Gunning for Trouble Read online

  “Glenna Reynolds and Peggy Wain.” Caleb felt the pieces click together. They’d found files on Rod’s computer about the women. The only information they had was about their participation in witness protection, and even that had been tough to track down due to the program’s secrecy. It all made sense now. Rod thought these women were victims.

  Avery knocked her fist against the table. “How do you know about them?”

  Caleb didn’t miss the shock in her tone. “What?”

  She rummaged through her bag and took out a fistful of papers. She slammed one against the table. Pointing to the top of a printout she showed them the names Caleb just mentioned. “Those are two of the names of the women I was investigating. Rod believed the bodies he found in a crudely dug grave belonged to them.”

  “Did they?”

  “Yes, but I could only prove those two. I was working on the third when I tried to track down Rod, failed and went looking for Caleb.”

  “Track Rod down how?” Luke asked.

  She smacked her lips together, clearly upset at being interrupted. “We met every Thursday morning. When he stopped showing up at the diner, I double-timed my research, figuring there was a problem. Also started searching for him in the places I knew he frequented. When I went to his condo—”

  “You know where he lives?” The shock was evident in Adam’s voice. He seemed more stunned by that bit of news than her meeting regularly with Rod.

  “He wasn’t there.” She waved her hand as if to put this part of the conversation behind her. “The point is no matter what the WitSec records say, these women are dead. Rod was looking for evidence that someone had stepped in and was living their fake lives, or had set up a system to make it look as if the women were still alive.”

  Caleb almost smiled when he looked at the matching wide-eyed, hollow-cheeked expressions of Adam and Luke. They rarely got flustered, but now looked ready to blow. Caleb decided it was better to stay on track. “You referenced two, Avery. Were there other women? Any men?”

  “Rod suspected three women had been eliminated already.” She swallowed hard enough for Caleb to see it. “That’s his word, not mine.”

  “And?”

  “I hadn’t finished my work on the third. I’ll need to get to my lab and check.”

  Anger swamped Caleb, heated his skin from the inside out. Not at Avery but at the idea that someone who swore an oath to protect would abuse that power. He didn’t like the idea of Avery walking back into danger either. “Never going to happen.”

  “I agree with Caleb,” Adam said, rushing in before Avery could respond. “Your lab is the first place people will look for you. By now, someone has gone through your computer and paperwork looking for you and knows what you’ve been working on.”

  She turned her smile on all of them. “Well, of course. I figured that was a possibility and hid the results.”

  Caleb had to admire her intelligence and spunk. She could have turned over the evidence she had and then stepped away. Instead, she kept fighting. It was a pretty sexy trait in a woman, even in one who once turned his life upside down.

  “Where do you have them?” he asked.

  “Oh, they’re in the lab and on the system, but under names tied to a fictitious case. My assistant is handling it. He has no idea that he’s doing undercover work for Rod.” Her mouth flattened. “Wait, is Damon in trouble?”

  “Damon is?” Caleb asked.

  “My assistant.”

  The men looked at each other. Caleb spoke up, though he dreaded to see her face when he gave the answer. “He could be.”

  She stood up, scraping the chair on the cement floor behind her. “We have to go.”

  Caleb reached out and folded his hand over hers before she could run for the door. The goal was to get her to stop moving, but he hoped to offer some comfort, as well. “We will. I promise. But we have to be smart and ready.”

  Luke nodded. “Exactly. We’ll figure out a plan today. Depending on how much trouble Adam has with the security system, we might be able to go in tonight.”

  “We only know of two names. What’s the third?” Adam asked.

  “Maddie Timmons.” Avery slipped her hand out from under Caleb’s and reached for another paper in her bag. “If this Maddie person isn’t dead, she’s in grave danger. Rod wanted to know the answer so he could get word to her. He planned to send Caleb for her.”

  Luke scanned the documents Avery had provided and dropped them on the table. “One thing I don’t get.”

  “Only one?” Adam asked.

  Luke talked right over Adam’s mumbling. “How do you know Rod?”

  She sat down hard on the chair. “I guess it’s too much to ask that we skip that question.”

  The harsh lines around Luke’s mouth eased. “I understand you feel loyalty to Rod, but—”

  “It’s not that.”

  Caleb didn’t like the change in her. She went from fiery and ready to do battle, to quiet. Rubbing her forehead and evading eye contact wasn’t her usual style. He didn’t like her subdued and upset.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  After another minute, she leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her. “Rod was friends with my brother.”

  Caleb closed his eyes and pushed out all the dark thoughts that ran through his mind before he could focus again. “We don’t talk about Rod in the past tense.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  Caleb tried to remember exactly what she said so he could figure out her comment, but he couldn’t call it back up. “Tell us.”

  “I was referring to Ryan in the past. My brother.” She pressed her lips together and sat there for a few seconds. “He died in Afghanistan.”

  “Damn, Avery.” Caleb wanted to reach out, to ease the pain he saw straining across her face. “I had no idea.”

  “I know.” She whispered the comment but didn’t look at him. Didn’t look at any of them. Her glassy stare stayed focused on the table.

  Last Caleb knew, Ryan had twenty days left on his deployment. He was in his mid-twenties, young and smart, and the idea of him dying and Avery grieving made Caleb frantic. He wanted to get up and pace, swear and then punch his fist through the wall.

  Instead, he tried to keep the shaking rage he felt inside out of his voice. “When?”

  “Three weeks after you left—” she took a quick look in Luke’s direction “—the job.”

  This time Caleb took both of her hands in his. With his head low and his mouth close to her ear, he did the only thing he could do. “I’m sorry.”

  “I know.”

  He rubbed his thumb over her cheek, waiting to catch any tears that might fall. He knew Avery and Ryan had only each other. Their father raised them until he died of a heart attack while Avery was in college.

  Caleb was so lost in her anguish that he didn’t hear the warning alarm before the door to the room rolled back on its tracks.

  Zach filled the opening, still holding his motorcycle helmet in his hands. “What did I miss?”

  Avery’s head flew up. She hiccupped back her unshed tears. “Zach?”

  He stopped dead. “Avery?”

  Caleb felt his life spin out of control even faster. “You two know each other?”

  She jumped out of her chair and rushed to Zach. “Good to see you.”

  The hug lasted all of a second, but that was enough as far as Caleb was concerned. Zach wasn’t the type to display a lot of emotion. Definitely not a touchy guy. The half-hearted arm around Avery’s shoulder was more than Caleb had seen Zach give anyone.

  “How do you know Zach?” Caleb asked, his voice louder this time.

  She had the nerve to look confused. “What?”

  Caleb stood up and stared Avery down. “I’m trying to figure out how my ex-girlfriend knows all of my friends when I’ve never introduced you or heard you talk about each other.”

  If Zach sensed the rising tension, he didn’t show it. He shrugged. “I ser
ved with Avery’s brother.”

  “We’ve known each other for years. From before I ever knew you.” She gave the explanation in a rushed, no-breathing sentence.

  “Did you say ex-girlfriend?” Luke separated each word of the question.

  Caleb had had enough of tiptoeing around this part. Everyone had questions but they didn’t even understand the bigger issues, like why every aspect of his life was intersecting at one very attractive, very irritating point.

  “It all happened before I started here. We were dating, she got a promotion and then fired my a—”

  Her hands went to her hips. “That’s not how I remember it.”

  Luke balanced his fists against the table as he rose to his feet. “Wait a second.”

  When even Zach was staring at her, Avery’s hands started moving. One of the nervous gestures almost smacked Zach in the stomach. “None of this matters.”

  “It’s a hell of a coincidence.” Luke’s voice increased to a near-shout.

  Caleb understood Luke’s frustration. It bubbled inside both of them. Ties like that raised a red flag. Her connections with his life, all parts of his life, suggested a conspiracy of some sort. She knew about his past and now showed up in his present. It was all so convenient.

  Then there was the personal stuff. Luke and Caleb had shared stories. They all knew how Claire once picked another man over Luke. Mutual female betrayal provided an odd sort of bonding and eased Caleb’s transition from pure scientist to Recovery Project undercover agent.

  Luke got it. Hell, all the men did. None of them liked the idea of being used.

  Caleb realized during those long hours over beers he rarely, if ever used Claire’s name. At that point in his life he fell back on less flattering references to her. Not his finest moment, but back then he couldn’t say it without having his temper flare out of control.

  “Zach,” Caleb said. “Talk.”

  “I know Avery through Ryan. We were together in Afghanistan. Holden was there, too.” Zach frowned at Avery. “You’re the woman who picked a promotion over Caleb a few years back?”

  “Is that what he told you?”

  Zach nodded nice and slow. “Yeah.”

  “It’s not true.” She sounded furious when she denied it. Worse, she sounded sincere.

  Caleb had no idea why she’d pretend. “Are you kidding with this?”

  “What?”

  “Don’t lie.”

  “I’m not.”

  Adam pushed away from the sink and stepped between Caleb and Avery. “There’s probably a better time to talk about personal stuff. We need to stay focused on the WitSec issues and Rod’s suspicions. I want to get the surveillance video from the condo and run face recognition. We’ll see if we can identify our attackers.”

  Relief showed on every inch of Avery’s face. “And I’m ready to drop. I could use a few minutes to sit before we do anything else.”

  Caleb was surprised she didn’t hug Adam to thank him for giving her an out. Caleb wanted to punch him. “You look fine to me.”

  Silence hung in the room until Luke spoke up with a roughness usually reserved for the people they hunted. “Adam’s right. Avery can rest upstairs. We have other work to do anyway. Once we fill Holden and Zach in, we have to come up with a plan.”

  “For what?” Zach asked.

  “Someone needs to stick with Avery and get to her assistant to confirm Timmons is alive,” Luke said. “If the lady is still with us, we have to track her down and get protection out to her.”

  Adam nodded. “I can go with Avery.”

  “She stays with me.” Caleb had no idea why he thought it or even when the idea popped into his head. He just knew he wasn’t about to leave Avery alone with Adam.

  And they had a lot of talking to do. Caleb knew the only way to get her to explain was to give her no other option. That’s what he intended to do.

  “Do I get a say in who goes with me?” Avery asked.

  As far as Caleb was concerned she didn’t. “No.”

  “Why?”

  “Apparently we have some history to discuss.”

  Chapter Six

  “We have a problem.” Russell delivered his assessment while pacing in front of Trevor’s desk.

  “Not that I’m aware of.” Trevor seriously considered calling security. Making Russell disappear completely held even more appeal. No way would anyone miss this self-important blowhard.

  When Russell called and insisted Trevor be available for a meeting for the second time in less than twelve hours, Trevor was tempted to refuse. He’d already wasted his early morning. He refused to lose his evening as well.

  “Don’t be so sure.”

  Trevor had reached the end of his patience with this nonsense. “I have work to do that has nothing to do with you or WitSec.”

  Russell stopped and shot Trevor a smirk of superiority. “You seem to forget how this works.”

  “Really?” Trevor set his pen down and leaned back in his chair. “Enlighten me.”

  “You’re the one who started this. You came to me for help.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “You had all sorts of questions about divorce law and my past career as a private attorney in that area. And then you mentioned your nasty divorce and your son.”

  Trevor fought to keep his face blank. He had miscalculated badly and had been paying for that one mistake for more than eight months. When his wife screamed for a divorce, he was taken off guard. There hadn’t been any love there for years, but she had free run of his wallet and he was sure that bought him a silent understanding. That illusion exploded when she started making threats about sole custody.

  The pushing and badmouthing of him in front of their son snowballed until Trevor asked the wrong person the wrong question about how to get rid of an unwanted wife. It was a momentary lapse, but Russell had a tape of the conversation and kept waving it around. How he got it wasn’t clear, since Trevor always prepared for those sorts of things.

  What Trevor did know was the tape started Russell digging. When he did, he figured out Bram was using his office to benefit the man accused of trying to kill Claire Samson Hathaway. The blackmail started right after. Russell went after both Walters brothers. He had connections and enough intelligence to cover his tracks. He made contingencies and hid his blackmail evidence to ensure he didn’t just disappear.

  Money was the motivation. But having Bram check into WitSec files attracted the attention of people in the Recovery Project and led to his death. Trevor had been fighting them ever since.

  He cleared his throat. It was either that or launch across his desk and strangle the idiot on the other side. “Everyone knows about my divorce. My wife has seen fit to drag every last detail through the press.”

  The smirk grew more irritating. “Not all of the details. There are some very interesting facts your wife doesn’t know. Imagine what she could do in a custody trial with those.”

  Trevor vowed to double his efforts to track down the location of those tapes. “What do you want?”

  “The Recovery Project.”

  Russell could get in line on that one, as far as Trevor was concerned. Bram had been gunning for the Recovery agents when he died in a shoot-out in the woods of Virginia. Trevor should have hated them, but he felt only a reluctant admiration for the way they operated.

  And then there was the deal. After the last gun battle, he agreed with Luke Hathaway that each would pretend the other didn’t exist. It was the only option to prevent mutually assured destruction. Of course, that didn’t mean Trevor didn’t keep a watchful eye on the Recovery agents. The government believed they had disbanded. Trevor knew better.

  He picked up his pen and flipped it end over end, tapping it against his blotter at every turn. “That subject bores me. My brother was obsessed with the group. Let it go. It’s been dissolved.”

  Russell leaned down on the edge of the desk. “Rod Lehman was looking into WitSec. Your brother was digging
around.”

  “With your help. You’re the one who wanted information on specific participants. Information you were too low on the food chain at WitSec to obtain.” Trevor had to hide his smile when Russell’s face turned bright red.

  “Since then I’ve been promoted.”

  “We’re all thrilled. I, for one, sleep better at night knowing you’re in charge of something.”

  “Don’t test me, Trevor. You know what I want.”

  He did not let up with the tapping, not once he caught Russell glancing at the pen and wincing at the noise. “What would that be?”

  “Bram broke up the Recovery Project, but that’s not good enough. I need Rod found and all of the agents stopped. You can make that happen however you wish, but it has to be permanent and fast.”

  “Because you’re afraid someone will stumble onto your moneymaking scheme?”

  Russell shoved away from the desk. “You should be worried as well.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Do you honestly believe I would be dumb enough to let the trail lead back to me? Your fingerprints are all over the files. If someone goes digging, they will see you looking where you shouldn’t be looking and how you engaged your dead brother to help you.”

  “I think you honestly believe you could pull this off.” Which showed how truly delusional Russell had become.

  Trevor tried to imagine how easy it would be for his people to break into the computer system at the Marshal Service and erase those fake footsteps Russell had planted. And that’s exactly what would happen by noon tomorrow. Trevor would go the extra step to make sure all that carefully designed plotting would point directly at Russell as the greedy mastermind and sole participant.

  Trevor’s company, Orion, ran complex operations all over the world. He had access to whatever he needed in terms of people and resources. The idea that one lower-ranking government worker thought he could take him on and win almost made Trevor laugh.

  The only thing he feared was the tape. He had tried to track it down, quietly having his most trusted operatives search Russell’s office and home, but Trevor hadn’t located it yet. The minute he did, Russell was a dead man.