She was pissed as hell—Xander’s thinly veiled rejection attempt was an obvious deflection—but she didn’t have the time to beat the truth out of him because the FBI had just pulled up.
It was sheer luck she’d seen them before they’d seen her. She’d have to find out later why Conrad hadn’t been able to warn her first.
“They’ll be at our door in less than three minutes,” she said, grabbing her bag just as Xander grabbed his. They were always prepped to leave at a moment’s notice, which came in handy when the law was on your tail.
“Can we make it to the car?”
“Negative.”
“Borrowing a car it is then,” he muttered, shouldering his bag. “Let’s go.”
They slipped out, went in the opposite direction of their rental and the agents beginning to make their way toward the room, quietly hot-wired a newer sedan and left the motel in the rearview mirror.
As soon as they hit the freeway, Xander said, “I can drop you off at a bus station.” Scarlett responded by punching him in the leg hard enough to cause a charley horse. He grunted but otherwise didn’t give away that her punch had to have hurt. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“You’re damn right it’s a no and since we’re on the road and I have a captive audience, your little act back at the motel was total bullshit and I didn’t buy any of it.”
Xander surprised her with silence.
“Look, whatever you’re hiding, I can deal with, okay? But I can’t deal with this lying, deflective crap. Are we clear?”
“Did it occur to you that I have a very good reason for being private about what I’m going through? Maybe I just don’t want to share and I’m having a hard time dealing with the fact that I’m likely going to eat shit on this situation because luck is definitely not on my side. Maybe I don’t want an audience to what is going to be the worst moment of my life.”
“Boo-freaking-hoo. Cry me a river. So you’ve had a bad hand dealt to you. That’s when you need your friends the most and you don’t push them away, jackass.”
“Are you my friend, Scarlett?” he shot back. “Because I’m a little confused as to what we are.”
He had a point. They’d blurred lines and that was something that made for discomfiting times for people like Xander and Scarlett who appreciated the symmetry of rules and tradition. “I don’t know what we are,” she shot back truthfully. “But I know I’m not about to let you face this storm alone. I believe you’re innocent and I’m going to fight alongside you until we prove it.”
“That’s just it, Scarlett, what if we can’t prove it? The end result will be the same, except, it’ll be two careers instead of one being trashed.”
She refused to listen to his reasons, even if they were semi-valid. If she dug too deep into her motivation, she might find something scarier than the threat of a federal prison sentence.
For now, she was content with her mission objective—prove Xander’s innocence and leave it at that.
“One crisis at a time,” she said, bolstering her own argument. “Don’t go accepting defeat before we’ve exhausted all options.”
“That’s just it. We have.”
“No, we haven’t. We need to find out who McQuarry was sleeping with on the side. Once we find out who he was banging—and who Williams was protecting—I think our luck will turn.”
“Oh, that’s all we need? Why didn’t you say so in the beginning?” Xander said with a derisive chuckle. “And here I thought it was going to be something difficult to find.”
“Damn it, Xander, are you going to be a giant wet blanket or are you going to actually use that brain of yours and think of solutions? I’ve never seen you act like such a whiny baby. Remind me to never call you if I’m ever on the run from the FBI.”
That actually made him laugh and his laughter broke the tension between them.
God, she was glad.
She didn’t like being on the outs with Xander. She’d long since lost her objectivity, which was a bigger problem than she wanted to admit, but she couldn’t let one of her team go to prison for a crime they hadn’t committed.
End of story.
At least that was the end of the story for now.
“We need to ditch this car and get a new one,” Scarlett said. “They’ll have an APB on the plates as soon as they discover it’s been stolen.”
“Roger that.” Xander paused, thinking, then said, “You think Williams knows who McQuarry was seeing on the super down low?”
“Yeah,” she answered, “But he’s not talking.”
“Correction—he didn’t want to talk to you.”
She barked a short laugh. “And you think he’s going to want to talk to you?”
“Well, I find people are more inclined to spill their guts when they have a gun pointed at their head.”
Scarlett narrowed her gaze. “True, but do you think that’s wise? To attack a US senator? Don’t you think you have enough charges sitting on your docket?”
“Hey, the more the merrier,” Xander returned. “Besides, time to get reckless. Go big or go to the big house, where in spite of what the media would have you believe, is not all free cable and lobster dinners and much more like don’t drop the soap or you’ll be someone’s bitch.”
Scarlett bit back a smile. Maybe Xander was right. They’d been playing it safe, trying to do everything the nice and tidy way. But things were already messy as shit in this kitchen so at this point, breaking a few eggs probably wasn’t going to make things worse.
“Fine. Let’s pay the good senator a visit. Take the next exit.”
Within an hour, they were making their way into the senator’s house. In an unexpected stroke of good luck, Williams was alone—and enjoying what appeared to be very expensive scotch in his living room while watching reruns of Jeopardy in his silk puppy-print pajamas.
Here goes nothing...
The plan was for Scarlett to hang back in the shadows while Xander subdued the senator. There was no need for the senator to know that Xander wasn’t acting alone. If things ended up going south, Scarlett could still walk away from the nightmare, which was something Xander was adamant about.
Within seconds, Xander had Williams tied tight and then motioned for Scarlett to enter the room, which she did with great stealth, hanging behind the senator so he couldn’t see her. Her job was to act as a silent lookout and to let Xander handle the interrogation.
“I have money,” Williams said, his voice quivering with fear, visibly shaking. “Whatever you want... I can get it for you. Please. Don’t kill me.”
“Look, Senator, I’m going to cut to the chase. I’m Xander Scott, the man being framed for McQuarry’s murder and I’m damn tired of being accused of something I didn’t do.”
Williams cocked his head to the side, confused as he focused his gaze more intently. “Xander Scott... I don’t understand... What do you want with me?” he asked.
“I need answers and I think you’ve got what I’m looking for.”
“You’re in some serious trouble, son. Don’t make things worse. Turn yourself in. Let the law work. If you’re innocent, the evidence will exonerate you.”
“The evidence has been jerry-rigged to point straight at me, even though there’s no reason why I’d have motive to kill McQuarry, much less innocent people. Whoever did this wanted to make sure McQuarry remained silent about something and I think you know who wanted McQuarry to shut his piehole forever.”
Williams sputtered. “Me? How would I know? We weren’t friends, only colleagues. I didn’t poke around in his personal life.”
“But everyone knows politics is incestuous, and whether or not you were purposefully listening to gossip, you still heard it. I need to know who McQuarry was banging on the down low and you’re going to tell me.”
“I already told your friend, I’m not about to smear the name of a good man based on flimsy, mean-spirited gossip.”
“And under normal circumstances, I’d consider that right neighborly of you but right now I couldn’t give a shit about your ethics because I need a name and I’m not leaving until I get one.”
“Son—”
“I’m not your son and quit acting like you care.” Xander cut the senator’s patronizing statement off. He was serious about leaving with information, one way or another. “I want a name.”
True nervousness replaced the senator’s bluster. “I can’t.”
“And why is that?” When Williams remained silent, Xander shared a look with Scarlett. Was Williams protecting the identity of McQuarry’s lover out of loyalty or fear? Xander nudged Williams’s foot with his booted one. “Were you lovers, too? Is that what this is about?”
Williams’s face turned florid. “I am not gay.”
“No shame, Senator. C’mon, out with it. Who was McQuarry sleeping with?”
“I support gay rights and I’m not homophobic, but I already told your friend to stop barking up this tree... It’s dangerous for everyone. I have a family to protect.”
Fear kept Williams silent. Interesting.
Xander leaned forward to whisper in Williams’s ear. “What makes you think I’m not dangerous?” Xander trailed the tip of his gun down Williams’s cheek, giving the man time to realize what a precarious position he was in. “Here’s the situation, Senator. I’ve been framed for a job I didn’t do and my life is pretty much in the shitter right now after serving my country and the thanks I’ve gotten for my sacrifice has been less than encouraging. If I were to give the US government a Yelp review, it would be scathing right about now and I’m not feeling particularly forgiving. So I don’t give a shit about your family or the fact that you’re scared of whoever you’re trying to protect because I’m leaving with a name, one way or another. Are you feeling me?”
“Thank you for your service,” Williams whispered, swallowing hard. “I have the utmost respect for our servicemen and women.”
“Yeah? Prove it. Give me a damn name.”
“Can’t you understand that I can’t?”
Xander didn’t have time to care about Williams’s problems. “A name.”
“It’s pure gossip,” Williams tried to say, shaking his head. “But gossip of this nature can ruin careers and some people will do anything to protect what they’ve spent a lifetime building. This person has the resources to make problems go away.”
“Was McQuarry shacking up with the Illuminati?” he joked, half serious but curious as hell as to who this powerful person was that had everyone shaking in their loafers.
“Unlike the Illuminati, this man is very real.”
“So give me a name and let me take my chances.” When Williams remained buttoned-up and silent, Xander knew with a sinking heart that Williams would rather eat a bullet than face the potential wrath of whomever he was protecting. He really didn’t want to shoot an old man in puppy pajamas. He sighed and looked to Scarlett, shaking his head. She’d come to the same conclusion as well. “If you can’t give me a name, give me a direction to head into. Look, for a politician, you seem like a decent guy. Give me a fighting chance to save my own ass before this corrupt shadowy figure manages to get away with murder.”
Williams nodded, seeming to understand Xander’s position. “I want to help you, I really do...”
“Then help. Pretty simple.” Xander sighed dramatically, adding, “How’s that saying go? ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’ Yeah, that seems appropriate here, right?”
That seemed to hit a chord, just as Xander had hoped it would. The thing was, Xander could sense that Williams was a good man in an arena filled with snakes. It almost made Xander feel bad for manipulating the senator, but he didn’t have the luxury of a conscience right now.
“I can’t give you a name but I can give you a solid lead,” Williams said, relenting. “The person you’re looking for is in Washington, DC, top brass. That’s all I can say.”
“If you’re saying that McQuarry was screwing the president...”
“It’s not the president,” Williams said quickly. “But that’s all I can say. I hope you can understand that I’ve given you all I can.”
“Yeah, sure. I understand,” he said, motioning for Scarlett to go so he could release the senator. Once Scarlett was gone, he untied the man. “Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances,” Xander said, shrugging. “But being on the run and all, it’s hard to make lunch reservations.”
Williams rubbed at the chafing on his wrists, eyeing Xander. “I’m real sorry you got swept up in all this. McQuarry never should’ve played with fire, but he had a thing for anything taboo. No matter whose life was at stake, including his own, apparently.”
“I’m innocent,” Xander said bluntly but Williams’s sad expression said it all. It didn’t matter who knew that Xander hadn’t planted that bomb; he was the convenient patsy and no one was willing to stand by the truth out of fear that they might face the same end as McQuarry.
“Good luck. You’re in my thoughts and prayers,” was all Williams could say.
With a derisive snort, Xander let himself out and joined Scarlett who had the car running and ready to go.
“Ready to get the hell out of Tulsa?”
“More than ready,” Scarlett answered.
“Amen to that,” he muttered. If he never set foot in Tulsa again, it would be too soon.