Reckoning for the Dead (10 page)

Chapter 8

A
lexa was completely shaken. After seeing Garrett Wheeler standing in front of her, she didn't know if she should be happy he was alive or be mad as hell. And he had the nerve to point the finger at her, accusing her of messing up his op.

“And you better have a damned good reason for breathing.” She pulled him into the room by the arm and after she gave a quick look down the hall to make sure he was alone, she closed the door and turned on him.

“What's going on, Garrett? And why all the secrecy?”

“You ever look up the word ‘secret,' Alexa? You should try it sometime.”

“I was worried that something bad had happened to you. Sorry for caring.” She glared at him. “If you're here, then who is Pérez holding as hostage?”

“What do you know about that?”

Typical Garrett. He had shifted gears by going on the offensive.

“Don't change the subject. Answer me.”

She knew she was pushing it with the man who was her boss, but she was in no mood to be diplomatic.

“Give me one legitimate reason why I should? You're not part of this mission, Alexa. And from the way you've barged in here, I think that was a good call.”

“Whoa, now. I don't wanna get hit in the cross fire.” Hank raised both eyebrows and backed off. He found a corner in the room and crossed his arms, playing it as neutral as Switzerland. When Alexa saw Hank's reaction, she mumbled under her breath, “Coward,” before she directed her anger back at Garrett.

“I was worried about you. If I had gone missing like that, what would you have done?”

“Touché, but jeopardizing a mission in progress? That's . . .” Garrett searched for the right word. “ . . . irresponsible.”

“So is disappearing without a word. And I refuse to apologize for caring about you.” When Garrett softened the stern expression on his face, she knew he was finally listening. “Tell me about this mission. I'm down here. You might as well use me.”

“I can't.” He shook his head and turned his back on her. “The reason I didn't ask you to join us hasn't changed.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Damn it, Alexa. I need you to walk away from this. You came here looking for me. Well, you've found me. And I'm telling you to go home.”

When Garrett looked her in the eye, he flinched for an instant. His reaction was enough for her to realize he was holding back. And it was personal.

“You're hiding something. What is it?”

When Garrett looked to Hank for support, the guy shrugged, and said, “Hey, don't look at me. This op is on a need-to-know basis. And, apparently, you didn't want me to know anything either.”

“Not you, too.” Garrett raked a hand through his dark hair as he thought about what to do next. His jaw tightened, and he avoided looking at either of them.

“I got a call a few weeks ago,” Garrett began. “ . . . a guy telling me that he had an operation already in play. He told me he would be infiltrating the Pérez cartel, the hard way. He had personal reasons for wanting to kill the son of a bitch.”

“Who? Pérez?” Hank asked. When Garrett nodded, Hank narrowed his eyes. “Didn't know you needed a reason to kill that sorry bastard.”

“Yeah, well, this guy had two good reasons. Pérez had ordered a hit on him several years ago, but his family got killed instead.”

Alexa saw the pained look on Garrett's face and knew there was more to this story than what he'd told them.

“That's horrible, but why did he call you?” she pressed, moving close enough to look him directly in the eye.

“Because I owe him. I was the one who'd ordered the protection detail on his wife and little girl. His family was killed on my watch.”

Alexa's next breath caught in her throat. She'd seen the same look of guilt on Garrett's face before. And a face from her past emerged from the shadows of her mind. Green eyes she'd seen not long ago, eyes filled with a never-ending sadness that had haunted her since she'd last seen him.

“I know this story,” she whispered, not completely sure she had spoken aloud.

“Yeah, you do. And that's why you weren't asked to come along, Alexa. You're too close to this.”

“Would someone please clue me in?” Hank asked.

“Jackson Kinkaid is the guy inside.” Alexa felt numb. Saying Kinkaid's name made it all real. “He's on a suicide mission to kill the man who murdered his wife and child. And damn it, Garrett, you should've told me.”

“Why? So you could watch him die? You're as crazy as he is, Alexa.”

“I could've talked to him, made him listen to reason. Getting hijacked by Pérez, that's a one-way trip.”

“You know how Kinkaid operates. He didn't give me any choice. By the time I got our team deployed, he was in the thick of it, with no way to back out. The guy doesn't know how to back down. I've known him longer than you have. He's been living for this. In his mind, it's all he has left.”

Kinkaid wasn't with the Sentinels now, but he used to be. And after what had happened to his family while he had worked for their organization, she figured Garrett had authorized the mission based on the obligation he felt toward a man who had suffered as much as Kinkaid had.

“I can understand going after Pérez if the guy killed his wife and kid, but how do we know what's going on in there?”

“We have a burst transmitter on him, embedded under his skin,” Hank told her.

“Don't tell me. Let me guess,” she interrupted. “That was his idea, right?” When she looked at Garrett, all he did was nod and shrug.

“Unbelievable.”

“That transmitter has been sending us his vitals, as well as his location, so we can track him via satellite,” Hank continued. “I'm in charge of the ground team, and we're located right outside the compound, ready to go in once we get the green light. And as for his vitals? The medical doctor on our team thinks Kinkaid is being tortured.”

“Tortured? What for? If they knew who he was, Pérez would just have him killed. I'm not arguing for that, mind you, but killing him would tie up a very big loose end. What am I missing?” she asked.

“That's just it. He got abducted when they thought he was someone else. And that's who they think they're interrogating, a bigger fish in their eyes.”

“Oh, yeah. Who?”

“Me,” Garrett said. “The Pérez drug cartel, they think they have me.”

Shoreview Motel

La Pointe, Wisconsin

After the surreal trip she'd taken down a shadowy memory lane with Chief Cook at the crime scene earlier, Jessie was desperate for anything that closely resembled normal. And the chief's sudden change of heart, about wanting her help, had left her feeling more than a little lost.

She took a hot shower, got ready for bed, and made a call to Seth. He'd become her life preserver in the turbulent sea of her past. He steadied her and made her feel safe. With Harper, she had a shot at “normal,” at least a taste of it.

When he answered her call on the second ring, she simply said, “Hey, it's me.”

Jessie heard a soft rustle and knew he was in bed, too.

“Hey, you,” he said. “What are you wearing?”

Jessie couldn't help it. She had to grin.

“Nothing but a smile. And you?”

“I'm wearing . . . Floyd, actually. He's such a bed hog.”

“What did he do today? I could use a good Floyd story. And I know you've got one.”

Harper told her that Floyd had learned how to open doors by standing up and flipping levers with his paws.

“I've got a reason for telling you this,” he said.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, the next time you're alone in our bathroom and you feel a cold nose on your butt, you'll know who it is.”

“A cold nose, huh? Why would I assume Floyd is the culprit?”

“Very funny.”

She listened to the sound of his soft chuckle as she pulled the comforter over her shoulders.

“Should I be worried?” he asked.

“About what?”

“You seem to have this thing for Floyd. Do I detect a little canine envy?”

“That's it, Harper. You've nailed it.” She sighed and ran a hand through her wet hair. “Have I told you how nice it is to hear your voice?”

“Yeah, but feel free to remind me whenever you feel like it.”

After a comfortable silence, Seth had more to say.

“You've done a fine job avoiding what's on your mind. So what is it?”

“Can't fool you.” She tried to smile, but couldn't. “This place, I know that I've been here before, but those memories are just beyond my reach, you know?”

“You met with that cop today. What did he have to say?”

“He kicked me out of town . . . twice. Is that what you mean?”

“Wow, that must be a record.”

“Yeah, that's what I thought.”

She told him about the police chief taking her to the crime scene and how he'd later allowed her to see the murder book until he erected a wall and suggested she leave town . . . again.

“I've seen you in action. Guess I'm not too surprised.”

“Thanks a lot, pal. Whose side are you on?”

“Yours. You've got the gun. But what do you think happened? Sounds like you were BFFs until you mentioned that missing file.”

“Yeah, that's what I thought, too.”

Harper had the same take on the situation as she had.
Great minds . . .

“You're gonna see that Tanner woman, aren't you?”

“You know me, Harper. Never leave a good turn unstoned.”

“Wait, I gotta write that down,” he said.

She heard him fumbling for a paper and pen, like he was seriously taking notes.

“Are you sure that Angela DeSalvo was the woman you remembered from your dreams?” he finally asked, taking a detour down Serious Lane. “Maybe seeing the dead woman's face forced you to make that leap.”

What Harper had insinuated made sense, but Jessie felt sure that she had remembered Angela's face on her own, without the help from an old crime-scene photo.

“No, I'm sure it was her.” She sighed. “I've never felt so . . . down. Seeing her face and thinking she was my mother was the only bright spot to my childhood, and now all that is gone.”

“I knew I should have gone with you. You shouldn't have to go through this alone.”

“But I don't feel alone, not when I can look forward to your abuse. I mean, your support.”

Even though she'd poked fun at him, hearing Seth's voice on the phone made her feel like he was right in the room with her. Of course, nothing would replace the feel of his arms around her—or the many other things he did to make her feel warm and happy—but having him to talk to at the end of her day was the next best thing.

“So, with the chief taking back his key to the city, what're you doing tomorrow?” he asked. “Is there something you need me to do?”

“I'm planning on making a royal pain of myself.”

“Stickin' with your strengths. Always a good strategy.”

“And thanks for the offer to help. I may take you up on that.”

“For you? Anytime.”

“I'll call you tomorrow,” she said. “And give a big sloppy kiss to Floyd.”

“That's an image I didn't need.”

Even as lousy as she had felt that day, Harper could always make her laugh. And now he had an accomplice.

Guadalajara, Mexico

In the cramped motel room, Alexa listened to Garrett as he told what he knew about Jackson Kinkaid. And from the looks of Hank, he hadn't had a clue about any of it. She guessed that since she and Hank both knew Kinkaid, Garrett had kept the truth from them and added a higher level of secrecy to the mission.

“Kinkaid lied to them and set up a pretty big ruse, pretending to be me,” Garrett told her. “He even made fake ID to back up his story.”

“What made him think they'd believe that?” Alexa asked. “And how would they know who you are? You keep a pretty low profile.”

“Actually, that was a thing of beauty.” Garrett almost smiled. Almost. “He ran the whole thing like a con artist running a scam. He set up a fake online trail and made sure rumors got out on the street before he even got to El Paso. By the time he hit the ground, they were waiting for him, but that was what he wanted. All he needed was a way in, and a street gang on the American side of the border gave him that. He made himself a damned Trojan horse. Once he got inside, he had a plan to bring down the bastard who ordered the hit that got his family killed. Guess he wanted to look the guy in the eye before it all goes down . . . even if it put him at risk, too.”

By the way Garrett shook his head, Alexa knew he hadn't had a say in how Kinkaid had orchestrated his own abduction.

“And in order for his plan to work, that meant you had to disappear,” she said. “If anyone saw you living large in New York, word might get back to the border, and Kinkaid would be a sitting duck.”

“Yeah. That's why I couldn't say anything. It had to look as if I'd gone undercover, on a mission of my own. If anyone knew what was really happening, Kinkaid's life would be more at risk than it already was. I backed his play because he left me no options.”

“This is crazy. You gotta get him out of there,” she insisted. “I mean, what are you waiting for?” Her frustration got the better of her, and she knew it. “There's gotta be another way to get at Pérez. We'll find it and bring him down.”

“No, we're too close, Alexa,” Garrett argued. “For now, we're doing it Kinkaid's way. All he has to do is hold out a little longer.”

“Hold out, for what? He's not you. He can't tell them anything.” She heard the anger in her voice and didn't care. Anything involving Kinkaid was personal. No wonder Garrett had left her in the dark.