by Dale Mayer
Cade nodded. “And you need to eat if you can.”
She winced. “Yes, Erick mentioned something about it earlier.”
“Did he tell you to pack a bag?”
She nodded. “Yes, he did.”
“Good. We might stay here for the night. I’m not sure. We’ll wait and see what Talon has to say when he gets in.”
“I suppose he already knows where I live too?”
“Oh, yeah. By now all of our team does.”
She sighed. “As long as I won’t end up on some FBI Watch List, where I won’t be allowed into any of the countries I travel to,” she warned, “because that can’t happen. Then you’re putting my career in jeopardy too.”
The men both shook their heads, and Cade said, “No, nothing like that will happen.”
With all the dishes open in front of her, she served herself a healthy portion and sat down to eat at her tiny kitchen table. “This isn’t from my usual place.” She grabbed the receipt, stunned at the amount of money Cade had spent on it. “But I have to admit, it’s really tasty.”
“It’s one of my favorites,” Cade said. “I was driving past it anyway. So that’s what I decided on.”
She nodded and smiled. She was halfway done with her plate, when the men were already heading for seconds. She glanced at the food. “Do I need to put some away for Talon?” she joked.
Just then Cade’s phone buzzed. “It’s Talon. He’s heading to his place. Too pissed and tired to come here. He says, if we need him, call him.”
Erick nodded. “In that case I’ll have more. Just give me a minute or two to finish what I’ve got.”
She stared at the amount of food still on his plate. “Are you serious?”
He chuckled. “We’d never leave him short. But we’re hungry. There’s nothing like a little gunfight to bring on the appetite.”
“Did you guys fire back at him?” Her face showed horror. “Did anybody get hurt?”
Both men shook their heads. “No, but the gunman got away, and Warren Watson, who was the second man at the coffee shop this morning, changed flights to go home as soon as he can.”
“Will he be safe at home?” she asked.
The men looked at each other and back at her, shrugging. “No way to know. When you get involved with men like this Lexus guy, there’s just no easy answer, and there’s no easy out.”
“So how much was the second guy involved in this?”
“He wasn’t. He made the trip, thinking he would be a courier. Instead his contact wanted him to be a smuggler.”
“It’s hard to even imagine this stuff happens.”
“I know, but it does, all the time.” Cade shuffled the folder he’d brought in with the Chinese food and opened it up on the kitchen table.
Erick grabbed his full plate and moved to where he could take a look at the folder. He read through the emails while Cade topped up his plate.
Faith glanced at Cade. “Anything interesting?”
“Some interesting emails we’ll get some people to check on. Other than that, it’s as Warren said.”
“And the contact?” Erick asked.
“Oh, it’s a real person, and it looks like a viable email, but, of course, it’ll be rerouted through a bunch of servers, so we aren’t likely to get very much from it.”
“I think we should contact him,” Erick said, “see if he will help us track down the man who tried to kill Warren. Apparently he’s worked with Warren for a long time. So maybe he’d do it as a friend.”
“We might need Warren for that,” Cade suggested.
“I plan on contacting him as soon as we finish eating,” Erick said. “And, by the way, Badger is awake.”
Faith looked from one to the other and saw the relief and love in Cade’s face at the mention of his friend. “I gather that’s good news?”
Cade smiled at her. “About as good as if Elizabeth woke up right now and wanted to know where you were.”
She smiled inside. “And that would be the best news ever,” she said. “I’m really happy for your friend.” Then she added almost as an afterthought, “And for you too.”
He nodded. “Is he allowed visitors yet?” Cade asked Erick.
“Kat said she’d let us know. At the moment, no. But, once the doctors upgrade his condition and check him over, it should be fine.”
“Thank heavens for that,” Cade said. “You know the first thing he’ll ask about is what progress we’ve made.”
Erick chuckled. “Outside of the fact he said something very personal to Kat, the next thing out of his mouth was asking for an update. Kat told him that she would get one for him and would tell him the next time he woke up.”
“And, of course, that would be the next phone call we make.”
Faith realized how lucky they were. She had Elizabeth. But they had not only each other, they had five more men in the same group. “You’re truly blessed to have all of you.”
The men looked at each other and nodded. “We know.”
Cade sat back with a happy full tummy and said, “That was good.”
“It was. Thank you for picking it up. Now what will you do?”
He glanced over at Erick to see him staring back at them with a slightly raised eyebrow.
In a tone of frustration, she said, “And stop discussing it between the two of you. I’d like to know how this pertains to me and what I’m supposed to do.”
“We weren’t discussing anything. He was asking me what we’ll do too,” Cade said smoothly. “Not necessarily sure I’ve an answer, except for the fact we’ll continue to pursue all leads, make sure you’re never alone. Because we can’t take a chance of this guy coming back after you.”
“But there’s no reason for him to come after me,” she said quietly. “And, as far as somebody always staying with me, you do remember I’m a pilot, right? I can fly all over the world for free and hide away until this is over.”
“And when do you think it’ll be over? Do you really want to take the chance of coming home too soon, or, even worse, him being able to track you through your airline, finding out where you are, catching you unaware where you have no protection?” Cade spoke quietly. He reached over and covered her hand with his. “I’m not trying to be difficult or to scare you unnecessarily, but you have to realize that, right now, you’re in an ugly scenario, and solutions are not exactly fast coming.”
She slumped in her chair. “So, what you’re saying is, I’m stuck not being able to live my life until you capture this guy? And he’s been out killing friends and family of yours for two years without you knowing?” Her voice rose an octave at the end.
“That’s not fair,” Erick said. “We only realized what might be happening a couple weeks or so ago. How does anybody connect accidents in different parts of the world and think that any one person could be responsible?”
She had the grace to look ashamed. “I’m sorry. It’s just, hearing you guys talk about something that’s been going on for so long, it’s like a life sentence you’ve handed down to me.”
“Not us,” Cade reminded her. “We aren’t doing this to you. We’re protecting you from this man.”
“Do you think the same man, the one you’ve been targeting, is an international serial killer? If all these accidents or deaths are spread worldwide, maybe he hired several people?”
“It’s quite possible he did, or maybe he did the first couple accidents and then decided it would be too hot for him to continue doing this, and so he hired a couple other people. There are really no answers yet.”
“What’s the chance it’s all just in your imagination?” Her gaze went from one to the other.
“Again, that’s possible, but not likely.” Cade frowned at the expression on her face. “Faith, I will do everything I can to be there for you.” When she remained silent, he added, “That includes my team and two other teams we can rely on as well. Trust me. Trust us,” Cade said, nodding Erick’s way. “We will get this guy. We are
personally invested in finding him. Unfortunately you’ve been added to his radar. We are all working on this and hoping for a fast resolution, but it won’t come fast enough for us. Or for you. Not yet. Hang in there.”
Frustrated, she put the lids on the empty containers, stacking them in the bag the food came in. “What does it mean when you say, I can’t be alone?”
“It means, I’m either staying here with you or you’ll be staying at my house,” Cade said.
She shook her head. “It’s too unbelievable. This happens on TV shows, in books. Not in my life.” Her movements were short and angry, as she rolled down the top of the paper bag with all the garbage inside and got up to pour herself a cup of coffee.
Just then Erick’s phone rang. Erick looked over at Cade as he pulled it out. “It’s Levi.” Erick stood and walked to the living room to hear the call better.
Cade waited, but he couldn’t hear enough to be of interest.
Faith sat down beside him. “I could go back to Norway.”
“Would that help you any? Would it help Elizabeth? You are still barred from visiting your friend. Unless she wakes up and can override her sister’s orders.”
Faith frowned and started to play with the spoon on the table. “She should be waking up soon though.”
“Maybe, but until she’s awake and has a say in her own care, you know you’re not allowed there.”
“It’s so damn frustrating,” she muttered. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
“But, in a way, it’s a good thing. Because you could be tracked there by our target. He knows where you live. It’s just a matter of following you.” He studied her face, the delicate cheekbones, the curve of her lips, seeing the pallor and the fatigue of the last few days. “I’m so sorry you ended up in the middle of this. I would do anything to stop you from being in danger.”
“I don’t blame you. But I wish there was a way out of this hell.”
“Now that we’ve mobilized a lot of men—former and current SEALs—to give us a hand, we’ll get somewhere. Levi is just one of many. Having a larger team will make a big difference in finding whether these deaths in the last couple years are all connected.”
She studied him for a long moment, then asked timidly, “Like your sister?”
Instantly his stomach clenched, and his heart seized. He could feel his jawline stiffening. But he nodded. “Like my sister. We lost our parents when we were young and were raised by our aunt and uncle. There was just the two of us. She died seventeen months ago in a multicar pileup.”
She stared at him in horror. “But you think it was this guy?”
“I have to consider it.”
“Couldn’t it have been an accident? Something he would have appreciated because it would maximize your pain, but maybe he didn’t do anything to cause it?”
“It’s quite possible. Again we don’t know. We can only surmise.”
“How many other people recently died in your family?”
“Just my sister.”
She winced. After a moment she said, “Did you see the accident report?”
“Not at the time. But Erick has been collecting the reports from all the various incidences for us to take a closer look at. I just didn’t want to examine that one too closely.”
That’s when he realized she’d turned her hand inside his, and now she held his gently, her thumb moving along the index finger, offering comfort as she could. He sighed. “Any death is difficult. But when it’s your last close family member, it’s really hard.”
“Your aunt and uncle?”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “They did their duty, but that’s about it.”
“If you suspect something awful did happen to her, sometimes reading the report makes it easier. Like, you could read how it was just bad road conditions, and it was truly an accident.”
He shook his head. “I can’t. Not that. I’m counting on the rest of my team to figure that out and to let me know. But if somebody did deliberately run her off the road or ran her car into somebody else’s, that would be very difficult for me to read, to envision, to relive,” he said quietly. “But my situation is no different than the other guys’.”
“Either way, it’s difficult for everyone,” she said. “And, for that, I’m sorry.”
Erick walked back over to join them. “Levi and Tesla are taking a look at the accident reports themselves. He wanted clarification on a couple of them. But he particularly looked at yours, Cade.”
Feeling his jaw seize a little bit more, hating to even ask the question but knowing he had to hear the answer, he asked, “What did he find?”
“She was involved in a multivehicle accident. But they’re not so sure her injuries were caused by that accident.”
Fear stuck in his throat. “What do you mean?”
“According to Levi, a head injury is what caused her death, but you know that.”
Cade nodded. “Yes. She wasn’t wearing a seat belt and hit the windshield.” He felt Faith’s fingers squeeze around his, holding him firmly in place. Cade took a deep breath and asked, “Why?”
“Because the accident report said the speed she was going didn’t justify the force that caused her head injury.”
For a long moment he didn’t understand. He stared at Erick and shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“The traffic report stated she had spun out of control, possibly hitting her head on the windshield. But Levi says there’s a good chance that someone hit her over the head hard enough to kill her and then made it look like it was the car accident. Leaving her inside the car, her stationary vehicle could have caused the multicar pileup.”
“So somebody came to her car, in the middle of a winter blizzard, opened the vehicle door, struck her with something across her head at the front temple where she would have hit the windshield, possibly cracked the windshield at the same time, and nobody saw it happen?”
“You said yourself there was a whiteout,” Erick said. “Levi has looked at all the documents relating to this incident, and she was going less than twenty miles an hour on the highway.”
“She wasn’t slammed into from behind? That would have sent her flying forward.”
“Not according to the accident reports. There was only minor damage to her vehicle.”
“But they said it was a multicar pileup,” Cade exclaimed.
“As in several vehicles were in an accident. Yes. However, each accident report said several other vehicles smashed together to avoid her car, as she was stopped crosswise on the highway itself.”
Cade stared at him. “So what you’re saying is,” he said in a harsh voice, “my sister was murdered.”
Chapter 12
Faith didn’t know what to say. Poor Cade. He looked so devastated. It was just too unbelievable to even consider somebody would have gone to the trouble to take out so many family members, all related to his SEAL unit. There was so much hate in the world, and she didn’t understand any of it.
“I’m so sorry.” She stared down at her knuckles. They should be screaming in pain from the grip he had on her fingers, but he didn’t even notice how tightly he held her hand. Caught in his own cloud of pain and agony, he had grabbed on to anything that would help him stay in control. With her other hand, she gently stroked the back of his. “Levi is sure, is he?” she asked Erick. “I don’t know him myself.”
“Excellent military man. Ice, his partner, is equal to him in so many ways, and her father is a well-respected doctor. So her father took a look at the injuries detailed in the reports as well. They reconstructed the accident according to the reports, and don’t forget, several other reports were made about this same incident from the drivers of the other vehicles involved. Cade’s sister’s vehicle was the one that caused the crash because the others were trying to avoid hitting her.
“There was no sign of another vehicle prior to the pileup. They assumed she had slammed her head into the windshield because of her lack of a sea
t belt. And sometimes it happens that way. You can get a bleed on the brain and die. In her case, the initial head injury was enough to kill her instantly. But it wasn’t likely caused by the windshield.”
Faith stared at Cade, still so silent that it worried her. “But, if the windshield was damaged, there is no real way to know for sure, is there?” Faith asked.
“They have the various police reports, the photos from the scenes and the EMTs evaluation of Cade’s sister at the scene,” Erick said. “Remember? And they reconstructed the head injury. It’s a different angle than the blow on the windshield. The traumatic head injury was on the left side. The blow to the windshield was on the right side.”
“And, of course, she wasn’t traveling very fast,” Faith said quietly. “And with no blow from behind to send her forcefully forward, then it certainly brings up the question of how?”
“Exactly,” Erick said.
“Will the police reopen the investigation?” Faith asked, Cade still so quiet.
He shook his head. “No. And honestly that’s not what we’re trying to do. Cade’s sister has been dead and buried for almost a year and a half already. The problem is, finding out who did this.”
“I don’t suppose there are photographs of the other vehicles or the tire tracks?”
Erick’s gaze lit up with interest. “That’s a really good question. I do have the entire file, and, as far as I can see, there were photos of the other vehicles and of her vehicle but nothing of the tracks themselves. But don’t forget. By the time anybody came to her aid, there were already multiple emergency vehicles involved and multiple footprints from the EMTs and the police. Not to mention the falling snow.”
“Of course. And, if the evidence wasn’t preserved, there’s no way to go back.” She sighed, glancing over at Cade. The grip on her fingers had slowly eased, but he was lost in his own misery. She motioned toward him, then said to Erick, “What about the other accidents involving your team?”
Erick sat down at the table. “I don’t have any of the accident reports with me,” he admitted. “Levi and Mason have very large teams—Levi is former military, and Mason is active military—but, in both groups, they have very skilled people working with them.”