Las Vegas Sidewinders: Drake (Book 2) (25 page)

“I called ahead!” she
snapped. “I tried to get them to get rid of it, but you drove out of there like
a bat out of hell and there wasn’t time. His being killed cost me a big bonus,
but I made up for that by latching on to you and getting information. Easiest
money I’ve ever made. Not like this crappy military salary.”

“So this was about
money
?”
Erin didn’t waver, and she found a deadly calm had settled in her stomach.

“What the hell do you
think?” Liv shook her head.

“It’s the gambling,
isn’t it?” Mark spoke softly, looking at Liv. “You got in the hole a few years
back. That’s what started this.”

“Shut up.” Liv was
glaring at him. “You don’t know shit.”

“I know that we were
your friends and we would have helped you.”

“I asked Shay to help
me!” she snapped. “He had that fancy trust fund, but you know what he told me?
He said I needed help and he would only pay if I went to some bullshit Gamblers
Anonymous! I owed a lot of money—I didn’t have time for any of that! They were
gonna kill me as soon as I set foot back in the States!”

“How much money could
you have owed?” Erin whispered, horrified.

“More than I could ever
pay back without doing something drastic. I did what I had to do.” Liv’s jaw
was working in irritation. “Like I’ve always done. You white people don’t
understand how hard it is to be black, growing up in the damn ghetto.”

“What about me?” Louie
finally found his voice. “I’m not white. Where do I fall into all of this?”

“You should’ve just
kept your mouth shut and kept lettin’ me suck your dick on a regular basis. I
might’ve even married you if you’d been able to stay out of this one’s fan
club.”

“I was never a fan of
hers!” he grunted. “Until
today
.”

Liv’s eyes narrowed
dangerously. “You need to shut up. All of you.”

“You’re just gonna kill
us all and pretend nothing happened?” Erin snorted. “We know about Jan, and
I’ve already sent emails to half a dozen people with the details. Anything
happens to me, you’re still going to jail.”

“I’m not going to
jail!” She took a step closer. “I’m getting out of this hell hole tonight—got a
ride waiting for me in the desert.”

“With the mercs?” Erin
laughed. “You don’t know much about mercs, do you? Did you get the part where
my new husband makes a shit ton of money? Those guys have been contacted and
paid off. There’s not going to be any rescue party waiting for you in the
desert.”

Liv shifted, her eyes
moving back and forth rapidly now. “Drake don’t have money like the Gentrys
have money! He doesn’t have shit compared to them!”

“Mercs don’t play by
the rules, Liv,” Erin stood her ground. “They take the money that’s in front of
them and then they’re gone. You know that.”

“I don’t have to listen
to anything—” She broke off as Eric came stumbling in.

“Hey, what the fuck,
you guys?” He looked confused.

Erin and Mark dove at
the same time. They took Liv down with a jolt. She was strong, though, having
boxed her way out of the Bronx and into the Marines. Her fist connected
squarely with Mark’s jaw, sending him sprawling, but Erin hung on for dear
life, concentrating on knocking the gun out of Liv’s hand, her own lost in the
shuffle.

“Eric, get the
Colonel!” Mark yelled. He got a shot in the stomach from Liv’s boot and he
grunted. Damn, she was a tough bitch, but Erin hadn’t let go, and dug her knee
into Liv’s side.

“God dammit, Liv, this
isn’t going to end well for you!” Erin didn’t know where she found the
strength, but she was pissed.

Out of nowhere, Louie
yanked Liv by the feet, pulling her clear of the melee. Erin fell to the side,
clawing for the gun, but it wasn’t necessary. Louie lifted Liv up by the shirt
and punched her once, right in the face, knocking her out cold.

“Had better head from a
$20 ‘ho,” he muttered, letting her drop.

They sat there for a
moment in silence, Mark nursing his throbbing jaw and Erin wiping the sweat off
her brow.

“Who you tellin’ to
just sit back and get my
dick
sucked?” Louie was still muttering as the
Colonel and Eric came barging back in. “You think getting my
dick
sucked
is more important than my fucking
country
?”

“Easy, Lou,” Mark had
finally gotten to his feet. “I’m thinking she can’t hear you.”

“Cuff her,” the Colonel
turned to the soldiers he’d brought with him. They hauled Liv, who was just
blinking awake, to her feet and tied her hands with zip ties. “Get her out of
here,” he told them. “I can’t even look at her right now. Lopez, I want no less
than three men watching her.”

He looked around the
room, at Erin, Mark and Louie, and raised his eyebrows. “Anyone want to fill me
in?”

Erin sank into a chair,
the adrenaline starting to abate as her heart rate began to slow. She was
feeling nauseous again and she tried to breathe in through her nose and out of
her mouth. Her hands were shaking too, and she tried to still them. She hated
showing any weakness in front of her men, but even more in front of the
Colonel.

“You all right?” Mark
knelt before her, looking into her eyes.

“Just coming down from
the adrenaline rush,” she forced a smile. “I’ll be okay now that I know you
guys are safe.” She didn’t add the unspoken worry about Drake and Kate, who
were back in the States, unprotected from a mad woman.

“There’s going to be a
lot of paperwork,” the Colonel said flatly.

“I’m going to need to
call my superiors,” Louie said with a sigh. “Damn. I owe you an apology, Erin.”

“You saved our lives,”
Erin said lightly. “It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not.” He
sighed heavily. “We didn’t like you. Me and Mark, we thought you had Shay so
pussy-whipped he wasn’t thinking straight. He knew something was wrong, but he
couldn’t put his finger on it. We thought it was your fault, that he was so
worried about keeping you safe he was paranoid. We should have trusted his
instincts, and his faith in you as a soldier. He wouldn’t have brought you over
here if he thought you would be a liability.” He met her eyes. “We’re as
responsible for his death as those assholes who put that IED out there.”

“It was complicated,”
she admitted softly. “But his number one priority was this unit, not me. He
brought me along to keep our country safe. When he picked me, he didn’t know I
still had feelings for him. He didn’t find that out until we’d been here a
while and started spending time together again. We figured out we’d never
stopped loving each other, and we made a date to discuss it.” She blinked away
the ever-threatening tears. “September 26
^th
.”

“The 26
^th
.”
Louie managed a small smile. “Two days after we were supposed to get home.”

“That’s right. So
understand that Shay never put me first—he never lost sight of the mission. He
was worried about me because he must have figured out that his mother was
crazy, and he might have even suspected Liv was up to something, but I was
always a secondary concern because he knew I could take care of myself. You
guys didn’t
really
think we were sleeping together over here, did you?”

“I did,” Louie
admitted.

“I knew you weren’t,”
Mark said. “He told me it was killing him, but you both had too much respect
for the job to disrespect it that way.”

“Okay, that’s in the
past,” the Colonel cleared his throat. “Right now we have to focus on this
mission. Either way, we were sent here to verify whether or not that nuclear
plant is being used to make or store nukes. And we have to find a way to do
that without any help from traitors, mercs or insurgents.” He rubbed his crew
cut. “This is the craziest damn unit I’ve ever worked with. I’ll see you in my
office in 30 minutes to regroup. Erin, get something to eat. You’re white as a
ghost.” He turned on his heel and left the room.

Mark held out a hand to
Erin. She took it and he helped her up. “I dropped the ball in 2010, but it
won’t happen again, sir. I’ve got your six.”

“You always had it,”
she whispered, giving him a hug. “Even when you didn’t like me, I knew it but I
still trusted you.”

“Except for that time
you told Liv
I
was the traitor.” He smirked.

She laughed. “Yeah,
well, you weren’t the only one dealing with misinformation.”

“Friends?” Louie held
out his hand to her.

She shook it firmly.
“Always.”

They walked out of her
office together, Erin sandwiched between them. There was no way they were going
to let anything happen to her this time.

Drake walked into the
law offices of Tucker, Hunter & Herbinger with a calm he didn’t know he
possessed. There had never been a hockey game—not even playing for the Stanley
Cup with Detroit in his early twenties—that made him as nervous as he was
today, but he moved with purpose and determination. This was the hardest thing
he’d ever done, but it was for Erin. Knowing that Karl and Dom were waiting
outside gave him a sense of security.

He wasn’t sure who had
first come up with the idea of him wearing a wire or going to the FBI. It had
all happened kind of fast, with Jason taking the lead after he showed him
Erin’s email. They’d gone over a hundred different scenarios for catching Jan,
but when it came down to it, she was not the kind of woman who would be easily
duped. Duplicity was
her
game, and there was no way to play it at her
level without doing something illegal. Clay, however, was not nearly as clever
as his mother. He operated on emotion, easily led by whatever he was told, and
he was the weaker link. If they were going to catch anyone at anything, it
would have to be Clay.

Riding up in the
elevator, Drake put on his game face. His size alone was usually intimidating,
and on the ice he used it to his full advantage. Off the ice, however, he was a
pretty mellow guy, so he didn’t often find himself in situations where he had
to be a tough guy. Luckily, he had a friend like Dom who had a lot of
experience in that department, and he’d given him some pointers. Now all he had
to do was charm the receptionist—Jason had confirmed it was a woman and her
name was Barbara. Then he had to be the toughest he’d ever been in his life.

Walking up to the
massive reception desk, he turned on his brightest television smile. Slowly
taking off his sunglasses, he was relieved to see the young receptionist
checking him out; now that he was married, he wasn’t sure he even knew how to
flirt anymore but he needed to give it a try.

“Hi, Barbara.” He gave
her a grin. “I was wondering if I could get a few minutes with Clay Gentry?”

“Do you have an
appointment, sir?” she smiled up at him, batting her eyes flirtatiously.

“Actually, I don’t. But
I have some important business and I need to speak to him today. Do you think
you could give him this note from me? I’m pretty sure he’ll want to see me if
you do.” He handed her a piece of paper with a wink.

“Well,” she giggled, “I
suppose I could walk it down to his office. I think he just got back from
lunch.”

“That would be great.”
He winked again, and moved to a chair. He felt his heart pounding painfully in
his chest. He wasn’t good at this shit, but he forced himself to remain cool.
One step at a time. They’d rehearsed this. He knew what to say. He knew what to
do. It was just a matter of keeping Clay calm as well. If Clay went off the
deep end, or he pissed him off too soon, he would just call security and all of
this would have been for naught.

Barbara came bustling
down the hall with a slight frown. “Mr. Gentry said to show you right in,” she
faltered. Clay had obviously not been happy, but the note attached to a copy of
his phone records had surely gotten his attention.

“Thank you, Barbara.”
He smiled at her and followed her down the hall. She motioned to the office and
he stepped inside, giving her one last smile. She disappeared without a word,
closing the door behind her.

Drake turned and found
Clay sitting behind his desk, leaning back in his chair, his hands behind his
head. “Well, hello Loverboy.”

“Hello, Clay.”

“Have a seat. Take a
load off.” Clay motioned to one of the chairs on the other side of the desk.

“Let me get right to
the point,” Drake remained standing. “I’ve already shown those phone records to
the FBI. Despite the fact that they were obtained illegally, it still shows a
threat to national security, so it doesn’t mean shit whether or not they will
stand up in court.”

Clay raised his
eyebrows. “Does the NHL give out law degrees now?” he asked with a twitch of
his lips.

“No, but it gives out
lots of money that can be used to
hire
people with law degrees. And
private investigators.”

“Look, I don’t even
know what this is,” he motioned to the papers on the desk. “But I haven’t done
anything illegal, so there’s nothing for me to worry about. I don’t know how
suing my ex-wife or calling her names in front of a room of people is a matter
of national security.”

“You can confirm that
those are your phone records, right?”

“Okay.” Clay glanced
down again but didn’t seem overly concerned.

“Do you recognize what
those highlighted calls are?”

Clay sighed in
annoyance but looked down and studied the numbers for a moment. He was frowning
when he looked up. “Honestly, I have no earthly idea. I don’t even recognize
that country code. Maybe Sonya has been calling her grandmother in Syria?”

“Try again.” Drake
folded his arms across his chest.

“Okay, what is this
about?” Clay picked up the papers and looked at them more closely. “I truly
have no idea what these numbers mean. Care to enlighten me?”

“Afghanistan,” Drake
said softly. “A call made at 7:45 in the morning, the day your twin brother was
killed, literally half an hour before his unit hit that IED.”

“What?!” Clay threw the
papers down. “Look, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing but—”

“When I tell you the
FBI already has these papers in their possession, I’m not kidding. You’re being
investigated. For treason.”

Clay met his gaze
abruptly. “Okay, let’s just say that’s all true—why
the fuck
are you
here? To give me a heads-up?”

“Nope. To give you a
chance to get yourself out of this by giving us the person who
really
had your brother killed.” He could tell his words had the desired effect,
because Clay’s expression changed to one of actual confusion.

“Okay, you got me,” he
said with a sigh. “I have no idea what you’re doing, but since you’re talking
about my brother being murdered, let’s hear it.”

“Over the last three
years, there have been dozens of phone calls made from your house to
Afghanistan. How do you explain that?”

“I don’t.” Clay
shrugged. “For all I know, you had a graphic designer print these up to look
like a phone bill.”

“I promise you I
didn’t.” Drake pulled out a copy of the nude photo of Erin from his jacket. It
killed him to have to show this to him, but it was not like Clay had never seen
her naked and there was no other way to make sure he understood what was going
on. “Do you know any reason your mother has this picture on her computer?”

Clay glanced down and
raised his eyebrows. “Seriously? That little prude wouldn’t pose nude for the
Pope!”

Drake gritted his teeth
to keep from reaching across the desk and knocking him into the middle of next
week. “Yet there it is. Along with this one.” He pulled out his trump card. He
handed it to Clay, who turned white.

“What the hell is
this?!” he demanded, coming out of his seat.

“This is what your
mother is going to use to get you to take the fall for her,” Drake said
quietly.

“This is bullshit!”
Clay yelled, ripping the photo into tiny pieces. “Where did you get that? What
do you want? Money?”

“I don’t want anything
except for you to tell the truth,” Drake said calmly.

“The truth?!” Clay’s
eyes had gone dark. “What are you talking about?”

“Who told you that they
left Shay back in Afghanistan?” Drake held up a finger. “No, think before you
answer. Who told you? Didn’t you ask to see his body?”

Clay stopped moving,
his eyes squinting as he thought back. “I think, they said—wait, my mother said
they told her he’d already been cremated per his wishes. She said it was a
cover-up because the team had been forced to abandon him. They were under fire
and they didn’t have time to carry him to the other Hummer.”

“You know there is no
such thing as leaving behind a fallen Marine.” Drake met his eyes. “Your
twin
brother was a god damned Captain in the Marines—do you think he would have ever
left anyone behind?!”

“No.” Clay spoke
raggedly. “No—they were more like his brothers than I was.” He turned away. “So
what are you trying to tell me? That he wasn’t left behind and he really was
cremated per his wishes?”

“Your mother saw his
body, but she chose to tell you a different story because she made a mistake.
She was trying to kill Erin, and instead she killed her own son. So to cover it
up, she had to make sure you hated Erin, enough to make you start acting out so
there would be a record of your behavior.”

“Why would my mother do
all of this?” He’d moved over to the window, and was staring out at the busy
streets below.

“When you married Erin,
your brother basically cut all ties to you, didn’t he?” Drake shrugged. “It
messed up all of her plans. She didn’t like her family broken up, plus she
already had a wife in mind for one of you and Shay was far too good-looking to
go out with a mousy little thing like Sonya.”

“Hey!” Clay’s head
snapped up. “She’s not mousy!”

“Not anymore. Her
parents paid a lot of money for all the plastic surgery she’s had since high
school.”

Clay looked startled
and then he shrugged. “Does it matter? You obviously saw the picture—you know
my proclivities really don’t include her anyway. And frankly, she prefers to
watch. Marriage and a couple of kids will make the rest of the world leave us
to our…other interests. My mother gets her perfect Christmas pictures every
year and my father makes his bid for President in a few years. Erin just didn’t
understand that—after I realized she wasn’t going to be the obedient little
wife, I practically threw her back at Shay and she still stuck to her guns. The
two of them couldn’t just run off together and let me handle Mother!” He ran a
hand through his hair. “I had to maintain appearances—if he would have just
gone after her, none of this would have happened.”

Drake felt a little bit
sick as he realized the extent to which Jan Gentry had gone to maintain the
façade of the all-American political family. He didn’t even know what Clay was
talking about now, so he let him ramble on. “Wait—you wanted Erin and Shay to
be together?”

“He was my twin—I
wanted whatever he wanted!”

“Didn’t you ask him to
let you have a chance with Erin?”

Clay waved a dismissive
hand. “I had no idea he was actually
in love
with her—we were still
kids! In those days, he went through women like underwear! She was pretty,
smart and well-behaved. I thought she would be perfect for my little charade,
but Jesus Christ, I actually had to romance her just to get her virginity! I
had no idea she and Shay were the great loves of each other’s lives. I figured
it out right before the wedding and I practically gave him permission to sleep
with her. I figured they’d call the whole thing off and I could have some peace
again. But no, Saint Shay had to go and do the right thing for his twin
brother.” He rolled his eyes.

“Did he know you were
gay?” Drake couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t part of the script, but Erin would
want to know.

“No!” Clay looked
alarmed. “Shay was the perfect child, the perfect man, the perfect everything—I
couldn’t let him know that I was even more fucked up than he already thought.
It was exhausting being the obedient kid in the family. Shay didn’t give a damn
about Mom’s family ideals and did whatever he wanted. So I got stuck being the
one who had to deal with her. How do you think I got him to let me have Erin? I
reminded him how I always made all the appearances he didn’t want to make, and
I let Mom set me up with all the society girls she wanted me to date. He gave
her up out of guilt.”

“Don’t you even miss
him?” Drake knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but Clay’s ambivalence
was stupefying.

“Of course I miss him…”
Clay went to the wet bar and poured two fingers of bourbon. He took a long
drink that burned all the way down. “But I can’t bring him back, and I still
have to deal with
my
situation. Besides, why do you think I was so angry
with Erin? It never occurred to me that Mother was still manipulating me.”

“What does that mean?”

“Look, what are you
doing here?” Clay turned to him, his body somehow small and drawn all of a
sudden, as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Are you
wearing a wire or something? I don’t have anything to hide—you have a picture
of my only secret. At this point, I don’t have anything else to lose.”

“All I want is your
mother’s head on a platter.”

“God, you can have
her.” Clay raised his glass to Drake as he poured more bourbon. “But if you’re
here for a confession, I don’t have anything to confess. I don’t know anything
about phone calls to Afghanistan or nude photos of Erin. What, exactly, did my
mother do?”

“She paid someone in
Shay’s unit to spy for her and keep her updated on what they were doing.
He
wasn’t supposed to be leading the mission he died on—Erin was.”