I squeeze his hand and lean my head against his shoulder. "Well, that means you have to spend Christmas with me. You're not allowed to be alone during the holidays when you have someone who loves you and wants to be with you."
"Sabine…"
"Shh," I tell him, smiling. "Just do what I say and everything will work out." I keep the smile on my face until he looks back out at the pond and then I sigh and tuck into his chest. Because I don’t know if everything will work out. I'm banking on a hope and a prayer, and two soldiers who may or may not come through for me.
If what I present to Defense doesn’t justify my misuse of those CRIP files, I'm going to jail for a long time. And I can't tell Jace yet that my plan is to walk right into SOCOM and turn myself in.
27
JACE
The address for victim number eleven leads me to a small house in a residential neighborhood, and I move between houses toward the target's house. The sun has fully risen now and residents are starting their days, backing cars out of driveways and heading to work or holiday shopping. I keep my movements casual and unhurried like I belong here, while Sabine waits in the truck like I told her. I'm not taking a risk that she'll get injured and be unable to hand in all that evidence. I can handle pressing this man to flip and turn on Bryan without her.
The house is dark, but it's early. With no lights on yet, it appears number eleven is still sleeping. With no tire tracks down the fresh snow on the driveway, I know he hasn't left yet. But I pause when I see a light set of foot prints headed up the front steps. They're fresh but snow has started to fill them in already, and from the look of it, they belong to someone large. So I keep walking, moving past the front and doubling back.
I approach from the side yard where a privacy fence provides cover from neighboring houses, testing the gate to find itunlocked. The backyard's empty and quiet, and I move quickly to the rear entrance of the house, which has another set of prints, this set fresher, not nearly as filled in by snow as the ones out front. The door has been jimmied so the latch won't catch anymore, and warning bells start ringing in my mind before I even push it open.
The kitchen comes into view first, and I see blood spatter across the white cabinets and tile floor. A body lies face down near the sink, and I recognize the build and hair color of victim number eleven from the photos Sabine showed me. My first instinct is to back out of this house and leave, but I'm foolish and curious. I step inside, but my hand moves to my weapon. Someone has been in this home doing my job for me and I'm too late.
The living room reveals the second body. Victim number twelve sits propped against the couch with his throat cut so deep his head lolls backward and his eyes stare at nothing. The blood has started to dry, which means they've been dead for at least an hour, maybe more. Someone got here before me and finished the job I was supposed to complete.
It means Barone sent another killer, maybe someone I know well because I work with them, and if that's the case, it's someone who might be happy to see me and collect whatever bounty's been offered for my head. I start to back away and head out of the house when I hear a creak, and I freeze when cold metal presses against the back of my head and a voice I recognize speaks from behind me.
"Hello, Jace. Been looking for you everywhere." Carlo Rossi's voice is lethal, speaking so calmly in a sinister tone. He's been waiting for me to come and he baited both of them to one place to make sure the job is done correctly. "Drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head. Slowly."
I release my grip on the gun and let it fall to the floor, then lace my fingers behind my head. My mind races though a million different scenarios, but even with my size advantage over him, all of them end with me dead. I’m fast, but I'm not faster than a speeding bullet.
"Turn around." Carlo steps back to give me room to move while keeping his weapon trained on my head. "I want to see your face when I tell you how much the boss is paying for your corpse."
I turn slowly and meet his eyes. He looks tired and angry, but there is a hint of satisfaction. He's been hunting me for days and he's about to get his payoff. His finger rests on the trigger, and I know he won’t hesitate to shoot me if I so much as flinch.
"You didn’t have to kill them." I gesture toward the bodies with my chin. "They were on my list. I was going to handle it." The thought of having two more witnesses for Sabine's case flits through my mind, but it looks like that's not going to happen now. Hannah and Everette are going to have to carry that for her.
"Your list doesn’t matter anymore." Carlo's smile is cold and sardonic. "You're a traitor and a dead man walking. The boss wanted me to finish your job and then bring him proof that you paid for your betrayal. These two were easy. You're going to be more satisfying."
"The boss is going down, Rossi." Adrenaline pumps through my chest, but I manage to keep my tone level. I'm so glad I made Sabine wait in the car. She knows to run if I don't come back quickly. "I made sure of that before I went rogue. Even if you kill me right now, Barone will be arrested within days and the entire organization will collapse."
"Bold talk from a man with a gun to his head." Carlo's expression doesn’t change. "But you won't live long enough to tell anyone about Barone… And I'll be spending my money while you're rotting on this floor next to these two."
"You've been killing for him for how long?" Men like him need a reminder of their fragility, and I need time to think about what to do. Getting in his head is the only way to do that. "Ten years? Fifteen? How many people have you murdered because Barone told you to? At what point does the human conscience rebel against that much death?"
"My conscience died a long time ago, Morelli. You should know that." Carlo gestures with the gun toward the floor. "On your knees, Jace."
"You'll live your whole life being a killer, slaughtering people in cold blood, and wake up one day to find the guilty stains don't let you sleep at night… Same way they fuck me up too." From one killer to another, I hope he understands. My life may be over, but he has a chance to stop and do a one-eighty.
"I fucking said on your knees!" He jerks the gun hard at my chest and I know better than to test him. He wants me to bow to him because it humiliates me, so I lower my hands and jut my chin out, leaning into the gun's barrel as I speak.
"Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock… How long will you be his bitch?"
"I'll put this gun in your mouth and make it that much more humiliating, fucker. Now get on your fucking knees."
I lower myself to my knees slowly, buying seconds to find an opening or a weakness in his positioning. But Carlo's done this before and he knows better than to get close enough for me tograb the weapon. He stands three feet away with a clear line of sight and no obstacles between us.
"You made a mistake choosing that woman over the organization." He scoffs and shakes his head. "You were one of the best we had. The boss trusted you, and you threw it all away for a bitch who's gonna die anyway."
"She's worth more than anything Barone could offer, and killing me doesn’t change that."
Carlo shrugs and adjusts his grip on the weapon. He starts to say something else, probably some speech about loyalty and why I should've stayed faithful to the organization, but movement behind him cuts him off. Sabine appears in the doorway from the kitchen with her weapon drawn, and before Carlo can react, she fires twice into his shoulder.
