Page 121 of Critical Doubt

"You're lucky," he told Leo. "You're not going to die today."

"You call that luck?" Leo asked, finally defeated. "I was so close to having it all."

"And then what? You would have only wanted more. It would have never been enough."

"I could have gotten more. You never appreciated how good I was."

"Or how bad." He stepped back as the agents came down the hall. It gave him great satisfaction to see Leo cuffed and led away. He might be going to the hospital first, but then he'd be headed to jail, where he would hopefully stay for a very long time.

As he moved back into the main part of the barn, he saw Hank being loaded onto a stretcher. Hank asked the paramedics to give him one second and waved Ryker over.

"I'm sorry," Hank said. "I didn't know about Leo. I swear I didn't know about him and Vance. I didn't know they were the reason Carlos died. You have to believe me, Ryker."

"Why does it matter?"

"Because I'm not like Leo. I was doing this to help the families. I shot Vance because he's the reason Carlos's kids don't have a father. I just wish Leo was dead, too. He did all this. I don't believe Mason knew the whole story, either. Leo suckered us all. You have to help us, Ryker. Get Savannah to use her connections. Please."

"We need to go," the paramedic interrupted.

"Then go." He didn't have anything else to say to Hank. He'd gotten the answers he'd come for, but they didn't make him feel better. Leo and Vance were traitors and probably Mason, too. He supposed it was good to know that Hank, Todd, and Paul had not known about Leo or Vance. They had bought into a plan that didn't involve selling weapons to the enemy, but they had still been incredibly stupid, and they would pay heavily for what they'd done.

As Savannah walked toward him, he realized he was happy about something. She was alive. She was safe. And that was the most important thing of all. He wanted to put his arms around her and hold her tight, but the FBI, police and agents from the ATF were swarming the barn.

She gave him a searching look. "What did Hank say?"

"He was sorry. He didn't know about Leo and Vance."

"That was pretty clear from their exchange." She paused. "I'm not going to ask if you're all right, but how do you feel?"

"I don't know yet. I'm processing everything. Nice shooting, by the way. I don’t even know how you got into the loft."

"I was very quiet, and once Hank and Leo started arguing, no one was paying me much attention. I was, however, surprised when Hank shot Vance."

"I knew he was about to blow. I just didn't know who he was going to take out first."

"I only shot Hank because—"

"You had to," he said, cutting her off. "It was the right move. And your shot sent Leo running straight toward me. There was a part of me that wanted to kill him, Savannah."

"But you didn't. That’s not who you are."

"I just hope he gets a life sentence."

"We'll do everything we can to make that happen. Unfortunately, some of the other guys will probably go to prison, too."

"I know. They faked their deaths to take care of their families, and now their families will see them go to jail. It's hard to see the justice, even though I know it's there. At one time, they were good men, Savannah. They were patriots."

"Maybe they'll have a chance to do something good with the rest of their lives, even if they are in jail."

"I hope so. I hope this wasn't all for nothing, but I'm afraid it was."

Ryker's statement rang through Savannah's head for hours, but she had no chance to talk to him about it. After returning to the DC field office, they were separated for a more thorough debriefing. It was almost eight o'clock at night before she was done. She walked back into the now almost-empty operations center. Most of the agents had gone home for the night, but Parisa was still at her desk.

"I hope you didn't stay for me," she told her, sinking into the chair next to her desk.

"I had a lot of reports to do. Ryker just finished talking to Paxton. He's in the restroom now."

"He must be exhausted."

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