Lynette Eason - A Silent Pursuit

“Who knows?” She went back to reading. “‘I’ve got some people after me. Really nasty guys. I’ve got something they want. If they haven’t come after you yet, get ready. I’m sorry, Gina, I didn’t want to do it this way but don’t have time to come up with something better. Something that doesn’t involve you. If I’m dead, they’ll be looking for the next person who might know something, and whoever it is probably knows about you. I promise I did my best to hide your identity, but these guys are good; they’ll find you, simply because I don’t know who’s involved. So, if they’re going to come after you, I’m going to do my best to give you a fighting chance. I don’t want to say what I’ve hidden, because if you know, you have no protection. If they catch you and you tell them, they’ll kill you immediately. If you don’t know, you can’t tell them. That might buy you some time. I hope you’ve called Ian. If you haven’t, do it. You’re going to need him. I love you, Gina….” Her throat clogged on the last part, and she stopped to take in a shuddering breath.

Ian clasped her hand, the warmth of his palm searing her, giving her strength to finish the letter. “I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to show you how much. Ian’s a good man. He’ll know what to do. Grandmother thought the world of you. You’re the only woman in her life who didn’t disappoint her. Thank you for honoring her and keeping her memory close to your heart. All my love, Mario.”

Silence filled the small rental. Tears dripped down Gina’s chin as she scanned the letter through one more time.

Ian cleared his throat. Gina sighed.

“You…um…didn’t have to read that out loud.”

“I know, but if there’s anything in there that can help us, you need to have the information.”

“You were close to his grandmother. Did he have any other family?”

“No, just the sister who died. I suppose his mother is still out there somewhere, but…” She trailed off with a shrug and stared out the window. Time for a change of subject. “So, are you going to check on Jase?”

“Yeah.” He dialed the number. Jase answered on the second ring. Ian asked, “Are you all right? What’s the situation?”

“I’ve got it under control. I’ve also got a slight concussion but was lucky. I’m still alive.”

Relieved, Ian said, “Good. Stay that way, will you? Listen, I’m going to take Gina someplace safe. I’ll be in touch.”

“Right. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll keep digging into what Mario was doing before he died.”

“Yeah, I’m going to do the same. Hey, what is it you wanted to tell me, but…couldn’t earlier?” He let the question hang, hoping Jase would pick up on what he meant.

A pause. Then a sigh. “I think Mario was cheating on Gina.”

Shock and anger punched him, but Ian kept his voice steady. After all, he’d seen the possibility with his own eyes. He’d just wanted to chalk it up to the alcohol fogging Mario’s brain at the time. “Why do you think that?”

“After a mission in Colombia, I saw him with a woman. They were looking pretty cozy.”

“Probably just some undercover thing,” he said, trying to justify it.

“No, we were done with the mission, coming down off the high that follows success.”

“Huh. Then maybe…” He couldn’t think of another excuse for Mario.

“I took some pictures of them.”

That sparked some interest. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Gina was such a great girl and it really bugged me that he would do something like that to her. I’ve been looking for a girl like her all my—” he cut himself off, but Ian felt a pang of sympathy for the man. “Anyway, I walked up and confronted him.”

“In front of—”

“Yeah, in front of the girl.”

Ian winced. “How’d that work out?”

“She got up and left. If her words had been a sword, Mario’s head would have been rolling at her feet.”

“Ouch.”

“Aw, he deserved it. Anyway, I told him I had the pictures and if he ever did anything like that again, I’d give them to Gina.”

“Whoa, Jase. Man, that was kind of…”

“I know, I know. Anyway, as you can imagine, Mario was furious. Threatened to kill me if I did anything to jeopardize his relationship with Gina. Told me to get rid of the pictures.”

“Did you?”

Another pause. “No.”

“See if you can figure out who the woman was.”

“Will do.”

“Great. Talk to you later.” Ian hung up.

“So, what was that all about? Is Jase all right? And where are we going?” Gina’s voice jerked his attention back to her.

He turned left, then a quick right. Ignoring the first question, he pointed. “There.” Then he pulled to a stop in front of a gated home. “Jase is fine and handling the authorities beautifully. If he needs any more help, he’ll call Mac.” Then he nodded toward the house. “The guy that lives here is one of the best friends a guy could have, but best of all—he’s got a top-notch security system.”

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.