Page 2 of Fallout

One had gone to prison—dead now.Jamal.

The bomb maker had been killed months ago.Malik.

This man was the only one left, and no one knew his face.Daniel.After having plastic surgery to hide his identity, there was a single person in Benson who knew the kingpin’s face…and now Elyan. Since he’d shown Elyan his face, that meant one of two things: Elyan was either about to die, or this man was going to try and recruit him.

“You think I’ll work for you?” He tried to sound brave. Maybe it was better to die and get this over with. Finish it. Be done.

Find peace, somehow. Even if it was only in the knowledge that he would finally be free of this life.

“You know the man who changed my face.”Danielfolded his arms across his chest, which emphasized just how huge he was. “Doctor George Anderson must die.”

He was worried the doctor would tell the police what he looked like now?

“I can help you with that.” Elyan tried to remember the man’s name. “I know a guy. He takes contracts. The Russians would use him when they had enough money. He’s a professional. International. He can get this done, and no one will know what happened.”

“You can find me a contract killer?”

Elyan nodded. “I know how to reach him. But he dealt with one person in the Russian family, and that guy had to have a code word.”

“You lie.”

“No! He’s so high-end there’s a procedure. So that he knows you’re legit.”

The skin around the man’s eyes flexed. “You’re going to contact him for me.”

TWO

Present day

The doorbell ring echoed throughout the house. Not your everyday chime. No, in a neighborhood like this, it had to make a statement.

Jasper hit the button again.

The man who answered wore an undershirt, slacks, and slippers. Doctor George Anderson was a shadow of the man he’d been just a few months ago—the head of surgery. A guy who’d been leaned on years earlier to perform plastic surgery on two men who’d been hiding from society and declared dead.

“Here to gloat?”

Jasper pulled out his badge. “Detective Hollingsworth.”

“I know that you know my daughter.”

Sure, Jasper’s best friend Blake Reed—also a Benson PD detective—was in love with Violet Anderson. She and her father were estranged of a sort. Which happened to be his dream with his own father, but he hadn’t managed to pull it off with Senator Hollingsworth to date.

Maybe next week, he would figure out how to live life on his own terms. How much longer was he going to have to wait for something to fall into his lap that changed everything? He’d been expecting it for years, but so far, nothing had happened.

Separating his private life and his personal one was impossible on a good day. He’d been given a silver spoon heritage while his friends had been brought up in all walks of life. Now they had girlfriends or wives—and they’d found religion.

Jasper had to be missing something. SWAT shifting from full-time to a collateral duty team that was on call didn’t turn out to be the new direction he’d been looking for.

Maybe he should try church.

He pushed all that aside and said, “I’m not here for Violet. Or on her behalf.” The chilly breeze ruffled the back of Jasper’s hair, just above the collar of his wool coat. Suit. Shirt and tie. Shined shoes. “But I do need to talk to you.”

The older man sighed and stepped back. His slippers made tiny whispers on the floor as he wandered away down the hall. Evidently, Jasper was being invited in.

Jasper managed to get out, “Tha?—”

“You were supposed to wait for me.”

---