Page 64 of Mountain Defender

CHAPTER 12

GAGE

“You can’t kill him, Gage.”

I glance away from the road to look at Alec and ask, “When did I say I was planning on killing him?”

Alec smirks at me. “You didn’t have to say it. I saw your face at the meeting this morning. And I know you well enough to know what you were thinking.” His expression sobers. “I get it, Gage. But you know?—”

“I know this piece of shit tried to kill Rory. Most likely, twice.” My fingers tighten around the wheel. Pain slices through my jaw as my teeth grind together. “Yeah, I want to kill him. It’s what he deserves.”

Actually, death seems too simple of a punishment. I’d prefer torture of some sort. But no matter how much I’d like to dole out my own form of retribution, I won’t. Not because I’d feel guilty about it—I wouldn’t—but because it would complicate things.

Although if he just disappeared…

The GPS beeps, signaling a turn up ahead. I look at the little map on the dashboard, spotting the turn onto Route 101, and flip on my blinker as we come up to it. Once I’ve made the turn, Icontinue, “I know I can’t kill him. Or rather, I could. But I won’t. If he ends up with a broken nose, though…”

“I didn’t see anything.” Alec claps my shoulder. “First, we need to make sure he’s really the one. Just because the program identified this guy as the one Rory saw… it’s not a guarantee. There’s still a two percent error rate.”

“True. But the rest of the evidence points to this Mavers asshole, too. If I had to put money on him being the one, I would.”

In the three days since Rory got her memories back, a lot has happened, the biggest of which was finding Karl Mavers, a low-level criminal based out of Boston with a string of petty thefts and bar brawls to his name.

The morning after Rory’s flashback, we brought in a sketch artist to create a drawing of the man she saw. Once we had the rendering, we sent one copy to the police and kept the original for our own investigation. Not that I don’t think the police aren’t trying to solve Rory’s case, but there are tools we can access that they can’t. Like the program Alec created that uses AI to create a 3D likeness of the suspect and facial recognition to cross match it to anyone who has their image online.

“Officially, I can’t support you using it,” Officer Quillian told us once our meeting with the police was over. “First, you shouldn’t even be speaking to any suspects. And what you’re talking about could never be used in court. But.” His voice dipped conspiratorially. “If you justhappento find proof tying him to the crimes, we could use it. Just saying.”

We’re not just going on the results of the program, though. Once Alec got a match, he did a deep dive into Mavers’s background. Employment history, past relationships, credit report, police records, and he even hacked into the asshole’s computer to check his search history.

That’s when we found more definitive proof. A tank fill up at the gas station in Bliss the day before Rory’s first attack when he normally never travels more than thirty miles from Boston. A deposit for five grand in his bank account—all cash—the weekend before. Numerous calls to a burner phone in the days leading up to Rory’s attack. And the most ominous; discovery of the Tor browser on his personal laptop and several visits to a dark website that posts ads looking for hitmen.

Does that make it one-hundred percent certain? No.

Is it close enough? I think so.

But barring me killing him, we need a confession. Which is why Alec and I are headed to Portsmouth to confront Mavers and force him into telling us everything. “Convince him,” Enzo reminded us before we left GMG this morning, “but don’t hurt him. We don’t want this coming back on us.”

“I won’t,” I promised Enzo. “But if he falls and hits his face on something, I can’t be held responsible. Can I?”

Rory didn’t want me going, worried that somehow this Mavers guy might get the jump on us. As she pushed her eggs around on her plate this morning, she asked if I might consider letting someone else go in my place. “Maybe it’s selfish,” she admitted, “but I can’t bear the thought of him hurting you. And I know you’re upset about this. What if it makes you distracted and he pulls out a gun or something?”

“I’m trained for this,” I reminded her. “I might not have been a Green Beret or Delta, but I’m skilled in hand-to-hand combat.”

“I know.” Her eyes lifted to meet mine, big and worried and shadowed from lack of sleep. “And I get why you want to be there. I just… I feel protective of you. Even though I know you can take care of yourself.”

Looking at her strained face, I almost said I’d stay. But I want to look Mavers in the eye. Scare the shit out of him, like he did toRory. And I want to know with absolute certainty that he won’t ever touch her again.

So here we are, five minutes from Mavers’s house in Stratham, a town just southwest of Portsmouth, ready to get in there and drag out a confession from him.

As I signal to turn onto the street that leads to Mavers’s house, Alec taps the mouse pad of his laptop a few times, then turns to me.

“Okay. As soon as we get in range of his house, I’ll check for any kind of security system. I don’t imagine this guy has anything complicated, probably a video doorbell at best, but I’ll bypass it so we can get inside undetected.”

“You still thinking the house down the street is the best place to park?” I ask, giving the little map on the dashboard another quick glance. Before we left Bliss, we determined that a vacant rental property halfway down the street would be the best place to leave our car, rather than parking out front of Mavers’s place and potentially alerting him to our presence.

Alec nods. “I think so. Given that it’s dark, we shouldn’t have too much trouble on approach from there. And even if someone spots the car and gets suspicious, I’ve arranged it so the rental records can’t be tied back to us.”

As the rental house nears, I turn off the headlights. “Thanks, man.” I cast a quick look at Alec, giving him a quick chin lift. “Without your help with all this computer stuff, we wouldn’t even be here. Wouldn’t be close to ending this for Rory.”

---