Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(68)

The police showed up after Mark questioned Hayden Carrel, alias Samuel Becker. The liar. The entire interrogation took place on Kelsey’s back step to keep her out of further confrontation. He admitted no complicity in Alex Stewart’s, despite being caught in an outright lie, and Mark’s statement that he held video evidence to the contrary. Steven had caught Becker red-handed. He was going down.

“I’ve got you dead to right,” Mark hissed, his nose an inch from Becker’s. “You’re lucky the police have you in custody, but I promise. My team’s damned good. Make one wrong move and they’ll jump down your throat and rip your heart out.”

Becker shrugged, not intimidated or concerned, by the looks of him. The man had an easy attitude, as if he were untouchable. Off he went in the custody of two of Alexandria’s finest.

David, Rory, and Connor had shown up shortly after Mark’s arrival, but were already headed back to the office. Gabe restored his pistol to its holster under his left arm. “The bastard’s lying.”

“You get anything out of him before I got here?”

“Just the crock of shit he told Kelsey about knowing Alex, but damn. I thought we finally proved the boss was alive.”

“Sonofabitch!” Mark roared. “When the hell are you going to give it up? Dead men don’t come back to life. Every last one of you guys is fighting me on this, but you, of all people should know better. You were there, Gabe. Jesus Christ, you watched him die.”

Gabe hated that Kelsey might be able to hear the angry tirade from inside. He hadn’t seen Alex die. Not really. He’d gone to get Kelsey while the ambulance went the other way, but now was not the time to bring that detail up.

“You’re right,” he said, more to get Mark to calm down than because he agreed with him. “It was stupid. I give.” But I’m still glad I did it, and I’d do it again.

Mark stabbed an index finger in the direction of Kelsey’s bedroom window. “Look what you’ve done. You got her hopes up for nothing. It stops now or I’m pulling your ass off this assignment. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” came quickly to Gabe’s lips.

“Settle down,” Zack told Mark. “Becker’s caught. Maybe the police will let you talk with him in the morning. You’ve got all the evidence they need to put him away. It doesn’t matter what he said tonight. He’ll go down for murder.”

Mark faced the house, his eyes dark and angry. “This bullshit’s killing her, guys. Get her out of the country and the hell away from here until we know who’s after her. Spain. Take her to freaking Spain if you have to.”


And Gabe was done kissing Mark’s ass. Mark didn’t have a clue how fragile Kelsey was. He hadn’t been in the closet with her while she clung to her dead husbands T-shirt. She needed to be here. Her dogs were here. Her memories. Her heart.

“No, Boss. She stays here. Making her leave is what’ll kill her. Listen. The bodies in the SUV that I found in the river were Manson and Echevarria. They were on the riverbank that day. I can prove it. It’s on the video. Come watch.”

“And that’s another thing, Junior Agent.”

Damn. Junior Agent never started a good conversation. Gabe couldn’t win. He sucked in a deep breath, wishing it didn’t hurt as much as it did, and prepared for a Hellfire missile strike.

“You ever pull that kind of a stunt again, and you’re fired. I tasked you to guard Kelsey Stewart IN her home, not to traipse out to the river to indulge a grieving woman’s misguided wishes. Shit. If it isn’t you guys, it’s the rest of the whole damned team!”

“Hey, calm down. What’s really going on?” Zack asked, his voice level and firm. “You’re usually rock solid.”

Mark raked his fingers over his head, huffing short, angry breaths. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Just do your damned jobs. Can you handle that or not?”

“We are. That’s why you’re here. Gabe did exactly what you’re paying him to do. He found two more of your gang of ten, didn’t he? And for a few hours, we thought we’d found positive proof the boss might be alive, too. Hell, you can’t blame us for trying.”

“Well, how’d that turn out for you?” Sarcasm poured out of Mark’s mouth.

Gabe stepped clear of the showdown neither he nor Zack seemed able to win. He’d never seen Mark so nasty or ill-tempered. Only when he dropped to the single step at Kelsey’s back door and gripped his forehead, did Zack re-engage. “Spill, buddy. What’s really going on?”

“Shit. What isn’t?” Mark rubbed three fingers back and forth over his forehead, his thumb pressed to his left temple. “God, now I know why Alex had migraines all the time. Just never realized how much crap he put up with. If it’s not the stink-eye from Mother, it’s Maverick and Landon going after each other in the office. Every time I turn around, I’m shoveling more shit.”

“It’s tough being lead dog,” Zack agreed.

“Yeah.” Mark grunted. “Believe me. I get that.”

“Maverick and Landon fighting? I’d pay to see those two go a round,” Zack teased.

“No, you wouldn’t,” Gabe argued. “Maverick would as soon kill Landon as look at him.”