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“Something happened… There was some sort of leak and Dominguez, or El Jefe, as he’s known, found out about it, and fingered Payne. He killed Payne’s wife and daughter.”
I nod. So far, Walker’s not telling me anything I don’t already know.
“After that, Noah went a little crazy. Understandably,” he concedes. “No one knows exactly what happened in El Jefe’s camp, but at the end of it, Payne’s wife and daughter were dead and Payne wasn’t the man, or the soldier, he was before. He was given a leave of absence, which his CO had to force him to take because he insisted he didn’t need it. When he was finally deemed psychologically able to return to work, he was assigned to a new team that deployed back to the Middle East, not Mexico.
“That didn’t sit well with Noah. He wanted revenge, and he wanted to go back to Mexico, but a SEAL can’t be ruled by his emotions. It’s a recipe for disaster for himself and his team. He apparently indicated his strong preference to go back.” One corner of Walker’s lips tilt up in a lopsided smile at the understatement, and I can imagine exactly how that conversation went. Noah likes to get what he wants.
“Not only was he denied his request, but he was told he’d never be assigned to Mexico again. It was too dangerous.” Walker sits back and stretches his long legs out in front of him. “So he quit as soon as his time was up. Disappeared for a while, and then he went rogue. For the last few years, he’s worked on the other side of the law for El Gato, the head of the most prominent Mexican drug cartel—La Frontera.” Walker shakes his head. “It’s a damn shame. Noah Payne was legendary. I heard so many stories about him, it was hard to believe what was truth and what had been embellished. But there’s no doubt he was one of the best Navy SEALs to serve.”
I stare at Walker blankly. He can’t be talking about the Noah I know, the one who calls me baby and ignites my skin with his touch and devours my whimpers with his mouth sealed to mine. The one who saved a little girl and is haunted by the belief that he killed his wife and daughter. The Noah I know couldn’t work for a drug cartel.
“There’s something else.” Walker is studying me intently. “I’ve been looking into the rumors that Liam was gunrunning—illegally selling arms to La Frontera.”
I nod, my heart in my throat, not sure I want to hear what I’m afraid Walker’s going to say. “Do you think it’s true? Do you think he’d really sell illegal weapons to the Mexican cartel?”
He sighs. “My gut reaction is of course not. I know Liam like I know myself, and in addition to being like a brother to me, he was also one of the most honorable soldiers I’ve ever served with. But he’d always had a little bit of a wild, rebellious streak, and the further I dig, the more evidence I find that the rumors could be true.”
“Like what?” I simply can’t believe that my big brother, the one I looked up to and idolized forever, would have sold guns illegally to a drug cartel.
He answers my question with one of his own. “Did Liam leave behind any money? Maybe a significant amount—more than he would make as a Navy SEAL?”
“Yes.” It hurts to utter the single syllable. I knew all along something was fishy about the unexpected sum of money, but I’d blindly refused to even consider that it could have anything to do with Liam doing something illegal. I still think there’s got to be some other explanation. There has to be. I know Liam, and he would never have done something like this. Maybe, like I wondered aloud to Noah, it came from the aid worker Liam saved. But the look on Walker’s face makes it clear what he thinks, and I feel slightly betrayed. “You think it’s drug money? Payment for guns?”
Walker nods.
“But why? You know Liam. You said yourself it’s not like him. Although he’d been different lately. And he’d been talking about getting out of the SEALs…” I trail off.
Walker covers my hand with his. “McKenzie, Liam was a good man. The best. If he was doing this, I’m sure he had his reasons. I know your parents both died pretty close to each other, and your mom was sick for a few years before she died. Cancer treatment is expensive. Was there a lot of debt?”
“Yes.” It hurts to admit, but I’d let Liam handle all of that, and I’d been shocked at how much he’d gone into debt taking care of her.
“It doesn’t matter now. I heard NCIS was investigating it, and I’d hoped to clear his name before they nailed him. Who knows, maybe the navy will quietly close the case and let him die a hero. But if not, you and I and everyone who really knew Liam knows the kind of man he was, and that’s all that matters.”
He’s right. Even if there was insurmountable evidence proving Liam had done this, I wouldn’t love him any less. But Liam’s character was the most important thing to him, and I don’t intend to have him die with his record marred. “I want to get to the bottom of it and clear his name,” I maintain stubbornly.
Walker nods. “Me too. But the important thing right now is making sure you stay safe.”
“What do you mean?”
“Gemma told me about some guys with guns shooting at you in Costa Rica.”
I nod. “At the time, I thought I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But now I’m not so sure. What did Gemma say?”
“She was worried about you after you told her what happened. She asked me to look into it. I figured while I did, it wouldn’t hurt to put a little security detail on you to make sure if it was true, they didn’t try again.
“That’s when I realized you had effectively disappeared. No phone service, no spending, no trace of you at all after you checked out of the hotel in Coron. That got me worried! I contacted the sailing charter that Gemma said you had booked to take you through the Philippines, but they said you’d cancelled the trip. So I flew to Coron and went to the marina to see if anyone had seen you.”
Cancelled the trip? “Manuel, the guy who runs the marina, could have told you I went with Noah.”
“There’s no one named Manuel at the marina, Kenzie. The owner said an American guy had paid him an exorbitant amount of money to rent him the entire marina for a few days. His only instructions were that everyone had to vacate the premises for forty-eight hours, and spread the word that if an American woman tried to hire them, he’d pay double whatever she offered if they refused.”
I feel sick at my stomach. “How did you find me?”
“I made Gemma tell me everything she could possibly think of that might be helpful. She told me what she knew about your trip to Costa Rica and the bucket list and a guy named Noah who you met in Vegas.”
I feel the heat rise in my face. But Walker continues, nonplussed. “I tracked down the records of all of the boats sailing out of Coron the day you were supposed to leave. When I found a boat named theKairospiloted by an American named Noah Payne, I had a hunch I was on to something. As luck would have it, a man by the same name had stayed at the Wynn on the exact same dates you were there. I know there are no coincidences. You should know that, too.”
“But it was obvious he was a SEAL, and Manuel confirmed it. I thought he was safe…” I trail off, realizing that Noah had probably planted Manuel at the marina to help convince me he was trustworthy.
