Redwood

by Janie Crouch

  The younger man stiffened. “Are you asking me as an officer of the law?”

  “I’m asking because he just showed up dead and has links to Lexi. He provided an ID for her.

  Kendrick whistled through his teeth. “When it comes to IDs, especially those that need to actually pass muster, Cussler is the best. Was the best. But his prices are pretty exorbitant, and he’s definitely not on the side of the angels like we were talking about.”

  “In what way?”

  “He’s got a bad reputation for double-crossing and blackmailing. I don’t think he himself is actually violent, but he definitely has links to people who are. Why did Lexi need an ID from him? Most people use his work to flee the country or,” Kendrick winced, “hide out from the law.”

  “Lexi’s real name is Alexandra Adams.”

  “The television star?”

  That came from Finn. He’d walked up behind them, arm around his wife Charlie. Gabe and his fiancée, Jordan, were with them.

  “Of course!” Charlie slapped Finn’s chest with the back of her hand. “I knew there was something familiar about her.”

  “Look.” Gavin glanced around at the gathering circle of his friends. They all knew that lives had almost been lost because of Alexandra’s actions two years ago. “I know Linear has a past history with this woman, and it’s not particularly pretty. But I think she’s in trouble, and she needs our help. If you won’t help her for her, help her for me.”

  They all stared at him for a long moment, and he prepared to pull out more arguments. Hopefully Wavy would come back over and help.

  “Because you’re in love with her, duh,” Gabe finally said, the expression humorous on the former Navy SEAL’s face. “We’ve all been aware of that for weeks.”

  “She deserves a second chance,” Jordan said softly. “Whatever mistakes she might’ve made in the past, she deserves a second chance.”

  Gabe reached down and wrapped one of his massive arms around the quiet woman and easily lifted her until they were face-to-face. “Thank you for giving me a second chance when I didn’t necessarily deserve one.”

  “I meant—”

  He kissed her to stop her words. Everyone around was glad he did. Jordan didn’t need to apologize for her past anymore.

  Gavin looked back over at Kendrick. “I think Lexi has a stalker, a real one this time, and that’s why she ended up in Oak Creek and why she used Dashawn Cussler to get an ID.”

  “And now Cussler is dead?” Kendrick asked.

  “Yes, and two separate police reports Lexi filed have suddenly disappeared.”

  Kendrick began typing on his phone. “Someone is erasing any sign that she’s had trouble.”

  “Bingo!” Gavin nodded. “I don’t know exactly what it means, but it’s not good.”

  “I’ve already got Neo on it back home,” Kendrick said, looking up from his phone for a second. “Silly me, I thought there wouldn’t be any international crises while I went away for the weekend, so I didn’t bring my system with me.”

  “You’re sure we can trust her?” Gavin asked.

  Neo—Neoma LeBarre—had a lot of gray areas herself. She’d helped out the team quite a few times, but she had also made some questionable judgment calls when she’d first come into the picture.

  “You want to know about Cussler and the police reports that were erased? Neo will get that for us. And she likes Lexi. Or at least likes that Lexi sent you all those obnoxious drinks.” Kendrick grinned down at his phone.

  The rest of the team circled around now, including the bride and groom.

  Gavin turned toward everyone. “Lexi changed her appearance and spent every dime she had on an ID in an attempt to keep herself safe from the stalker hunting her. We all knew she had a secret, and now we know she actually had two. We can talk to her more about the Alexandra Adams stuff once we know she’s safe.”

  Everyone nodded, faces concerned.

  “Where is she?” Anne asked.

  Gavin scrubbed a hand down his face. “No one has seen her since yesterday. When I found out who she really was, I didn’t handle it well. We need to find her, get the details of exactly what’s going on, and help her.

  “Oh shit. Neo has already found her. Actually, everybody has already found her.” Kendrick flipped his phone around. “ ‘Alexandra Adams hates Wyoming’ is trending all over social media and entertainment news.”

  Kendrick airdropped his phone screen to the television so they could all see the interview.

  “That’s at the Reddington City airport,” Boy Riley said. “I know that place like the back of my hand. It looks like the press ambushed her coming out of the terminal.”

  Gavin watched as someone he definitely didn’t know, but was similar to the person he’d talked to in the bathroom yesterday, addressed the reporters. She was flippant, cruelly charming in her comments about Oak Creek and its residents. Generally unlikable, yet beautiful.

  This was Alexandra Adams, but it was definitely not Lexi Johnson.

  Jesus, he’d convinced everyone here they needed to help her, and now she’d said all of this. This wasn’t real, he knew it, but how could he expect them to?

  The whole group went quiet as they watched Alexandra make one obnoxious statement after another.

  They were still quiet when it was done. He was going to have to convince them that what she’d said wasn’t how she really felt or who she really was.

  Of course, he could be wrong. He’d been wrong in a colossal way about Janeen. Lexi could’ve fooled him and was actually the smirky starlet on the screen right now, talking trash about his home state.

  But goddammit, he hadn’t given her the benefit of the doubt once in the entire time that he’d known her. He’d been accusatory and self-righteous from the beginning, and he wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

  If she played him for a fool now, then so be it. But he wasn’t going to let his suspicious nature cause him to disbelieve her again.

  Convincing everyone else to feel the same might not be as easy. “You guys, I know this looks bad. But—”

  “She’s in trouble,” Charlie said, still looking at the TV.

  “She definitely needs our help,” Zac chimed in.

  “Rewind back to the beginning,” Anne took the phone out of Kendrick’s hand. “They sliced it together, but look . . .”

  Lexi had definitely been walking more gingerly—because of her hurt feet—when the press first caught her. She’d hidden her face, so the reporters couldn’t see the differences in the makeup that she’d removed in the bathroom.

  She’d run from them as Lexi Johnson, but had come back out Alexandra Adams. No hesitancy in her step, ignoring any pain she was in. She was playing a role.

  “Something happened while she was in that bathroom,” Gabe said.

  Quinn, who had worked with Lexi at the Eagle’s Nest so probably knew her the best besides him, nodded. “I agree. She never would’ve said those things. Even if she felt them, she never would’ve said it if she didn’t have to. I think it was a deliberate attempt to make sure we were mad at her.”

  “To make sure no one comes looking for her if she’s gone,” Gavin muttered.

  Zac, arm still around Anne, caught Gavin’s eye. “And she basically announced she’ll be gone for a year or two.”

  Gavin turned to Kendrick. “Can Neo access some other footage to see if there’s anyone interesting in the periphery that we can’t see from here?”

  Kendrick nodded. “You’re thinking someone with a weapon?”

  “I’m thinking she was definitely coerced into what she said. Someone is forcing her somehow.”

  “I’ll call my pilot and get the jet ready for you guys,” Cade said.

  He was gone before Gavin could thank him. That was pretty excessive generosity. Cade might have money to spare, but that didn’t mean he had to spend it to help Lexi, who was essentially a stranger.

  Everyone watched the footage from different source
s to see if they could pick up any other clues when Gavin’s phone buzzed in his hand.

  “Sheriff Nelson?” Crap. He was probably calling about Alexandra’s news conference.

  “Gavin, I hate to interrupt you while you’re at the wedding but we’ve had an issue here.”

  “The news statement with Alexandra Adams? I—”

  “There was an attempt on Mac Templeton’s life.”

  “What?” Gavin barked into the phone.

  “He says a guy came, stole his phone so someone could get in touch with Lexi, then planned to kill him.”

  “How did Mac stop him?”

  The sheriff let out a sigh. “Ethan and Jess saw the guy in town. Thought he was acting suspicious. Saw him following Mac back to his house and came rushing into my office. Those two wouldn’t let up until I sent someone over to investigate. You know how little Jess is.”

  Gavin glanced over at Finn and Charlie, Ethan’s parents. Finn was holding the phone so he and Charlie could both hear whatever was being said. Finn’s eyes shot to Gavin.

  “Is everybody okay?” Gavin asked. “The kids?”

  Everyone knew Ethan and Jess could get in more trouble than the rest of the town put together.

  “Yeah. Scared Officer Mercer half to death to find someone actually at Mac’s house, holding him at gunpoint, but she handled it. Arrested the guy.”

  Jesus. “Curtis, we’re just finding out that Lexi has a stalker.”

  “Well this guy isn’t your stalker. He claims he was hired by some middle-aged white couple. He doesn’t have all their details but they called each other Nicholas and Sherri.”

  Oh fuck. “Cheryl.”

  “What?”

  “Nicholas and Cheryl, not Sherri. I know who they are.” Lexi’s aunt and uncle. “Lexi’s in danger. We’re on our way back. Keep an eye out around town. I don’t know if there will be more trouble headed your way.”

  He hung up and walked toward Finn and Charlie, who’d finished their call too.

  “Evidently Ethan and Jess stumbled into a hot mess.” Finn shook his head. “The usual for those two. I just got off the phone with Ethan.”

  “Looks like they might have saved Mac’s life. Someone was trying to kill him to get to Lexi.”

  Charlie squeezed Finn’s arm. “Good thing you’ve always taught Ethan to follow his instincts.”

  Gavin got a text from Cade.

  Jet is wheels up whenever you are ready.

  “It’s time to go rescue one of our own.”

  The team was going in blind. They’d gone in blind on other missions in the past, but this one felt more personal.

  Probably because it was. Way more personal.

  Zac had stayed behind on the island with his bride to go on their honeymoon. Gavin didn’t blame him a bit, especially since the close call yesterday.

  And besides, the team on the jet with him couldn’t possibly be any stronger. Finn and Aiden had both served with Gavin as Green Berets. Gabe hadn’t been in the army, but his years as a Navy SEAL made him more than prepared.

  And then there were the final two members of the team, whose arrival just before the plane took off had ensured Zac could stay with his new bride.

  Dorian and Ray.

  Neither took part in active missions any longer, for reasons Gavin more than understood—Dorian suffered from severe PTSD after being held and tortured in an enemy prison camp for five weeks while they’d been in the army. Ray had her own demons just as cruel.

  The two of them were the most lethal trained killers Gavin had ever known. The chances of getting Lexi out safely no matter what the situation had improved exponentially the moment Dorian and Ray—Ghost and Wraith—had stepped on the plane.

  Reports from Kendrick and Neo were starting to come in through the plane’s Wi-Fi, just in time since they’d be landing in Reddington City in less than an hour. Everyone pored over them.

  Gavin answered his phone when it buzzed in his hand.

  “Did you all get what I sent?” Kendrick asked. “This shit isn’t good, Gavin.”

  “I know.” Gavin was looking through the data on a laptop.

  “It looks like her aunt and uncle sold her to this Dr. Hamilton guy—they got two million dollars deposited into an account from an account suspected as his. That can’t be right, can it?”

  “Her aunt and uncle have been manipulating her for a decade. They stole all her money when she first went to prison. So . . . yeah, I think it could very well be right.”

  “Dr. Hamilton is bad news. He’s on a watch list for damned near every law enforcement agency in the world. No recent pictures, so nobody’s been able to arrest him.” Kendrick’s voice lowered. “And he’s got strong ties to Mosaic.”

  Fuck. Information brokers, weapons dealers, cyberterrorists, human traffickers . . . all available under Mosaic’s umbrella. Gavin didn’t want Lexi anywhere near them, especially since she’d publicly announced she’d be gone for a year or two.

  “We need to get to her before her aunt and uncle hand her over. It’ll be a hell of a lot more complicated if she’s in Mosaic’s clutches.”

  “Agreed. Neo and I are digging for a time and location of the meet. Hopefully, we’ll have something once you’re on the ground.”

  “Thanks, Blaze.”

  “Ian DeRose is going to have weapons and vehicles waiting for you when you land. He’s very interested now that Mosaic may be involved. And hopefully, I’ll have a location.”

  “From your lips to God’s ears.”

  “Side of the angels, man. That’s all we can do.”

  Gavin hung up to read more about Cheryl and Nicholas Adams. None of it was good. He watched the press ambush Lexi at the airport one more time, hoping to catch something he’d missed before.

  But all he could see were her sad eyes. Even worse, her hopeless expression when she turned back to say she’d miss the Wyoming redwoods. Miss him.

  She knew she was in trouble and had no hope that anyone would be coming to help her.

  That was his fault.

  He picked up the carved keychain she’d given him for Christmas from where it sat on the table, and rubbed it between his fingers. He’d told her it was now his lucky charm, and he was going to keep it with him all the time. But the truth was he’d wanted a little piece of her with him all the time.

  “You okay, man?” Gabe squeezed Gavin’s shoulder as he passed him in the narrow jet aisle and took the seat across the tiny table from him. Finn plopped down in the other row.

  “So much makes sense now.” Gavin rubbed his forehead with his finger and thumb. “So much about Lexi’s behavior. She was scared. I let it go when I shouldn’t have.”

  He thought about that letter incident on Christmas Day. How she’d completely freaked out over something so innocent. Right fucking then he should’ve pushed to know what was wrong.

  He sat back, then let out a breath. “Then when I should’ve let it go—when I found out she was really Alexandra Adams—I didn’t.”

  “Been there, brother,” Gabe said. “Almost lost Jordan before we got our start. The important thing is we fixed it.”

  “Lexi thinks she’s in this alone, that no one is coming to help.”

  “Violet thought that once too,” Aiden said, reaching up to scratch at the long scar that marred the cheek of his otherwise almost-pretty face. “I had to leave her behind in an impossible situation. But I came back.”

  “You show up this time,” Ray’s feminine voice said from behind him. “Then you show up again and again, every single day in every way she needs you, until she finally defaults to knowing you will show up.”

  Dorian slipped an arm around Ray’s shoulder and pulled her up against his chest. “All you have to do is be who you are: steady, solid, unshakeable. Redwood.”

  36

  Consciousness came back slowly, the darkness sticky and clingy, like walking through a spider web, then spending a thousand minutes trying to get it off your skin, your hai
r, everything.

  But it was a familiar darkness as it folded in on her, swirled around her like a deep fog. Or a blizzard. But there was no Gavin this time.

  I’m done with this.

  The words—the sound of his voice—dragged her closer to consciousness, even though she didn’t want to feel the pain she knew was waiting for her. She and Gavin were finished.

  And Mac. Mac was dead because of her. Another innocent person destroyed because of her choices.

  She bit back a sob and forced the darkness the rest of the way back. And immediately wished she hadn’t. The pain—physical, emotional—was almost unbearable.

  She opened her eyes.

  Everything was sideways.

  The cobwebs still surrounded her mind, making it hard to think. She took a breath. She was lying on a couch. That’s why everything was sideways.

  Cheryl and Nicholas had taken her. Drugged her.

  Killed Mac.

  They were in some sort of cabin, not very big. Nicholas sat at a small table while Cheryl paced back and forth in front of him.

  Lexi closed her eyes against the dizziness. It was so much easier to relax into the darkness than fight it. So much easier to let it numb everything.

  Because pain waited outside the numb darkness—that clawing, knifing, biting pain that would rip her apart. And there were pain’s companions: loneliness and terror. She couldn’t fight all three.

  Mac was dead. Gavin wanted nothing to do with her. Oak Creek hated her.

  She let the darkness drag her under again.

  She had no idea how long she stayed in the black, conscious but not coherent—caught frozen in that moment where she was not quite asleep and not quite awake. But then she reached the fulcrum, the pivot point in the darkness, and couldn’t stay there. She was sliding back toward consciousness whether she wanted to or not.

  She clawed her way to the surface. Opened her eyes. She was going to have to find the strength to fight through the numbness, to face the pain that waited for her.

  She tried to sit up and let out a moan.

  “I told you, you gave her too much,” Nicholas said.

  “She’ll be fine. Her system is just a little out of practice with how our game is played.”