Lauren’s head tilted slightly. “Wandered into what?”
“You were on private property. Didn’t you see the signs?”
“No, but it was dark. I don’t think anyone would be mad if I knocked on their door and asked if they’d seen a missing person.”
“It isn’t a residence!” Zach shouted.
“It might be.”
“It’s not. It’s a warehouse.”
“An abandoned warehouse. So what?”
“It’s not abandoned. It’s a pit stop for gun runners!”
Lauren sat forward and pinned him with a hard stare. “How do you know?”
She had secrets, but he did too. They might as well meet the light of day at the same time. “Because I’m the ringleader!”
Lauren stared with wide eyes, but the silence didn’t calm his racing heart. It was better she knew the truth now. He’d let her get too close, and she had to stay as far away from his world as possible.
“You’ve been back there?” she asked, barely more than a whisper.
Her disappointment could have hurt him. It should have. He’d failed her, but that was something he’d expected. Apparently, she hadn’t been smart enough to see it coming.
“I have.”
She cradled her injured arm against her abdomen. “I thought you were happy. I thought you were trying to stay away from it.”
It took everything he had not to cower in the wake of the disappointed look she gave him. “Two things can be true.”
“Why?” she asked.
Zach shrugged. “Habit. That’s where I belong.”
Lauren pointed at him. “You know that’s not true. You don’t belong there, especially not now.”
“It’s a good thing I did. We don’t take prisoners, Lauren. We eliminate anyone who can tell our secrets. That means I didn’t have a choice. I had to go back, or they would have come after me.”
“No, you didn’t have to go back.”
“You’re not listening!” Zach turned around, paced in front of the fire, and faced her again. “If you had tripped any wires last night, and I hadn’t known where you were, you’d be gone. How am I supposed to protect you if I don’t know where you are?”
Lauren’s wide eyes looked all around the room. Everything he was saying was finally sinking in. She needed to remember the charges against him—the long list that had racked up a prison sentence.
“This isn’t some group of wayward kids, Lauren. It’s a national organization. It takes everything I have to keep us off the most wanted lists—to keep us from being tracked by government organizations. What I did to you wasn’t the only reason I got locked up. Werun guns from one side of the continent to the other.”
“Okay. I get it.” Lauren held up a hand between them. “I just can’t believe you’re doing that stuff again.”
“And I can’t believe you went there! On your own. In a storm. Without telling anyone where you were. It’s a miracle you’re alive.”
She stared at the fire, stunned by either the revelation that he was back in the game or how close she’d come to death. “You said you’re the ringleader. What does that mean?”
Zach rubbed a hand over his face. Coming clean to Lauren was like confessing to all of his worst crimes. How could he break down something so precise and complex into simple terms? “It means I’m responsible for getting guns and narcotics through central Wyoming. I have a team in place, but ultimately the buck stops with me.”
Lauren stood on her good foot and swayed. “How?—”
“With Rome dead and Bobby in prison, I was next in line. If I didn’t take the top spot, I couldn’t call the shots. You either use people or get used. Everyone is a pawn. I don’t like being controlled by anyone.”
