Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(34)

“It gets better.” Connor keyed in another command and the video clip continued. Another man, one dressed completely in black and wearing a covering over his head and face, emerged at the extreme right of the screen, his arm extended at the first four.

“Whoa. Who’s he?” Izza’s nose scrunched.

“Who do you think?” Connor asked.

Within seconds, three of the first four fell to the ground. The last ran around the nearest SUV for cover. The fifth man peeled the covering off his head and dove into the river toward Kelsey’s submerged vehicle. In the meantime, the last of the four shooters assisted one of the other men off the ground. Between the two of them, they dragged the others behind the Escalades.

“It’s him,” Izza murmured, her eyes glued to the screen. “It’s got to be him.”

Mark winced. Here we go again. No, it isn’t. Alex is dead.

The man in the river wasn’t visible for several long minutes, but when he emerged, he had Kelsey in his arms. He laid her on the riverbank and rolled her onto her side.

The room stilled while everyone watched Kelsey choke river water out of her lungs while the stranger thumped her back. She lay there unmoving. He disappeared off screen, but quickly returned with a blanket and his head covered again. He wrapped Kelsey in the blanket and lifted her off the ground.


“What the hell is he doing?” Mark muttered, not convinced this stranger was as noble as he appeared, not if he’d also kept Kelsey hidden those three days.

Hidden and cared for, his logical side reminded him.

Bullshit. Kidnapped. Medicated. And all to himself, the bastard. He should’ve called the police or an ambulance.

“Just wait,” Rory said. “Watch.”

Connor typed in another command. The close-up shot zoomed out to reveal where the man had taken Kelsey. It wasn’t far. He’d placed her in the back of a black sedan, but the way he did it spoke volumes. He climbed inside the vehicle with her, taking his time laying her on the backseat. With his knee to the car floor, it almost looked like he—kissed her.

“Zoom in,” Mark ordered. Who the hell is he? It almost looks like Alex, but this guy is broader shouldered. Bulkier. Isn’t he?

Connor zoomed in as tight and close as he could. No go. The black covering blurred the guy’s head. The image was pixilated. The man exited the vehicle, closed the door and ran to the driver’s side. In seconds, he drove away.

“Who was that guy?” Mother asked, her brows narrowed and her lips pursed.

“Alex,” Taylor murmured. “He sure looked like Alex.”

“How could you tell?” David asked quietly. “He had a balaclava on his head.”

“You saw him kiss her,” Izza argued. “It had to be Alex.”

“No,” David replied. “We saw a man with a covering over his face and lips lean into her. He might have been making sure she was still breathing.”

Mark released a sigh of relief as David took the lead for a change. He needed someone on his side, damn it, someone not emotionally compromised.

“It was Alex,” Izza declared, an edge to her voice. “Who else could it be?”

David’s sharp eyes met Mark’s across the table. He often played the role of Devil’s Advocate. It forced people to think better and dig deeper, whether they wanted to or not.

“Good question,” Rory answered. “Ember is working on some satellite images for us. Hope we can have a better answer next time we meet, but at least this footage agrees with Kelsey’s version of what happened. So does the evidence in and on her car.”

“Can you get the footage prior to her car going into the water?” Mark asked, needing to validate Kelsey’s version of events.

Ember spoke up. “We did, but it agrees with her story. This footage shows what she couldn’t tell us because she was already underwater and drowning. It fills in the blanks. Someone did come to her rescue just like she told you.”

“Great work, guy. Anything else?” Mark asked evenly, not going to entertain for one second the fallacy his team seemed to have latched onto. Hope did funny things to people under stress. He wouldn’t encourage it.

“Yeah. Let Kelsey know that we’re on her side,” Connor said. “Right now she thinks she’s losing her mind. Let her know we’re doing everything we can to prove she’s not.”

Damn. I can’t win.





Chapter Eleven


Gabe stretched out on Kelsey’s front room floor, listening to the quiet creaks all houses made in the still of the night. He flipped through several screens of differing neighborhood viewpoints on the laptop resting on his stomach.

The carpet was quite comfortable. He had no problem sleeping on the floor. Not after some of the places he’d slept during operations and deployments. He had a good buddy who cooked, the kindest woman to watch over, and not much going on otherwise. Life couldn’t get much better.

Zack’s chicken noodle soup had turned out surprisingly good. Right now, the old man was hoofing it around the block and checking the perimeter one last time. He was the only one out there. Good deal.

But Miss Sullivan? What a beast. Kelsey’s medication schedule was now taped to the kitchen cupboard door over the sink, along with a menu plan. Go figure.

Zack had laughed it off, but the pushy woman irked Gabe. She had one thing on her mind and it had nothing to do with simple courtesy. Control freak.