Behind the Lies (Montgomery Justice #2)(29)

She cleared her throat. “Anyway, one of the bugs had been tampered with. He didn’t allow anyone else in the house. I knew he’d caught me. I had no choice but to leave.”

“Why not go to the FBI? Wouldn’t Fallon help?”

She twisted her finger, and the platinum-and-diamond wedding band glinted in the light of the bedside lamp. “I can’t trust anyone. Not the police, not the FBI.”

“Not me.”

The words shouldn’t have hurt, but they did. A lot.

“You don’t understand. Brad knows things. I wasn’t sure if he found the bug by accident or someone told him.” She swallowed. “The guy in witness protection, Joseph Romero, the one gunned down in San Francisco yesterday? That was Brad. Romero was in protective custody and Brad still killed him. How can you fight that? How can I?”

Zach folded her hands in his. “What was your plan, Jenna? When you ran from your house—when you hid in the back of my truck—what did you think you would do?”

Jenna lifted her impossibly long lashes. Her emerald eyes shone with determination. “Disappear.”

“Do you still want to vanish?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

Zach took in a deep breath. He had the means, he could help her, and it wasn’t really even a question. He would help her. He had no choice. “OK, then, listen to me. I’d made plans to start a new life if I had to. I can help you disappear. I have everything set up. Fake identification, an unidentifiable car, a house bought and paid for.”

Her eyes widened. “Why would you want to disappear? You have everything you could ever want.”

“My life is a bit more complicated than it seems. Let’s leave it at that.”

Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to. The point is, I can give you a new life.”

She tugged her hands from him and shook her head. “You’ve already helped us enough. I can’t let you do any more. I’ll take care of me and Sam from here.”

“Really?” he challenged. “Where are you going? How will you get there? How will you avoid Brad if he’s as wired in as you say he is?”

“I’ve survived before,” she said, tilting her chin.

“And Sam?”

She winced. And there was her soft spot. Her son. As it should be.

“I can take care of him.”

“He still loves his dad.”

“I know.” Torment laced her eyes. “He doesn’t truly understand.”

“Are you going to tell him you’re running because Brad hurts you? Or he’s a bad guy?”

“I don’t know,” she snapped. She lay back against the pillow. “Can I rest? I’m tired.”

She closed her eyes and feigned sleep. She really was a terrible liar.

Zach rose and touched her delicate cheek. “Don’t let your pride interfere with accepting my help. If not for you, for Sam.”

Her lips tightened, and Zach sighed, closing the bedroom door until the slight snick indicated the latch caught. She needed help. She’d never be able to avoid Brad on her own. But she needed more than just money. She needed skills.

Before she left, Zach would have to teach her a few things about living under the radar and protecting herself. Her and Sam’s lives were about to change. At least until Brad Walters was caught and prosecuted.

Zach would make certain that happened.

He walked down the hallway and paused at the entrance to the living room.

Sam stood in front of the television acting out the long, drawn-out action scene in the middle of the movie. The kid had every move down. Zach shook his head and walked past the living area to the basement stairs, hoping he could carve out an hour before the movie ended.

Once downstairs, he strode past the pool table and dartboard to a huge bookcase. He flicked a small switch and the bookcase swung away from the wall. Very James Bond, if he did say so himself, but a necessity to keep the classified information he accessed on a regular basis protected.

Because of the sensitive equipment and data, Zach had been forced to tell Seth about his hideaway. His brother’s black ops experience made him the obvious choice. Seth had the clearance and the knowledge. He would be able to disassemble the room if anything happened to Zach.

He stepped into the high-tech setup and sat in front of the computer terminal. He booted up the system, opened his eye for the retinal scan, and placed his thumb on the fingerprint reader.

“Zane Morgan,” he spoke into the microphone.

“Identification authenticated. Proceed,” the computer’s voice droned.

Why not begin with a simple search of police records involving Brad?

The machine whirred, connecting through the secure server. Zach drummed his fingers, his frown deepening. The search was taking way too long.

“Access denied,” the computer voice chirped.

“What the hell?”

He reentered the request.

“Access denied. Connection terminated.”

This was so not good. Someone had blocked him, and he’d alerted them to his presence. At least his Internet addresses bounced through numerous servers all over the world. Whoever had monitored his access would have to follow hundreds of false leads before finding him. It would take days, and he and Jenna would be long gone by then.