Page 131 of Fatal Intent
This wasn’t good. Donovan was refusing to question the men who were most likely guilty and insisting on blaming Echo unit.How could Grant and his friends prove their innocence twelve years after the incident? “Have you asked Seth about the missing antiquities?”
“All Special Forces soldiers are trained to lie and endure interrogation without revealing a thing. What good would it do?”
“When you see Seth, ask him for the truth. I’ve worked with these men for two months, and I’ve never seen them do anything dishonorable. They’ve always been honest to a fault. Think about it, Donovan. All five of them were cops. I was a cop. Do you believe any of us would turn a blind eye to a crime?”
Donovan blinked. “I hadn’t considered that.” He turned toward Gino, speculation growing in his eyes.
Good. Maybe he’d question his good buddies. Rayne had noticed the glances exchanged between the five men. It wouldn’t surprise her to find out they were guilty of antiquities theft. Even Rex wasn’t exactly broken up about the death of his wife.
“Hey, don’t believe a thing she says.” Ellis scowled at Rayne. “She’ll say anything to distract you from your purpose. She doesn’t want you to kill her boyfriend.”
“She’s lying, man,” Chase said.
“Is she?” Donovan asked, his voice cold. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“Ask Echo unit what they know about the thefts.” What else could she say to persuade him to consider that Seth and the others were telling the truth? “You were Special Forces as well, weren’t you? You’re trained to detect lies and can tell if Seth and the others are lying to you. You’re an intelligent man, Donovan. A wise man would have to consider Echo unit might be innocent. If they are innocent, that means someone else who was part of Red Dawn was guilty.”
“You might have already killed the men who stole those artifacts,” Rex said.
“He’s right,” Barry said. “Maybe you should stop now, Donovan. It’s enough, right? You’ve made your point.”
“The guilty men don’t have the right to live their lives when Hal is lying in his grave,” Donovan snapped. “I have to be sure. I promised Hal I’d see justice done.”
Rayne swallowed hard. Oh, man. This wasn’t good. Donovan sounded as though he still planned to take out Echo unit in his quest to avenge his brother’s death. How could she stop him or at least distract him while tied to this chair?
She may not convince Donovan that Grant and his friends were innocent, but she could do something about the duct tape holding her to the chair.
Rayne wiggled her wrists as the men tried to persuade Donovan to give up his quest. She’d fisted her hands when Ellis taped her to the chair, and that gave her a little room to free one of her knives. If Ellis and Gino hadn’t found her wrist sheaths. That was the question.
She squared her shoulders. Only one way to find out. Pull her wrist away from the chair as much as possible and release the knife. She’d have to wait until the conversation cranked up in volume, though. Otherwise, they’d hear the mechanism release her knife.
Rayne listened to the ebb and flow of the conversation between the men, pleased to note Gino’s voice was becoming louder by the minute. When she judged the argument between Gino and Donovan was at a high enough decibel level, she pressed the mechanism to release her knife. She heard the familiar quiet snick and felt the cold steel blade of her knife against her palm.
Relief swept through her. Thank God. Now maybe she could free herself and escape. All she needed was a short period of time and a distraction to pull some men away from the house. Although she was trained to take on more than one opponentat a time, she didn’t have a chance against six men. Slowly, carefully, Rayne maneuvered her knife into a better position so she wouldn’t slice her palm to pieces and got to work.
“Look,” Gino said, “Grant’s woman is right. You have the same training as the rest of us. You’ll know the signs if he and his teammates are lying.”
Rayne wanted to laugh. Really? If Donovan Vance was supposed to be as highly trained as the rest of the soldiers, why didn’t he realize Gino and his crew were lying through their teeth? Those boys were up to their necks in lies.
The tape loosened a fraction, and Rayne shifted the knife to take advantage of the widening gap.
Donovan rubbed the back of his neck, frowning. “I don’t know who to believe anymore. I don’t want to miss the crew who’s responsible for Hal’s death.”
Rayne continued to work slowly on the tape as she listened to the argument rage on. A thought struck her. Hal died on the battlefield during Red Dawn. Beau and the other remaining survivors lived for twelve more years. Why had Donovan waited so long to start his campaign of terror? “Donovan.”
The sniper swung toward her. “What?”
“Your brother died twelve years ago. Why did you wait so long to go after the other members of Red Dawn?”
“I was on active duty as a SEAL. I couldn’t ask for permission to pause my military service to kill the men responsible for my brother’s death. Although I could have requested a month’s leave of absence and taken out some targets, when the month was up I would have to return to duty and the other culprits would have gone into hiding. I didn’t want to give them time to scatter and make my job harder.”
“You just retired, didn’t you?”
“Very good, Rayne. I waited until I retired so I could finish the job as fast as possible.”
“Revenge is a dish best served cold,” she murmured.
“Exactly. Twelve years seemed cold enough. I like you, honey. Too bad you belong to Bowen. I don’t touch tainted goods.”
