Rundown (Curveball Book 2) (44 page)

“
The
evidence,” is all I can manage to get out.

“
Evidence?”
he asks.

You
know I don’t have any,
is what I want to say, but words fail
me.  I’m confused and scared.  Maybe I
am
in
shock.  The events of tonight and those of the previous months
are catching up to me and I can no longer contain how extremely
overwhelmed I am.  

“
This
is important, Breanne.  What evidence?” Dosdell presses, his
clipped tone catching me off guard.

“
Breanne.” 
The way he says my name it’s nearly a warning.

I
want to scream.  He knows there isn’t…oh no.  

“
I…I,
uh...”

My
eyes dart from Dosdell to Vivian’s lifeless body and I slowly piece
together my situation.  This is all wrong.  Dropping my
head into my hands, I conceal my face and my eyes brim with tears. 
I’m no longer upset about witnessing Vivian being shot inches from
where I stood.  I’m scared for my own life. 

Dosdell
doesn’t know the plan…he doesn’t know there isn’t any
evidence.  Not because I changed the plan.  Dosdell’s no
longer on this operation. 

Mark
told me that Dosdell’s role in this operation stopped the minute
his plan to rescue Drew and I at the safe house failed.  My
tears fall harder and my mind swirls out of control.  Only
Vivian and Henry knew Major Arnold’s true identity.  Mark was
never given access to Major Arnold and now it all makes sense why. 

Dosdell
is
Arnold. 

My
shoulders are yanked back and my face forcefully tipped up. 
“What evidence?” Dosdell repeats.

I
need time to think.

Fumbling,
I slide my hand into my back pocket and hand him the SD card. 
As he walks across the room to where there’s a single laptop on a
collapsible table, my stomach jumps into my throat.  What the
hell am I going to do?  He clearly has no qualms about murder. 
Once he sees what’s on the card he’ll kill me and I don’t have
enough time to run from here. 

Looking
to Vivian’s body, I cringe.  My eyes trail down to the pool of
blood, and then back to her body.  Lying sideways, I see
something silver sticking out of her waistband.  Stealing a
sideways glance at Dosdell, I tiptoe over to Vivian and bend over her
waist, pulling at the shiny object.  For the second time in my
life I’m thankful to see a gun.  I slide it out of her
clothing, ignoring how vacant her body’s already become, and return
to my position on the couch. 

“
What
the hell is this?  Some kind of joke?” Dosdell bellows. 
He turns to face me and I’m frightened by what I see—false
compassion has been replaced with rage.

Think
of a logical response.

“
No. 
I figured out that she was somehow involved in what happened with
Innovation Airways…I didn’t know how and I thought if I could
convince her I had evidence that she’d confess, or…I don’t
know.  I guess I thought I could figure out what was going on by
myself.”

“
There’s
no evidence?”

“
No…at
least I don’t have anything.”

Dosdell
reigns in his anger, looking almost relieved. That is, until his
eyes land on the bloody footprints leading from Vivian’s body to
where my feet are firmly planted, that I didn’t realize I’d left.

“
I
have a feeling you’re not being completely honest with me,
Breanne.”

“
I…I
am.”

“
Tell
me what you know.  The truth this time.”

Survival
instincts kick in and I raise the gun.  Dosdell laughs. 

“
I
happen to know that you don’t know how to use a gun.  Put it
down before you get hurt.”

“
Like
you’re not going to hurt me the second I do.”

“
What
are you planning to do?  Kill me?  Turn me in?  I’m
willing to bet no one knows that you’re here.”

I’ve
been here too long.  Even if Drew didn’t get my text right
away, he would have by now.  I have to believe that they’re
coming.  I need to stall.

“
I
want answers.  Why’d you do it?  For the money?”

He
cocks his head to the side, appraising me.  “He couldn’t
stay away, could he?” he tsk’s.  “It’s ironic when you
think about it.”

“
What’s
that?”

“
Mark
didn’t tell you about him and Vivian?” he asks.

I
shake my head, though I don’t really need an explanation at this
point.  Mark refusing to tell me Vivian’s motive now makes
perfect sense.

“
Vivian
was responsible for putting you on that flight, thinking you wouldn’t
make it home.  She’d tried convincing Mark to leave you for
years, but he refused.  When she finally got him into her bed
she wasn’t willing to give him up…she loved him.  A part of
her understood that he didn’t feel the same. That didn’t stop her
from trying.  She was a narcissist.  I’m not sure she
actually cared that it wasn’t mutual.”

“
And
Mark?”

“
Mark
did what he felt he had to do, for his job and for his family. 
He faked his own death thinking it would keep you safe.  I know
he’s not proud of the things he’s done but it doesn’t change
anything—especially now that you’re here,” Dosdell says,
exhaling loudly.  “Vivian’s dead.  Mark will probably
wish he were after tonight, and all his planning and drastic measures
will have been for nothing.”

“
What
does that mean?”

Dosdell
frowns, leaving my question verbally unanswered. 

“
To
answer your earlier question, it wasn’t about the money.  I’m
not a bad guy, Breanne.  At least I never wanted to be. 
The moment the CIA refused to protect my wife and son and they ended
up being killed, I stopped caring.  I couldn’t figure out why
I had to suffer, living without them.”   He stuffs his
hands into his pockets and paces on the other side of the room. 

“
I
was on my way to an early retirement until Mark called and informed
me of a case he was working on.  I always had a soft spot for
him.  He asked for help and I couldn’t refuse. 
Especially once I understood the targeted organization’s mission. 
 You see, the CIA didn’t do their job correctly and because of
that my personal information was compromised with minimal effort. 
The people who killed my family wanted blood when they discovered my
true identity. 

“
I
would have gladly given them mine…but where’s the lesson in
that?  By going undercover I deceived them, and as retribution
they felt justified in taking the lives of the only people I loved.”

Dosdell
wipes his forehead with the back of his hand and continues.  “A
few weeks into my assignment with Mark, I overheard a conversation
between a Henry Ridges and the founding leader of the Threads. 
Henry had an idea.  Use technology against those who believe in
it to show them just how dangerous it can be.   His
original pitch was to develop software to gain access to financial
institutions and essentially rewrite purchase history.  Since
Threads diverting Innovation Airways was already in progress, Henry
wanted to add this element.  The personal data the airline
stored was a prime target; it made perfect sense.  Threads would
make money and frighten the public enough to rethink their
philosophies related to online purchases, credit card applications,
even paying taxes. 

“
Their
leader refused, claiming that taking their money was going too far. 
Can you believe it?  After what they planned to do to the plane,
cashing in on it was too much.”  He scoffs and throws his
hands in the air.  “So, I stepped in.  I convinced Henry
to take it a step further.  Why take pennies to prove a point
when you can take their life savings and make it untraceable upon
death.”

“
So,
you
did
kill all those people for money.”

“
According
to Vivian and Henry, yes.  But that wasn’t my real
motivation.”  Dosdell begins walking toward me, stopping only
a few yards away.  “The people who killed my family weren’t
the only ones responsible for what happened…so was my employer. 
The CIA should have done more to safeguard my identity, but they
didn’t.  Pulling off a financial scam like we planned meant
we’d be able to infiltrate even the most secure databases,
including the CIA.  I started thinking about the type of
information unrestricted network access could get me.  It wasn’t
just one asshole agent who fucked up my life.  It was the
institution.  I knew that the information I could get my hands
on would sell for enough money to keep me hidden and taken care for
the rest of my life.”

“
Just
admit that it was about the money.”

How
can he not see this?

“
Revenge,”
he corrects me.

“
Well,
I guess the jokes on you since the code was never completed.”

“
True,
though the people who took my wife and son away from me were
conveniently on the same flight as you.  Being that you were one
of two survivors, I’d say I got the last laugh.”

“
And
the rest of the plan?”

“
You’re
right.  We didn’t make any money and that’s fine with me. 
If nothing else, the larger plot put responsibility elsewhere. 
There’s no way any of this could ever be tied back to me.” 

“
How
is that possible?  If you were supposed to help cover up the
forensics when the plane went down, how could Vivian and Henry not
know who you really were?”

“
Easy. 
They knew my skills and did a background check.  When that came
back clean, I was in.  From their perspective, I couldn’t
identify them.  It was a downfall on their part and a complete
advantage on mine.” 

 
So
Dosdell wanted to hurt the people he felt were both directly and
indirectly responsible for hurting his family.  The financial
gain was just a bonus.  By killing people who had nothing else
in common aside from the technology organizations they supported, the
CIA and FBI would be too busy chasing other leads and wouldn’t be
able to draw conclusions on who had done this.  Even if the
agencies eventually discovered the link to the Threads organization,
there were no ties to Dosdell.  No one knew who he was.

Dosdell
takes a few steps closer.  “Nearly everyone who knows my role
in this is dead.  Which brings us to you.”

Time
doesn’t stop because I’m unsure of what to do next, no matter how
much I wish it would.  I run through options quickly in my
head.  I could tell Dosdell that Mark is listening and has
already learned the truth in hopes that he’d take his own life and
end this charade.  Or better yet, I could try to convince him
that the building is surrounded.  Either way, I’m at risk of
getting killed or being taken hostage and seeing Drew or Mark get
hurt because of this, physically or emotionally, is out of the
question. 


“
Despite
what you think I don’t want to kill you.  I have a lot of
respect for Mark, and after going through what I did with my family,
I wanted to protect you.” 

“
Then
don’t do it.”

“
You
haven’t left me with any other option.”

Dosdell
removes the safety from his gun and I do the same.

“
If
you kill me, how is that any different than what happened to your
family?  Huh?  What about
my
children?”

“
With
you gone, Mark will finally do the right thing and quit the agency. 
He’ll step up and take care of them.”

My
free hand instinctively falls to my belly.  “What about the
one I’m carrying?”

Dosdell’s
eyes widen briefly.  He sharply inhales and I’m hoping it just
might be his last breath.  I don’t know if Drew and Mark are
on their way, or if they even know where I am.  I can’t rely
on anyone else…it’s now or never.