a couple of Green Berets in Africa, her brother would have been just looking at prison. But those deaths changed everything. It didn’t help that her brother had begged her to help him. Pleaded with her to take Mitch’s bargain.
That was her only sibling for you. The little brother she’d been responsible for raising, for turning into an honorable man. The little brother she’d promised her parents she’d protect and teach morality and ethics and integrity—all the characteristics her parents had treasured. And he’d turned around and sold her to Mitch for a get-out-of-jail card.
Of course, he’d had help…
…her help.
By the time she’d realized she couldn’t do it, couldn’t sit on something like this—not when those stolen guns could be used on more soldiers, on Brett and his teammates; by the time she'd gotten her courage up and decided to come forward—Sean had disappeared.
Mitch had stashed him somewhere, with God only knew who.
Since her kidnapper seemed more receptive now, she held his gaze and asked again. “So you do know Sean?”
“I knew him. Sure.” He frowned at her and then looked away, as though he didn’t want to see her face. “Mitch killed him. Or had it done. Two months ago, give or take. Rumor is Sean got difficult and Mitch got tired of him.”
Two months ago? Sarah froze. That was right around the last time she’d talked to him.
“What?” Sarah’s voice ruptured. Denial swarmed through her, thickening the air in her lungs until it felt like she was trying to breathe through concrete.
He can’t be. I would know if he was gone. I’d know.
“Why do you think he’s dead?” Sarah asked, her voice a hoarse croak.
“Like I said. That’s the rumor. From some of the other guys.”
“But you didn’t see it, right? It’s just a rumor?” Her throat ached with each word. Panic ate at her. It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be.
He shrugged in response, but the look he turned on her was half derisive and half sympathetic.
Sarah’s jaw clenched. Her heart as well. Could he be right? Was Sean dead? She forced the panic aside. Concentrated on the facts. Which she didn’t have. She needed to find out. But Mitch wouldn’t tell her, that was for sure.
“Assuming what you heard is true, where did it happen? Where did he die?”
He hesitated, before giving a what-the-hell shrug. “Dark Falls, Colorado. It’s home base.”
Home base? Did he mean of the arms dealers?
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want the bastard buried. I want the fucking prick to go down…hard. I’ll give him until tomorrow morning. If he doesn’t call, I’ll take you gals to the police myself and drop you off. You can bring down the hatchet on Mitch yourself. I have video and audio of him selling those fucking guns. You give me your email address and I’ll send them to you when I get home. You can hand them over to the police and pay the bastard back, with interest, for both of us.
Sarah relaxed slightly, although she would have felt a whole lot better if he wasn’t planning on forcing her and Langley to spend the night in this germ-infested dump. And if he wasn’t so sure Sean was dead.
“That tactic will blow the whole investigation back on you,” Sarah said. Although he had to know that himself.
He shrugged, unconcern on his face. “By the time they track anything to me, I’ll be six feet underground.”
Sarah’s mouth dropped in shock. “You think Mitch is going to kill you?”
He snorted and dropped his head against the armchair’s neck rest, closing his eyes. “Cancer. Pancreatic. Stage four.”
That explained the wheezing and the wobbling stride, not to mention that sickly sweet smell.
Sympathy stirred; he must have needed the money Mitch owed him for treatment or medical bills. But still, if he really wanted to bring Mitch down, his personal statement as someone involved would be much stronger than her secondhand account. “You could turn yourself in. Tell them everything. Expose everything you know about Mitch.”
He snorted, without opening his eyes. “I don’t think so. I’d rather spend what time I have left walking this earth, rather than locked behind bars. You’ll have to take Mitch down on your own.”
While she’d certainly pass on the information this guy had given her, it would have to wait until after she found Sean. She couldn’t chance anything blowing back on her brother when the cops took the arms dealers down.
Because he was alive…he had to be. Her throat tightened as doubt