Critical Density Read online

  Viper stared at Peyton’s face on the screen. “Are you fucking kidding me? They thought they could just get away with killing off a US Senator and blame it on a drone operator, and get off scot-free? There must be a lot of power behind this whole thing if they think they can squash the kind of investigation a mess like this usually brings on. These people could be starting another world war if that’s the case.”

  Peyton nodded. “You guys need to find out the reason behind all this. If Hegman was the real target, not the accidental one, something pretty evil is going on. Franz said there’s a lot of money and power behind Lowden Tactical from sources not visible to the public eye. That always makes me suspicious.”

  “Me, too. Who’s in line to replace Hegman as chairman?”

  Peyton frowned. “That’s the thing. According to Franz, there are three powerful senators on the committee who could be next up. I’m emailing you their names right now. We need to find out if any of them has a hidden connection to Lowden. And also what their political ideals are.”

  Viper saw Hannah’s face lose all its color as a reality hit her.

  “This was never about hitting the terrorist.” She almost whispered the words. “Just like you said, Hegman was always the target and they used me as the instrument to accomplish the task.”

  “Something like that.”

  Viper had to work to control himself. He was a SEAL who had fought honorably and bravely for his country, so something like this made him beyond angry. He didn’t tolerate traitors, and it seemed to him that the label suited the people manipulating this situation. Not to mention their devastating plot to throw it all on an innocent woman.

  “So what’s our next move?” He looked at Hannah then back to Peyton.

  “Well, obviously, Hannah needs to keep a low profile. Like invisible. We can’t risk taking her out in public.”

  “That was always my thought, until we got this wrapped up.”

  “But—” She frowned. “As far as we know, they have no idea that I’m here. How could they? They have no idea what happened to me after I slipped out of the hotel.”

  “These people have money and resources,” Viper reminded her. “Unlimited. We don’t know for certain the extent of Lowden’s reach to find out things, but you can bet it’s damn wide. We want to keep them ignorant of where you are for as long as possible.”

  “You think he has people here searching for me? How would he even know where to look?”

  “Under normal conditions, he wouldn’t.” Viper shook his head. “But you disappeared and left no trace. You’re a walking disaster for them. They have to find out where you are and who you talked to and how much of a mess they have to clean up. They’re actively looking for you and pulling out all the stops to find you.”

  “Yes.” She shuddered at the thought.

  “These are powerful people with the money, Hannah, and they have the connections to conduct a national search. It’s the same way cartels find snitches. If they think you’ve figured out any part of the truth here, they’ll find you and make you really disappear without a trace. And with a good cover story.”

  Hannah looked from the phone screen to Viper, then back to Peyton. “This is scaring the hell out of me.”

  “Good,” Viper told her. “Being scared makes you alert. But you have an edge they don’t know about. You have the four of us handling this, and these people have no idea what they stepped in.” He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “And you have me personally. Your very own bodyguard.”

  Just that touch from him made her feel better.

  “And me,” Peyton called from the phone. “I’m an extra secret weapon.” She lowered her voice. “I know a lot of people.”

  Viper barked a laugh. “That’s the damn truth. And we may need some of them, before this is done.”

  “Blaze wanted to know if you guys are up for dinner again tonight?” Peyton asked. “Rocket met with Tom Hernandez and everyone’s been doing some research. Based on what I learned from Senator Franz, I think the more the better.”

  “Absolutely,” Viper agreed. “Let’s make it seven o’clock. I’ll do barbecue chicken on the grill.”

  Peyton nodded. “We’ll all bring the rest of the stuff. See you later.”

  Viper disconnected the call and shoved his cell into his pocket. Then he pulled Hannah tight to his body, wrapping his arms around her. He could feel the tension running through her body.

  “Nothing’s going to happen to you, babe,” he assured her. “You’ve got the best taking care of you. You have my word on that.”

  “But Lowden and his people have to be royally pissed that I disappeared. They have contacts everywhere. Their client base is worldwide, and after what Peyton said today—and what I’ve come to suspect—they could find me anywhere.”

  “And we’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen, to the best of our ability. But just remember, we can protect you, no matter what.”

  “Okay.” She buried her face against his chest. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Viper just wished he didn’t sense the hesitation or insecurity in her. He’d have to have a talk with the others to take extra precautions.

  Chapter Ten

  Diesel was ready to kill someone, starting with Henry. The man was driving him fucking nuts. Conducting his business—the public one—had become a problem, because Henry never seemed to let more than two hours go by before he either returned to Diesel’s house or called him on his cell.

  “Henry,” he ground out, clutching his cell, “if you don’t fucking leave me alone, not only will I never find her, but the business will go to hell, which will create even more problems. Do you want to tell all our so-called friends that we’re out of business?”

  “Tell you-know-who to take care of it. He needs to earn his disgustingly fat salary.”

  “And he does,” Diesel snapped. “We could do a lot better if you’d leave us the fuck alone.”

  “Leave you alone?” Henry snorted. “My life—my entire career—could hang in the balance if the truth about the drone strike gets out and you and your men are dinking around like we have all the time in the world. You have to find that bitch before she destroys us all.”

  “And I’m telling you she doesn’t know shit. I made damn fucking sure of that.”

  “Then how come you had her all locked away like that? You said it was so she couldn’t tell anyone anything.”

  “I set her up to take the fall, you stupid ass. That’s why I had to keep her away from everyone. So I could arrange enough electronic and other evidence to make a charge stick. Then, when it was time to turn that all over to the government, we had it planned so she’d conveniently commit suicide. Or disappear permanently. How many times do I have to repeat myself?”

  “As many times as I ask, until I get the answers I want.”

  If it wouldn’t have brought hell raining down on them, he’d have killed Henry and tossed his body in the river. But he needed the man, too, in order to make sure the next part of the plan worked smoothly.

  “We’re checking everywhere.” He tried to make his voice as soothing and confident as possible. “She had no resources with her in Houston. She was smart enough to leave her credit cards and I’m damn sure she had minimal cash with her. At least not a lot of it. She doesn’t know anyone in Houston outside of work. She left her cell phone, although we put a tracker on it. I’m using every one of my connections and that gives us an army of people out there.”

  “But where are they looking?” Henry demanded. “I want details.”

  Diesel had to restrain himself from wrapping his fingers around the man’s neck.

  “We had to figure out a starting point. If she was still in Houston, we’d already have found her. We’re checking all flights that left Houston within twenty-four hours of her disappearing, just in case she managed to get a ticket.”

  “She couldn’t get on a commercial flight without identification. How do you suppose s
he handled that?”

  Diesel gritted his teeth. “You yourself know there are several ways. We don’t know if she had one available to her, but it’s an option. But mostly we’re focusing on getting a list of smaller aircraft, thinking she might have been able to hitch a ride with someone.”

  “Just like that?”

  “She’s not a stupid woman, Henry,” he snapped. “If she found the right person and made up the right story, then yes, it’s a good possibility. We’re making a list of the cities where those planes were headed and working with contacts in each one of them. Hannah Modell is extremely smart and resourceful. If anyone could figure out a way, it’s her.”

  “How the hell will you even sort it all out, though? Your people couldn’t even find a trace of her in Houston in a ten-block area.”

  “Fuck, Henry. Will you keep your shit together? It’s not like we can just walk up to people and show them her picture without a good excuse and without stirring up questions we can’t answer. We’ve got a good cover story. Besides, as I said, there are lots of private planes that fly in and out of that airport. A resourceful person could figure out how to stow away on one of them or talk someone into giving them a ride.”

  “I want that list.”

  “You don’t need it, Henry,” Diesel snapped. “We’re handling it. Get past this. Besides, you don’t need to be connected to this in any way at all.”

  “What if she changes her appearance?” Henry demanded. “Women can do that easily, you know. Did you think about that?”

  Diesel swallowed back the curse that wanted to explode from his mouth. If he could, he’d drug Henry up and lock him away in a room until this was all over.

  “Yes, damn it. Am I stupid? Jesus fuck, Henry.”

  Henry blew out a breath. “No, you’re not. It’s just that there’s so much at stake here.”

  “No one knows that better than me. Not to worry. There’s a guy who does stuff for me who can adjust photos. I gave him different parameters, so everyone looking for her has a packet of four shots to use. Henry, for fuck’s sake.” He drew a calming breath. “You don’t need to have every detail. I said it’s being handled. We spent a long time setting up this structure. This operation. Do you think I want to fuck it up now?”

  “It’s more than the operation,” he growled. “My goddamn career could be on the line here. I set everything up like we all discussed, and by next week the committee will be ready to move to elect a new chairman. We can move into phase two then, so we have to have this cleared away by then.”

  Diesel swore under his breath. The man was impossible. Maybe he wasn’t worth all this trouble. Maybe they could find a way to do all this without Henry involved.

  “You know, you aren’t the only one who can give us what we need. Just keep that in mind. Now get the hell off the phone and let me get to work.”

  After he disconnected the call, he sat back in his chair, his cell in his hand, and stared out of the window. It had all seemed too simple to begin with. Use people with clean backgrounds. Set them up to take the fall. A new device allowed him to take full control of drones remotely, even the powerful, sophisticated ones, no matter what the distance, and send them to whatever location he chose. That was how the payload had been dumped on Hegman rather than the terrorist who’d supposedly been the original target.

  Hannah Modell was the perfect fall guy. She had no connections to anyone and was a generally a pretty isolated person. As he’d expected. With her having no social support system, it had been easy enough to separate her from everyone else at the company and set her up in that hotel room. The big question was how the fuck she’d gotten away. Paul Santos was not an easy person to fool or sandbag.

  Well, he wasn’t going to accomplish anything just sitting here. He and his trusted lieutenants had set up a national search team. Time to start reaching out again and ramp things up.

  * * * *

  Hannah had listened quietly as the men talked during dinner, examining the situation from all aspects. She was doing her best to keep a lid on her fear and remain calm.

  Viper will protect me. That’s all I need to remember.

  “We can’t just sit here and wait for them to make a move,” Viper pointed out.

  Rocket wiped his mouth and threw down his napkin. “He’s going to be looking everywhere for her. You know that.”

  Viper nodded. “And I imagine he can put an army together to do it. If Eric Lowden is in charge of this, he’s had the chance to build the kind of structure he needs. Not to mention the fact that we don’t know where he was before he popped up heading the company. He could have a system he’s been setting up for years.”

  “I agree.”

  “That’s why we asked Tom Hernandez and his crew to sniff around.” As if he’d conjured the man out of thin air, Viper’s cell rang. “And this is him.” He pressed the Talk button. “Go.”

  He listened carefully, giving nothing away, although when he hung up he looked as if he wanted to kill someone.

  “Well?” Eagle prompted.

  “As we expected, they’ve got someone who’s very good at this snooping around. He’s checked the hotel and has been working the businesses for three blocks around it.”

  Hannah had to fold her hands together to keep them from shaking.

  “Could he find out about us? That we left together?”

  “Anything is possible.” Viper put one of his large hands over both of hers. “But even if he does, he won’t have a name or any idea where we went.”

  “If he has a large enough team working with him, he might get to it,” Eagle told him. “Pretty soon they’ll try to figure out if she left Houston, and how. No identification, so no commercial flights. They’ll wonder if she managed to talk someone with a private plane into giving her a ride out of there.”

  “Oh, god.” She was sure she was going to be sick.

  Rocket took a swallow of beer. “What we need to do is create a false lead for him, someplace away from here. Hannah, do you have a contact anywhere at all that’s someone you might go to if you were in trouble? Someone they could dig out?”

  She was embarrassed that she didn’t have people she could reach out to, but being social had always come hard to her. And ever since high school, her entire focus had been her education and her work. She didn’t relate to people well anyway, as witnessed by her dismal sex life—never mind the absence of a love life. Until Viper had come along, she’d thought she was doomed to live in a social freezer forever.

  Now she shook her head. “I’m sorry. I know you probably think I’m some kind of weirdo, but making friends was never that important to me.”

  Peyton, who was sitting on one side of her at the round patio table, reached over and squeezed her hand.

  “Well, you have them now. You have all of us. Count on it.”

  Hannah’s throat tightened, her eyes burned and for a moment she was afraid she would burst into tears. But Viper, on the other side of her, put his arm around her and pulled her tight against him, his hand stroking her arm, and she managed to swallow back the tears. Then she looked around the table.

  “How did I get so lucky as to end up with all of you?”

  Viper kissed the top of her head. “You picked me up in a bar. Remember?”

  That put an end to her almost-crying jag. She jabbed him in the ribs.

  “Oh, yeah? Who picked who up, buster?”

  He chuckled. “Let’s just say it was mutual. You had a problem and I was happy to help out.”

  “And we’re all glad you did,” Rocket assured him, then smiled at Hannah. “We have your back, Hannah. This is what we do.”

  “Tom Hernandez is checking all his sources,” Rocket told them, “to see if he can pick anything up. These people are for sure conducting a search. We need to know how and where.”

  Hannah stared at him. “Can you do that?”

  “Honey, we can do anything,” he assured her. “Remember our motto, ‘We are your last resor
t.’”

  Eagle nodded. “And we need to get on with it. Normally I’d say the chances of them tracking Hannah here are almost nil, except this organization will have unlimited resources and contacts we don’t even know about. We need to prepare for that, so put your brains to work.”

  “Yeah,” Viper said. “I have a feeling we don’t have any time to spare with this.” He lifted one of Hannah’s hands and kissed the back of it. “But don’t worry, sugar. They won’t get anywhere near you. That’s a promise.”

  Hannah wished she felt as confident as they did. More and more, she was coming to realize Lowden could do anything.

  “We’re all going to head out,” Peyton told her as they cleared the table. “It’s been another long day and I can see you’re riding a thin edge.” She leaned close to Hannah and smiled. “You need to let Viper take that edge off.”

  Hannah wasn’t sure what to say. Never having had any close girlfriends, she wasn’t sure about making jokes about intimacy, but she managed a smile. Peyton West was certainly a good one to start with.

  She realized with a start that by the time she and Peyton had finished storing the leftovers, the guys had cleaned up the grill and the dishes and wiped down the kitchen. Something else she wasn’t used to.

  “Thank you, everyone,” she told them. “I really appreciate you doing this.”

  “No problem.” Rocket grinned at her. “Viper would beat us bloody if we didn’t.”

  “Damn right.” Viper chuckled and came up behind her, giving her shoulders a soft squeeze. “Listen. Thanks for everything. Really. And not just the dishes.”

  “We’re on it,” Eagle told him. “Go take care of your lady.”

  His lady? Was that how they saw her? It hadn’t even been three days, she reminded herself, yet somehow the title fit. Comfortably. It shocked her, since it was so out of her wheelhouse.

  She watched while Viper ushered everyone out, and after the gate closed behind the last person, he set the locks and the alarm. Then he looked at Hannah, resting his hands on her arms.