Chapter Nine #4
“What you’ve been doing, recruiting former employees, is dangerous.
I don’t think you realize how dangerous.
You always had focus and purpose. Just the fact that you started this company.
You thought ahead to retirement and started right away gathering the funds, equipment and property you would need.
You established yourself in a community and utilized your education.
You did so, making certain everything was aboveboard and transparent in your business.
There are several others who haven’t done those things.
They dropped off the grid. They isolate themselves from society.
They lose purpose when they quit their jobs.
That can’t be tolerated, not with these types of men. ”
There was silence. Harlow found herself holding her breath.
What was he saying? Was he really responsible for setting up his own agents to be assassinated when they resigned and he deemed them dangerous?
Was that what happened to Wilder? His own boss, a man he trusted and had worked and risked his life for?
“You’re behind our agents disappearing,” Rainier said softly.
Too softly. His voice sent a chill down Harlow’s spine.
“I recall that Zane and I were set up along with two other agents who didn’t make it on that mission.
Did you decide we were too dangerous despite everything you just told me about how I planned a future for myself? ”
“If you expect me to apologize, Rainier, it isn’t going to happen.
I have a duty to this country to keep our citizens safe.
You and Zale both had certain well-deserved reputations.
I reconsidered when Zale decided he was in love.
I watched you closely and realized you were establishing ties to the community of Knightly.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to guess why.
So the two of you were sorted, and I didn’t have to act. ”
“When we’re sent out, there is a thorough investigation first,” Rainier said. “We don’t arbitrarily decide someone needs to die because they’ve resigned a position with you.”
“You’re recruiting the worst of our agents.” Blom refused to back down. “I need to see if you’re harboring Hawkin Wilder in that room, Rainier.”
“I’m not.”
“I need to see for myself. You don’t seem to understand. Wilder’s disappeared. He’s off-grid. He’s far more dangerous than you can possibly know. He has no past and no future. The kindest thing to do is neutralize him before he becomes a headline and a stain on the agency.”
“Did you send him into an ambush?” Rainier asked.
Harlow’s hand crept up to her throat. Blom was brazen in his belief that he had every right to murder his agents by betraying them.
“It had to be done, Rainier. You would have had to track him down and do it yourself. I spared you that.”
“You believe he’s dead.”
“He’s disappeared, and the men who were waiting for him disappeared as well. There is no confirmation that he’s dead.”
“That’s what you’re worried about. Wilder’s an extremely intelligent man. You’re worried he’ll figure out that you set him up and he’ll come after you.”
“He would likely make that mistake, yes,” Blom said. “He has to be stopped. It would be good if you took on that job, Rainier.”
Harlow couldn’t believe the arrogance of the man.
He was certain he had the right to decide which of his agents should be killed, and he set them up.
That might solve the puzzle of Stella’s nightmares.
As far as Harlow was concerned, Blom fit the description of a serial killer.
He just used his position to set his victims up rather than kill them with his own hands.
“Oh my God!” Vienna whispered. “He blatantly admitted he set up Wilder to die. And he had no trouble admitting he set up Rainier and Zale as well. He thinks he can do anything he wants. Doesn’t he have to answer to anyone?”
“Most likely he’ll be answering to the men he tried to have killed,” Raine said. “And he deserves whatever he gets.”
Harlow had to agree, but she didn’t want Wilder anywhere near the man. As far as she was concerned, he could hide out at her house forever. He’d be flying under the radar if he did.
“I’m going to pass on taking that assignment for you,” Rainier said. “I’ve told you several times, I’m done with that work.”
Blom gave a heavy sigh. “This is different, and you know it. If you want me to hire your security company officially, it’s done. We can negotiate a price.”
“I’m not a hit man, Elliot. I don’t take contracts to kill innocents for money.” There was the merest thread of something lethal in Rainier’s voice.
“I’m going to say it again. Hawkin Wilder is going to end up in the news if someone doesn’t stop him. If I had to name the most dangerous man out there right now, it would be him.”
“I hear you. Maybe you’ll get lucky and your ambush worked.”
“I need to know who is behind that door.”
“I’ll tell you this much. Vienna is in that room, along with several other women visiting a friend of theirs. That friend is my client, and she’s a woman, not a man. That’s the only explanation you’re going to get.”
There was a long silence and then the sound of retreating footsteps. Harlow couldn’t help but compare that measured tread to the silence Blom’s agents used when they walked. She was just grateful the man left.
“Coward,” Vienna whispered.
“He should hire bodyguards twenty-four seven,” Stella said. “That man knows he’s in big trouble if Wilder is alive.”