Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“No. Don’t you dare try to paint my wife out to be someone she wasn’t,” Carter roared. Chris pivoted to find him standing in the double door entrance to the living room, hands fisted at his sides, a murderous look on his face. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
Bear abruptly spun around to face Carter and growled menacingly as he stood to block the man’s path.
When he peeled back his lips and showed his teeth, Rory whispered a command.
Bear hesitantly heeled, but he remained on guard.
Ears pointed, eyes on Carter. Chris was on the same page as Bear, but he didn’t think Rory would appreciate him growling and baring his teeth at the man.
“We don’t know anything for certain.” Chris lifted his hand as if his palm might act like a shield and block Carter’s rage.
“I get it, man. I do,” A.J. said, surprising Chris by speaking up. “People thought my wife was a traitor. Well, before she was my wife. And so, I get what it feels like to have someone you care about—”
“Is she dead?” Carter interrupted, then paused for effect. “No, I didn’t think so. So no, you can’t possibly understand.”
A tiny warning growl escaped Bear again—a don’t you think about it sound.
Rory stroked Bear’s head. “I don’t believe Rebecca set me up. There has to be another explanation. She would never do that.”
Chris was impressed at how well Rory was able to maintain a calm and reassuring tone.
Carter’s eyes dipped to Bear, who wasn’t quite calm yet based on his low snarl. “What do we know?”
Jessica removed her black frames and massaged the bridge of her nose, then placed her glasses back on. She was buying herself time. He’d seen her do that about a hundred times over the years. Or more like she was giving everyone a chance to mentally brace themselves.
“If I understand correctly, the list consisted of twenty-five names that were in your open case files. And the CIA denied you permission to pursue them, correct?” Jessica began, and Carter nodded.
“At the time, neither Josef nor Santiago were on your radar. From what we have gathered through our contacts at the CIA, MI6, and at Interpol as well as the transcripts they’ve shared, there’s one common denominator—no mention of The Italian in any of their interviews with the apprehended smugglers.
Not even Santiago or Josef provided The Italian’s name. Santiago only mentioned him to you.”
That’s right. The CIA didn’t make the deal with Santiago.
“What we do know is that somehow Rebecca gained access to your list and then gave the list to Rory. She also told Rory she strongly believed all of the targets were connected to one person. But you never said as much to Rebecca, did you? You didn’t know your wife had the list. So, why would she have come to that conclusion?
” Harper asked and slowly rose, setting her hands to the table, eyes on Carter.
“One possibility is that three years ago when Rebecca went to meet with Josef for whatever reason, she happened upon Rory and subsequently told The Italian about Rory and her mission. The other possibility is that Rebecca was aware of Rory and her mission before Rory even went to Cartagena, and it wasn’t fate or chance that brought them together. ”
Chris turned to check for Carter’s reaction. In his mind, the second option sounded more realistic to him.
“No.” Carter took one step, which prompted Bear to lift his chin and growl yet again.
Good boy.
“A.J., would you mind taking him out of here for now?” Rory asked, noticing Bear was in no mood to play games with any potential threats. He may not have had much training with Rory and Chris, but his instincts were on point. “I’d prefer he not rip off Carter’s arm. He still needs training.”
“Come on, boy.” A.J. whistled to Bear. When Rory released him with a command, Bear tossed one fierce look Carter’s way before following A.J. out of the room.
“Rory, you said it wasn’t until your second time in Cartagena that you met Rebecca, right?
” Jessica asked while Carter went to the window that overlooked the pool and set a palm to the glass.
“What exactly did she say to you? Any way she could have been waiting for you there? When you arrived in Colombia, how long did you wait before going to the compound that second time?”
With Carter’s focus elsewhere, Chris allowed himself to ease up on his guarded stance and listen closely to Jessica.
He assumed Jessica’s last question was meant to establish a timeline to determine whether Rebecca managed to meet up with Rory outside Josef’s home by chance, or whether the entire incident was arranged on purpose.
And if so, how the hell did Rebecca do that?
Rory’s gaze darted to Chris, her hands clenched at her sides. Like Carter, she didn’t want to believe Rebecca had played her. But something sure as hell didn’t add up.
“I arrived in Colombia a week prior to do recon. Check for patterns in Josef’s schedule.
Find the best time to make my move. I did the same with the antiquities buyers, too.
Every morning, like clockwork, Josef went for a forty-five-minute jog.
Five guards surrounded him like he was the president of his country.
So, I chose to make my move while he ran on my seventh day in Cartagena. ”
“Did you ask Rebecca about her meeting? Why was she there if Josef wasn’t home?” Chris asked, a few unfortunate alarms sounding off in his head.
“Rebecca said it was fate she arrived early to help me. She seemed nervous, though. I mean, she was in disguise like me . . . wig and sunglasses, but I could tell that she was scared. I just assumed it was due to her first time going after a smuggler, and when she saw that I’d been stabbed, she realized the same could’ve happened to her.
” Rory carried her focus to Carter, her eyes apologetic, but Carter didn’t turn.
The ruthless man was a grieving widower right now. And Chris refused to place himself in Carter’s shoes because he couldn’t contemplate for one second the idea of losing Rory.
“I snuck out of the hospital the next day, as soon as I was able to walk. The nurses had removed my wig before surgery, and I didn’t want to chance being identified, so on my second day in the hospital, I called the number Rebecca had given me when she dropped me off.
Then I slipped out of my room, disguise back on, and Rebecca drove the getaway car.
” Rory paused for a breath. “Rebecca brought me back to my hotel but asked to meet up for lunch the next day before I left. Even though I wanted to get out of the city as soon as possible, I was curious to meet another woman like me.”
Carter slowly faced the room. “I know what you all must think, but my wife would never do this. She had political aspirations. Senate in ten years. President after that.” His gaze fell to the floor.
“My wife would never consort with a criminal. Do his bidding. What you’re trying to tell me doesn’t make any sense. ”
“And you were as shocked as I was to learn she was hunting smugglers,” Rory pointed out, which couldn’t be easy for her since she clearly wanted to believe Rebecca was innocent. “People can surprise us. Do things that don’t make sense.”
Rory certainly surprised the hell out of Chris but in the best possible way.
“Maybe The Italian, or one of his associates, manipulated your wife somehow. Forced her to look into your files. He targeted her because of your job. Blackmail, maybe?” Roman spoke up.
“You stuck to that list, aside from when Carter lured you to France. You stayed the course,” Harper said to Rory after allowing Roman’s comment to stick.
“It’s possible The Italian learned of your plan to go after Josef in Cartagena and took the opportunity to make a plan of his own.
Let’s just assume The Italian was blackmailing Rebecca.
He forced her to steal intel from Carter and then drew up the list of twenty-five smugglers that were on the CIA’s radar.
He then instructed her to pass the list on to Rory.
Not only as a distraction but to help him build his network out of low-level smuggling rings, which would never be the wiser. ”
“And then Rory deviated from the list,” Chris said as understanding dawned on him. “But it took the CIA two months to send us after Santiago. The Italian may not have known it was Rory who helped take down Santiago since Rory had already retired by the time he was picked up.”
“If The Italian knew about Rory all this time because he was using her, why let her live after she stopped chasing the targets?” Carter challenged, his eyes pinned to Chris as he took one step in his direction.
“It wasn’t until Carter ambushed the CIA’s transport and took Santiago that The Italian went after Rory,” Jessica announced.
“Looks to me like you’re the one who knows The Italian,” Carter said, standing too close to Rory for Chris’s liking.
“Or at least someone close to Rory has been watching out for her, keeping her alive.” Chris’s stomach dropped like the very first time he was about to jump from a plane during training.
“Danny? Could it be him?” Rory brought a hand up and massaged her forehead with her fingertips as if all the shitty news had given her a migraine. “We hunted antiquities smugglers together. He knew my methods.”
“What if he kept an eye on you after you thought you’d parted ways?” Chris proposed and hated that his words might cause her additional pain. “What if he learned you went to Cartagena, and he told Santiago or Cutter that you stumbled upon something you shouldn’t have?”
Now that made the most sense to him. Not fate or some cosmic interference.
“Danny and Andrew might be criminals, but I know they cared about me.” Rory’s lip trembled as she spoke.
“Maybe they cut a deal with The Italian to keep me alive as long as I didn’t go after any more of his smugglers.
” Her eyes widened a fraction as if a thought had struck her.
“That’s why Andrew was insistent upon talking to me at the ball.
He wanted to save me. Maybe he arranged for his people to take us.
To keep us safe from The Italian. But, oh God, we killed them. ”
Chris kept his mouth closed, knowing there was no damn way Andrew was a hero in this scenario. Hell, no.
“Or Andrew was ordered to go after you. Rory, don’t forget, Carter has footage of Danny exiting his house the day before Rebecca was murdered, as well as Santiago’s confession,” Harper whispered the truth Chris also believed.
“I’d go to the ends of the earth to save you,” Chris declared fiercely, unable to keep the emotion from his tone, “but do you really think Andrew would do the same? If he was working for The Italian, would he choose you over himself?”
Rory’s hand fell from her forehead. “How many people have lied to me? Used and manipulated me? How could I be so stupid?”
Chris immediately reached for her and gripped on to her arms. “Hey, this isn’t your fault. What you were up against—”
“Where are you going?” The sound of Liam’s raised voice had Chris turning to see Carter heading for the doors.
Carter tossed a look back over his shoulder. “I’m going to talk to Santiago again.”
“Then I’ll go with you,” Liam said, on the move already.
“I still don’t think Rebecca meant to—”
“Neither do I, and I’ll prove it,” Carter interrupted Rory before striding out of the room like a man on a mission, a man ready to torture a guy.