Page 120 of Critical Doubt

Vance must have sensed the changing mood, his gaze moving back and forth between Leo and Hank.

"No," Vance said suddenly, closing his computer. "This isn't happening."

"It's happening. Make the transfer," Leo bit out. "Do it now."

Vance started to back away and Hank snapped. He took one shot, hitting Vance square in the chest. Vance fell backward, blood spurting out of his chest, shock in his eyes. His guard ran in, but Hank was too quick for him, sending him face-first into the ground with a bullet to the head. Then he swung his gun toward Leo. Before Hank could shoot again, a bullet hit him in the leg, and he squealed as he crumbled.

The shot had come from the loft, and he knew who had taken it—Savannah!

Leo ran toward the back of the barn, and Ryker stepped out in front of him, taking his own shot, hitting Leo in the arm. The gun slipped out of Leo's hand as he fell to his knees.

"That was for Carlos," Ryker said coldly.

Leo stared back at him, no trace of surprise in his gaze. "I knew you would get in the way. How did you figure it out?"

"You're not as clever as you thought."

"What are you going to do—kill me? I'm already dead."

"Dying the second time might be more painful." He saw Savannah moving up behind Leo, but she held back, letting him play this out.

"Carlos's death was on Vance," Leo said. "He set up the ambush."

"Because of you. And you knew it. That's why you disappeared."

"I played dead, because I thought he might try again. It was self-preservation."

"How did you get Mason involved in this?"

"I showed him how we could take care of Carlos's family and the rest of the team. He bought it."

"But Paul found out, didn't he? You shot him."

"I didn't even know he was in Chesapeake Beach until he stepped in front of you."

"And you shot him."

"That bullet was meant for you, but he got in the way."

"Why did you want to kill me?"

"You were asking too many questions and you got the FBI involved. I had no choice."

There was no remorse in Leo's voice or in his eyes. "How did you turn into this?" he asked in bewilderment. "How did you become a monster, a man willing to betray his brothers, his country?"

"How? You don't know? You were there for every minute. We were the ones doing the dirty work while people like Vance were making millions. Why shouldn't we have had some of it? The guns he was selling were the same weapons that were taking out our troops."

"You could have stopped him, but instead you decided to profit from him."

"So, kill me. It's what you want to do." Leo gave him a scornful look. "But you've never been as cold as everyone thought you were. You like to believe in people. You saw me at the church with Buthanu, but you let it go. You bought my explanation, because you wanted to."

"Because you were my brother. But you used all of us."

"And I'll keep using you. I'll take everyone down with me. Or you can shoot me and call it self-defense. No one would blame you."

For a split second, he was tempted, more than he'd ever been tempted in his life. There was a blinding rage running through him. He wanted revenge for Carlos, for Paul, even for Mason and Hank and Todd, who had been blinded by Leo's evil. But he couldn't pull the trigger. He couldn't cross that line.

He heard engines roaring, the pounding of feet. Savannah went out front to meet her team.