Chapter 19 #2
Lefty clicked off his own phone and threw it onto the seat next to him.
He gripped the steering wheel tightly and sat in the parking lot for quite a while.
His mind was spinning. He had no problem with Tex finding Simon King and sending people to take him out.
The sooner the better, as far as he was concerned.
Then his thoughts turned back to Kinley. He was amazed that, for a woman who’d never known love, and had only experienced loss after loss, she had more love inside her than anyone he’d ever met. She’d sacrificed her own happiness for him. And Gillian. And his team.
Shaking his head, Lefty finally started his truck. He would go to his mom’s hotel and talk to her in person. Then he’d go back to Killeen and take things one day at a time. Kinley had made one hell of a sacrifice for him; he wasn’t going to spit in her face by wallowing in his grief.
Two months later
The first month after Kinley left had been hard. Lefty went through each day like a zombie. He kept his emotions closed off, rarely spoke, rarely laughed. He knew his friends had been worried about him, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care about anything.
He was eating like shit and barely got enough sleep each night to function.
Things came to a head when he was on a mission in the Middle East. They were supposed to find and eliminate an HVT.
Lefty had been reckless, rushing into situations without making sure they were clear.
Luckily, no one had been injured or killed, but his team had lit into him when they’d been on their way back to the States.
“You’ve got to pull yourself together!” Trigger raged. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.”
“What does it matter?” Lefty yelled.
“It matters!” Trigger shouted as he got into his friend’s face. “I know you’re hurting. But damn it, Lefty, how do you think Kinley is gonna feel when she comes back after this is all over, only to find that you couldn’t get your head out of your ass and got yourself killed?”
“She’s not coming back!” Lefty exclaimed, his fists clenching, ready to fight.
“You don’t know that!” Trigger yelled right back.
Then he took a deep breath. “Call me crazy, but with a love like the two of you have, I don’t think there’s any way she won’t be coming back.
I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but when she does come back into your life, do you want to have to tell her that you were a dumbass while she was gone, or do you want to tell her how you honored her sacrifice and her strength by moving forward and being strong for her while she was away? ”
That conversation had been a turning point for Lefty.
Trigger had been right. He wanted to be the kind of man who was worth the huge sacrifice Kinley had made.
She’d left to keep him safe, and if he went and got himself killed because he couldn’t deal with her decision, it would disrespect that decision in the worst way.
So while he wasn’t exactly happy, he’d been able to push his sorrow down far enough to function.
Going back to his apartment at the end of each day was the toughest part of life without Kinley. Her scent had faded, and more often than not he slept on his couch rather than having to face his empty bed.
The only consolation he had was opening his windows and hearing the cicadas. He hoped that wherever Kinley was, she was also listening to the insects and thinking about him.
Lefty was standing in his kitchen, eating a microwave meal, when his phone rang. Figuring it was Gillian or one of his team calling to check on him, as they were wont to do, he answered and brought the phone up to his ear. “Hello?”
“Lefty, it’s Cruz. I’ve got some news for you.”
Lefty’s stomach clenched, and the few bites of the cardboard-tasting meal he’d choked down churned in his belly. “Yeah?”
“Simon King is dead.”
That wasn’t what Lefty was expecting to hear. “Are you sure?”
“Very. There was an incident in Montana. A trooper stopped to check on an abandoned car on the side of the road. A man was found in the driver’s seat, dead.
It wasn’t until they did an autopsy that they realized someone had killed him.
Jabbed him with a needle and filled him with enough morphine to stop his heart in minutes.
He had no ID on him, so his DNA was put into the nationwide database to see if they could figure out who he was.
You know the ball of tape Kinley had so painstakingly pushed up that ravine?
There was DNA on it, just as she thought there would be.
Saliva from where Simon had torn it with his teeth. It matched the dead man in Montana.”
Everything within Lefty sagged in relief. “Is Kinley in Montana?” he asked.
“Not from what I’ve been told,” Cruz said.
Lefty mentally thanked Tex for having the kinds of connections he did. No one else could have found King.
Then something occurred to him. “So she can come home. Now that the hitman is dead, she’ll be safe.”
“You know as well as I do that she’s not safe,” Cruz countered. “Stryker might be in custody in France, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hire someone else to go after Kinley. Until she testifies, and he’s put away for good, she’s safer in WITSEC.”
Lefty did know that, but he’d held on to a small bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, he’d get her back. The ache in his heart from missing her was constant. He’d come to terms with it, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do whatever it took to have her back.
“Any news on when his trial will happen?” Lefty asked.
“Unfortunately, no. But the FBI is working closely with French inspectors to get as much evidence against Stryker as possible.”
“Will Brown’s suicide make a difference? Will it hurt the case?”
Kinley’s old boss had been found dead in his cell a week and a half ago.
It had been ruled a suicide, but Lefty had his doubts.
He didn’t have the details, but it seemed awfully coincidental that he’d killed himself hours before he was supposed to meet with detectives.
Rumor had it he was going to spill his guts and throw Stryker under the bus to try to lessen his own sentence.
“It shouldn’t. The FBI has correspondence between him and Stryker that included videos of young girls.
They also texted the night émilie Arseneault was killed, making plans to meet up for dinner and drinks in Brown’s room.
It ties them together with the girl. Both of their DNA were also found on her body, as well. ”
“But it doesn’t counter Stryker’s claim that the last time he saw émilie was when she left the room around midnight.”
“No. Only Kinley’s testimony does that,” Cruz said.
Lefty sighed. “I appreciate you letting me know about King,” he told Cruz.
“Of course. I’ll be in touch when I hear anything about the case.”
“Appreciate it.”
“This is gonna end sooner or later,” Cruz said solemnly.
“I know.” And Lefty did. He just hoped that when the time came, the outcome was that Kinley returned to Texas and they could pick up where they’d left off.
He hung up the phone after saying goodbye and threw away the rest of his uneaten dinner. He went over to his couch and ran a hand over his face.
Lefty was exhausted. Mentally and physically. But he’d keep going. One day at a time. It was the least he could do for his Kinley. She’d somehow been able to crawl out of that ravine with injuries that should’ve killed her. Comparatively, what he was going through was child’s play.
I’ll wait as long as it takes, he silently vowed.
Three months later, Lefty had just let himself into his apartment when there was a loud knocking on his door.
He’d hoped to have three days of solitude to miss Kinley in peace, and to recover from the intense mission he and his team had just returned from.
They’d been in South America this time, and Lefty never thought he’d admit it, but he much preferred the desert to the jungle.
He opened his door and saw Trigger standing there. He’d literally last seen his teammate less than a minute ago when they’d parted to go to their respective apartments.
“My place, now!” Trigger barked.
Scared that something had happened to Gillian, Lefty didn’t think twice, he bolted out the door and followed Trigger. They went into his apartment, and Lefty was relieved to see Gillian sitting on the couch looking healthy and whole.
But he didn’t have time to even greet her before Trigger pointed at the television and said, “Look.”
Confused, Lefty turned his attention to the news. Gillian was holding a remote, and when he was paying attention, she pushed the button to unpause the program.
The trial of US Ambassador to France Drake Stryker started today in Paris. He’s accused of being The Alleyway Strangler and killing not only émilie Arseneault, but at least five other teenagers as well.
Seen entering the courthouse was the mysterious witness for the prosecution, Ms. Kinley Taylor. Because no press was allowed in the courtroom, no one knows exactly what she saw and what kind of witness she is, but her testimony is said to be crucial to the prosecution’s case.
The president has no comment on the case except to say that Mr. Stryker was replaced as the ambassador after he was arrested. We’ll be watching this case closely and will bring you more information as it becomes available.
Gillian pushed the pause button again.
Lefty was confused. He was glad the trial was finally getting underway, and he loved being able to see Kinley, but was that really why Trigger had almost given him a coronary? “And?” he asked his friends.
“Watch it again,” Trigger ordered.
And even though it was torture to see Kinley, and not be able to touch her or speak to her, he watched the news clip again.
She looked relatively healthy, if a few pounds lighter.
He ached to take her into his arms and wanted more than anything to buy a plane ticket to Paris just to try to get a glimpse of her.