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He wore casual clothes and had his hair styled so one side swooped over to cover a spot before reaching the other side of his head. He had an assault weapon strapped to his chest and carried a handgun. For a second Holt thought he’d walked into the middle of some stupid coup.
He knew the second Lindsey recognized the man she secretly viewed as her enemy. “It can’t be.” Her voice trailed off but the surprise lingered.
“Lindsey Pike, or should I call you Beth?”
“Walt?”
He shrugged. “It’s Simon now.”
Her mouth dropped open and it took a few tries to get it closed again. “You died.”
With each shocked sentence Holt felt worse for her. The need to block her from all this struck him hard. He wanted to tuck her away and never let this nutcase or his campground touch her life again.
But he couldn’t protect her from this truth. This one walked and talked and threatened. Simon Falls didn’t think twice of pulling his niece into his schemes and scaring her for no reason. That made him one dangerous man. And one that Holt would likely need to kill.
“What’s the plan here, Walt?” Everything Holt did now was just a stall for time. Shane and Cam had to either fight their way into the camp or wind around and come through the lush greenery and over the huge fence. Since Holt didn’t hear gunfire, he assumed they were trying the non-bloodshed method. That meant Holt had more time to waste before reinforcements arrived.
“It sounds as if we all know each other’s real names.” Simon’s smile turned feral. “Isn’t that right, Holt? Or should I call you Agent Holt?”
The man was guessing, assuming Holt has a government agent of some sort. This guy did not have the skills to break through Joel’s encryptions and multilevel securities and built-in redundancies and fake covers. Holt had faith in all of that...and he wasn’t actually an agent. Not in the sense Simon meant.
Simon put a hand behind his ear. “What? No smart reply for that?”
Lindsey took a small step forward. The move put her slightly ahead of Holt. “You want me. Let him go.”
Simon shook his head. “That is not going to happen.”
“Holt didn’t do anything.”
That was enough poking. Holt pulled even with her and tugged on the bottom of her shirt again to let her know to keep the other man calm. Fighting and threatening would only ratchet up whatever was wrong with him. He would react and everything would blow up.
“Don’t waste your breath. He wants us both, don’t you, Walt?” Holt asked.
“Call me Simon. I ceased being Walt years ago after I realized that the weakness gene in our family could be exorcised out.”
That sounded crazy to Holt. From the severe frown on Lindsey’s face, he assumed she didn’t get it either.
“Our family is not weak.” And she sounded every bit strong and proud as she said it.
“My brother could not quiet the voices. You run away and then scurry back.” Simon shook his head. “I’d like to think this means you missed the discipline and structure of the camp. Have you kept up with your lessons in weaponry? Because that’s what we do. Move around and sell them. Provide backup, when needed. It’s a very lucrative business. Much more so than yoga, or whatever the hell was happening here before.”
Bingo. Exactly what Holt suspected. Not that he cared about being right or the mission with Todd waving a gun around somewhere behind them.
“This is insane.” Lindsey hesitated over each word as if she couldn’t believe she had to say them. “How did you even know who I was?”
“Your friend Roger.” Simon tilted his head to the side and threw her a sympathetic look. “In the end he was not very loyal, I’m afraid. Pain will do that to a person.”
An angry flush covered her cheeks. “What did you do to him?”
“Lindsey.” Holt tugged on her shirt again. Her losing her control would hand Simon the victory he craved. No way could she do that.
“He worked for me,” Simon said in a voice filled with pride.
Lindsey started to shake her head and didn’t stop. “He left.”
“And came back. That’s the point.”
Breath hiccupped out of her. “You’re lying.”
But Holt feared Simon was telling the truth on that one. Part of Holt always thought the crime scene seemed staged. Then there was the issue with no body. Every other body got dumped right near Lindsey. Why not Roger’s?
Holt hated for the betrayal to be true. He knew how deep that sort of pain cut. You wrestled with it for years, turning over every conversation and decision until it slowly drove you insane. It certainly robbed you of normalcy.
