Hidden Truth

Chad took in a long breath as though he were trying to collect himself. “So, was the guy’s death a suicide or what?”

“There’s no goddamned way. Someone shot him.” He thought of the handgun he’d left sitting on the ground beside the dead man. “The gun was too far away from the body. No major stippling around the entrance wound, and the bullet had lost enough velocity that it didn’t even travel through the entire skull—there was no exit wound. I’m guessing whoever pulled the trigger had to be at least ten to fifteen feet away.”

“And where did you say you found the man?”

“He was sitting up in a chair, like someone got the drop on him. He didn’t even have time to stand. He didn’t see it coming.”

“What about the rest of the hillbilly clan…did you find them? They alive or dead?”

“Hell if I know.” Trevor threw his hands into the air. “I’m hoping that they just ran off. We don’t need a dead family on our hands.”

“Did you get a chance to look around?” Chad asked. “Wait, did you and Sabrina call in the locals?”

Finally, Chad was beginning to understand the implications of his screwup. If only he hadn’t been in a hurry, they wouldn’t already be compromised.

“Sabrina went along with keeping it quiet, but I don’t know how long she’ll be up for maintaining that.” He glanced back inside, but the beautiful and stubborn woman was nowhere in sight. “She hasn’t been acting right, ever since…” I held her in my arms. He didn’t finish his thought.

“Huh? Ever since what?” Chad pressed.

“Since she saw the body. I’m afraid she may be a liability.”

“What are you saying?” Chad asked. “You think she needs to disappear?”

“No,” Trevor said, almost the same moment his brother had uttered the question. “No. We can’t harm her. She hasn’t done anything wrong. And who knows, maybe I made a mistake in thinking she can’t be trusted. Maybe she won’t be a problem.”

Chad shook his head. “What if she does tell someone? What if it comes out that we tried to cover up a man’s death at our new ranch?”

Trevor stared at his boots. “She wouldn’t…”

“Dude, if she tells anyone… First, we are going to look as guilty as hell. Second, our faces are going to be spread across the world in a matter of hours.”

“She won’t say anything.”

“And how are you going to know if she does or doesn’t? For all we know, she’s in there texting her mother’s brother’s cousin about what you guys found. Hell, she could be sending pictures of the dead guy.” Chad paused. “You know that I don’t want to hurt an innocent woman. Not after what happened in Turkey… And Trish…” Their sister’s name fell off his brother’s tongue like it was some secret code, some unspoken link between past and present.

“Then let’s leave her be.”

Chad shook his head. “No. If you don’t want to neutralize the threat, you’re going to have to watch her like a hawk. Every move she makes, you need to be there… hovering.”

“And what about the squatters? The body?”

Chad sighed. “What about it? Like you said, let that guy’s family handle it.”

“And what if they do, and they call the police?”

“If they haven’t already, they aren’t about to now.” Chad stared at him. “For all we know, one of them is the one who pulled the trigger—or else they’re lying out there in the woods somewhere, too. Either those bastards are on the run or they aren’t going to be spilling any secrets any time soon.”

“Do you think I should go back out there? See if I can find them? Make sure that they’re going to stay quiet?”

Chad stared out in the direction of the main pasture, but Trevor could tell that he wasn’t really looking at anything. “I’ll talk to Zoey and see if we can find out a little more on these Cussler guys. I want to know how many hillbillies were living out there, and who would have wanted them dead. I want to make sure that whoever is responsible for pulling that trigger isn’t about to bear down on us.”

His brother was right. They needed to make sure they weren’t about to be ambushed.

“Most importantly,” Chad continued, “I want you to keep Sabrina quiet. If you don’t…you know what’s at stake.”

“She won’t be a problem.” Trevor paused, thumbing the gun at his side and letting it comfort him from his barrage of thoughts. “Hey…you don’t think these Cussler guys have anything to do with STEALTH, do you?”

Chad shook his head, but from the way his face pinched, Trevor could tell that he was wondering the same thing. “Bayural and the Gray Wolves couldn’t know that we are here. Zoey has made it her business to make sure of it. Everything we did has been in cash, or through Bitcoin. We’re covered.”

“Just because our sister is a computer whiz, it doesn’t mean that we are safe. You know how easy it is to find someone, especially a group like our family. One stupid random selfie with us in the background and we’re in danger. They are using the same facial recognition software that we are.”

“Zoey has this under control,” Trevor said, trying to give them both a little comfort—it had always been his job to keep the peace within the family, a job that had proven harder than ever thanks to his failure with Trish. His mistake was something that neither he nor the rest of his siblings would ever forget. “Besides, Zoey has made it her personal mission to keep them chasing fake hits around the globe. From what she said this morning, she currently has us pinging at a marketplace in Cairo.”

Chad chuckled. “God, can you imagine those bastards’ faces when they realize that they’ve been set up? I would almost pay to see it.”

There was the clatter of pans hitting the floor from inside the kitchen.

Chad bounded up the porch steps and cracked the door. “Sabrina, you okay in there?”

“Fine, just fine!” she called back, sounding harried.

“Where did you find this woman?” Trevor asked, motioning toward the house.

“She came recommended from Gwen when we bought the ranch. They hired her when they were getting the ranch ready for us to take it over.”

“So, just because our cousin—whom we barely know—thinks this woman is trustworthy, you took her word for it?” Trevor was surprised. Chad wasn’t one for details but he was normally careful about who they brought into their lives.

“Brotato chip, you seriously have to pull the stick out of your ass. You’re starting to act like Jarrod.”

He was nothing like their oldest brother. Jarrod had been a lone wolf since the moment he called upon them to take their positions within the business. After he had set up STEALTH he hit the road, looking for assignments from various governments.

“I hope Zoey looked into her background,” Trevor pressed.

“Of course. Zoey said she was clean, nothing too much to tell. Looks like Sabrina had been travelling around the world with her military family until she turned eighteen, just working odds-and-ends jobs since then.”

It was in line with the little Sabrina had told him, but something still felt wrong. Trevor glanced toward the kitchen where Sabrina was working. Maybe someday, if he could just ease himself back into being a civilian, something might start feeling right.

A man could only hope.

Chapter Four (#u9f345e87-b006-5080-8800-4945bafafc53)

She sat in the corner of the barn, letting the streak of morning sun that was leaking through the siding spread over the tips of her boots. Though the beam had to be warm, she couldn’t feel it through the leather. Maybe the sun was just like the rest of her life…pretty to look at, but completely devoid of feeling.

Then again, yesterday had been full of them—at least when it came to Trevor. She glanced down at her phone and his picture. The photo was sharp, black-and-white, typical of the FBI. And yet it didn’t really capture the man she had met. No, in real life he was far less imposing than he seemed in the picture. The photo failed to show the way it felt to stand there encircled in his arms, and then to realize that he had been playing her from the moment they met.

She flipped to the email from her handler, Agent Mike Couer, and stared at the man’s instructions. She’d have to play nice, get along and then get out of there. If she didn’t screw this up, she could be in and out without the Martins even knowing who she was or what she did. She’d made it this far; as long as she didn’t get wrapped up in another set of arms, she’d be just fine.

For a moment she considered calling Mike and telling him about the body they had found, but she stopped. There wasn’t enough evidence to track this back to the family. Sure, she could probably take Trevor down for the murder, but that wasn’t what she was here for; no, she was here for them all. They had to be stopped before they put any more weapons into the hands of terrorist organizations…and that was to say nothing of the lives that they themselves had snuffed out. This family was likely responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, if not tens of thousands.