Page 4 of Final Approach (Lake City Heroes #4)

“Um, no, but he told me part of the deal was that I needed to get this tattoo.” He rolled up his sleeve and a three-headed snake coiled to strike popped off his skin in 3D. It looked real enough that Kristine wanted to step back. She hated snakes.

She hated what the tattoo represented even more. She looked at Nathan and Andrew. “The Serpentine Network.”

Andrew’s jaw tightened. “They’re behind this?” He looked at Marcus. “Are you a part of that gang?”

“Gang? No way. Why?”

Andrew nodded to the tattoo. “That’s their symbol. This is their way of taking credit for the hijacking?”

“Maybe.”

Kristine narrowed her eyes and looked at the man, whose gaze was pinging among the three of them. He was truly confused.

So was she. “I’ve got to admit, this is a new one for me.” She glanced at the men. “You ever heard of something like this?”

Andrew shrugged. “I’ve heard of some crazy stuff, but a gang putting a non-gang member on a plane and forcing them to hijack it? That’s not gang work, that’s terrorism. And while gangs often spread terror, I’ve not come across anything like this before.”

And a gang certainly wasn’t going to pay someone to do it.

“You were looking at someone,” Kristine said to Marcus. “One of the passengers. Who was it?”

Marcus fidgeted, shifting his feet and raising his still-bound hands to rub his nose. “Um...”

“Look, Marcus,” she said. “Planes are grounded, people’s lives have been disrupted because we can’t let anyone else go anywhere until we know if you were working alone.”

“But I was,” he blurted.

“And yet we can’t take your word for it. We’ve been all over your social media history—of which you have very little—and your background check is clean. None of this adds up to you doing what we all know you did.”

The man dropped his gaze and a tear leaked down his cheek. “I know. No one else is involved. I swear.” He swallowed hard. “At least not that I know of. It’s possible the guy could have found other schmucks like me.” He swiped the tear with the back of his hand.

“Exactly,” Andrew said. “Now talk. You want us to tell the judge you cooperated or not? Who were you looking at on the plane?”

Marcus shifted, a tic pulsing in his forehead. “I ... I can’t tell you that.”

The man’s surge of fear was obvious and Kristine frowned. “Why not?”

“I failed. He’ll know I failed, and my family...”

“We can protect your family,” Andrew said. “But only if you tell us everything.”

For a moment, the man looked at his shaking hands clasped together and resting on the table. “You’ll make sure they’re safe?”

“Yes. I’ll send someone over there right now,” Nathan said. He reached for his phone and held it until Marcus nodded.

“I was told the passenger in 29C would be watching me, and if I chickened out, he would call the person who hired me and tell him. And that he would not only go get the money from my wife, but he would kill her and my children too.” The last words came out in a whisper and the tears tracked his cheeks again.

“I had no idea what I was getting into when I agreed to all of this. If I could go back and say no, I would.”

But he couldn’t.

Nathan headed for the door. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to make a few calls.”

Kristine nodded. He was going to make arrangements for protection for the Browns and to track down the passenger who’d been in that seat. She pulled Andrew to the corner of the room out of earshot of Marcus. “This is all off. Marcus isn’t terrorist or gang material.”

“And yet, he did this.”

“He did. You worked in the gang unit for a while, right? I don’t suppose you have an informant inside the Serpentine Network.”

He shot her a tight smile. “I think I can come up with someone.”

AFTER THEY GOT MARCUS settled in his cell, under surveillance considering his state of mind and desire to die, Andrew climbed into his Bucar and rolled Kristine’s question around in his head.

Could he come up with someone inside the Serpentine Network?

Yeah. He could. He just didn’t want to. A year and a half ago, he’d walked away from the gang unit, requested a transfer, and never looked back.

Much. At least not when he was conscious.

His dreams sometimes snuck up on him, taking him back to that day when he’d gotten an innocent man killed.

He winced and really considered what he was about to do.

By reconnecting with Hank, another FBI agent and buddy who’d been undercover with the gang a very long time, he could totally re-expose himself to the network.

It was a long shot, possibly, but not impossible.

But what choice did he have? With a prayer for protection—for both him and Hank—he sent a coded text to his buddy, then stuffed the phone in his back pocket.

Hank would call when he could, and if anyone else saw the text, nothing about it should set off any alarms. It was the same message they’d used when Andrew was under with him. Before his world went haywire.

But dwelling on the past didn’t do anyone any good. Besides, he had more pleasant things to think about.

Like Kristine. What was it about her that he liked so much?

That was easy.

Everything. From her strawberry blond hair to her gray eyes to the three freckles on the bridge of her nose.

He also liked the fact that she was kind, smart, had a rather dry sense of humor.

And the list went on. But getting involved with her?

He wasn’t sure that was smart. He’d avoided any kind of serious romantic entanglement for the past several years.

First, because of his job. Working undercover, he’d had no desire to bring a woman into that life—because of the danger and because it just wasn’t fair to do that to someone.

Now that his life wasn’t one big lie, he could potentially be interested in someone.

And he was. But ... there was that word.

But. He still wasn’t sure it was fair to do that to her.

He came with baggage—and a hit on his head.

If Showbiz, the head of the gang he’d been under with, ever found him, he’d kill him and anyone Andrew cared about.

He walked into the Airbnb he’d found at the last minute now that he wasn’t going to Key West and shut off his heavy thoughts.

He locked the door behind him and pulled in a deep breath.

That first hit of a new place smell always made him grimace, but he’d get used to it.

He always did. He set his keys and laptop case on a table in the kitchen, then walked across the living area to crank up the air-conditioning, pull the drapes shut, and turn on the floor lamp.

He could admit he was disappointed he wasn’t in Florida sitting on the beach with Kristine, getting to know her better.

But should he want that? He had baggage. Then again, who didn’t, right?

But still, he’d trusted in a woman’s love before, and when the going got tough, she got going. Walked away without a look back over her shoulder. So much for supporting him when his life went black. But something told him Kristine would be different if he was brave enough to trust her.

“Stop it,” he muttered out loud. He could second-guess pursuing a relationship with Kristine all night. Even list the pros and cons. There would be more pros, but the cons would probably carry more weight.

He sighed and glanced around the rest of the place.

Sofa, television, gas log fireplace, which he flipped on, coffee table, and a recliner that looked like a good spot for naps.

He carried his bag into the bedroom and tossed it onto the bed.

The place would serve the purpose. Hopefully he wouldn’t be here too long.

His home was a small functional apartment in Asheville near the Bureau’s branch off Patton Avenue, but for the duration of this case, he’d be working out of Lake City.

His parents had moved here after Andrew had been assigned to Asheville.

While they liked being close, they preferred a small town to the bigger city.

He smiled and shook his head. No one had been more surprised than he when they’d decided it would be fun to live in North Carolina, because none of their grandchildren were here.

They’d opened up a bookstore off South Spruce Street that had a nice-sized apartment above it.

No surprise there. They’d owned a bookstore for as long as he’d been alive.

It hadn’t always been the case, but his par ents were now wealthy, living off investments and inherited family money, following their dreams, their whims .

.. and occasionally, one of their offspring.

While he was a child and even a teen, his parents had worked every day in the bookstore, with his mother leaving in time to pick him and his siblings up from school, take them to all their afternoon activities, then have dinner on the table in the evening.

Weekends were sports, church, and abbreviated bookstore hours.

It had been a great childhood, and they all liked each other as adults.

With him in town for who knew how long, they’d offered to have him live with them and use the spare bedroom.

He was tempted, but his job didn’t always have the best schedule, and he didn’t want to risk disturbing them should he be called out in the wee hours of the morning.

He frowned. His cousin Corey was supposed to be moving in with them at some point as well.

Definitely a sore spot. And Andrew wasn’t interested in being in the same state with the guy, much less the same living space.

He’d warned his parents, but his mother was adamant.

His mind flashed to the conversation with her just a few days ago.

“He said he needs a place to stay,” she’d said. “He also said he’s not asking for money, just a bed until he can find a job.”