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“Zane went after Schuyler’s power base. He had the advantage because Schuyler assumed the explosion had killed Zane. It wasn’t until this summer that Schuyler learned otherwise. All the while Zane was building up his strength, he was able to gather vital information.”
Lesley shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“A man like Schuyler can’t operate without money, connections and other means of support. With the help of tracers, Zane managed to filter false information about Schuyler to his supporters. Dissention broke out among the fanatics who backed him, and he was forced to come out of hiding to personally meet with them.”
Lesley wasn’t sure she entirely understood everything Carl explained, but enough to follow the gist.
“Schuyler made one small mistake that literally cost him millions.” Carl smiled as he spoke. “Exactly how Zane managed this I’ll never know, but he discovered a bank in the Cayman Islands where Schuyler held several million dollars, unbeknownst to his ardent supporters.”
“In other words, the terrorist had cheated his friends.”
“Exactly.”
“Not only did Zane leak the information, but he got the account number and withdrew almost all the money.”
Lesley’s gaze fell on the financial papers Carl had brought over for her to read.
“It’s not what you’re thinking. He took that money and divvied it up to a number of charities.”
How like Zane to see that ill-gotten gains would be put to use serving mankind.
“Now you can understand why Schuyler was so eager to meet with Zane,” Carl concluded.
“Of course,” she whispered. “Schuyler hated him.”
Carl’s eyes sobered. “Schuyler wanted revenge.”
And he’d gotten it, Lesley noted.
“But how did he learn Zane was the one responsible for what was happening with his finances?”
“I’m not sure, but once that information was out, Zane had no choice but to deal with Schuyler himself. The options had been taken away from him. His greatest fear was that the terrorist would come after you. He had to make sure that would never happen.”
“The meeting,” Lesley prompted, wanting to know everything. Where once knowing the details of Zane’s death had been a burden too heavy to carry, now she found the information vital. She hungered for every tidbit Carl could give her.
“Zane suggested they meet in the desert.”
Naturally her husband would do whatever he could to protect innocent bystanders, although the anonymity of a crowd would have protected him. “Surely he didn’t go in there alone.”
“No. But then neither did Schuyler.”
Zane had knowingly walked into a meeting, with a man who had powerful reasons to hate him, and a burning desire to kill him.
“I don’t know exactly what did happen, I don’t think anyone ever will,” Carl said, his face grim and tight. “But when it was over, there were no witnesses and Schuyler was dead.”
“You’re sure of that?”
“Very. It was more than revenge, Lesley. Dan and Dave’s death wasn’t the only thing this was about. The world’s a better place without Schuyler.”
And an emptier, lonely place without Zane, Lesley added mentally.
She pressed her palms against her abdomen. “I needed to know…I thought the baby should hear the details herself when the time came for me to tell her about her father.”
“Her?” Carl eyed her skeptically.
“I don’t know for certain yet, but that’s what I believe.” It was what Zane had told her the night he’d come to her, but she didn’t explain that to Carl.
They sat and drank the remainder of their drinks in silence. Lesley’s thoughts were filled with the sacrifice Zane had made and what his final moments must have been like. She was confident that his last moments on this earth were filled with thoughts of her.
