Authors: Katie Reus
Hunter maneuvered around Alexis as they descended the stairs. He couldn’t believe Alan Saltz had found him. When he’d seen Alan loitering past the sand dunes looking very out of place—twenty yards from Jonathan—he’d lost a decade of his life. Hunter hadn’t seen the man in over six years and if Alan didn’t give him the answers he wanted, he was packing up and they were going deep underground. New identities, new location, new everything. If he had to drag Alexis kicking and screaming he’d do it.
So far Alan had been forthright, but Hunter wasn’t taking anything at face value.
When they entered the kitchen area, Alan stood and Alexis immediately took a step closer to Hunter. Alan looked unassuming enough in jeans, a worn sweatshirt and a week’s worth of facial hair growth. He knew that wasn’t what bothered Alexis. She wasn’t a snob. No, Alan smelled like death. It wasn’t tangible, but Hunter guessed he’d been on a long case before coming here.
Alan had that hollow, tired look about him that only came from doing undercover jobs for too long. Most men couldn’t do undercover work for extended periods of time without changing. Many turned to alcohol, drugs, sex. Anything to take off the edge. Working around the scum of the earth and watching them live lives of luxury could seriously mess with a man’s head. For some, it proved to be too much.
“Hi, Ms. Baptiste, I’m Alan Saltz. I used to work with your…with Hunter.” The tone of his voice was low and unthreatening.
And it was a damn good thing too. If he made one wrong move, Hunter wouldn’t hesitate to take him down.
She shook his extended hand, then they all sat at the rectangular table. Alexis sat much closer to him than necessary, scooting her chair only inches away. Hunter certainly wasn’t going to complain.
“How did you find us?” Alexis spoke first.
He cleared his throat. “My boss with the DEA had Hunter trailed from Panama. I didn’t know you were here until a couple hours ago, and even then I wasn’t sure if it was true. Needed to see it with my own eyes.”
“Why?” she prodded.
“To be honest, ma’am, because my boss told me to. We thought he—you,” he glanced at Hunter, “we all thought you’d died.”
For the past four years Hunter had been making a name for himself in weapons trade. The two years before that had been spent trying to infiltrate Calero’s group, and he hadn’t been able to use any of his old contacts either. When that hadn’t worked, he’d gone into weapons. Assault rifles, pistols, RPGs, he’d bought and sold it all. He’d been forced to assume a new identity and start at the bottom of the food chain. Only recently had he been included in Calero’s inner circle and that was because the man had wanted to partner up with him. After that, it had only been a matter of time until he’d taken Calero out. He’d simply waited for the right opportunity. Two weeks after he’d gained full access to Calero’s house, he’d made his move.
“How’d you find out he was alive?” Alexis spoke again.
“These were taken a year ago by my boss, but I just saw them today for the first time.” Alan pulled out a slim manila packet from under his sweatshirt and slid it across the table. Alexis snatched it from his hands when he tried to intercept. She gasped when a few eight-by-tens fell out.
He picked up the glossy closest to him and winced. Not his finest picture. The photos were grainy, but there was a clear shot of Hunter along with five other men on a yacht out in the Pacific. He’d been wearing cargo pants and a loose linen shirt—talking business with Calero. It had been one of their first meetings. With Hunter’s full beard and sunglasses, he looked a little different but it was him. No doubt.
As he stared at the photo, it was hard to believe he was looking at himself. His stomach roiled as memories battered against his skull. No matter what happened, he couldn’t go back to that kind of life. Couldn’t kill men—no matter how vile they were or how much they deserved it—and he couldn’t peddle weapons for a living. He might not have a place in Alexis’s life, but he couldn’t live like an animal anymore.
“Why’d you turn, man?” Alan’s voice wasn’t accusing, but curious. That alone surprised him.
Hunter rubbed a hand over his face, hating that Alexis was going to hear the rest of the truth this way. In front of a stranger. “I didn’t. I’ve been working for that piece of shit Tom Davis for the past six years,” he growled.
Pure disbelief washed over Alan’s face. “Why?”
Distrust ran deep to Hunter’s core. He wasn’t sure if Alan was dirty. The only thing he knew was that his old boss and Alan’s current one, Carl Connor, was. If it hadn’t been for Connor, he’d be married to Alexis and they’d be raising their son together. Now she could barely stand to look at him. Hell, he could barely stand to look at himself. “Because Carl Connor sold me out.”
Alan snorted and then had the nerve to laugh. “Deputy Director Connor? You’re out of your mind.”
He risked a quick glance at Alexis who was quiet but listening attentively. “I used to buy his act too, but that’s all it is. An act.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Alan asked.
Glancing back and forth between Alexis and Alan, he stood and slid his gun over to Alexis. He’d given her his backup but this one was more powerful. “Will you be all right for a minute?” he directed his question to her.
She nodded and clutched the weapon in her hand. He knew she still had the gun he’d given her earlier tucked into the back of her pants, but she didn’t seem to mind that he was giving her an extra one. He also didn’t miss the way her eyes narrowed on Alan as she leaned back in her seat. Daring him to make a move. He smiled at her spunk as he rushed out of the room. Once in his bedroom he pulled out a copy of all the blackmail documents Davis had given him years ago in an effort to force Hunter to work for him. Maybe if Alan saw what Connor had been doing, he’d check into him.
Back in the kitchen, it didn’t look as if either of them had moved. Alexis sat immobile and Alan looked annoyed. When Hunter sat, he slid the group of papers across the table and plucked the weapon from her hand. Alexis’s hand shot out to take the papers, but Alan was faster.
“What is that?” she murmured while Alan pored over the papers.
Leaning back in his chair a fraction, he shook his head. “Just wait.”
She shifted in her chair and before he had a chance to react, she kicked his shin. Not hard enough to injure him, but he was surprised. And slightly amused. He used to love getting her fired up. They hadn’t fought often, but when they had, the makeup sex had been worth it. As he looked at her, a pinkish tinge spread across her cheekbones and he knew she was thinking the same thing. Yeah, she might be engaged to someone else, but she still wanted him. He knew he shouldn’t care, but the most primitive part of him loved it. Selfish or not, it was the way he felt. Just one kiss would be heaven. Or torture. Experiencing what he couldn’t have would probably be worse. No kissing, no touching. He repeated it in his head like a mantra.
“Whoa, man, no wonder you ran.” Alan’s voice brought him back to the present.
Alan passed the papers to Alexis.
“It’s not true, though. I’d bet my left nut those papers are bogus,” Alan said.
Alexis’s head lifted momentarily at the crude expression, but she simply rolled her eyes before she returned to reading.
“Did you ever question Connor about this?” Alan stood and Hunter immediately tensed, ready to raise his weapon as the other man walked to the refrigerator. “Chill, man, I’m getting a glass of water.”
Hunter answered his original question. “Do I look like I have a target on my back? These memos came directly from his private email, which I don’t need to tell you is only accessible from his office. And those time and coding stamps are
real
. As far as the other papers…” He shrugged because the answer should be obvious why he’d run. He wasn’t going to spell it out.
Alexis threw the stack of papers on the table. “I don’t understand any of this.”
“That basically says that a certain operation I worked on for two years wasn’t sanctioned by the United States government.” He pounded his fist on the table, then winced when Alexis jumped. He’d given his blood for that job and to find out it had all been for nothing. His fists clenched involuntarily. The pain of his nails digging into his palms wasn’t enough to banish the memories. What he wouldn’t give to choke Carl Connor right now.
“So?” Her dark brows slanted down. Obviously, she didn’t understand or she’d be freaking out.
He sighed and tried to think of the right words to explain it. “That job,” he pointed to the papers, “took up two years of my life. Everyone I bought drugs from as an undercover agent, everyone I ki— Everyone I eliminated while I thought I was working for the government, everything I did was crap. Pointless. None of those operations were
legal.
I was working directly for Connor. He was my
sole
contact. There had been a problem with leaks and we’d both agreed it would be better that way.” Hunter rubbed a hand over his face. “I thought I could trust him.”
He might hate Tom Davis, but at least he’d been up front about his treachery. And Davis had given him his life back. Sure, he’d taken it from him when he blackmailed him into working for him and now was trying to kill him, but at least Hunter had an official letter of authority from the CIA and the president that the mission in Nicaragua was on the books and legal. It wasn’t much, but it was something he needed for his conscience and if he ever wanted to live a life not looking over his shoulder.
“I still don’t understand. Why didn’t this Davis guy arrest you and your boss then?”
“He doesn’t care about what’s legal and what’s not. Everything is a game to him. He needed me to get him something from Calero. It was only supposed to be a brief assignment. I wasn’t supposed to be gone so long. Two years tops. Infiltrating Calero’s organization took a lot longer than I’d originally expected. Two years turned into six and now here I am.” He shrugged. There was a lot more to it than that, but he’d give her the details later when Alan wasn’t around.
Alan grunted, but Hunter ignored him and kept his eyes on Alexis.
“Why did you say yes? Surely there was a way to handle this without working for that monster. Isn’t there someone you could have gone to and tried to prove your innocence?” Alexis asked.
He didn’t respond. Looking back, there had been a hundred different ways he could have handled things. But he hadn’t. Doing exactly what Davis had asked had been his only choice. If he’d fought him or confronted his old boss, he might have been tossed in jail or killed and Alexis would have been a target. If he’d crossed Davis, the other man would have killed Alexis out of spite.
Now
he might have done things differently, but back then he had finally understood what loving someone meant. For the first time in his life. And he hadn’t been willing to risk her life. Not for a second.
Alan lifted a dark eyebrow as he stared at Alexis, and his voice was incredulous. “Are you blind? Davis obviously threatened you. And knowing him, he was probably very graphic in his threats.”
Hunter watched her face pale. He couldn’t hide it from her. He’d alluded to it back at her house but hadn’t actually spelled it out.
“Is that true?” she whispered.
He nodded, hating to admit this to her. He was tired of seeing hurt every time she looked at him, but if he lied she’d know. “Yes.”
Chapter 6
“I’m sending this to Deputy Director Connor.” Alan placed his glass in the sink.
“Over my dead body,” Hunter growled.
“If he wanted you dead, you would be. He knew where you were a year ago.” Alan held up the papers. “He obviously didn’t know about this, yet he still didn’t go after you. Now your disappearance actually makes sense,” Alan muttered.
Under the table, Alexis placed a light hand on his knee. “He’s right. What if he can help us? This might be our best option.”
He looked into her eyes and hated himself for what he saw there. For the pain he’d caused her. On one level what Alan said made sense. If Connor had wanted him dead, a trained sniper could have killed him a year ago, but it seemed he’d kept Hunter’s whereabouts a secret. He didn’t trust Connor, but if Alan thought he was giving up his information out of trust, Hunter could work that to his advantage. If he could set up a meeting with Connor he could finally get the answers he wanted.
“I need to talk this over with Alexis.”
His expression deadpan, Alan walked around the counter. He handed the bundle of papers to Hunter. “I’m starving anyway. I’ll be back in two hours… You can keep those pictures by the way.” He nodded toward the table and left through the back door.
Hunter juggled thoughts in his head. They could run again, but chances were they’d be found again. And he couldn’t subject Alexis to that. He had the proof he needed to clear his name, but it meant nothing with people trying to kill them. Until he took care of Connor and Davis, they’d never be safe.
“What are you thinking?” Alexis asked.
“If Connor is on the up-and-up—and I’m not saying he is. But if he is, I might be able to give him enough information to build a case against Tom Davis. Hell, against Marcus Foster too.”
“What exactly do you have?”
“Davis blackmailed me into infiltrating Calero’s organization for a reason. Calero had photos, recordings and bank accounts incriminating Davis and Foster in all sorts of illegal dealings.” And Davis had been desperate to get that information and had no problem using Hunter to get it. Calero had been old school. He’d kept hard copies of everything, and all his blackmail of Davis and Foster had been under a tight lock and key.
Her frown deepened. “Couldn’t they just say they were working undercover?”
Hunter snorted. “No. Years ago, they dealt directly with Juan Calero off the books. Back then Calero didn’t have as much protection, and since he wasn’t head of the cartel at that time, he wasn’t a big threat to them.”
“So what happened?”
“Calero killed his uncle and took over the territory in Northern Colombia and all of Panama. When that happened, everything changed. He stopped dealing with anyone working for the CIA because he figured he didn’t need their contacts anymore. And he was right.”