Unintended Target (Unintended Series Book 1) (30 page)

For the first time in a long time, Chloe’s entire body relaxed. It was over. Jack laced his fingers through hers and squeezed.

“I’m headed back to the office,” Langley said, bending down for her bag before stepping to the door. “We’ll leave the marshal outside for as long as you’re here, Jack, and probably assign one to you, too, Chloe, until we tie everything up on our end. I’ll be in touch,” she promised and slipped through the door, closing it behind her.

“So,” Jack said. “Now what?”

“I don’t know. I guess, well, first thing I need to do is call Izzie as soon as we leave here. And Jonah—oh, that poor dog. I need to get him . . .” She drifted off, then said thoughtfully, “Do you really think it’s over?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Did you notice she didn’t say anything about how we got you out of DiMeico’s? I thought for sure we’d have trouble over that.”

Chloe looked guilty. “I, um, didn’t really tell them everything about
how
I got away. I just said I was able to run off when they got distracted. I didn’t mention what was distracting them.”

“Seriously?”

“Well, yeah, I mean, what difference does it make? Anyway, apparently no one’s complaining. What are they going to do? Say that after they kidnapped me you didn’t play fair?”

He snorted in amusement, nodding his agreement. “True. And they’ve got bigger concerns now. At least I’m hoping.” They sat quietly for a minute or two against the sound of cool air blowing in from the air conditioning vents.

“So you’re, uh, headed home, then?” he asked, breaking the silence.

She shook her head. “Not till we get you better. Then . . . yeah, I think it’s time for home. What about you, Jack?” Her nerves tightened as she put the question out there, but this time not out of fear, but rather, out of hope. “You’ve got a life back in New York.”

“Mmm,” he mumbled thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m done running yet. But maybe somewhere a little less exotic this time. Maybe somewhere like . . . Atlanta—”

And with a rush of relief, she bent over him, hugging him awkwardly around the shoulders, kissing him as she squeezed him more tightly.

“Um, ow,” he mumbled.

“Oh! Sorry!” she said sheepishly, pulling back.

“Not complaining,” he said, that grin riveting her, “just, well . . . ow.”

That same rush of possibility she’d felt that night with Jack on the deck at Mendoza’s engulfed her, and for the first time, maybe ever in her life, she didn’t try to squelch it.

Then the door opened again and Langley’s voice called out, “Um, excuse me, again?”

“Sure,” Jack said, his own questioning glance matched by Chloe’s. Langley’s head peeked inside the door. It was obvious from her expression that something was off.

“What . . . what is it?” Chloe asked worriedly.

Chloe’s concern must’ve been evident to Langley, because she quickly clarified, “No, no, everything’s fine. You’re fine. It’s just . . . I’ve had a call come through from the office. Someone who says they saw the CNN piece and called us.” She paused and held out her cell to Chloe.

“He says he’s your father.”

EPILOGUE

The barren cotton fields of Arkansas rolled by the windows of the rented SUV, one boring mile after another.
Boring, but safe
. Much safer than flying out of any airport in the U.S. Every mile was another little victory, another assurance that, not only would they never find him, they would never even suspect he was still alive.

It had all happened so fast, almost too fast, once he’d put Tate’s video clues together. But because he and Tate had been planning something like this for so long before Tate turned on him, he’d been able to make a go of it at the last minute. And the pieces just all fell into place. Almost like providence.

Stupid kid,
Vargas thought. It had been such a good plan. Tate had the access to the money; Vargas had the access to Korrigan. It was perfect: siphon off the money little by little, pin it on Korrigan, then disappear. Pinning it on Korrigan was an element Vargas found particularly appealing since he hated the self-important, egotistical little—

Vargas took a breath, calming himself.
Stop. He doesn’t matter anymore. He’s just a corpse on a slab somewhere now. He got what was coming to him, pushing me around for years like some idiot lackey without a brain.

It really couldn’t have gone any better. Vargas had known that all the evidence he’d planted would eventually make it into DiMeico’s hands, and that, eventually, he’d take Korrigan out. He just didn’t expect it to happen the same day he’d sent the email. And then, DiMeico dead too? It was almost too good to be true. Somebody up there must really like him.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s press release he’d heard on the satellite news channel, they were all over Inverse now. So that meant they likely had his email to DiMeico. And once they found that blood, or what was left of it after he’d made it look like Korrigan tried to clean it up, they’d believe him to be dead. He’d drawn more than enough from his own veins over the last months to make it look like he’d bled out too much to survive. Cleaning it up had been risky, and had taken more time than he’d planned, but it was necessary to paint the right picture. Fortunately, Korrigan had bought into the story about Port St. Lucie. The drive had kept him away more than long enough for Vargas to do what he needed to do, including planting that laptop.

With all that, there was a strong likelihood that nobody—not the U.S. Attorney, Inverse, or any of its clients—would suspect him as anything more than another casualty of Korrigan’s plan.

And Chloe McConnaughey had done her part. He hadn’t expected her to be found so quickly. He’d actually considered that he might have to place an anonymous call to make that happen.
She must’ve had an extra cell on her,
he thought.

Still, it had played out all right. From the sound of it she’d gone straight to the Feds and spilled everything. If she’d bought the fake call he’d pretended to make to Korrigan in front of her, which she seemed to, they’d probably heard all about his “suspicions” of Korrigan from her by now.

It was strange how easy it had been to frame Korrigan. Even now as he retraced his steps, it was hard to believe. From where he’d left McConnaughey, he’d only had to walk a few blocks to meet the cab he’d called for on his throwaway phone. After the cab dropped him near his stashed car, he’d driven to Korrigan’s apartment building and parked just down the street where he could keep an eye on the front entryway. Then he made the call to Korrigan about Port St. Lucie and waited for him to leave.

It was like Korrigan was following a script he didn’t even know existed. Once Korrigan had left, it had been so easy to call to Tate’s bank and transfer the money into the account he and Tate had set up to frame Korrigan. After a couple dozen keystrokes, the program Tate had shown him moved the money again and again until it ended up in an untraceable European account awaiting Vargas’s arrival next week, where he would start over. A new continent, a new life.

And it was all thanks to Tate McConnaughey, and that greedy, great big brain of his. And his sister and her pendant. He nearly missed it on the video, watched it a dozen times before he’d noticed her reach for the absent pendant and the simultaneous flash of realization that had crossed her face. He’d pulled the pendant from her things and after seeing the back of it, figured that the numbers on the back might be a phone number. After one call, he’d known exactly how he’d be able to find them—because they’d have to bring her to open the box.

Granted, he’d had to scramble to make the Bio-Tite thing work. Without knowing exactly when they might show or how many they might show up with after the ambush at DiMeico’s, he’d had to improvise. He’d been right, though. They’d moved on it the first chance they got. And the girl he’d used as a decoy—a junkie prostitute—was a brilliant diversion, if he did say so himself. He looked a lot less suspicious with her around, and especially with her dog in the car, though he hadn’t planned that. He’d tied up that loose end, too, after leaving Korrigan’s. They’d never find her or the car. Not now anyway. He hoped the dog would get taken in by her neighbors, though. Animals he liked. People, not so much.

He switched the radio from CNN. “
Don’t You
,” the ‘80s original, not the remake, blared through the speakers, the lead singer for
Simple Minds
pleading with someone not to forget about him. Vargas laughed and turned it up.
Ironic
, he thought, and laughed harder. Soon they’d all forget about him.

And that’s exactly how he wanted it.

TO THE READERS

Thank you for reading UNINTENDED TARGET and taking a chance on a new author. If you liked the book, and I truly hope you did, please consider leaving a positive review on Amazon, Goodreads.com, and the like. Good reviews are essential to getting a book out there, and I would be very grateful for yours. If you do choose to leave one, let me thank you in advance for taking the time to submit it. There is nothing like word of mouth. I enjoy hearing from readers and invite you to email me by visiting my website:

dlwoodonline.com
.

While there, be sure to check out the—

CleanCaptivatingFiction
TM
Booklist

It’s my latest recommendations of books written by other authors that are not only engaging, but clean as well. And don’t forget to join my email list (on the website) to stay posted on all new releases, so you’ll know when you can grab the next installment in the Unintended Series. Speaking of which . . .

COMING SPRIN
G
2016

UNINTENDED WITNESS

Book Two of the Unintended Series

In the aftermath of Chloe’s harrowing experiences with Inverse Financial, she finally decides it’s time to meet her estranged father in the charming Tennessee town where he’s settled down, while Jack tends to his own business out in LA. Unfortunately, Chloe’s meeting doesn’t go as planned, and, unable to face the mounting tide of secrets that have been kept from her, she decides to abandon the attempt. But when a murder investigation entangles her newfound relations, Chloe can’t bring herself to walk away. Partnering with a young private investigator in her father’s office who seems to have more than surveillance on his mind, Chloe works to solve the crime before it destroys the only family she has left and drives a wedge between her and Jack that is impossible to overcome.

Want a reminder?

Join my email list at my website:
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And, one last thing . . .

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR HOPE…

My goal was to write this book in such a way that anyone who picked it up would enjoy it as a good story and a great thrill-ride, whether that person is a follower of Jesus or not. I hope that was the case for you. I also hope that if you, like Chloe, are feeling hopeless, and you have never considered the grace offered by Christ, that you would consider it now. Though Chloe is a fictional character, the truth she realized when things were at their darkest in her story is real.

YOU are loved by the God that created you. So much so, that He chose to send His son, Jesus Christ, to be born and to die an undeserved death, rather than be separated from YOU because of your sin. But Jesus did not remain dead. He rose on the third day, defeating death and, in doing so, defeated it for YOU. How? Because now, by accepting this gift of grace from God, death can no longer hold you separated from God. Instead, one day, death will just be the gateway for you to an eternity of peace in the presence of the God that made you. Not only that, but when you accept Christ as your Savior from the consequences of sin, He will be with you here. Now. And you will build a relationship with Him during your time on earth that will offer more hope, peace and purpose, even in the most difficult of times, than you could find anywhere else. This has been true for me and it can be true for you. No matter what you’ve done, where you’ve been, or how far you’ve fallen, God still holds this grace out to YOU.

Please check out these scriptures that do a much better job of explaining this than I ever could: Romans 3:23; Romans 3:10; Romans 6:23; Romans 5:8; Romans 10:9-10; Romans 10:13; Romans 5:1; Romans 8:1; and Romans 8:38-39.

For more information, check out the “FIND HOPE” link at
dlwoodonline.com
. If you are looking for hope, trust God. Confess your sins. Accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. Your life will never be the same.