“Who exactly is he?” Riley asked about the corpse.
“One of Thomas’s guys. He trained me.” She tried to keep the look of disgust off her face but wasn’t sure she’d succeeded, judging by Riley’s hard stare at her.
“We have a lot to discuss.”
Jordan nodded. “What now?”
He eyed the gun in her hand and held out his for it, face neutral. Wordlessly, she gave it to him. “I’m not collecting the hit on you,” she began, “if that’s what you’re wondering. I owe you my life. You might’ve saved me twice.”
Riley didn’t speak at first, just locked eyes with her as if assessing her sincerity. “Can I count on your help to track down Thomas?”
“Absolutely! Whatever you need.” She felt a surge of loyalty for the man who’d saved her life, not once, but twice, for if he hadn’t warned her that Jake was behind her just now, Jake would’ve shot her. No one had ever done something like that for her. A jumble of emotions made her unsure what to think about anyone, but the one thing she was certain of was that she could trust Riley with her life. She would take a bullet for him now. He deserved no less. But she didn’t know what he thought of any of that. Unable to read his expression, she asked, “Does this mean you’re giving me my freedom?”
He seemed to consider that before answering. “Yes. I’d rather you go with me. As you said, our objective is the same. We find out who put the hit on me and then kill Thomas. For both us.”
Jordan nodded, unsure what to say. No one did her favors, not to mention ones of such magnitude. Her first thought was to get out of sight so no one investigated her. “You’re calling the cops about him, I assume? You can’t leave a body here.”
“Yeah, that would cause trouble. I have no way to get rid of a body, so I’ll have to call police.”
“I think I have to be gone before they get here.”
“Not necessarily. Your only crime is having shot into the house earlier. We can say you’re my guest and the gun went off accidentally. Not perfect, but good enough. And we don’t even mention it unless they ask about the broken picture here. There may not be much more investigation because we have the dead guy to pin everything on. It’s not like there’s a murder mystery to solve.”
“I’d have to hide my passport and real ID.”
“Or the fake ones, but easy enough either way.”
“What about the clothes you cut off me? Can’t leave those around.”
“I can give those to my family to stash in the big house or the older barn. Not worried about those. The real problem is that this guy shot up the house with a rifle, so it will be clear someone was trying to kill at least one of us. It won’t look like just a home invasion or something.”
“If the police think I was the target, I’ll be investigated. I need to avoid that.”
Riley nodded. “Yeah, too many questions there. We’ll say it was me. Half true, probably. The Marines might want to investigate from an assumption it might be related to my service.”
“And it is.”
He sighed. “That could mean a bigger investigation into this, even into you.”
“Then I think I need to get out of here.”
“Maybe. I’m just concerned they’ll be able to tell someone was here and that I’m hiding that part. How good is your cover ID?”
“A little thin. It’s not designed to withstand much scrutiny. But it’s clean.”
“I think that’s all you need. You won’t be under suspicion.”
Jordan gave him a long look. “Thanks to you. After I tried to kill you.”
He shrugged. “You saved my dog. And I need you. Let’s find out what he’s carrying in case it implicates us in ways we don’t like.”
“Smart.”
They went through Jake’s pockets in a few seconds and found nothing but a garrote and a smartphone, which Jordan took.
Riley stood up. “Can you get into the phone?”
“Still trying.” Jordan had gone through two codes already and knew it would lock for a few minutes at the next failure. It didn’t need to be unlocked now unless Jake’s fingerprint would do it. First she tried one more code, which worked. “Fucker,” she muttered.
“Locked?”
“No, I got in.”
“Then why the curse?”
“Asshole used my birthday.”
He gave her a look. “This was personal, wasn’t it?”
“Probably. Fucker’s dead now, though, isn’t he?”
Wryly, he said, “Remind me not to piss you off.”
Jordan blew him a kiss and undid the phone’s security so it would never lock. “We’ll check the phone later. Want to stash it for now.”
“Upstairs. Not in the gun safe. Cops might want to look inside. Take the handcuffs off the bed while you’re at it.” He tossed her the keys. “Put those back in the safe. It’s still open. Do you have marks on your wrists and ankles from the cuffs?”
“No. What are you gonna do?”
“Go find the perch and see what else is there. Shouldn’t take a few minutes. I’ll leave most for the cops to find. Just want to find anything that doesn’t help us.”
She pursed her lips, wanting to go, too, but trust had to start somewhere, as odd as that was right now. She’d had strange days, but never this strange.
They soon separated, Riley closing up the house so no one came in. He’d need to radio Quinn once he returned, but for now he and Coby took off at a run across the backyard, a powerful flashlight in his hand. Jordan went to the guest bedroom, where she tried to avoid stepping on glass shards or splinters from the bedpost shattered by Jake’s bullet. From her suitcase, she grabbed shoes, a bra, and a few other items, like the vibrator. The cops might confiscate everything in the bag and she wasn’t having that entered into evidence. The boots she’d been wearing when Riley captured her were the only thing he hadn’t destroyed in undressing her, but as some broken glass lay on them, she let them be. Through the window she saw Riley’s narrow flashlight beam sweeping the hills. She had no doubt he’d find Jake’s gear.
Only now did she realize her elbow hurt, adrenaline having masked the pain until then. She went to the bathroom, and spotted her skin scrape in the mirror. She was lucky to get off so easy. After donning her bra and shoes, she scouted the upper floor for any evidence they might not want found, but she didn’t see anything. She tucked Jake’s phone in one pillowcase but left the vibrator tucked under the pillow, hoping that if the cops looked there and found the sex toy, they’d be embarrassed and decide to stop searching the bed. Any embarrassment was a small price to pay.
Jordan returned to the first floor, eyeing Jake’s corpse as she neared him. She sat two steps above him, gazing down with a mixture of anger, disappointment, and relief. Just days ago they’d shared a distrustful glance but no words. She remembered his smirk. Had he known then that he’d try to kill her? Certainly. And it had been both personal and an order, she knew, because Jake never did anything without one. That was a frequent point of contention between her, Jake, and Thomas. The two men had made it clear years ago that they were fed up with her independence, her doing things her own way, and her insistence on knowing why someone had to be killed. The last one was why she’d left them behind. Well, there’d been another reason.
That Jake had cheated on her had led to the fight that scarred his face, their breakup, and ultimately her striking out on her own as a hired gun. But in a way, that had been a mistake. Getting away from him wasn’t, but none of her new clients had wanted to explain their rationale for hiring her. She accepted few of the jobs because of that, not wanting to end up killing for the wrong side, so to speak.
And there had been fewer jobs to be had. Despite the years of forging her own contacts, she and Thomas moved in the same circles and her former boss had put out the word that she’d gone rogue, as he’d put it. She wasn’t to be hired. When the jobs pay you tens of thousands, you don’t need too many, but settling down hadn’t been an optio
n because word on the street was that Thomas would never leave her be. She’d seen evidence of it herself, with people sometimes tracking her down and harassing her so that she had to pick up and disappear. Any attempts at making new friends or lovers had been fruitless as she felt the need to keep them at a distance for their own safety. Finally, she’d reluctantly gone back to Thomas. But not to Jake, who’d still been working with him, their renewed status as allies one in name only. They’d hardly spoken.
And the first job after rejoining Thomas had been Riley Kendall. A Marine, which had immediately suggested this job was a bad deal. That he might be a good man. When Thomas said Riley was a sniper and that this was an indictment of his character, she hadn’t failed to notice the smirk that implied the same flaw existed in her. As usual, she’d asked for a reason but hadn’t been told much. She used to fight more, but she’d become used to not knowing. And not asking—or at least, not pushing about it—had been a condition Thomas insisted on when accepting her back. And so here she was.
She cast another glance out the back of the house and saw Riley returning empty handed, except for the flashlight. As he entered, she pushed aside misgivings and asked from where she sat on the step, “You find anything?”
“Yeah,” he said, breathing more deeply from jogging but not out of breath. “No car key, hotel key, or paperwork. Just the rifle, bag, and bullets. We might learn something from the phone.”
“So he’s gonna look like a John Doe.”
“Maybe. The fingerprints may turn up something.”
She pursed her lips. “The prints might be purged in France. They won’t know to check another country anyway. They’ll assume he’s from the U.S.”
Riley nodded. “We need to hide your passport.”
“Why?”
“Because you came in from France. If they do figure out he’s from there and know you were, too, they’ll assume a connection and look more closely at you than we want them to.”
“Good point. I’m an American, by the way.”
“Okay. Use your fake ID if that’s what you used locally for things?”
“Let me think what’s best to use. I’m so used to hiding my real name that using it to stay out of trouble didn’t even occur to me.”
Riley smirked. “Welcome to honest living.”
“Funny.”
“Before I call my cousin, I want to get Quinn back here. At the least, I need someone to take your ruined clothes out of this house.”
“The cop?”
He shot her a look. “Know his name, too?”
“Ryan Kendall. It was in your file.”
“We really need to talk.”
“Later.”
“Yeah.” Riley stepped over the body and passed her to go upstairs for a radio. He was gone for a minute before returning to sit beside her. “Remember, the last time Quinn and Kris saw you, you were an assassin, so they’re not going to like you being free and helping me.”
She digested that and asked, “How do we deal with that?”
“Honestly, I have no idea, but I just gave them a heads up not to harm you.”
“Thanks,” she said wryly, not looking forward to what would undoubtedly be an uncomfortable conversation. She moved to a seat in a nearby recliner, trying to look unthreatening for when his family arrived. Not knowing how to handle this, she decided to follow Riley’s lead and not say much, though the aggressive part of her wanted to control the flow of information and present her case proactively, as was her style. Passivity had never been her thing. Still, silence was the better part of valor. She and Riley didn’t speak much in the few minutes that preceded the arrival of his siblings. Both sat contemplating the situation, new alliance, and options.
Looking wary, Quinn and Kris soon appeared in the exterior light blaring from above the back door, which the big guy opened. They stepped inside to see the body of Jake and pool of blood just feet away. Riley now stood near the corpse, stern but calm. No one said anything for a moment, but Kris arched an unimpressed eyebrow at the dead man and Quinn looked aghast and nervous.
With a hard look at Jordan, Kris asked Riley, “You’re sure about her?”
“Yes,” the Marine replied emphatically.
“I think you need to tell us what’s going on.” Quinn folded his arms, looking like he wanted something else to look at beside the body at his feet.
Riley began, “We don’t have a lot of time before I have to call Ryan, so here are the big points. Someone put a hit out on me for one of my kills during the Marines. A guy hired Jordan for it. You know what happened next. After that, this guy tried to kill her with a rifle, but I saved her. She owes me one. That’s part of why she’s not tied to the bed.”
“I liked her better that way,” said Kris.
Riley smirked. “So did I, actually.”
“Be nice,” said Jordan, suppressing a smirk.
“At that point, we worked together to capture this guy, but we tumbled down the stairs here and his own knife got him.”
“Who is he?” Quinn asked.
Riley opened his mouth but Jordan spoke first. “Jake, or Jacques. He trained me and works for the same man I do.”
Quinn’s eyebrows shot up. “So the guy you work for sent another guy to kill you? Why?”
“I need to find out.”
“And I intend to find out who put the hit on me,” added Riley, “and Thomas, her employer, knows both answers, so we’re going after him. Together.”
Kris snorted. “Oh, so you’re together now?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“With her making moon eyes at you?”
Jordan frowned. “I’m hardly making moon eyes at anyone. Jesus.”
Riley laughed. “You two can fight it out later.”
“Good.” Kris looked eager and not the least bit intimidated, making Jordan wonder if Kris had training in weapons or hand-to-hand combat.
“But for now,” Riley continued, “we need your help.”
“Name it,” said Quinn, as Kris put her hands on her hips.
“First of all, I need you to hide the clothing I cut off of Jordan earlier. The barn is better, I think. Shove it under some straw in an empty stall.”
“Done.” Quinn flashed a look at Kris that suggested she was to comply with that without complaint. The barn was her domain.
“The only other thing I need from you now,” said Riley, “is to say nothing of Jordan’s attempt on me when the police come. Your story is that the first thing you knew was me asking you to get in here and you seeing this body just now. You don’t know who Jordan is. Never met her. You don’t know shit.”
Kris said, “Easy enough. What’s your story with her though?”
“Met recently and she came here to shoot with me at my range. That’s it. She’s staying here, no hotel room. That’s her car out front.”
Jordan squinted at him. “Am I staying here?”
“That was the plan, we’ll say. You don’t have to look cozy with me. Pretend you’re too rattled for mushy thoughts.”
“I can fake what I have to,” she replied.
“That’s what worries me,” Kris remarked, turning to Riley. “How do you know she’s not faking being civil now and that she’s not still gonna kill you and collect her reward?”
He said, “She’s already had chances and didn’t take them. She stopped this guy from killing Coby.”
“No offense,” began Kris, clearly unimpressed, “but he’s a dog and doesn’t get her… How much did you say your corpse is worth?”
“Million.”
“That’s a lot of fucking money.”
Jordan chimed in. “Not really, and do you think if I kill Riley that Thomas is going to give me the rest of the money instead of a bullet in the head? The deal is dead. He has no honor.”
“Neither do you,” snapped Kris.
“Look, I know you’re protective of your brother—”
“Damn right.”
“But
without me,” Jordan continued, “he doesn’t get to Thomas, and Thomas isn’t the one behind the hit any more than I am. We have to find out who hired him, or someone else comes to collect.”
After a moment of silence, Riley rubbed his back with a wince and asked, “So everyone knows what to do? I need to call Ryan now. We’ve already waited too long because they’ll figure out time of death and maybe how long we stalled. He’ll be here in a few minutes, so Kris, you need to get started.”
“I’ll call him,” said Quinn, digging out his phone.
“You hurt?” Kris asked the Marine.
“A little.”
Kris looked at Jordan and sighed. “What about you?”
“Scraped elbow. I’ll live.”
“I’ll call Tiger on the way to the barn,” Kris said. “He’s not on duty at the hospital tonight.” She headed upstairs with Riley before returning with the clothes and then leaving. Jordan got the impression there’d been words between the two but couldn’t say why other than a hunch that Kris had more to say to her brother. Jordan suspected his sister would’ve said whatever she wanted whether Jordan was around or not. The directness was admirable. Bullshit was for losers.
She admired their protectiveness and trust. She hadn’t been able to trust anyone in years, and the dead body before her affirmed the validity of that. And her aloneness. She’d gone back to working with Thomas for more safety, and the bastard had tried to kill her. Their next meeting would be interesting, at the least.
Chapter 8 – Investigations
On seeing the red and blue lights flashing across the trees behind the guest house, Riley knew his long day was only getting longer. His cousin Ryan was the Comus sheriff, and judging by the sight, he’d brought both deputies with him. Violent death didn’t come to the rural town often. In fact, before earlier this summer, there hadn’t been one in memory. His brother Connor had fallen for Sophia, a local girl whose old stalker had kidnapped her, the outcome leaving more than one corpse for his cousin to clean up. Thankfully, none of those bodies had been Sofia or a Kendall.
Riley (The Kendall Family #3) Page 6