Behind the Lies (A Montgomery Justice Novel) (25 page)

“Stay inside, Sam,” Jenna ordered.

She slid from the plane and cautiously approached the two men.

“Where the hell were you?”

“Calm down, Gabe.”

“You bastard. Mom could have died.”

“I’m here now.”

Zach’s face had gone as expressionless as a movie poster.

Gabe reared back and punched Zach in the chin. His head snapped back, but he didn’t even raise his fist to defend himself. His brother’s jaw clenched and he muttered under his breath.

“The least you could do is give me the satisfaction, not go all peacenik on me. You had everyone worried. Especially Mom.”

Zach rubbed his jaw with a wince. “I don’t have an excuse.”

He met his brother’s gaze, and Jenna recognized the pain in his eyes.

“How is she? Really?” he asked.

“Caleb can tell you better than me using ten-syllable words, but they say she’ll make a full recovery. It was touch and go for a while.” Gabe crossed his arms. “The house is gone. The pictures, most of Dad’s stuff. Everything. She doesn’t know yet.” Gabe narrowed a dangerous glare at Zach. “Seth wouldn’t say much, but I get the impression you know who did this. I want in. I have…connections. I can help.”

Zach laid his hand on his brother’s arm. “Listen to me, Gabriel. We almost lost you once. You stay out of this mess. It’s mine.”

His brother’s jaw tightened. Must be a family trait.

“Crazy fan? Crazy girlfriend?”

“Something like that.”

Jenna couldn’t stop her open-mouthed gape at Zach. Why lie? Clearly the brothers loved each other, despite the punch. Still, she got the impression that Gabe didn’t know Zach at all.

He gestured to her. “Jenna, this uncouth person is my youngest brother, Gabe.”

The six-foot-three man took a careful step forward and tilted his head. “Are you the crazy fan?”

Irritation chewed at the nape of Jenna’s neck. She wanted to defend Zach, but he squeezed her hand, giving her a warning look.

She cleared her throat. “Zach’s been kind enough to help us. You might stop and look before you go off and slug him. He has a dislocated shoulder.”

Gabe winced. “Sorry, Zach. I didn’t notice.”

“I’m fine,” he said, frowning at Jenna. “She worries too much.”

His brother stared at their entwined hands and cocked his brow. “Interesting.”

Jenna felt a small tug on the back of her shirt.

“And who might this be?” Gabe asked.

Sam peered out and glared at Gabe. “He doesn’t love Mr. Montgomery. I don’t like him.”

Jenna gasped at the same time Gabe turned pale. Zach stared at Sam, clearly shocked at her son’s words.

“He hit Mr. Montgomery. People who love you don’t hit.”

Zach knelt in front of Sam. “My brother was just teasing, Sam. If he’d really not loved me, I would have slugged him back. I can hit pretty good, right?”

Sam chewed on his lip in thought. “You’re confusing me.” He straightened his shoulders and held out his hand to Zach’s brother. “I’m Sam. But you still shouldn’t hit. Mr. Montgomery told me so.”

Gabe grinned. “You’re right, Sam, I am,” and shook the boy’s hand.

Ace howled with laughter from where he’d secured the plane.

Zach groaned. “Can you be more cliché?”

“It was too irresistible.” Gabe looked from Zach to Sam then back again. Jenna could see the speculation. Her cheeks flushed. She may have had a few fantasies about being with Zach in the biblical sense, but Sam belonged to someone else.

Unfortunately.

“Don’t go there, brother,” Zach warned. “You’re climbing up the wrong mountain.”

Gabe shrugged. “Joy showed up out of the blue on Luke’s doorstep. I thought…”

“Well, you’re wrong. I suggest you drop it.” Zach’s words made even Jenna shiver.

Gabe lifted his hands. “No harm, no foul. You ready?”

“Yeah.” Zach picked up Sam and secured him in the back.

“Booster seat? Do you have kids?” Jenna asked, sliding in on the other side.

“I’m my niece’s favorite uncle,” Gabe said and slid into the driver’s side. “Gotta be ready for the little munchkin.”

“
I’m
the Dark Avenger. I’m Joy’s favorite,” Zach groused, getting in beside his brother.

“He
is
the Dark Avenger,” Sam brought up. “He beats up bad guys. The Dark Avenger got two.” Sam slugged his fist and kicked his feet. “Pow. Bang.”

Gabe turned in his seat. “Really? Tell me about that, Sam.”

“Once upon a time…”

Jenna could have stopped her son, but she didn’t. She wanted Gabe to hear that his brother
was
a hero.

“…it was neat. He laid that one guy out flat. Then he saved me when I fell off the mountain. Mr. Montgomery is even
better
than the Dark Avenger.”

Sam’s face glowed.

“Sounds like you’ve been having quite an adventure,” Gabe said, his voice speculative as he turned the key and the SUV roared to life. “Video game?”

“No, no!” Sam said, practically bouncing in his chair. “It was real. I promise. Then, the house blew up—”

“What?” Gabe shouted.

Zach gave his brother a deadly look. “Can we talk about this later?”

Gabe pulled onto the road and headed toward Arvada. “Fine, but you’re going to be explaining a few things, big brother.”

“I know,” Zach said.

He leaned back in his seat. Jenna slipped her hand onto his shoulder. He stiffened, but then his shoulders relaxed a bit, as if he couldn’t help himself.

Gabe’s phone rang. “Yeah. I’ve got him.”

He sent a sidelong glance to Zach. “Wanna meet at Luke’s?”

“No,” Zach said. “Nowhere that can be traced to the family.”

Gabe raised a brow.

“I want Jenna and Sam unconnected to any of us. I’ll explain later.”

Jenna grimaced at the words, despite their truth. She wished she could be with Zach, but she knew in her heart it would never
be. Her chest tightened at the thought of never seeing or touching him again.

“Hold on,” Gabe said into the phone, lowering it. He twisted to Zach. “I’m bunking out in a small house behind the bar. It’s safe, and the bar owns the house. If someone dug, they’d eventually connect you through me, but it would take a while.”

Brad and the Company each possessed a lot of resources, and since they already knew about his mother, hiding wasn’t realistic anyway. “Do it,” Zach said.

Gabe placed the phone to his mouth. “Meet us at the bar. Twenty minutes.”

“I’m going to the hospital first,” Zach said.

“Mom’s out for the count.” Gabe glanced at his watch. “Visiting hours are over.”

Zach stared down his brother. “Go to the hospital, Gabe. I won’t wake her. I’ll sneak in, but I
have
to see her.”

His brother’s face softened. “I hear you. We’ll take a detour.” He did a quick U-turn.

Jenna laid her hand on Zach’s right shoulder and squeezed the tense muscles. He turned to her. “You need to duck down to protect yourself.”

She leaned forward, her lips against his ear. “You’re a good man, Zach Montgomery. Whether you accept it or not.”

Heat rose up his neck.

Gabe let out a snicker, and Zach shot his brother a withering glance, but not before Jenna had had enough.

“I don’t think you understand who your brother is. He’s the most unselfish person I’ve ever met. You have no idea what he’s given up for me and my son.”

Gabe glanced over his shoulder, slack-jawed.

“So, before you go needling him, Mr. High and Mighty Montgomery, you might want to get to know your brother a little first.”

Gabe shot Zach an irritated glare. “I might if he’d let me, ma’am.”

T
HE LUXURIOUS
A
MERICAN
plane landed on a runway. Still under the watchful eye of his guard, Farzam looked out the side window at the mountain range, its tops dusted with snow. Through the opposite window, buildings stretched as far as he could see. No hovels, no decay.

This was an American city. Wealthy. Opulent.

So-called
freedom
existed here, but Farzam knew better. Appearances were deceiving. The shine of this grand place simply covered the decay beneath. The country had purchased liberty in exchange for its soul.

To survive, Farzam would have to be smarter than Pendar, smarter than the agents who brought him here.

The American woman emerged from the private room she’d vanished into as soon as the plane took off. His bodyguard stood. Farzam sneered at the respect. Another sign of weakness he filed away for later use.

The woman sat across from him, still appropriately covered in her
chadri
, the man poised at her side. “You are in Denver, Colorado,” she said.

Farzam had heard of the city, vaguely. Somewhere in the middle of the large country, if he recalled. “Where is Zane Morgan?”

“Zach Montgomery,” she corrected, ignoring his question. “Retrieve the bag from the compartment above you.”

Farzam bristled at the order, but he could play her game. For now. He retrieved the satchel and unzipped it. A passport, a list of addresses, maps, and several weapons lay inside, along with a series of pictures including Zane…no…Zach Montgomery with several men who resembled him.

He flipped to the next photo—a house on a quiet neighborhood street.

The woman snatched the picture. “Don’t bother going to his mother’s home. Her house was destroyed.”

“Did you do it?”

She didn’t respond.

“Using a man’s family is an efficient means of control,” Farzam said through his teeth. “I should know.”

The woman didn’t respond. He studied the images. If he found the brothers, he would find—

“Don’t get detained by the local police. If you do, your trip home won’t be on this plane. I can’t guarantee you won’t end up in the hands of…a very different OGA.”

“OGA?”

“Other government agency,” she said tersely. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

“You mean I’m really going to be taken home?” Farzam asked, cocking his head.

“I keep my bargains,” the woman snapped.

“Like you did with Zane Morgan?” Farzam said.

She stood. “Once Zach Montgomery is dead, your son will be returned to your wife. If you fail…” Her voice trailed off.

She exited the plane, her bodyguard following. This woman might wrap herself in the trappings of civilization, but Farzam knew the truth. She was more like Khalid than she knew.

Gabe maneuvered the SUV on the street in front of the hospital. Zach closely scanned the area. They hadn’t been followed, but that didn’t mean the building wasn’t under surveillance.

If he’d been stalking a target, he’d set himself up on high ground near the hospital parking garage. “Circle the building,” Zach ordered Gabe. “I need a safe way in. Maybe a staff entrance,” Zach said, staring at the hillside across from the main entrance.

Gabe followed Zach’s line of sight, his expression impressed. “Good spot for a sniper.”

“Yeah.” Zach continued his perusal.

“I recognize the advantages of the location because I was SWAT for five years. How do you? And don’t tell me you learned during a lecture in Action Hero 101.” Gabe straightened his shoulders, his gaze narrowed. “I’ll find you the best entry point,” he said as he perused their surroundings. “But, Zach, we’re having a conversation when all this ends.”

If
it ends. Zach’s teeth ground together. He didn’t want to involve Gabe. His baby brother had almost died less than a year ago when a gang member’s knife had sliced way too close to Gabe’s femoral artery. He’d been forced to leave SWAT. He’d bought the bar and said he was happy. Zach wasn’t too sure.

But now, he couldn’t stop the avalanche. His family was being propelled down the mountain by too many unknown forces.

Gabe pulled the vehicle to a stop under a shade tree in the shadows. “See that door? Smoking area. We won’t have to wait long before someone comes out. You can follow them in.”

Zach gave his brother a nod. “Not bad, Gabe.”

“I have my moments.”

“Is everyone in your family a secret agent or something?” Jenna grumbled.

“Let’s see.” Gabe grinned. “I was SWAT…now, I own a bar. Luke and Caleb are former Army. Luke’s a reporter, Caleb’s a doctor, but the others…” Gabe gave her a wink. “If I tell you, I have to kill you.”

“You can’t hurt Mommy!” Sam yelled from the backseat. “The Dark Avenger will stop you.”

Zach slapped the back of Gabe’s head. “Good job, idiot.”

Gabe turned to Jenna’s son, his look pure chagrin. “I’m sorry, kid. I was just teasing—again.”

“Oh.” Sam bit his lip and looked at his shoes. “I didn’t understand.”

“That’s because my brother isn’t very funny, buddy.”

Gabe shot Zach a dirty look.

He would have a few choice words for his brother after… A movement snagged his attention. The side door to the hospital opened. A guy in a white coat stepped outside and looked around. Then he held the door wider and a woman ventured out. The man tugged her into his arms.

“Great. Can’t they get a room?” Gabe muttered.

The doctor’s hands clutched her butt and he shifted her hips toward him.