Break Me Open (19 page)

His eyes shifted to his monitor before glancing at me. He couldn't have much, but he had more than I thought a couple minutes ago.

"That’s got nothing to do with anything you're investigating," I said.

"Actually, it does. Now I wasn't sent here after you. I was sent to connect several very different pieces of gang activity. But in every case, your name turns up. It seems that you're at the center of this whole mess."

"You want to cut this vague bullshit? What exactly are you trying to lay at my feet?'

Meckler spun the monitor around. I saw my own face staring back at me - younger, smoother, unblemished, calm as the mind behind it.

"What happened to that kid?" he asked.

"He grew up."

"Into a solider? Or just a killer?"

"Same thing. Just depends on where you stand."

That shiny brow crossed with wrinkles. "Is that what you truly believe?"

I shrugged. I was a solider for the army. I was a soldier for the Wraiths. Turns out my mission wasn't that different. If he wanted those details though, he was going to have to get that warrant.

"Now I've been reading up on you,” Meckler said. “Like I said, there's not much they'll tell me. I did manage to get a tidbit from your court martial. Abandonment of duty, reckless endangerment of mission, direct disobedience that led to the dissolution of your team. You know, they never specified what dissolution meant. What does that mean?"

I imagined that dome of a head cracking like an eggshell. I gripped my hands so I would know where they were.

"It's a really clean word, dissolution,” he said swaying his chair back and forth. “But I don't think it was clean at all."

Clean. The only thing clean about it was how swiftly we’d been taken out. We were tasked with protecting a warlord who was a staunch ally of the US. His opium fields were being burned at night by a rival. That's what we were supposed to stop. A half squad of genetically augmented soldiers trained to operate and succeed in the most vicious enemy territories tasked with stopping narcotic arson. Maybe that warlord knew what he was getting. Maybe he thought we were just normal soldiers. Either way he’d figured out a better price for putting an end to the fires. He sent us into a killing field.

They had five shooters buried and waiting and there were six of us. Spiking doesn't help you outrun a sniper bullet. I was the one that turned out not to be in anyone's sights.

They should have brought another shooter.

Later, after the ambushers were watering the sands with their insides, I buried myself in with them and waited until the warlord’s armored SUV rolled past and he stopped to examine the price he'd paid. Idiot rolled down the window. I hit him right between the eyes.

When I stumbled back, I was told that he had been coerced by his bigger brother. That I had killed our biggest ally in the region. But they hadn't seen his eyes through a magnified lens. They hadn't seen the little twitch of a smile cross his face at the sight of his little victory over the great and mighty US army.

Clean? No, the whole thing was dirty through and through.

"I don't know what happened to my team. I don't really care. The only thing the army and I agreed on was that it was time for me to leave." I hoped he didn't see my eyes glaze as the faces of my first brothers flashed before me.

Meckler sighed. "I guess you're not what I hoped you were. Turns out all that's in front of me is the shell that was ejected after they were done with you."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"Which means, that I have to believe the accounts I heard from the men we have in custody. Men that claim there was a fifth Wraith on the scene the day of the shooting."

It must have been the guys that had tried to kidnap Katie. The ones I'd knocked out. "So you have two killers in your custody, and you're wasting time chasing-."

"A ghost? That's the way justice works. I'm sure you're familiar. Rest assured, the Scorpions are getting their due. But this ghost we're chasing also happens to be equipped with a large bore rifle which matches ballistics from several of the dead on the scene. A rifle which isn't accounted for. Now I don't suppose you can blame that on the Scorpions?"

"That's really your call."

"Then, of course, there's the body we found with that same entry signature a full block away. It was lying there right under a fire escape which just so happens to lead up to a rooftop where we found gunpowder residue on the sill overlooking the shootout."

"Very interesting."

"No biological residue though." His eyes rose to my buzz cut. "I guess you can thank the Army for a few things they built up in you."

And blame them for the parts rattling loose. "Is that all?"

Meckler shook his head sadly. "I like to open weak. Now, let me ask you something. The name Shane Tyrell ring a bell?"

"Nope."

Meckler flung around a picture of the dead man on the monitor. Here, the military training did help. I'd seen plenty of dead men - before and after I'd delivered the death. Made little difference. Especially not this asshole. I shifted my gaze back to Meckler without a flinch and waited.

"We have reports that you killed him."

"Ok. From the same men who blame me for the other shooting, I guess?"

"That's right."

"No chance they'd be lying, cause they've been killing guys from our club."

"Oh, sure, but in this case, they gave us a location. Biological proof."

There had been plenty of blood. Had we cleaned up enough?

"Do you?" I asked.

Meckler rapped at his table and watched me a bit longer as if that would crack me. "It's a matter of time. We're scouring every inch of the factory."

They had shit. I leaned in, just enough to show Meckler how much I cared. "Listen if you want me to deny rumors, just make up a list and email it to me. You may think I'm useless, but I’ve got stuff to do."

"Well, then how about we move on to the event where we have unbreakable proof. The abduction of Katie Phillips."

"Abduction? I recall saving her from two Scorpion goons."

"Oh, that, everyone agrees on. It's why I thought we might have common ground early on, before you corrected me."

I actually wasn't sure how legal my actions there were. I tried to keep my relief to myself. "Well, I'm happy to testify at the trial of the men who attacked her, if that's what you want."

"We'll make do," Meckler said. "But what interests me more is that she's the sole remaining reported witness to the murder of Mr. Tyrell."

"And she told you this or are we going back to the words of those upstanding citizens in your local jail cell."

"I'd love to ask her," Meckler said. "Do you know where she might be?"

"If she wants to contact you, she will."

"Can she?" Meckler's face grew completely dark. "She's got no contacts. No family. Her one friend we talked to refuses to report her missing. I don't know why.” He paused, glanced at the screen - a picture of her now, now doubt. “I promise you this. If something happened to her and you lied to my face, I will watch you burn."

I moved in even closer. "Nothing. Will ever. Happen to her."

Meckler’s frowned stayed on a few seconds longer. Then it turned the other way, into a smile. "I see.”

Shit. He'd got me. "She's not involved with this."

"Oh yeah?" Meckler leaned back, more relaxed. "She's saving you, and you got her convinced that you're doing her the favor by keeping her away from us?"

I shook my head, before I could stop myself. "Just leave her out."

"Wow." Meckler started laughing, and I looked away. Half to get rid of the sight of his stupid face, half to remind myself that I would be arrested for knocking it off him.

"Listen," he said. "I'm not even your biggest problem. That's a good girl you've brought into your world. You think you can keep her safe?"

"My only problem at the moment is having to sit in this damn chair. Are we done?"

Meckler slammed his palm into the table. "Done? You come in here acting as if you're doing me a favor. You want to run out the clock? Fine. We cracked those guys we caught. They're telling the truth. We can trace it back through all the connections and soon we’ll have what we need to get you. So are we done? No, I expect you'll be seeing a lot of me."

The outburst didn't bother me much. It was generally a good sign. He was letting out steam cause he couldn’t do much else. But he had a point. Time was not on my side. If they searched hard and long enough they would find me.

But why would they? They still hadn’t answered that. They were pulling at threads, but what were they trying to unravel?

"You're not here for me," I said. "You’re not here for Shane. You're not even really here to investigate a multiple homicide. So, why are you here?"

"We're not here for just you. But we are going to clean this town up. This little pissant blotch on the map is becoming a focus for Mexican gun running." Meckler swiped the table. "This little gun fight's just the noose we need to wrap you up with."

Mexican gun running. I remembered the gleaming carbon-steel semi-autos the Scorpions had taken down my crew with. "The Wraiths have nothing to do with that."

"Oh, no, of course not."

"Hey," I leaned in on the table. "I'm serious. Did you see the stuff our guys’ bodies were carrying? Why would we be...defending ourselves with that shit if we had Cartel sugar daddies?"

"Maybe it's you. Maybe it's them. I think -"

"It's them. They're not gonna use two groups to peddle their shit. That's just grounds for trouble."

Meckler leaned back, frowning, but the deep kind that comes with thought.

I pressed on. "Our guys aren't saints. But they're just a bunch of busted men with no hopes and no future. They aren't a vanguard for some Mexican crime lord."

Then again, Nico was 100% Mexican. I wondered why they hadn't approached him.

"We'll see," Meckler said. "The truth will come out." He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it should," I said.

"Your cooperation in that matter would go quite some way toward repairing your image."

Our gaze met and an understanding passed from him to me. He was willing to take his pound of flesh from the Scorpions so long as he had the proof in hand. If I didn't know better, I would have considered myself deputized.

"Can I go now, Agent Meckler?" I asked.

"Yeah, alright."

We got up. He stayed in place, but as I went for the door he spoke up.

"That girl," he said. "Make sure you know what you are doing with her. I don't want to have to pick her up in a body bag."

"She’ll stay safe," I said. "Don't worry."

He nodded. I stalked out past the clumsy recruit manning the front and escaped into the sun.

By the time I walked the short distance to my bike, I had the plan. Meckler and his partner had bigger game in their sights. And oddly enough, none of the sins they were after were truly ours. I'd have to convince Nico, but the thing to do was to help the FBI. To get them someone they could hang.

Gyro.

I rode back home formulating the plan, but what kept coming to mind was Meckler's warning about Katie. Putting her in harm's way. She had stumbled there, and I had kept her alive through it. What was I doing now? Housing her with the people who had tried to have her killed?

If all I cared about was her, then she'd be in a safehouse with Meckler in LA, waiting to testify. Our guys weren't fucking assassins. They wouldn't go after her.

Sighing's hard with the wind roaring past on a chopper, but I managed somehow. I parked by the others at The Oasis and sank into its depths. It was lunch. I figured I could get some with Katie before pow wowing with Nico.

Couldn't find her. I searched the booths, checked my bunkhouse. Even waited at the women's room door till some spiky haired chick came out and bared teeth as she caught sight of me.

Only room for one there. My heart began to pound. I reached instinctively for a spike, but kept it at bay. Denise was in the kitchen and I went to her.

"Hey honey," she said. "How were the feds? Oh, what's wrong?"

"Katie. Have you seen her?"

"Sure."

She shrugged so slowly. I nudged her forward. "Where is she?"

"She went to town with Trig a half hour ago."