Chapter 8
8
MILA
“Well, that was a bust,” I muttered as soon as Ethan closed the driver’s door, and we both settled into the front seat of his truck.
“Thought it might be,” he admitted. “I would’ve been surprised if Skinner showed his face at Hank’s.”
I realized that when I suggested Hank’s, knowing the local bar was loaded with FBI agents and cops because the owner of Hank’s was a retired agent himself, but it was still the only place Striker would agree to. He was too protective of her to let anything, or anyone, get close, making our jobs nearly impossible.
He put the truck in drive and pulled out of the parking lot. “Still want to go to the house?”
“Might as well,” I answered. “We’re not making headway by just sitting on this. We need to force him to make a move or dig until we find what we need.”
I cleared my throat. “Did you get the impression something was going on between Striker and Beth?”
He glanced my way before facing the windshield again. “What do you mean?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think they may have left their old relationship behind and are starting something new.”
He was quiet for a minute. “Yeah, I can see that. Striker’s been different lately. He seems...”
I finished his thought. “More open.”
He nodded. “Yeah, and more engaged with the team.” He snorted. “He even asked me how I was doing, which he never has before.” He glanced my way again, his expression serious. “But don’t tell him I told you that.”
I chuckled. “I won’t.?Dealing with Striker is like approaching a scared animal.”
This time, he laughed, and the sound engulfed me. I couldn’t explain why, but making Ethan laugh was a highlight for me. He’d been a little short with me lately, and the friendship I’d hoped we’d been developing seemed like it was becoming less likely, but maybe I’d been wrong.
“I can’t believe Striker has a sister. And that she showed up at the office looking for him.”
Ethan glanced at me before facing the road again. “Kyle said he’s not handling it well.”
“Why not?”
“Guess his childhood was bad. His mom left him and hooked up with Bridget Hollis’s dad. His mom was an addict, though, so she didn’t stick around to raise Bridget either.”
“What made her start looking for Striker?”
“Kyle said her dad died,” Ethan explained. “She didn’t have any other family, so when she found out about Striker, she wanted to get to know him.”
“Hmm…” I sighed. “That’s sad. I hope Striker gives her a chance.”
“Kyle said Striker hasn’t called her, but he’s taking care of it.”
My head snapped toward Ethan. “Kyle’s taking care of it? What the hell does that mean?”
“No idea.” Ethan snorted. “But I hope he knows what he’s doing.”
“Yeah, me too,” I agreed.
“Wonder what the plan will be if Skinner doesn’t make a move soon?” Ethan asked, turning the conversation back to the case.
“That’s a good question,” I acknowledged. “Patience isn’t exactly in any of our DNA.”
He snorted and glanced my way before focusing on the road again. “That’s true.”
Silence filled the cab of the truck, and I think we were lost in our thoughts about what could possibly turn this case in the direction we needed it to go. Nothing was working. We were doing everything we could think of, but Skinner just wasn’t making a move, causing a lot of anxiety for everyone. We were almost at Rick Skinner’s house when my cell phone rang. Pulling it from my pocket, I frowned but hit accept just as Ethan spoke. “Who is it?”
“Brody.”
Putting the phone to my ear, I never even said hello before Brody spoke. “You with Ethan?”
“Yeah.”
“Put me on speaker.”
I looked at Ethan with wide eyes and did what he asked. “What’s going on?”
“He has Beth.” Brody growled.
“What the fuck happened?” Ethan slammed on the brakes and did a U-turn in the middle of the road to head back toward New Hope. “We were with them less than an hour ago.”
“Fucker was in the apartment, from what we can tell. At some point, Beth called Sydney for help, and Syd called Cam. Striker was shot. They just loaded him in the ambulance.”
I closed my eyes. This was exactly what we’d been trying to avoid. “How bad?”
“Not sure yet. He was unconscious when Kyle got there.”
“Where do you want us?” Ethan asked.
“Elite,” he ordered. “I’m driving to the hospital now, but everyone else is meeting at Elite. Mila, I need you to start digging into Max Skinner online until Kyle arrives. Ethan, pull the damn security footage from the apartment building. We need to know how the fucker got past our system.”
“Got it,” he replied immediately.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I know more.”
And then he hung up.
To say I was in shock would be a bit of an understatement. I stared out the side window questioning every choice we made in the past few weeks and how we screwed up badly enough that we lost Beth and possibly Striker.
“We’re gonna find her,” Ethan said, but I wasn’t sure if it was for my benefit or his.
“I just didn’t think it could happen,” I admitted, shock filling my tone. “We took every precaution. How did he get past us?”
“That’s what we need to figure out.”
I looked at my watch. “We don’t even know how long he’s had her.”
“Look, if he wanted her dead, she would be,” Ethan pointed out. “He wants something else from her.”
“Yeah. But what?” I wondered aloud.
Ethan drove fast, and we ran into the offices in less than fifteen minutes. Jax met us just as we cleared the front door.
“We know anything yet?” I asked.
“He’s getting stitched up. Doesn’t look too bad. Brody said they’re heading back here as soon as he’s released.”
“He agreed to that?” Ethan sounded as surprised as I felt.
“Not yet,” Jax stated. “But if anyone can convince him, it’s Brody and Kyle.” He gestured toward the conference room. “Grab your laptops. We’ll work until they get here.”
We hurried to our offices and grabbed our stuff before settling in the conference room and getting to work, but we hadn’t found much before Striker, Brody, and Kyle walked through the open door.
“Any damage?” Jax asked, but Striker only stared at him. I didn’t know what they promised him to get him to come to the office, but it must’ve been good because there wasn’t a doubt in my mind after seeing his face that he wanted to be hunting instead.
Cam walked in behind them and threw his phone on the table before motioning for them to sit. “Sydney recorded this. I was out on a call when she finally reached me. Sent out units right away and called Jax, who had men”—he looked up at Mila—“and women en route immediately.”
Cam glanced at Jax, who crossed his arms over his chest and nodded once. The conference room grew eerily quiet while we listened, and the first sound I heard clearly was the gunshot, followed by Beth’s scream tearing through the silence.
“Get up.”
I stared at Striker while we listened to the recording and wondered if this was a good idea.
“Get the fuck up now!”
Some noises sounded like movement. “Let’s go.”
“No.” Beth’s voice sounded strong when she gave the reply none of us expected.
“What are you gonna do? Shoot me? Over this piece of shit?”
After a moment of silence, he spoke again. “He’s a killer, Elizabeth. Just like your brother and me.”
“He’s nothing like you.”
“He doesn’t care about you. He’s only protecting you because he’s being paid to do it. No one ever cared about you, Beth. You’re weak. I know it; you know it. Danny knew it. That’s how he got you to do the shit you did.”
“You need to leave.” There was fear in her voice, but she still sounded strong and confident. Pride soared through me, knowing she defended herself and wasn’t the victim he expected her to be, but that pride was tainted. This could backfire on her, and we all knew it.
“I’m not leaving, bitch. I would’ve already killed you if I didn’t need the money you owe me.”
“Money? What money?”
“What Danny promised me. I know he left it all to you, and it’s in a safe deposit box. You’re going to walk out of here with me right now and take me to that box. And if you’re really nice to me, I may just let you live.”
“What the fuck is he talking about?” Striker said right before I heard Beth repeat what she’d been saying. “No.”
“You’re a victim, and you always will be, Elizabeth. You never defended yourself. You never did anything to save yourself, so there isn’t a doubt in my fucking mind that you won’t do it now. I’m tired of fucking around with you. Put the fucking gun down, and let’s go.”
It took a moment, but then I heard her voice, and she sounded so defeated. “You’re right, Max. I never did anything to save myself. Until I decided I was tired of being the victim.” A grin tugged at my lips when I heard the confidence in her tone. “And I won’t let him be one either.”
The shot sounded like a blast in the otherwise quiet room while we all listened.
“She shot him,” I whispered. “That’s good. It should slow them down.”
“We don’t know that she actually hit him,” Jax replied, cursing under his breath when the recording stopped.
He looked up at Striker. “What money?”
“No idea,” he answered. “Never heard about a safe deposit box. He was talking about shit owed to him but never mentioned a safe deposit box when I was conscious.”
“When did you lose consciousness?” Jax asked.
“Covered Beth when he shot but slammed my forehead off the fucking floor.”
Cam shifted his attention to Kyle. “You ever hear about it?”
He shook his head. “Never came up in any shit I found either.”
“He thinks there’s one.” Brody put his hands on his hips. “That means until he finds it, she’ll be alive.”
Striker slowly faced Brody, and while anger was dominant in his expression, fear simmered just below the surface. “No way to know that.”
Brody watched him closely. “Can’t let you go after her.”
“You can’t stop me.” He pushed away from the table. “But I’d like to see you try.”
Kyle slapped his hand against Striker’s chest while Brody spoke quietly. “We are not your enemy right now, and we want this bastard almost as much as you do. I promised you we’d keep her safe, and we failed.” Brody’s voice hardened. “We will find her and bring her home to you.”
“I failed. I was distracted with her behind me. Saw him pull the fucking gun but was afraid of her getting caught in the crossfire, so I held back. I should’ve shot the bastard,” Striker admitted.
“Don’t second-guess it, brother.” Brody put his hands on his hips. “You have good instincts. If it was safe to fire, you would’ve.” He twisted his neck to look at Jax. “You wanna lay out the plan so far?”
Striker replied before Jax had the chance. “The plan is to tear apart this fucking town until I find the bastard and then end his life slowly. Like I should’ve already done.”
“We’re civilians, brother. I can’t protect you from any consequences if you follow that plan.”
“Don’t care about any fucking consequences.”
“Beth will.” I spoke for the first time, knowing Beth’s opinion needed to be shared. She did what she did in an effort to save him, and she wouldn’t want him to do anything to jeopardize himself or this team. “She’s going to need you, Striker, and not just to find her and bring her home. She’s going to need you to be free after we do that.” I stood and leaned over the table. “If you can’t keep it in check for yourself, then keep it in check for her.”
He studied me for a long moment before jerking up his chin and shifting his attention back to Brody, and I breathed a sigh of relief. He was willing to give us a chance to find her as a team.
But I had no doubt that he would go rogue if we didn’t make progress and make it quickly.
And then all bets were off.