Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Adriana was risking her career for them, and he hated his team was putting her in that position, but he wasn’t sure if they had any other choice.
“I really like her,” Jessica said over speakerphone as they drove.
Knox, Luke, Liam, and Asher were en route to Aaron’s neighborhood to meet him as scheduled.
“I wish you’d brought her around sooner,” Jessica added.
“And you would’ve scared her off,” Knox replied. “You weren’t always so lovey-dovey.”
“That’s fairly accurate,” Luke said with a laugh.
“You’re no one to talk,” Jessica shot back.
“Any word from the boys yet?” Asher asked from the back seat.
Echo Team would be attempting to infil the militia compound in a not-so-covert way by knocking on the door. Or fence. Whatever the hell they had for an entry.
“They’re thirteen mikes out,” she said. “If this militia is as low-tech as they appear to be, this should be an easy in and out. But Roman’s going to wear the new camera I designed. Harper will be able to see and hear everything, and there’s no tech on the market that can detect it.”
“Wait. We’re sending Roman?” Liam asked. “Chris or Finn. Yeah. Roman? No. What kind of conversation will he have? The guy hates talking.”
“Yeah, exactly. Chris and Finn aren’t the best actors. You’ve seen them,” Asher said, sitting alongside Liam.
“Roman has the whole quiet thing going for him. It’ll work, I promise,” Jessica added.
“If you say so,” Liam responded on a sigh.
“Anyway, we’re here. If Knox and I are still inside with Aaron, let Asher know when Roman enters the compound,” Luke said as he parked on the street.
“Stay safe,” she said, and Luke ended the call and handed out comms.
“Liam, stick to the front. Keep an eye on the squad car that’s monitoring Aaron’s house,” Luke instructed and shifted his focus to Asher. “Stay in the car. Be on standby if we discover this is a trap.”
Knox got out of the vehicle, and a few seconds later, he and Luke made their way to the property and climbed over the fence to get into the woman’s backyard.
The back porch light was off, but one interior light was on. No movement from the inside from what they could see.
The back door swung open. “Come in,” a female voice called out.
Luke approached first and announced, “We’re good.”
A whiff of fried meat met his nose once inside. The woman really was cooking, wasn’t she?
They entered the kitchen and found her standing over the stove. “You staying for dinner?” she asked as her dog ran up to them and began excitedly spinning in circles.
Knox resisted the urge to reach down and pet the Yorkie, needing to keep his hands ready if he had to draw his weapon.
“No, ma’am,” Luke responded. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“What?” She set her spatula down and faced him. “Of course not. He’s a sweet boy. He’s in my son’s old bedroom. Second door down on the right.”
Luke glimpsed Knox with a surprised, Are we in the Twilight Zone? kind of look.
“Someone has to stand up for vets. God knows people have turned their backs on them.” She pointed to the hall. “If you change your mind, dinner will be ready in thirty minutes.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Luke moved first, clearly hesitant as if worried the woman had a shotgun hidden under her apron and this was an extravagant mind fuck.
Knox tapped his ear. “We’re on approach. Good so far.”
“Roger that. Back is still clear,” Asher replied.
“Good out front,” Liam noted. “The officer did a perimeter sweep of Aaron’s house, and he’s in his car.”
Luke peered at Knox from over his shoulder, his Sig in hand, and he called out Aaron’s name. “Show me your hands,” he said at the sight of Aaron peeking out from the bedroom, and Knox drew his 45.
Aaron raised his hands above his head. “Come in.”
Luke checked the room and motioned the all clear to Knox. “I’m gonna take a look at the rest of the house. Stay with him.”
“Roger that.” Knox went into the bedroom with Aaron and motioned with his gun to sit on the bed.
“We’re clear,” Luke told Bravo Three and Four over comms when he rejoined the room. “So, you want to tell us what the hell is going on?”
The room had a twin bed, one nightstand, and a small desk. A few faded posters of Charlotte Hornets basketball players—from about thirty years ago—clung to the walls for dear life as the tape peeled at the edges.
“I had nothing to do with this, you can ask her.” Aaron pointed to the door, even though the woman wasn’t standing there.
“Then why not go to the police? Why’d your neighbor say she saw you take off on your bike after your face was all over the news?” Knox asked.
Aaron appeared young right now. Like the teen who once inhabited the room. Lonely and scared. Not one bit a SEAL. “Because I asked her to lie.”
Luke shook his head. “Let’s go over what we know.
You were dating a girl who worked at the hotel from where shots were fired at Senator Bennett and his wife.
When questioned by the FBI, she had bruises on her face, and she said you were responsible for that.
” He paused for a breath. “The same rifle that you own, and is missing from your home, was used to shoot at Bennett. Then there’s the email. ”
“And Chelsea being dead and you dropping the knife—well, it clearly looks pretty shitty for you,” Knox added and Aaron held his palms in the air.
“But it’s also why we think you’re being set up.
The problem with that theory is usually the guy being framed never lives to see the light of day so the truth can die, too. ”
“But the shooter missed, and so, they needed you alive until they went after Bennett again,” Luke said. “But why would they let you run in the first place?”
Aaron tore his hands through his hair. “Monday night I went to bed with Chelsea, and the next morning, I woke up tied to my bed and both Ike and Chelsea were there. I hadn’t seen him since I lived in Texas, so to see him—and with her—was a surprise.”
Knox glanced at Luke then focused back on Aaron, not sure if they could believe the guy.
“Ike had unlocked my safe with my key, grabbed my rifle and ammo, then informed me I’d be doing my patriotic duty by dying in the name of liberty. Then he kissed Chelsea and left.”
“Are they a couple?” Luke asked.
“I guess so, but I don’t think she loved him. Not anymore, at least. She’d been trembling when she went on to my laptop in my room, and tears started pouring down her face when she returned from my bathroom with bottles of my meds.”
“Make it look like a suicide?” Luke asked.
“Yeah. I tried to get her to explain to me what was going on, but she could barely talk. Just kept crying.” He took a shaky breath. “She sat by the bed with a phone in her hand, and then when the call came—”
“It wasn’t the call Chelsea expected,” Knox finished for him. “Because Ike missed the shot. And since they sent the threatening email and already set everything up to make it look like you were the shooter, they couldn’t risk you’d get arrested before their second attempt to kill my dad.”
“So, how’d you get away?” Luke asked, but he kept his gun in the same position, pressed against his abdomen with his free hand resting atop his other.
“She was supposed to force me at gunpoint to get into my car, then drug me once I was in the back seat so she could go meet up with Ike.”
Knox’s gaze dipped to the faint bruises on Aaron’s knuckles.
“I asked Chelsea to let me go. I said I’d take the fall for the shooting if that’s what she needed to happen, and I’d never show my face again if she’d let me live.
She told me to hit her a few times. She said it’d be the only way.
She’d tell Ike I overpowered her, we struggled, and I got away—that was going to be the plan.
” His arms stretched, palms up, as shame slid across his face.
“She kissed me goodbye with her lip still bleeding, then took off.”
“All that planning, and she let you go?” Knox asked in disbelief.
He smoothed a palm over his bruised hand. “I guess she didn’t plan on falling in love with me.”
“Why not go to the police as soon as she let you go?” Luke asked.
“I was worried he’d kill her, and I made a promise.”
“You didn’t really plan on holding up that promise, did you? You’d let my dad die to save her?”
“I knew the police would never believe I was innocent, anyway, so I came over to Judy’s house and asked a pretty big favor. And then I was going to come up with a plan to save Chelsea and take down Ike.”
“So, you were here when the Feds went to your place on Wednesday?” Luke asked.
“Yeah.”
“Why have your neighbor lie and say you took off from your home only after the news broke the story that you were a suspect?” Knox holstered his gun at the sight of Luke stowing his Sig.
“Because I was hoping that’d trigger some sort of alarm for the Feds, so they’d wonder why I waited to run until then.”
Well, it worked. “You saw your neighbor talk to the Secret Service that day then?”
He nodded. “Then I saw the same agent on the news with you guys at the truck station yesterday. I figured you guys were solid since you took down Ike.”
“And who do you think leaked your name to the press?” He wasn’t sure if he was prepared to buy the story yet.
“I don’t know. Maybe Ike thought it’d help draw me out to find me quicker.” He shrugged.
“So, how’d Chelsea die?” Knox asked. “If Ike killed her, why wait almost forty-eight hours after she let you go to do it?”
“I killed her.” His brows drew together.
Knox began to reach for his gun, but Aaron held up a palm.
“Not literally, but if I hadn’t convinced her to let me go, Ike probably wouldn’t have hurt her.”
“So what the hell happened?” Knox’s shoulders relaxed a touch.
“I’d been keeping an eye on her. I saw the FBI pick her up for questioning, then I stayed outside her place that night. I hoped Ike had bought her story about me, but I wanted to make certain she was okay.”