Page 58 of Final Exit

Again, Kade remained silent.

“Why are you using mercenaries, if not to kill Enforcers?”

Kade stiffened. Had Gannon sent the promised report and confirmed that Jack and Dom were fake agents? Had these Equalizers cracked the lock code on his phone and gotten into his personal files? What else had they found?

Bailey was staring at Jace, her teeth biting her bottom lip. She seemed as if she, too, was trying to figure out where he’d gotten his information.

“What are you talking about?” Kade asked.

“Two of the members on the team that went after Bailey aren’t federal agents. Dominic Wales and Jack Martinelli. But, then, you knew that, didn’t you? How can you work with mercenaries and not expect that they’d be killing your mission targets?”

“I had my suspicions about Jack and Dom.” He saw no reason to deny it. “Regardless, no one on any of my teams is out to kill anyone. That’s not our goal.”

“Hawke doesn’t count? What about Sebastian, and Amber? And countless others who haven’t been seen since your team ambushed them?”

“Hawke’s death was tragic. I still don’t know exactly what happened there. As for the rest, if anyone else has died, I intend to find out and take the necessary steps to prevent further deaths. Something I could be working on right this minute if you weren’t wasting my time.”

“So, you claim that you don’t know anything about the deaths of Amber Braithwaite and Sebastian Lachlan?”

Kade frowned, wondering what he was leading up to. “I know nothing about them other than that they were taken before I began my mission.”

Jace pulled one of the stacks of papers toward him.

Kade eyed it warily, wondering what it was.

“This is a stack of reports I took from your house the night that Bailey was there,” Jace said. “They list the property owned by various Enforcers. The funny thing is, your name is listed as the person who requested these reports.” He picked up two stapled stacks from the rest and slid them across the table.

To Bailey.

She frowned and thumbed through the pages. Her face went pale.

“I see you’ve come to the interesting part,” Jace said. “Care to tell Special Agent Quinn what you just read?”

She glanced up at Kade. “These list Sebastian’s and Amber’s property holdings. And they’re signed by you.”

“Pass them to him,” Jace said.

“That’s not necessary.” Kade didn’t take his eyes off Bailey. “I didn’t know Sebastian or Amber. I didn’t lie about that. But part of my job on this mission is to make sure that every home, business, warehouse, boat, whatever that is owned by any Enforcers is thoroughly searched to ensure that they didn’t keep any papers or recordings or anything sensitive in nature relating to EXIT. Sebastian and Amber, as I told you, were taken before I came on the job. I requested property reports oneveryoneto double-check behind my predecessor to make sure he didn’t miss anything. That’s it. A global request for information on all of the Enforcers who were captured before I took the job, as well as those still remaining to be taken. I didn’t lie to you, Bailey.”

One of the reports crinkled in her hand. She set it down and absently smoothed it.

“Bailey?”

“I believe you,” she said, but her voice didn’t sound nearly as confident as it had a few minutes earlier.

“Let’s see,” Jace said. “You work with mercenaries, but not to hurt anyone of course. And you have reports on people you claimed you didn’t know. Have I got it right so far?”

“Bite me,” Kade said.

Jace chuckled. “Oh, by the way. How’s the leg, Kade? Doin’ okay?”

“What do you want?”

“The truth would be nice. Bailey, I’m curious. Did Kade tell you how he got injured? I’d love to hear the story.”

She frowned.

“Go ahead,” Kade told her. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”

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