Page 63

Chapter Twenty-Three
Lachlantossedhisnowuseless cell phone on Nathan’s kitchen table. He’d discarded the battery at the construction site after his call. Anyone tracking his location would think the phone had been destroyed with the man.
His body ached like a Bushmaster had run over him. His face looked like he’d dragged it over broken glass. He scratched the tape securing the bandages on his face. Nathan had done a decent enough job stitching him up.
Yet another death on his conscience.
When the police figured out Jeremy had been in the car and not him, they’d have more questions than answers. And when they looked for those answers, the weapons shipments to Khan would surface. He was running out of time and ways to prove his innocence.
What was going through Sophia’s head right now? He rubbed at the sudden ache in his chest. Maybe it would be safer for her if she believed he was dead.
“Here’s the stuff you wanted from your apartment.” Nathan dropped a duffle bag next to him and sauntered to the refrigerator to retrieve two beers. He handed one to Lachlan.
“Anyone see you?” Lachlan lowered himself with a wince onto one of the kitchen chairs.
Nathan snorted. “You offend me.” He took a seat and eyeballed Lachlan over his bottle. “Now what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Someone didn’t want you going to Kabul. Who at LAI could pull this off?”
Pain hammered Lachlan’s skull. He took a sip of his beer and forced himself to assess his colleagues honestly. “Christian Meier, I suppose. He heads up the development projects and travels to Kabul more frequently than I do. He could have made a deal with Khan. Khan could have introduced him to Haider.”
“I didn’t find anything suspicious on the guy when I ran a background check on him,” Nathan said. “But I can dig deeper.”
“Rob Salas, our IT director. It’s possible someone bribed or blackmailed him into gaining access to my online credentials so those weapons could be ordered and shipped from the Global Security division.”
Nathan narrowed his eyes. “But from your tone, I’m thinking you don’t believe either Meier or Salas is your guy.”
Lachlan eased out of the chair and limped through the living room to the sliding doors that led to a back deck. The burnt-orange blackout drapes covering the glass provided privacy and cover in the unlikely event someone slipped past Nathan’s security perimeter.
“I’m not sure I trust my judgment anymore when it comes to people’s motives.” The beer soured in the back of his throat. Nadia had taught him that harsh lesson. He’d allowed his feelings for Sophia to cloud his judgment as well. He had an enemy much closer to him than he’d realized. Someone put Sophia in danger to distract him, so he’d be more worried about protecting her than himself.
He pivoted back to face Nathan, still sitting at the kitchen table. The back of his neck tingled with growing suspicion, one he should have had before now, but he’d been too wrapped up in stopping the weapons auction and protecting Sophia from Haider.
“Sophia said Fred Biller, one of our coworkers, found the information on the weapons shipments during an audit he did on his own in preparation for the government report. What if he stumbled across those transactions, and he wasn’t meant to?”
“Sounds plausible. Why don’t you ask him?”
“He’s dead. Murdered in a random street mugging in DC last week.” Lachlan paused as the magnitude of his suspicion hit home. “Right after he found the information.”
“Well, isn’t that convenient.” Nathan’s grim response reflected the same conclusion Lachlan had just arrived at.
“Which leaves Jared Landry. If Burkette is the person receiving the shipments once they reach Kabul, he could be taking orders directly from his former Ranger captain.” Lachlan rolled the beer bottle between his hands as the cold glass soothed the scrapes on his palms. “The question is, why would Landry risk his company and reputation to illegally traffic weapons to Khan, then murder to try and cover it up? What would be worth the risk?”
Nathan shrugged his massive shoulders. “Greed? The thrill of getting away with it? Something darker, maybe?”
“Like what?”
“I dunno. If Jared is behind this, he’s taking an enormous risk and trying to frame you for it. Why? He’d have to have it in for you bad. Something beyond the fact you guys don’t get along.”
Lachlan took a sip of his beer while he marshaled his thoughts. “I’d ask you to touch base with Lucas, but I’m not ready for the FBI to know I’m alive.”
“What about Sophia?”
Lachlan squeezed the bridge of his nose. The pain knocking around the back of his head joined the sting of shrapnel wounds and road rash from his skid across asphalt. The pieces to this puzzle didn’t quite fit. What was he missing? “She’s safe if she and whoever tried to kill me both believe I’m dead.”
Nathan’s heavy exhale resonated from the kitchen. He leveraged himself out of his chair and joined Lachlan in the living room. They stared at the drapes as if they held all the answers.