to say, but he kept his lips pinched tight and eyes thoughtful. He was really starting to piss me off; one minute he was grilling Lily giving her the third degree, and now he was treating her like an honorary member of the team, telling her information she had no business knowing.
Lily and Clark continued to look over the pictures, and Levi was digging up everything he could on Kincaid. That left me to shift through Lily’s personal financial records and McGrath Carter bank accounts.
The day Lily sat at my grave and told me about the center she had opened, my heart swelled with pride. She was giving and thoughtful; she always had been, but this went beyond that to complete selflessness. She had used her own personal trust to fund the centers until she could get a steady stream of donor money. And when she divorced that bastard Lucas, she sunk every penny of the settlement into opening more centers or improving the ones already opened.
More than that, she gave the people who needed the services of the centers her time. And not just the back-end fundraising - she tutored, delivered food, and drove the van to take the kids on excursions. The girl was something else.
I needed to push thoughts of Lily aside and concentrate on how Roman
became Calvin Kincaid and why. I looked at Levi who had maps of the Exumas pulled up on his monitors.
“Hey, you gotta minute to talk this through?” I asked. Too much wasn’t adding up.
“Yep.” He turned his chair giving me his attention.
“Why would Roman donate money to McGrath Carter?” I started.
“To get close to Lily,” he answered.
“She had already turned down his advances, yet he continued to give money. We both know that asshole doesn’t have an altruistic bone in his body.”
“Maybe he meant to only give money once, to save face after Lily turned him down. Once he saw your picture in her office, he continued to give money monthly to fuck with us. Show us that he has had long term contact with her and he could’ve taken her out at any point. Get in our heads,” Levi theorized.
“Okay, that makes sense. Now, what about the initial meeting? The introduction from Clyde Davidson. How and why did Roman get involved in the movie industry?” I asked.
“Launder money? You said that Davidson secured financing for studios. If Roman gave his ill-begotten gains to the studio and the production made money, it would come out clean on the other side.” Levi leaned back in his chair and stretched his long legs out in front of him.
“That could work. But the movie industry is risky. You can lose your ass if a film doesn’t make money at the box office,” I explained.
“Let’s look at this another way. Roman went rogue and left Command after his wife died. Why did he leave?” Levi asked.
“Man, we have gone over his motives a hundred times in the last seven years. He lost his shit when his wife killed herself. He blamed Command for not cutting loose and prosecuting the Sergeant Major who was having an affair with Melanie,” I answered.
“Who knew about the affair?”
“We all did. Hell, the entire unit knew that Melanie was fucking that prick.”
It was the worst kept secret around the 707. Melanie was not stealthy in her goings and comings. She didn’t give a shit if everyone knew, and she borderline shoved Roman’s face in it.
“Right, so he was pissed at all of us when he left. We have pinpointed that was his motivation for selling secrets and weapons that would be used to kill American troops. But what if it is us specifically he wants revenge on? Did he know about your life before the 707?”
“Fuck.” I shot up from my seat and started pacing again. “There was one time a few years after my death I was so goddamn screwed in the head after I saw Lily at the cemetery. I was drunk and flapping at the gums, questioning everything I had done. I mean, I had given up the one thing I loved. Roman asked why I chose to get a new identity, he hadn’t and he was part of the 707. I told him that it was because my father was high profile and easily found. I was drunk, I don’t remember if I told a trusted member of my team if he was in the film industry. But I know for a fact that I never mentioned Lily’s name. After my funeral, I never said her name out loud again - it hurt too fucking bad.”
I heard a sob from across the room, and I closed my eyes. I couldn’t look at her, I didn’t want to see the pain that I knew was there. I’d screwed up again and got carried away saying shit she never needed to hear.
“Lily,” I started. I needed to fix this somehow.
“Don’t. Don’t say a word to me. You led me to believe that all of you had changed your identities,” she hissed.
“No, I didn’t. I never told you that. I told you I faked my death to protect you, and I did. You think I gave a rat’s ass if something would’ve happened to that bastard father of mine or the cheating bitch of a mother? As cold as you may think this makes me, I would’ve looked the other way. You are the only thing I cared about. Do you know how easy it would’ve been for any of the scumbags we chase to find Shane Owings, the son of an Academy Award winning actor, and think they had found the holy grail of operators to capture? When the 707 suggested that Shane Owings should die and Carter Lenox would be born in his place, I jumped at the chance.”
“You didn’t ask me if I wanted to be protected,” she fired back.
“Fuck no, I didn’t. I knew you’d follow me. And every time I would have left for a mission, you’d sit at home and worry if I was coming back. I wanted better for you. I wanted you to be happy and at peace. Somewhere safe, where my choices didn’t bleed into your life.”
“I would’ve followed you. I would’ve supported your choices, and I would’ve given you a thousand good reasons to come home to me. But you stole that from me. You wanted me happy? Well, guess what? You failed. For twelve fucking years I have been heartbroken, and sad, and so fucking lost without my best friend.” After that gut shot, Lily didn’t wait for my response. She turned and stomped away to the back of the hangar.
Wisely, Levi, Jasper, and Clark didn’t say a word. All three busied themselves pretending like they had not witnessed that exchange.
I had made a mess of everything. She was right, I had stolen her happiness. I didn’t have to fake my death, but we made that choice because of who my father was. At the time, I thought it was the right decision. Now, I realized how badly I had fucked up.
I needed to talk to her, make her understand why I did what I did. I started to follow her when Clark stopped me.
“Give her a minute.” I cut my eyes to the hand Clark had on my forearm. “Trust me, Lenox, give her some time to cool off. She’s completely overwhelmed. You don’t think I knew that earlier when I was grilling her? All that fake bravado was to cover up that she was scared shitless. When she masked her fears and offered to look at those pictures, it was so she wouldn’t break down in front of us. She is a strong woman. I don’t know how she was when you two were younger, but I suspect she was stronger than you recognized. Let her have this.”
Damn if he wasn’t right. She needed to cool off, and I still needed to figure out how Clyde Davidson played into Roman’s plan.
The problem was we were trying to profile a complete lunatic, and that was not my area of expertise. We had analysts and profilers for that. I was simply the firepower, the one they sent out to execute the plan.
“Are you sure he didn’t know about Lily?” Jasper asked.
“Shit man, at this point anything is possible. I have a photo of Lily I keep in my safe, but when we go out on a mission, I always tuck her in my vest. He could’ve looked through my shit and found it.”
“We have to keep in mind this might have been a stroke of good luck on his part,” Clark added.
“You really believe that? When was the last time something involving Roman happened by chance? That fucker is methodical, he was trained to be that way,” I asked.
“There is a first time for everything. What I mean is, I don’t want to get lost down a rabbit hole. Let’s concentrate on finding him and taking him out.” Clark started to stack the pictures of Lily.
“I think I found something,” Levi said. “Lily said that Roman told her he was going green. There is only one island in the Exumas that has windmills powering the island. It was renamed to Last Chance Cay five years ago when it was purchased by a Guy Borough from Nova Scotia. But there is no record of a Guy Borough, but there is a city named Guysborough in Nova Scotia. The five-year time frame also coincides with Kincaid’s involvement with the producer, Davidson.”
“The wire transfers to McGrath Carter initiated from a Royal Bank and Trust. There is a branch in Nova Scotia.”
I glanced over my shoulder to the door Lily had gone through. It was killing me not going to her. I wanted to pull her into my arms and make her forget about the shitstorm that had become her life. I desperately wanted to grab her and run away with her; we could change our names and never be heard from again. But that dream was impossible, and I needed to get a lock on Roman. There was no time to coddle her and smooth hurt feelings. I had to stop thinking like Shane and slip back into the trained killer I had become.
The sooner Roman was eliminated the, sooner I could get Lily back to her life and out o
f mine. The longer she was around, the harder it would be to watch her walk away.
Chapter 13
It had been hours since I stormed out of the main room of the hangar and into a makeshift bunk room. There was a worn-out cot with a coarse green blanket and a wooden chair in the corner. I picked the wrong room to storm off to. I was starving and cold and getting madder by the minute. The hard wood under my ass was making my leg fall asleep, and I was cursing Shane for bringing me here. I wanted to go home. No, scratch that, I never wanted to go there again. Someone had defiled my home and videotaped me there. A hotel, that is where I wanted to go. But I couldn’t. I was stuck here in a dirty room with my dead ex-best friend down the hall.
I tried to rationalize everything Shane had told me. All his reasons for leaving. Logically I understood…kinda. But emotionally I didn’t understand how he could’ve done that to me. He had to have known what his death would do to me. He took choices away from me, and I think that part was what I was most pissed about. He hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me what he was doing.
The door creaked open, and Jasper appeared, looking sympathetic. I had embarrassed the shit out of myself out there. All the strength I had tried to show was washed away in one single outburst.
Free - A last chance love story Page 7