Slaying the Dragon (Deception Duet #2) (45 page)

“When I saw the newscasts reporting what happened, something changed in me. I can’t explain it. It was a rush, a high unlike anything I had ever experienced, knowing that
I
was the reason Galloway was dead.”

“But you didn’t exactly get what you wanted, did you?”

“I suppose not, although I didn’t know it at the time. I saw the footage of the fire and Mills said it was done. I suppose he thought it was, as did I.”

“How did you find out he was still alive?”

He got up and walked into the kitchen, returning with an apple. Bringing the blade up to the fruit, he peeled it, his eyes trained on me. A shiver traveled down my spine at the menacing look he was giving me, coupled with him running the knife against the skin of the apple, peeling it off in one carefully orchestrated movement.

“I hadn’t heard from Mills in years. Now that your father was supposedly dead, we had agreed to go our separate ways. I actually got on with my life. I had been working at this up-and-coming hotel. I started as an engineer, fixing things that needed to be fixed. Soon, I found myself running the hotel. Then another. Then I had been tapped to take over the entire chain. Things were good. I even married a girl, although it was purely a business arrangement and nothing more. But as the years wore on, there was this kind of nagging sensation deep inside of me. I had been riding that high from being responsible for Galloway’s fall, but it was starting to wane. I needed to feel that rush again. You can imagine my excitement one day when Mills called saying some schmuck was looking into your father, convinced he wasn’t guilty of the fire or any of the other deals. We learned he worked in Cryptology and had been the lone survivor of that fire. Then he told me a bit of news I wasn’t anticipating… That this guy had found your mother and she was still alive. We both grew concerned everything would crumble on top of us if they spoke and began to put the pieces together. I saw this as a golden opportunity to chase that high again, so we took matters into our own hands.”

“You killed my mother and had Charlie institutionalized.”

“More or less, although I didn’t pull the metaphorical trigger myself.”

“No. Whitman did, didn’t he?”

“He was a very reliable employee of the hotel. He got the job done, so to speak.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked.

He gave me an ominous look as he sliced into the apple. “You’re a bright young girl, Serafina. I think you can figure out why I’m telling you everything.” He popped the apple into his mouth and took a bite, the juices flowing down his chin.

“Well, what happened next?” I asked. It was readily apparent he had no intention of allowing me to walk out of that house so my only saving grace was to try to stall him as long as possible in the hopes that someone would figure out where I was. Or for me to come up with some sort of plan. I wasn’t putting too many eggs in that basket, though.

“Killing your mother wasn’t enough. I was addicted to this now, desperate to recreate that high I felt when your father was killed. There was something lacking and it drove me crazy so I did the only thing I could think of. I knew it would only be a matter of time until someone else came out of the woodwork, throwing Mills’ and my world into a tailspin once again, so we decided to take preemptive action this time. Everyone on Mills’ team at the embassy fire… Gone. The Ranger unit in Bosnia… Gone. Anyone who could potentially leak the truth… Disposed of. Of course, law enforcement never put the pieces together, the incompetent fools they are. For the most part, Whitman made everything seem like an accident and no one ever thought it odd that nearly an entire Ranger unit had died. And with each new kill, that rush came back, but it still wasn’t enough. Then, roughly two years ago, I got a phone call from a frantic Mills, telling me something I never expected to hear.”

“That my father was alive.”

He nodded. “Yes, and he was convinced your father knew everything. It was only a matter of time until he ruined it all. The only thing we had on our side was that Galloway was deemed a treasonous bastard, although some higher-ups of the U.S. military issued a gag order on his alleged misdeeds so the public never knew about it.”

“But I’m sure it would have all come out if there was evidence that he was still alive and had committed a crime…say, murder.”

He winked. “Smart girl, but you’re skipping ahead. We’ll get to that. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to finally… What is the phrase you use to refer to recreating that first high?”

“Chase the dragon,” I muttered.

“Precisely! That’s the one. So, yes, with the news that your father was alive, this was my opportunity to feel that same rush again. Mills promised he would take care of Galloway once and for all and I grew antsy as I waited for news. Months had passed and I heard nothing.
Nothing
! Mills had forsaken his old life years ago, leaving behind his family for a deep cover assignment with the CIA, and I had become uneasy that this whole thing was a ticking time bomb. That’s when I found out the infamous daughter of Colonel Galloway, now parading around as Mackenzie Delano, was living on South Padre. And I knew this was the perfect spot to open up a new hotel.”

“So you came here and…what? Married Jenna to get close to me? Seems like a lot of effort, if you ask me.”

“I soon found getting close to you to be next to impossible, so the next best option was to get close to someone you trusted. Jenna. She was so desperate to fall in love with someone, it was perfect. While I was working you from one angle, Mills…or Collins, as he was now going by…had hired a private security company to work you from another, no questions asked.”

“Tyler…”

He nodded, devoting his attention to sharpening his knife again. The sound of metal against metal was like nails on a chalkboard, each drawn out motion unnerving me a little bit more.

“Everything was going great. I did everything I could to convince you to finally lower your guard and let this guy in, knowing if it worked between you two, you may just lead him, and me, to your father. Then it all started to spiral out of control. Charlie had escaped from Walter Reed, then Elizabeth overheard me talking to Whitman on the phone while I was at the Chamber of Commerce’s office, ordering him to do everything he could to spook you…so she had to be dealt with.”

“What was the point of having Whitman make those phone calls to me?”

“Charlie had escaped and I was certain his first stop would be to pay you a visit. I wanted you to think he was the one responsible for the phone calls so you wouldn’t trust him. The last thing I wanted was for you to put the pieces together before we could find your father.”

“And you didn’t think of just using me to get to him?”

“What do you think we were doing? Hell, I had people following you almost everywhere. Whitman had broken into your place on countless occasions to go through your mail, your cell phone, everything. And we got nothing! If you were communicating with him, we couldn’t figure it out.”

“Because my father is much smarter than you are,” I sneered.

“I’ll just let you believe that for now. We’ll soon see what kind of a man your father truly is.”

“What do you mean by–”

“All in due time.”

I studied him, hoping I could figure out what he meant by that, but he gave nothing away.

“Well, I can pretty much figure out the rest,” I said, breaking the heavy silence, trying to drown out the sound of him continually sharpening the blade. “Tyler ran the footage of Whitman breaking in. You freaked out that there was an ID of Whitman and a possible investigation, which could lead back to you, so you killed him. Then you were able to somehow hack into the database at Walter Reed and alter visitor records to make it appear as if Charlie had hired Whitman to commit all those murders Whitman had, in fact, committed at your instruction.”

“I particularly liked the special touch of leaving a photo of you and your mother at the crime scene.”

“Why did you do that?”

“So the police would reopen the investigation into her death and certain things may come out about your father. I knew he was still alive, and perhaps an open criminal investigation in which you were a possible victim would force you to finally divulge where he was hiding.”

“But Tyler beat you there and was smart enough to make sure law enforcement didn’t find those photos.”

“I certainly did underestimate his abilities. It was a mistake, but one I didn’t intend to repeat. After Charlie had been named as a suspect in all those murders, Mills, or Collins, came to me and said he was done, that he was ready to put an end to it and finally come clean. I had sensed his loyalty to me waning over the months, so I made sure I had a little insurance against that happening.”

“What did you do?”

“This…” He stalked toward me, revealing his iPad. I tried to make sense of what I was seeing… It was a live feed of what appeared to be surveillance footage. On the screen was a man about my age, chained to a wall of what I could only imagine to be a cold, cement cell. Surrounding him were several monitors and computers.

“What is–”

“Oh, of course you wouldn’t recognize him. It has been…what? Sixteen or seventeen years since you’ve seen each other?”

“Damian…?” I exhaled, a tear forming in my eye at the bruises and scars dotting his face, hands, and legs.

“Did you know he’s quite skilled with computers and hacking? So he had a dual purpose for me. Not only did he serve as insurance that dear old dad wouldn’t go to the police, but he’s done everything to make sure Charlie, and your father, have taken the fall for what some other bastard has done. It’s a good thing he’s remained useful to me, or he would have gone the way of his father and mother a long time ago.”

“It was you who tried to have Tyler killed when he decided to look into a possible connection with Bosnia, wasn’t it? And you killed those last few remaining team members of my father’s Ranger unit, right?”

“Guilty,” he said playfully. “Well, technically, I hired an old acquaintance from back home to do all that. I’m rubbish when it comes to explosives, but he has what I would call a very unique talent.”

“How did you know Tyler and his team would be going to question them?”

“Remember how I had mentioned your buddy, Damian, had remained useful? Well, I had him flag certain files in various government databases, particularly any of them having to deal with your father’s Ranger unit. I had eliminated most of his team members, except for two who had apparently gone underground. One day, we saw there was some activity on them. Then there was nothing for weeks, but I still couldn’t shake it off. Thankfully, Damian was able to find out the IP address of who hacked into the government database, who just happened to be one of Tyler’s guys, then broke through his firewall to see what information he had. Luckily for us, he had been able to locate the two missing team members. When I saw flight plans, one to somewhere in Oklahoma and another to Florida, I knew something was up. We had about an eighteen hour head start, but we still had to act fast. So we made sure both men suffered an unfortunate ‘heart attack’, then rigged the houses to explode when someone tried to enter. Of course, my man was smart enough to leave clues out in the open that would indicate someone was home so your boy would break in. And when he did… Boom.”

“Why? You killed the guys in the Ranger unit. What did you have to gain by trying to kill Tyler and his team?”

“Everything!” he growled, his face growing red. “He was determined to find who was responsible for everything and I knew he wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t have that happen, not until I finally got my hands on your father!” The vein in his neck flared and the wild look in his eyes reminded me of an addict desperate for his next fix. And that was precisely what Richard was. He had become so addicted to how powerful and in control he felt when he thought he was responsible for taking my father’s life that he had been trying to recreate that high over the past several years, but nothing topped it. This man in front of me was desperate and crazed, completely irrational.

“But if you were so anxious to get your hands on my father,” I said, snapping out of my thoughts, “why didn’t you do anything at the wedding? He was there. You were there.”

“It’s not just about your father. I need retribution, an eye for an eye, and just killing your father isn’t enough anymore. However, I did make sure he knew who I was, that I was still alive and not dead as I’m sure he hoped.”

My mind raced, wondering why my dad hadn’t said anything to any of us.

“And Charlie? That was you?”

“I still don’t know why he made it so easy for us to find him. After all those months of him on the run, he just called you on your cell phone, allowing Damian to trace the call. Imagine my surprise when we found out it was from your condo. I called a favor into my buddy, the agent who had been leading the investigation into all of Charlie’s murders, and gave him a lead on the location. It’s not a coincidence he was assigned that case and, like most low-paid government workers, he was more than willing to help me stage a suicide in exchange for a heavy payoff.”

“Agent Suarez?” I asked.

“I met him years ago during a fundraiser at one of my hotels in Washington. I heard he had a certain talent and knew he may end up being useful to me one day. He was more than willing to put an end to Charlie, then try to pin his death, and a whole slew of others, on your father…particularly when I showed him classified documents naming him as the man behind dozens of acts of treason, including the embassy fire. Agent Suarez has a very twisted sense of patriotism.”

“Didn’t quite work out for you, though, did it?” a loud booming voice bellowed out. We both snapped our heads toward the front door, surprised to see my father standing there, holding a pistol.

Richard rushed toward me and cut my restraints, lifting me out of the chair and holding me against him, the knife to my throat. “I’ll kill her!” he hissed, pressing the cold metal against my skin. I whimpered, feeling as if I was staring death in the face.

“Why? What do you want with her? She didn’t do anything!” my father argued, taking slow steps toward us. “You want your revenge against me for not saving your wife, then take it but Serafina has nothing to do with this and you know it.”