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Chapter Fourteen
Katrina
Carlos’s smilestill makes my stomach churn, and I think it always will. There’s just something about the guy that gives me the creeps. Thank God he’ll be out of my life soon and locked behind bars. Hopefully for the rest of his pathetic life.
“Oh no,” he says sarcastically, not even bothering to raise his hands. “Don’t shoot.” His cruel laugh follows. He believes he has the upper hand and that I won’t shoot him. I won’t like firing a gun, but I will. Especially if it means getting rid of this scum.
“What do you want, Carlos? I thought my last message was crystal clear. I’m done working for you.”
“Your last message was your death warrant. You should have just followed my lead, Katrina. It’s a shame that I’ll have to get rid of you.” There’s no sorrow in his voice. If anything, the man is giddy at the prospect of my death. “I’m here to retrieve the USB and deliver it into its rightful owner’s hands. Now hand it over and I can make your death swift and painless. I’m sure you’d prefer that.”
It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes at him. Does he honestly believe I would give up that easily?
“You shouldn’t have assigned me to this mission. You made a grave error.”
“Stop playing games with me, Katrina.” His voice rises in anger. I can see his cheeks getting red. His lack of control is exactly what I was hoping for. “You were supposed to be a distraction. Not let that military meathead decode the thing.”
“I decoded it,” I say proudly, loving the transformation of his face into a nice furious purple. “Why would I give the USB to you when I could give it to your boss and redeem myself? Who knows, maybe my loyalty will be rewarded by taking your place. I know everything that’s on the USB. I could help him take down the Macelondia monarchy.”
“You worthless girl. Give me the damn USB. There’s no way Obadiah would ever bring you into the fold. Your father burnt a lot of bridges. You’re lucky Obadiah only got singed and didn’t disrupt any of his business dealings or you’d be dead too. Just like your pathetic father.”
A chill runs down my spine. My father was murdered. The car accident had been arranged.
Pressure builds behind my eyes, tears threatening, but I need to save these feelings for a later time. I may not have liked my father, but he’d still been my dad. I’d loved him in my own way. Right now I need to push all of that to the side and stay focused and figure out how I know the name Obadiah. It does ring a bell.
“I’m sure I could change his mind. For one I can correctly deliver priority mail without handing it over to a military veteran.”
“Fucking bitch!” he spits, taking a threatening step toward me. I raise my gun, my expression not changing as I take aim. “It was one of Obadiah’s men who made the error. Left it at a fucking diner in town when he was passing through to the mine. That’s the thing about small towns, everyone’s fucking nosy. The package was taken and delivered to Lennox before we could get to it.”
During his long, rambling monologue, it all clicks into place in my brain. Lenox Gold was a huge mining company two states over. They’d been in the news for years with rumors of money laundering and being a front for other criminal dealings. Those rumors were never proved true. Until now.
Obadiah must be connected to that company somehow. We now had the clear connection and a name to bring it all down.
“Got to hand it to you, Carlos, you’re a lot dumber than you look.” His spine straightens at my insult. “And to think, I used to be afraid of you. But you don’t hold the power anymore. After what you just told me, you’ll be locked away for life.”
“You’re dead,” he sneers, hatred in his gaze. Yelling “Now!” he raises his hand and points it directly at me. Nothing happens.
He just stands there, waiting for something.
“Now!” he cries again, but still the surrounding forest remains quiet.
“Your men are all dead,” a voice says from the shadows.
“It’s over, Carlos.”
My heart leaps for joy when Lennox steps from the shadows into the bright floodlights of the lawn. I open my mouth, about to say my own snappy one-liner, when Carlos bursts into action. The world around me begins to move in slow motion.
Carlos’s gun jerks up as he spins to face Lennox. I hear the safety click off and know what he’s about to do.
“No!” I scream, leaping from my chair and toward Carlos. My high-pitched screech throws him off enough that when my body flies through the air he turns to me.
A bang goes off, deafening me as I crash to the ground, Carlos under me.
Pain like nothing I’ve ever felt before ricochets through my body, making me gasp for air. Hands grab my body, causing me to feel ill. I can hear voices, but I can’t make out what anyone is saying. I think I can hear the crunch of tires in the distance.
Hands press down on my chest, sending intense pain through my body, but I can’t make a noise. The edges of my vision begin to cloud, and right before everything fades to black I call out one name.
“Lennox.”
