The minute they got out of the car, she’d started to pull away from him. Jess was the one who’d taken her into the bathroom and helped her wash her hands. Sergeant Basuto had ordered Stuart into the conference room, as though he was one of Basuto’s underlings.
“Talk.” Basuto dropped a paper file on the table.
“That my file, or the one you’re starting on the man you have in custody?”
“I should have two men in custody. Now there’s only one and the first one is dead. How long will this guy last before he’s gunned down or we find him dead in his cell?”
Stuart lifted his eyebrows. “You think he’ll commit suicide?”
“I think there’s a whole lot more going on here than anyone knows, and I’m not planning on taking any chances. So, you best start talking. Because I’m in charge right now, and my chief is in surgery fighting for his life.”
Stuart pulled out a chair and sat.
The door opened, and Ted stuck his head in.
“Come in.” Basuto motioned with his hand. “I need you to take notes so we have a plan.”
Stuart thought taking notes was a misuse of Ted’s extensive computer skills, but maybe that was code for something else. After all, he hadn’t brought a pen and paper. He’d brought a tablet.
“First things first,” Basuto said. “I’d like a rundown of everything from your point of view. Start with why you were in the woods outside Hope Mansion.”
Stuart told him what’d happened with the fake Homeland agent. In return, Basuto gave him some answers about what the man had been doing at the bank. Then Stuart asked, “Do you know who he was?”
“The fake Homeland agent—though that’s not been entirely confirmed, yet—has no ID. He had a driver’s license on him, but even I saw through that.” Basuto shook his head. “Worst ID I’ve ever seen. He wasn’t even trying to pretend it was legit.”
“Which means he wanted you to know he wasn’t who he said he was. Or didn’t care.”
Basuto nodded. “I assume so. Ted?”
The computer tech said, “I’m running his photo and fingerprints the medical examiner collected. Nothing yet, but I’ll let you know when the search concludes.”
“And the man in custody?”
“Same thing.”
Basuto said, “What about our friend here?” He motioned to Stuart with his pen.
Stuart said nothing.
“Same. No ID yet.”
Stuart said, “Have you tried looking up Bradley Caldwell?”
Ted lifted one dark brow above where hair drooped down to his eyes. “Kaylee’s brother?”
Stuart nodded.
Basuto shifted in his chair. “Does her brother have something to do with this?”
“He and I worked clandestine operations together.” Stuart was going to have to tell them who he was eventually. Might as well do it now and save them the trouble of running a search that would come up with nothing.
“CIA?” Basuto asked.
“Not officially.” Stuart sat completely still in his chair so as not to give away his discomfort. “It was more…off-book than hiring college graduates to spy on other countries.” Their job had involved high levels of foreign governments, mercenary groups, and international organizations they could get in with in order to gain access where tourists could not.
“So, this is about you and Kaylee’s brother?”
Stuart couldn’t help remembering Brad’s face. “He had told me about her...something important that I can’t seem to recall...so I moved here with the goal of recovering from my last mission and regaining cognitive recollection. My hope is that I remember what she has to do with all this. Now it seems clear they know he sent her something. Once I figure out how that package plays into all of this, I’ll have a better idea of who these people are and what secret they’re protecting.”
“Her brother put her in jeopardy.”
Stuart didn’t like Basuto’s tone. “Her brother was a good man, the best operative I’ve ever worked with.”
Then why did you cause him so much pain?
Stuart shut off his thoughts. He couldn’t get sucked down into the past again. Not when Dean wasn’t here to monitor him. If he thought about the last time he’d seen Brad, then he would get sucked back there and end up stuck in his trauma, unable to function.
Basuto said, “No man worth his salt puts a delicate, fearful woman like that in danger.”
Stuart nodded. He knew Kaylee had suffered, too. She understood what it felt like to see someone you love hurt.
Brad’s face flashed in his mind. Stuart massaged his temples, trying to remember past the last point. The feel of that knife in his hand.
Brad had cried out.
Stuart didn’t know what happened next. Did he even want to remember? He’d been out of his mind with pain, considering everything they’d been subjected to. But did that excuse the fact he might’ve hurt Brad?
He would have to tell Kaylee what he knew.
Basuto leaned forward in his chair. “She needs protection. They’re trying to eradicate loose ends, right?”
Stuart nodded.
“So, safe house it is.”
Stuart didn’t want to think about her being taken away, and or that he would be denied access to her. They had things to talk about. “You’re right to have the sniper under close guard.” He didn’t want anyone here to get hurt. The cops were motivated to see justice done since their police chief had been shot. “Any word on Conroy?”
Basuto’s face paled.
Ted said, “They’re going to let us know when he’s out of surgery. Dean’s with Mia, as well as a lot of folks from the church. Which means it’s our job to figure this out.”
Stuart had to wonder if he was just regurgitating the explanation he’d been given for why he couldn’t be with his brother, Dean, right now, waiting for word about his boss. Stuart had only lived with Ted for a few months, sharing the house with a group of men, some of whom were a private security team. It had seemed to Stuart that Ted held a lot close to his chest. He didn’t let people in easily, something Dean had said had to do with their father and the way they’d been strung along by him.
“Did you find your dad yet?” Stuart knew Ted had been actively looking for the man. He was a founder of the town of Last Chance, and as such, a possible suspect in the police’s active search and investigation into a local bad guy known as “West.”
Ted winced. “I’ll tell you about that later.”
Stuart figured that was fair enough. They were all guilty of the same thing—deflecting. Saving the pain for later.
Too bad that wasn’t a tactic that would produce good results.
As much as they might all want to avoid the past encroaching on their future, the truth was that it needed to come out. And it wasn’t until that happened that they’d be able to deal with the fallout.
“You’ll find him.”
Ted scrunched up his nose like a shrug.
Basuto said, “Let’s figure out a safe house for Kaylee. Ted, can you have Savannah set that up? She needs to work up a schedule for who is going to stay with Kaylee and keep her safe.”
“That’d be me.” Stuart stood up, needing to go see her now. He didn’t like that she was out of sight, considering all that had happened. But could he convince himself that she would be safer with him?
He wanted her to be. Still, would Stuart’s skills put her in more danger? Not to mention his history and the trauma he lived with. Kaylee might be better off with cops watching out for her. But he couldn’t help wanting to wade into it.
Help out.
Basuto said, “You want in on the protective detail, that’s one thing. After we clear you for that duty. You’ve forgotten we don’t know squat about who you are. Just that Dean vouched for you, and Ted is one of your roommates. But for all we know, you could be working for the same people as these men.”
“I’m not.” Stuart folded his arms across his chest. “Kaylee is safe with me. No one knows these guys, and how they think, like I do.”
Because he’d been one of them. Different teams, maybe. Different entity signing their paychecks, yes. But Stuart knew their kind, and he was the only one who’d be able to stop Kaylee from being hurt next.
And she would be a target until she gave him the package—whatever it was Brad had sent her.
He had to get her to trust him, so that she would give it to him as she’d said she would. And if she found out too soon what he suspected had happened with Brad, she wouldn’t give him anything. She would probably try and kill him. Or kick him out and run to the cops for protection.
Maybe that was for the best.
She was a downhome, small-town woman. He was an international criminal on paper and worse underneath all the official stuff. Too many people wanted to question him. Those who could vouch for him had discarded both Stuart and Brad like yesterday’s party trash.
If what she had in her possession could point him to the source—the root cause of Brad’s suffering—then he would do what he needed to.
Find justice for his friend.
Answers for a woman who had suffered enough already. Who wasn’t equipped to deal with undue attention, let alone snipers, fake federal agents, and broken-down clandestine agents.
She was never going to trust him.
He went to find the woman herself. Hopefully she would just hand it over straight away, and he could get on with this latest mission. Not an official one, just the most important one he’d ever undertaken.
The person Stuart had been, up until the day he showed up in Last Chance, was a man with no honor. A man who did whatever was necessary for the right amount of money. It was who he’d been brought up to be. Raised. Trained. Honed. He hadn’t known any other way of being.
Until he saw her at the grocery store that one day. She’d spotted a bundle of cash in the parking lot and chased down a young woman with two little kids just to give it back to the rightful owner.
That kind of person would never be able to handle the man he had been.
Unless Stuart finished the work he’d been doing to become the man he wanted to be now. A man who did the right thing, despite what had gone before. Kind of like the new creation that the pastor had been talking about a few weeks ago. The idea had stuck with him. It made him want to be one of the good guys.
Someone worth caring for.
“Hey.”
She started and looked up from the file she was reading at her spot. Her smile was tentative.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” That was what a good man would say.
“It’s okay. I just got sucked into this case.” She lifted the file. “It’s a missing person’s from right after I moved here.”
“You aren’t supposed to be…writing a statement, or something?”
A guarded look came over her face. “I don’t want to talk about that. Not until we know Conroy is going to be okay. I just can’t do it.”
Stuart had held her hand before. But something told him if he tried to touch her now, she’d only shrug him off.
He had an idea and said, “How about a slice of pie and some ice cream?”
One eyebrow rose, and he saw a glint of humor. “Are you trying to butter me up?”
“You have no idea.” He did need her in a good mood. Trusting him, when he asked for the package. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, when he told her what he thought he might’ve done.
“Okay, so it’s working.” She grabbed her purse and stood.
Stuart felt a smile curl his lips. Probably it looked scary, but she seemed to appreciate it. “Let’s see if Hollis will deliver. Until we know you’re safe, I think it’s best if you stay here.”
She looked at him with such trust. It nearly broke his heart.
The way he was going to break hers.