Page 57 of Final Exit

“Bailey, we don’t know that anyone has been killed—not on purpose at least.”

Her brows drew down and a tiny spark of temper sizzled in her green eyes. “You still don’t believe me about Sebastian and Amber?”

“I believe thatyoubelieve they’ve been killed. But until I have proof, I prefer to give my peers the benefit of the doubt.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s Tuesday.”

She gave him a funny look. “Every week, right after Monday. Why?”

“I never did get a chance to check my email. I should have that report from Gannon by now.”

“At this point, why do we care?”

“It’s part of that proof we want.”

“Youwant. I already know the truth. My friends were murdered.”

“Fine,” he said. “It’s part of the proof thatI’mlooking for, a thread I can follow to help our investigation into what’s going on here. I suspect that two members of the team that I sent after you are impersonating federal officers. They might be mercenaries. If that’s the case, and I can find out who hired them, I’ll be in a much better position to figure this out.”

She reached for her phone, then stopped. “Damn. They took my phone along with my weapons. But there are computers all over this place. We’ll just have to convince stubborn Mason to let you log on and check your email. Then we can—”

“We’re ready,” a man’s voice called from the doorway.

She narrowed her eyes, keeping her back to him. “His name’s Terrance,” she whispered. “I figure I’ll kill him first because he’s been ordering me around all morning. Then I’ll take out the smart-ass in the wheelchair. I’m saving Jace for last. His death will be slow. And painful.”

Kade chuckled. He knew she wasn’t serious. Or at least, he didn’tthinkshe was.

He leaned to the side to see around her. Terrance was impressively muscled, with dreads that hung to his shoulders. And, lest Kade get the idea that he could escape with six feet of chains woven around his limbs, another man stood in the shadows. The one Bailey was saving for last—Jace.

“We’ll get through this,” he assured her in a whisper. “We’ll figure it out. But I would very much appreciate it if you’d refrain from killing anyone for now. I prefer to get out of these sticky situations with all lives intact if at all possible. Okay?”

“You’re spoiling my fun.”

“I know.”

“Fine. I’ll wait. For now.”

He smiled. In spite of the craziness that was going on, his failed mission, the near-death experiences of the past few days, he’d smiled more with Bailey than he had, well, for as long as he could remember. Now, all he had to do was figure out how to get both of them out of here without a bloodbath.

A minute later their little entourage filed into a large room dominated by a long rectangular table. The rest of the men who’d been at EXIT last night were sitting there, waiting, with piles of folders and papers on top of the table. The one in the wheelchair, Austin, had a laptop computer in front of him. They looked like the Spanish Inquisition, ready to throw baseless accusations at him and then burn him alive.

Jace waved him to a chair at the far end. Bailey sat beside him. She scooted her chair slightly closer to his and crossed her arms. Message clear. If it came to choosing sides, she chose Kade.

“Where’s the retraining facility?” Jace hit him with the heavy artillery right from the start.

Kade kept his face carefully blank. Bailey had said she’d told the Equalizers things about him. Was this one of those things? What else had she shared?

“What retraining facility?” he asked, not planning on making any of this easy on them. As far as he was concerned, they were no better than thugs.

Jace clasped his hands together on top of the table. “Let’s clear a few points up from the start so we don’t waste time talking around each other. Most of us used to work for EXIT. We know all about the clandestine program that was supposed to prevent future tragedies like 9/11. The main difference between EXIT and other agencies is the level of proof, and timing. The evidence used to justify an EXIT mission wasn’t the type that would necessarily hold up in court.”

“Like illegal searches,” Kade accused.

“That’s one example, yes. Since EXIT’s goal was to save lives, not prosecute, the tactics were a bit... different. The other big difference of course is that Enforcers were often tasked with taking out the bad guysbeforethey killed more innocent people. They wanted to prevent national tragedies, not wait until after they happened, when it was too late. And that’s the whole problem right there. A program like that was bound to be abused. Once some Enforcers were tricked into killing innocent people by leaders intent on eliminating their own personal enemies, or worse, lining their pockets, the dangers of the program were deemed to outweigh the good. It had to be shut down. Can we at least agree on all of that? Make that the baseline for our discussion?”

Kade considered, then nodded. “Agreed.”

“Excellent.” Jace leaned back in his chair. “Now here’s where it gets murky. EXIT as an entity was supposedly taken off-line months ago after the CEO was killed. But then someone sent messages through the Enforcers’ online communication network trying to trick them into meeting up with representatives from EXIT, allegedly to discuss compensation for past services. Anyone who went to one of those meetings has never been seen again. From what we’ve gleaned, that’s where you come in. You and some fellow FBI agents are tasked with bringing in anyone who didn’t voluntarily come in. The question is what’s happening to those Enforcers after you capture them?”

He waited, and when Kade didn’t respond, Jace said, “You’re supposedly turning them over to a retraining facility. And from there they should eventually re-enter society as fully productive individuals who aren’t a threat to anyone. But that’s not really the concern, is it? The concern is whether they can ever talk about EXIT and destroy the careers and lives of whoever else in the government was ever associated with the program. That’s why you’re capturing andkillingthe Enforcers, isn’t it?”

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