Page 39 of Reunion at Mistletoe Lodge
“I’mworking on it,” the man promised. “It’s just going to take some time.”
“Time and innocent lives,” she said, logging out of Liam’s computer and making sure nothing looked like it had been disturbed. “You’re lucky I love you so much.”
“I’d never let anything harm you,” he assured her. “I am sorry that it may harm a few others in your life, though.”
“We just need to find a way to stop your father for good,” the woman said as they left Liam’s office.
Zac and Liam sit staring at the screen in disbelief.
“The traitor was your ex-wife, Sally Shaw?” Zac looked at his brother. “She was the one feeding all the information from your computer about various cases and other classified information to Jason Pook.”
“And David Bradley, the governor of California’s Chief of Staff, is Jason Pook's son!” Liam said, astounded. “They used my computer to access the information in case the disk ever showed up.”
“How did they know there was a disk with evidence on it?” Zac frowned. “Did you record this?”
“No,” Liam said, shaking his head. “I don’t have any cameras in my office.”
“Are you sure? The camera that filed this was definitely in your office,” Zac pointed out.
“I put it there.” Courtney’s voice came from the living room door, and they turned to see her watching them. She pulled out a badge and threw it over to Zac. “You can check with my boss, the head of the special joint task force between the FBI and IA, to investigate corruption in various state departments.”
Zac looked at the badge and then at Courtney with narrowed eyes. “You knew about this all along but said nothing?” He shook his head. “You were the one that convinced me to step into the part and be Liam.”
“Because we had to confuse whoever was after that disk and the other information only Liam knew,” Courtney told them. “I didn’t know what was on the disk. When I went to retrieve it, Sally caught me in Liam’s office. I had to pretend to be checking his calendar because someone needed to seehim urgently.”
“So you mean to tell me you had this disk but didn’t know what was on it?” Zac didn’t believe her.
“It was up to me to check the SD cards from the recording device,” Courtney explained. “I had to change the SD card each morning and send it to my boss.”
“Who is your boss?” Zac asked, glancing over her credentials once more and wondering why he’d never heard of the task force.
“Professor Brent Jackson,” Courtney’s words sent a cold shiver down Zac’s spine as his eyes met his brothers.
“The same man who helped you set up theothersecret program.”
“Don’t!” Courtney held up her hand. “You can never mention that program. Professor Jackson and Liam have helped alotof people start new lives.” She glanced at Liam and smiled. “I’m sorry it turned out to be Sally as the traitor. At first, I thought it was Zac as he was the one closest to you. That made more sense as he also worked at the FBI.”
“Thank you for the vote of trust!” Zac drawled. “But before I trust you, I think I’ll make some calls of my own.”
“I wouldn’t,” Courtney advised. Her eyes met his. “As soon as I saw who the two people were on that video, I called my boss, and he’s already having Sally, Mark, and David taken into custody.”
“Was it you that had Liam shot to find out what he’d done with this disk?” Zac glared at Courtney. Anger was washing over him at all he’d given up so she could get her hands on this disk.
“No, of course not,” Courtney hissed, her eyes softening as they turned toward Liam. “I love you, Liam, you know that. I would never try to kill you.” She frowned. “I also don’t think that whoever shot Liam intended to kill him as they shot him in the shoulder.”
Zac’s eyes widened as he glanced at his brother. “You think they were trying to kidnap him to get information about a witness he’drelocated?”
“Or, all the witnesses Liam had relocated and possibly get the name of who headed up the division,” Courtney told them. “Professor Jackson is the only one who knows all the names and locations of the many people he and Liam have relocated.”
Liam grunted and grabbed his head, pinching the bridge of his nose as pain seared through his brain.
“Liam!” Courtney and Zac said in unison as they rushed toward him. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t think whoever shot me was aiming at me,” Liam said, keeping his eyes closed. “I remember the shooting now. I was about to get some coffee for Paige and me when someone called me. I turned around to see…” His eyes opened wide as his head spun around. “We need to go now,” he said. “I know who shot me, and he was trying to kill my bodyguard to get to me so he could get to the professor.”
“Who?” Zac asked as he and Courtney followed Liam to the chalet door.
“Patrick!” Liam’s words made Zac stop dead in his tracks.
