AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Let this go." He heard his own voice, heard the ice dripping from it, felt the fury threatening to engulf it.
"Yeah, sure, Nik, I'll let it go," Ian sighed. "But you're going to break that young woman's heart in there, and when you do, you'll suffer for it as well." He was already suffering. God knew the pain was sinking sharpened talons so deep inside his flesh he wondered if he were bleeding from it.
"I want backup." He returned to the subject at hand. "When the meet comes down, I'll let you know. I want you there. Nothing matters but her." He stared back at the other man demandingly. "Do you understand that, Ian? No matter what happens, screw the 195
others. She's all that matters."
Screw the Elite Ops, the organization Nik was a part of and the men who had pulled him out of hell and those who had paid a fortune to re-create him. The past ten years and the promises of faith he had made meant nothing when compared to the woman whose heart he was breaking.
"That goes without saying, Nik," Ian promised him. "A few of the guys from the backup team are close by on leave. We were getting together for a week before we went back on mission status. We're standing by for you. Just as Jordan is if you need him." Yeah, Nik's commander would bitch and moan and cuss a blue streak, bu
t he would do whatever he needed to do.
Nik nodded sharply.
"Anyway," Ian stated heavily. "What did you find out from Holbrook?"
"Confirmation Kefler is indeed backing him," Nik stated before relating details of the meeting to the other man.
"We're still working on the financials of everyone involved, but just from what I've seen so far, there was a hell of a lot of money being exchanged between Kefler and Holbrook. There are some other anomalies as well, but we're still working on those."
"There's something damned strange going on," Nik agreed. "And not just with the money. I can't fit the pieces together. If I look at it logically, Maddix has to be involved, but that alibi is going to be damned hard to break."
Ian nodded. "Stay on Holbrook and Kefler until we turn up something on the numbers," he advised. "You're going to need ammunition before you go to Nelson or the members of that alibi. Let's get our information together; then you can strike." Then he would kill. If Maddix was the reason Mikayla was in danger, then nothing would save him from Nik.
His fists clenched at the thought. The thought that Maddix might have used him against Mikayla, used him to make her look foolish, or like a liar, enraged him.
"What the hell do you think is going on with this, Nik?" Ian asked. "Ms. Martin's standing in the community is exemplary. None of the teenage high jinks her brothers and friends got into. No drinking, no drugs. She's quiet, dependable, and compassionate. And this has shed a shadow across that reputation she's obviously worked so hard to attain."
"Someone's using her," Nik stated. "The further this goes, the more apparent it becomes. To stop it, I have to find a killer."
"It doesn't make sense." Ian shook his head. "Her reputation could effectively destroy a normal alibi. If it was Maddix, why use a woman with her reputation?" Nik shook his head before rubbing at the back of his neck. "That's one of the reasons I ruled out Maddix in the killing. He knows Mikayla. He knew her reputation. He knew she would be there. He knew she would recognize him. Why use her? Why bring me in? Until I can answer these questions, Ian, then this isn't finished."
"If Maddix is involved, then his alibis are involved as well," Ian mused.
"Which could be the reason why this investigation stays stalled. The chief of police, a major business owner as well as two city council members. But why use Mikayla?"
"Exactly. Why use Mikayla? Why use anyone if it's as simple as committing murder. He has an agenda. An agenda that includes Mikayla, and possibly includes me. He called me. He wanted me here specifically."
196
"You think he has anything on you?"
The Elite Ops had pasts. They had pasts that were potentially fatal should anyone learn their secrets, or their weaknesses.
"See what you can find out." Nik turned, staring into the darkness as he considered exactly what a relatively small-town construction owner could know about him.
"I'm already working on it," Ian promised. "Until then, if I were you I'd not just keep my woman with me; I'd watch my back, too. There are too many improbabilities here, and that makes my neck itch."
An itching neck was never a good thing. That primal, defensive response to danger was guaranteed to put any soldier on edge. And what more was he than simply an advanced soldier?
"I'll take care of things here; you take care of the information end," Nik told him.
"I'll take care of Mikayla."
"I know you'll take care of her," Ian sighed. "What worries me is your idea of the best way to do that."
"What the fuck does that mean?" Nik turned on him, his gaze slicing to where Ian stood across the back porch watching him.
