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“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. ” Jonesy’s voice was saddened, filled with regret, but Rogue also saw the maniacal glimmer of determination in his eyes as he slowly closed the panel to the hidden tunnel.
He stared around the room, his expression resolved, but also heavy. As though two men resided inside him, but the one that held the gun was now dominant.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like what, Jonesy?” She stared at the gun incredulously. “Like a man betraying everyone who loves him?”
She knew the moment she saw the gun that Gene wasn’t the only man that had betrayed a friend. Of course it had been in the pictures as well. Those scattered across Zeke’s desk. The three men, Thad Mayes, James Maynard, and Jonesy. The friendship they had forged as young men hadn’t been broken. The friendship that had aided Dayle Mackay and Nadine Grace in their treasonous activities had never disintegrated. It had remained strong, regardless of what others thought. A bond such as the three had shared would have been nearly impossible to break completely.
“I’m not betraying a friend. ” He locked gazes with her, anger shadowing his eyes. “A friend would have listened when I warned her to steer clear of trouble. Your daddy listened. He took his woman and he left town, like I told him to do. Unfortunately, he didn’t come back and collect his daughter as I’ve warned him to do in the past five years. For some reason, Cal thought the threat was gone because Thad, Dayle, and Nadine were gone. ” He shook his head with a mocking little grunt. “He didn’t consider James a threat, and he thought Gene’s loyalty would stay with Zeke. He’s not as smart as he used to be, Rogue. Or maybe he really just doesn’t care what happens to his troublemaking daughter. ”
That wasn’t the case. Her father had screamed, harassed, and threatened her for five years in an attempt to get her back to Boston. His last-ditch effort was sending in John.
Her breathing hitched harshly. Oh God, John.
“Where’s John?” she whispered, his claim that he had killed her brother ricocheting through her mind. “What have you done, Jonesy?”
“Same thing I did to Thad. ” He sighed. “That baseball bat I keep at the bar has a lot of blood staining it, Rogue. Now it has your brother’s and Natches Mackay’s as well. Right now, they’re burning in the flames of hell. I set an explosion in the bar. It’s gone, little girl. Gone along with your brother, Timothy Cranston, and those bastard Mackay cousins. ”
“No. ” Her head shook in disbelief. “You wouldn’t hurt John. Jonesy, please. You didn’t hurt John. ”
Where was the man her father had said he would trust his life to? The man Rogue had trusted her life to?
Jonesy shook his head, regret filling his eyes though the gun never wavered. “I told you to stay away from Zeke Mayes, Rogue. He’s been trying to identify the remaining members of the League for six months now. Hell, we knew all along that he was working for DHS to take us down. Gene kept us informed there. The League has to survive. Our plans will go through. The future is more important than friendship or blood, girl. ” His voice rose as anger filled it. His expression creased in fury as his hand tightened around the gun.
Rogue could feel the deadly intent that washed through the room now. Jonesy was going to kill her. She could see it in his eyes, in his face. The man she had thought she had known didn’t exist. Nothing existed behind the eyes she had once thought she could read except anger and murderous determination.
Betrayal was a rancid taste in her mouth as she fought to swallow past the tightness in her throat. Rogue wanted to howl with the pain now. She could feel the sharp wounds burying inside her soul, digging into her with merciless agony.
Tears were locked in her throat and in her eyes as she stared back at Jonesy, from his powerful shoulders to the insanity glittering in his eyes. It could only be insanity. There could be nothing sane about what he was doing. He had killed John and Natches.
John lit up the world with his games and his laughter. He was cynical, sometimes he was bitter, but he had loved her, made her laugh.
And Natches, with his crooked grin and his complete devotion to his wife and unborn child. He liked to joke that his wife would be the one to kill him eventually. Instead, it had been Jonesy. A trusted friend.
She couldn’t believe either of them were dead. John and Natches both were tough; they were strong. Jonesy might have hurt them, but she refused to believe they weren’t alive any longer.
Especially John. The brother who had taught her how to fight, the one that hid frogs in her drawers when she was a child, yet had bloodied his friend’s nose when she was younger for frightening her. He had protected her. He loved her. She couldn’t lose him.
“Yeah, it’s a hard thing, realizing it’s your fault your brother’s dead. Your friends. ” A flash of regret clouded his eyes for long seconds. “It wasn’t easy to dispose of John, I want you to know that. But it wasn’t near as hard as killing Thad Mayes was. We were like brothers. But he was a weakness to the League. All that picture taking him and James Maynard had done. He threatened us with those pictures, you know? He wanted out. Wanted to go to L. A. to be with that bastard son of his. ” Jonesy snorted at that. “He grew weak in his old age. Then that stupid wife of his trying to blackmail us and his dumb kid asking the wrong questions. We took care of Thad’s wife, and Zeke’s, too.
And we took care of Thad. Thought Zeke got the message, loud and clear. When he came back here, I was gonna let it go. He was nice and quiet, wasn’t making any waves that I knew of. ”
“And Joe and Jaime?” she whispered, her fingers tightening into fists as she stared back at him. “You killed them, too, didn’t you?”
He smiled at that. “They trusted me. Joe came to me, said he knew Gene was a part of the League. He wanted to use that information to make Gene back off where that girl of his was concerned. They were stupid, Rogue, and that grandmother of theirs wasn’t any smarter. The stupid bitch even called me, asking about Gene. ” He shook his head at that. “So I killed her, too. And no one suspected. You know she cried when I picked her up out of that bed and told her what I was going to do. Cried tears and begged me not to. ”
And he had enjoyed it. Rogue saw it in his face. Jonesy had enjoyed killing Callie Walker. The same way he would enjoy killing her, she realized.
“How do you think you’re going to get away with this, Jonesy?” Her voice was filled with tears, tears she refused to shed. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of begging or crying. She wouldn’t let him enjoy what he was getting ready to do to that extent.
“Zeke will know Gene didn’t do this. You’ve killed too many people. ”
“And anyone who would have talked is dead by now. ” He shrugged. “I rigged the main gas tank to explode at the bar. It would have taken out most of the building, especially the back section where Gene was meeting with the few members left in town. I got John and Natches, and Cranston along with the other two Mackay cousins aren’t a threat if they managed to survive it. The League will reform without the weak bastards that were cowering in their homes praying not to get arrested. I’ll rebuild the League here, and one day, it will be more glorious than ever before. ”
That damned League. The Freedom League. The group of military and ex-military fanatics that thought they could wage a revolution and take control of the government.
Rogue would have laughed if the situation weren’t so desperate right now.
“Homeland Security broke the League, Jonesy,” she reminded him. “All but a few stragglers are in prison or dead. Your generals are gone. The money is gone. How can you rebuild after that?”
