Deadly Testimony (22 page)

His old boss snorted. “Goddamned fresh off the boat. Don’t you know anyone can get a driver’s license in this state? You don’t even have to be a fucking citizen of the United States of America to get a license to drive in this state. How do you not have one?”

Kyle raised his eyebrows. “I was not aware.”

His boss could go on for a while, given the opportunity. The man loved to vent.

“How do you get through security at airports, then? We’ve sent you on so many business trips, I’ve fucking lost count.”

Kyle shrugged. “I have a US passport.”

His boss barked out a laugh. “Yeah. You are a citizen at least. Been here long enough to have a green card, become a citizen. Good for you. Look, your family is damned proud.”

His sister and her son were frightened. They were clean, appeared unharmed, but both had dark circles under their eyes from lack of sleep. They were also unable to say anything as duct tape was securely fastened across their mouths.

“Your hospitality is not one of your strong points.” Kyle hoped he could set his former employer off on another rant. But he did not want to push too hard. He’d have to rein in his usual sarcasm and keep it light.

“Hah.” The man wagged a stumpy finger at him. “You know what was never right about you, Yeun? You can tell English isn’t your first language. You’re always so proper about how you speak. So fucking formal. I’m a strong believer in not trusting anyone who doesn’t curse.”

Everyone had their pet peeves. For Kyle, he enjoyed language and conversation. In particular, he tried to be engaging so he could enter into more of both. In this case, he kept his mouth shut.

“Okay. This has been a shit show.” His old boss wiped sweat from his brow. “You’ve caused way the hell more trouble than you’re worth and dragged me into this. I didn’t need to be involved. But of course, you go squealing to the police and I have accountability. I gotta get this cleaned up. Best thing is to make sure you don’t go to trial tomorrow.”

Kyle swallowed hard. This wasn’t unexpected but it definitely could have gone better. “I thought the intent was for me to change my testimony. Wouldn’t that be much safer for everyone?”

His boss laughed. It was an obnoxious sound, the echo of it bouncing off the huge containers around them. “Do you think I’m going to trust you after you got us here in the first place?”

Kyle didn’t have an answer. He could try for reassurance but they both knew he’d say anything at this point.

“And these two. They’ve seen you and heard us both discuss this.” The man waved vaguely at Kyle’s sister and nephew. “It’s much cleaner to deal with this mess now instead of letting you all run lose. Can’t rely on you being grateful for your lives. People forget to be afraid after a while. It just doesn’t work out.”

Well, the man had a point. A good one.

“We’ve got you all here and we can make sure you disappear. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.” His boss let out a gusty sigh. “Even if you run, I won’t even have to try to come after you. There’s no place you can get to where you won’t be shot down like a dog. Trust me.”

No trade then. No chance of getting his sister and nephew away from the man who had them.

Lizzy hadn’t updated them to reveal whether the other sniper was out there. She’d only confirmed she was in position. He wasn’t going to doubt her. No. He was going to have faith. Since the very beginning Lizzy had shown him she followed through with what she said she was going to do and she made things happen.

He’d have to do the same.

“Do you think you can play with people’s lives this way without consequences? This trial is highly publicized. Eliminating me will only draw further investigation. You’ve only made things worse for yourself and the company. Idiot.” He growled, putting all of his anger and frustration into it. “I won’t forgive you for bringing my family into this.”

Then he charged his former employer.

The man paled, caught unprepared.

The two bodyguards drew their weapons.

A strange noise sounded somewhere above him and the bodyguard holding his sister jerked and fell backward, almost taking her down with him. His nephew reached out his hands, bound by duct tape at the wrists, and grasped at his mother. The two of them stumbled back a few steps and Marc suddenly appeared there, rushing them smoothly back toward the car.

Kyle reached his old boss then. Keeping the portly man’s body between him and the other bodyguard, he slowed a fraction as he drew his right arm down and back. Then he punched the man hard in an uppercut, high in his gut, hoping to get past the extra baggage and hit him in the solar plexus. He followed with a left hook to the jaw. The man cried out in pain and raised both hands to his broken face.

As his old boss staggered backward, Kyle looked past him at the bodyguard pointing a gun directly at Kyle. Fear spiked fresh in his chest but the man’s face was frozen in a look of confusion. The bodyguard stared down at his hands as the gun dropped to the ground. Then the man toppled over, bleeding from a shot to his shoulder.

“Get down. Get back to the car!” Marc was there again, roughly grabbing hold of Kyle and spinning him around. Marc gave Kyle a hard shove toward the open car door.

A gunshot rang out, close. Kyle saw his sister and nephew huddled down in the backseat wells of the car, their eyes wide with fear and horror.

He half turned in time to see Marc falling. Without thinking, Kyle skidded to a halt and doubled back to grab Marc. Stumbling, they headed to the car.

Shoving Marc in the backseat through the still open door, Kyle dived into the driver’s seat of the still-running car. Throwing it into Drive, he sent it careening out of the parking area.

“Scott here.” Lizzy’s voice came over the radio. “Kyle, you’re safe. All targets neutralized. You’re safe. Ease up on the gas pedal.”

Lizzy. She was still back there. He yanked the steering wheel to the side.

“No need to do celebration donuts, just circle around to the other aisle. I’ll meet you on the ground there. Ease up on that pedal.”

“Marc’s been shot.”

Silence. Then, “Hurry. I’ll do the assessment in the car and we’ll get him medical attention.”

Kyle put his faith in Lizzy and headed back to go get her.

“Nice and easy. I’m watching over you. We’ll handle what comes next together.” Lizzy’s promise settled deep in his chest and he breathed.

Yes, one thing at a time. By tomorrow, this would be settled.

Chapter-Twenty-Four

“Your contract is finished, you know.”

Lizzy didn’t bother to acknowledge Federal Marshal Nguyen’s comment, but she did give him a nod. Respect between colleagues and all that.

“There’s an investigation underway at Harbor Island.” Nguyen sounded unconcerned. “Apparently, there was an altercation before dawn this morning. Maybe smuggling. Security system was bypassed but someone reported shots fired in the area. Blood was found, but no bodies.”

Not surprising. Phoenix Biotech might’ve sent in a cleanup crew after Safeguard had left the vicinity. Or Diaz had gotten a detail in to sweep the site. She’d been focused on getting Marc, who was still in surgery, to medical care, then getting Kyle’s sister and nephew tucked away in a Centurion Corporation safe house east of the city. They’d barely had time to get Kyle showered and back to the court house to be transferred directly back into the custody of Marshals Decker and Nguyen.

She hadn’t had to worry about the sniper though. Her shot had found its mark. He was dead.

“Any reason you’re on edge today?” Nguyen stood next to her, but didn’t crowd her. It wasn’t just out of social politeness. It was professional courtesy. Both of them wanted to have room to ready their firearm if the unexpected occurred.

“The days leading up to this trial have been weird.” She didn’t mind being candid. “For a man testifying to being aware of illegal dumping, he’s had a lot of shit go on around him.”

Nguyen’s shared information had been the leverage she needed to gain access to Kyle’s ex-boss and she was grateful but she wasn’t officially supposed to have knowledge of it. She also still didn’t know why Nguyen had shared it.

“He has.” Nguyen’s agreement was far too pleasant. “Some perspective might help, if you listen to hearsay.”

Meaning anything the US marshal was about to share was never said.

“I’m always open to general gossip.” No she wasn’t, but this wasn’t gossip.

Nguyen grunted. “Could be, an investigation turned up one or two of the shipping containers supposedly lost at sea.”

“Huh.” Imagine that.

The images she’d seen in the file probably weren’t the only ones. They’d still been enough to join some of the saddest nightmares she had. This had to be an incredibly costly investigation for the US government. It was a big ocean out there.

“What was in those containers was a tragedy.” Nguyen’s tone turned grim. “This joint investigation was established once it was determined a lot of people supposedly coming to the United States on visas never arrived.”

People. Trying to cross an ocean to get to the United States. Horror twisted her gut anew. Those shipping containers were huge and the pictures had been zoomed in to make the victims identifiable. She still had no idea how many had died but those containers could accommodate dozens. There was a goddamned company in the Seattle area turning those things into actual homes.

How many desperate people could be crammed into those for the chance at a new life?

Goaded into fresh shock, Lizzy actually looked at the marshal. “Seriously? What you found can be summed up as a joint investigation, huh?”

“Every one of the missing people had applied for visas and been denied.” Nguyen didn’t meet her gaze. “The Korean authorities started matching the missing person’s reports from concerned families with the trend for visa applications and determined they must have tried to find another way to the US.”

Illegal immigration was a major problem. In the Seattle area, being a major seaport, there were actually a lot of immigrants from Southeast Asia, Africa and other regions around the world. The Canadian and Californian borders had their own issues too. It was a complex, difficult situation to address.

Lizzy wasn’t even going to begin suggesting a solution for it. But the reality of it wasn’t something to pretend didn’t exist.

“So Kyle’s testimony proves more than the civil and federal charges listed publicly.” Lizzy hated stating the obvious, but she had to say it out loud. Otherwise, her brain wasn’t going to be able to process it. And she’d seen some horrible things with her own eyes. “He’s confirming mass murder.”

“Premeditated.” Nguyen confirmed. “Those people paid money, were hoping for a better future. And they died.”

“I don’t even want to know the international repercussions of this trial.” She should, but she didn’t want to.

“Mr. Yeun will only need to testify this one time, in this federal court.” Nguyen sounded like he was trying to be reassuring. The result made her wary. “His recorded testimony will ensure that Phoenix Biotech can’t do this to more people.”

One battle at a time. This one, at least, would save lives that would have otherwise been lost. There was no shortage of people trying to leave one life for a chance at a better one.

“What about his family?” Since Phoenix Biotech had been responsible for bringing them to the United States, there was every possibility Kyle’s family would have to go back to Korea to wait until Kyle could make arrangements for them to get green cards. It could take years.

“They’ve already been awarded their visas.” Smug. The US marshal was definitely proud of himself at the moment. “We ensured those would remain valid. The boy’s scholarship is also independently funded so he won’t lose that either.”

Relief flooded through her. Not that Kyle wouldn’t have been able to work through it, but the man deserved a break.

“It’s been a positive experience, working with the Safeguard Division.” Apparently Nguyen had decided on a change in topic. “I’m impressed.”

Now she definitely didn’t believe him. “Two police officers injured. I went missing, with your witness, and refused to tell you how to find us the one time I did contact you.”

Her own fire team had taken damage. Marc was still in surgery as they spoke, with Victoria at the hospital with him. It was taking a long time to extract all of the fragments from the bullet he’d caught in the back.

Marc was a tough bastard. He was a Centurion. He’d pull through.

“Decker just about lost his shit trying to locate you.” Nguyen agreed. Then he chuckled. “The man is the steadiest, by-the-book deputy I have ever encountered. Trying to locate you had him completely unhinged. It was a learning experience, for him, and for the US Marshals in general. We didn’t expect you to manage to stay off the radar for as long as you did. But since you were so good at staying off the radar, I took advantage of the situation to toss out a few fake leads. If we’d had a leak, they would have been exposed going after those and it would’ve thrown them further off your trail. As it was, no bites either within my organization or the Seattle PD. It was very reassuring.”

Huh. At least he wasn’t angry with her. It could be a lot worse. Plus it was good to know they’d been doing their own work keeping the pressure off her and Kyle.

“I believe in maintaining positive relations with organizations like Centurion Corporation’s Safeguard Division.” Nguyen cleared his throat. “Keeps us all on our toes. Doing things differently. It’s good to make sure we don’t get too full of ourselves.”

Not a bad perspective to have. It was something she imagined Diaz and Harte thought about all the time.

“We’d like to continue working with you in the future.”

There was an emphasis on the pronoun. It did her ego some good to hear it. But if anyone was going to hear her decision first, she owed it to her commanding officer.

“Contracts go through Diaz,” she responded automatically. People were starting to fill the hallway. There must be a break in sessions.

“All right.” Nguyen was still amiable. “We’ll want to debrief though, once the trial is over.”

“Where?” She was not going to be thrilled to be stuck in an interrogation room down at the police station. This smelled like a potentially bad situation. “And do I need my lawyer?”

Nguyen held up his hands, palms out. “I meant it when I said we want to maintain positive relations with Safeguard.”

She’d talk to Diaz and have the Centurion Corporation legal team on hand anyway. It never hurt to be prepared.

“I’m more interested in the explosives set in the city while you and Yeun were missing.” He tugged at his suit and rolled his shoulders. “Obviously, there’s more than the usual criminal element in town.”

Edict was definitely not the norm in terms of private contract organizations. Most of their contracts were valid and legal, as far as Lizzy knew, but they’d definitely crossed the line with anything having to do with their current main contract holder.

“Talk to Phoenix Biotech about that.” She didn’t know whether it’d be the time to discuss the events around Maylin’s sister’s disappearance.

There’d been some discussion with the federal government but she hadn’t been a direct part of it. She’d only given reports on the day Edict paid a visit to the Centurion Corporation’s Training and Recovery headquarters outside Seattle, and the following incursion on Phoenix Biotech’s facility.

“We intend to,” Nguyen assured her. “We want to know the right questions to ask though and the Centurion Corporation seems to have clashed with the people Phoenix Biotech has hired twice now.”

True.

“Talk to Diaz.” She was done.

Nguyen was being friendly. He could definitely take a harder approach and she’d have stood her ground anyway.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to cooperate. To her, Diaz was the head of Safeguard. She wasn’t going to decide what was and wasn’t said to the US Marshals or any other potential partners. Not her pay grade. Not her issue to be worrying about today.

“You’re closer to this than he is.” Only a slight edge betrayed Nguyen’s frustration. “You’re also more personally invested in the situation.”

He was wrong there. Diaz had every bit as much reason to be watching Phoenix Biotech and Edict very closely.

“I’m not permanently assigned to Safeguard.” Generally not something the man needed to know. But she figured it wouldn’t hurt to give him the heads-up. He came across to her as a man who would continue to pursue every lead until he found out what he wanted to know. That’d include showing up at the Safeguard offices looking for her. “I was retained for this contract, but the decision is still outstanding as to whether I’ll be reassigned to a new fire team for Centurion Corporation or permanently assigned to Safeguard Division.”

That was about as far as she wanted to go with the sharing though. The man did not have any reason to know the decision was hers. Both Harte and Diaz were waiting on her answer by end of business today. She’d come to the court house to keep an eye on proceedings even if she remained outside the actual courtroom because it’d given her something constructive to do while she wrestled with the pros and cons.

Stay or go?

Nguyen sighed. “Fine. I’ll talk to Diaz. Do I need an appointment too?”

“Probably not.” You know, she could probably be more diplomatic here. She was supposed to be working on her interpersonal skills. Kyle’s charming smile came to mind, the one he used on people when he was about to talk them into doing something they didn’t initially intend to do. “But it’d be appreciated as a professional courtesy. Once you’ve got the date and time set, I can try to be in the office too so you can talk to the both of us if it’s appropriate.”

Nguyen grunted, somewhat mollified.

She needed more work on the circumspection, probably. Could consider the way she worded things. Maybe.

Sometimes simple meant clear communication.

Sometimes getting things done meant it was impossible to keep it simple.

Well, she’d have to grow past using Post-it notes if she was going to stay in this line of work.

* * *

There was a crush of people heading out of the courtroom. It’d been one of the longest days of Kyle’s life and he wasn’t sure it was over yet. A few steps outside the courtroom, he saw two men waiting in the hallway. Hard to miss them.

Diaz and another man weren’t standing together, per se, but they were next to each other. Both of them had a rock-solid quality about them, an air of confidence and capability that was intimidating. As eager as people were to leave the courtroom and head to wherever they were going—home, dinner dates, restrooms—they gave both men space and sort of flowed around them.

Kyle glanced about, looking for a similar void of people where Lizzy might be waiting for him. She wasn’t.

His belly felt heavy and hollow at the same time. He was too drained from the day’s testimony and line of questioning to burn more energy in wondering where she was. Instead, he closed the remaining distance and came to a stop in front of Diaz and the stranger. He would go looking for her once he’d completed his responsibilities here, and to family.

It wasn’t just about him anymore and it might take some time, but he wasn’t going to forget about her.

“Mr. Yeun, I’m US Marshal Nguyen.” The man held out his hand and Kyle took it in a firm handshake. “My colleague Deputy Marshal Decker sends his regards.”

Ah. Kyle imagined Decker was not pleased with the turn of events. “I hope Deputy Marshal Decker is well. The past few days have been unpredictable and there were few choices when it came to avoiding certain threats.”

Nguyen raised a hand to forestall additional commentary. “Deputy Marshal Decker was definitely challenged to provide support in the effort to keep you protected, Mr. Yeun, but Mr. Diaz and I agree the actions taken were the best possible under the circumstances.”

“Good.” Some of his accustomed assurance returned now that he had this damned testimony behind him. Just because the other man had his hand up didn’t mean Kyle was finished having his say. “I wouldn’t want Decker, or Officers Austin and Weaver for that matter, to suffer unfortunate consequences as a result of my going into hiding with... Miss Scott as my primary protection. As far as I’m concerned, it wasn’t any of the protective detail team’s fault and it wouldn’t be fair for them to be reprimanded for it.”

Diaz cleared his throat. The big man had a quirk about his mouth. His lips were turned up at one corner and he might have been smiling. Possibly. The rest of his face was a study in stoic seriousness, so it was hard to tell. “Miss Scott has expressed similar concern. Marshal Nguyen and I are in agreement with you both.”