Page 100 of Critical Doubt

Todd immediately shook his head, disbelief in his eyes. "No way!"

"It's true. And before he passed out, Paul told me that he found out someone was trying to kill me. He said he was sorry that he had believed the lie. What's the lie, Todd?"

"You could be lying right now. Paul could be fine."

"He's not fine, but, hopefully, he will live. And if he does, he will talk. Because he knows what he did was wrong. It's over, Todd. Whatever you're involved in won't work. You have one chance to save yourself, and that opportunity is now. I know you're not the ringleader. This is not your plan. Do you really want to go down for it?"

"The team goes down together," Todd said dully, repeating the mantra they'd all lived by.

"The team isn't together. Not without me. I'm the leader. Why did you leave me out?"

"You abandoned everyone."

"You can be pissed off about that. But I didn't try to kill anyone. I didn't fake my own death. I didn't hurt everyone around me. Tell me what's going on."

"We just wanted to take care of the families. Carlos's wife and his four kids are struggling. Hank's stepsister has special needs. Paul was going to have to declare bankruptcy. He and Abby were losing their house. My mother will have to be moved into this awful place run by the county, because I can't pay for the facility where she is. I can't let that happen to her. She may not know me, but I know her. I'm her son. I have to take care of her the way she took care of me, and I can't earn enough money to do that."

He tried not to be taken in by Todd's noble words, although some of them rang very true. "How are you getting the money?" he asked.

Todd stared back at him, a plea in his gaze. "It can still work, Ryker. You just have to walk away and let it happen. Don't you want everyone to be all right?"

"At what cost? And I don't believe it's just about money. Someone tried to kill me and Savannah. That wasn't for the families. Who's running the show? Is it Hank? Mason? Someone else?"

"Hank was just supposed to scare you. That was it," Todd said, desperate to believe in the lie he was telling himself.

"You should tell Paul that when he wakes up. The bullet tore into his carotid artery. He could have bled out on the street if we hadn't been there. Even if he survives, he'll have a hellish recovery. He may never be the man he was. Now tell me what's going on."

"Why should I?"

"Because maybe I can help you. But you have one second to decide."

Todd finally blew out a breath of defeat. "We're going to intercept a truck filled with weapons, and we're going to sell them."

"To our enemies? How can you do that? How can you betray your country like that?" He was beginning to wonder if he'd ever known any of the men in his unit.

"No. No," Todd said more strongly. "We're going to sell them back to the company we steal them from—Spear. They'll have to buy them back or risk their weapons ending up in the wrong hands. And if they don't want to pay, we'll threaten to leak that the weapons were stolen. Then they'll lose their government contracts. The company will be destroyed. They won't let that happen, so they'll pay up. We'll have enough cash to take care of everyone. We've already set up a fund. As soon as we get the money, it will go in there. It will be a win for everyone. And the military will still get their guns." Todd paused. "Come on, Ryker, you have to admit it's a brilliant plan. We're only taking what's ours. Carlos and Leo died because those rebels had our guns, our explosives. Why shouldn't we take care of the people they left behind?"

He felt a little relief that they weren't planning to sell the weapons to terrorists, but what they were doing was still wrong. He also didn't think Todd had the whole story. "Paul said it's a lie. Are you sure it's going down the way you say?"

"Yes," Todd said, but he didn't sound quite as confident as he had earlier.

"Where are the others? Where is Mason?"

"He's in surgery. It was part of his cover. He couldn't be at Spear today."

His heart sank as he realized Mason was involved, too, and that their entire conversation the day before had been a lie. Hell, Mason was probably the one who had sent Hank to kill him. He had to be the brains of this operation.

"That's why Mason got the job at Spear," he said, as more pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "He wanted access to security, to shipping, to everything. When's the intercept happening?"

"This afternoon. We're waiting for an exact time."

"Waiting to hear from who? You just said Mason is in surgery."

"Hank is driving the truck. He's at Spear now."

They'd thought of almost everything. Except they probably hadn't counted on Todd to stumble into him and tell all. Which brought up another question. "Why are you alone, Todd? Are you sure you're still in this?"

"Of course I am. Why would you ask that?"

---