She nodded. “He and many others. My testimony was just the final piece of a much larger case the feds had been working on for months.”
“You know they’ll never let something like that go. They’ll hunt you forever.”
“I know. It’s my uncle, in particular, who will never quit searching for me. He somehow evaded all the charges.”
“Do you think he’s the one who sent people after you?”
“There’s no doubt in my mind. To him, this was personal.”
I could debate the options all night, but I knew in my gut what needed to happen. I had to take her back there. She’d fight me and try to run if I told her what I planned to do, so I’d have to be careful what angle I used. I could drug her and force her back, but it was a long trip cross country. Having her cooperation would be enormously helpful.
I folded my arms across my chest. “Your uncle is the answer. We can’t stay here forever, and you’ll never be free with them hunting you. The only way to be certain we end this is to kill your uncle. You have to go back to Texas.”
Emily jerked to her feet, eyes wide. “You can’t be serious. They’ll kill me for sure. There’s no way I’m going back there.”
“This is one of those things you can’t run from. If you’d been a simple girlfriend running your mouth, that would have been one thing. But as a protected part of their inner circle? They can’t let you turn on them and not suffer consequences. It sends a message to other members that they could do the same. Your uncle will hunt you until the day he dies. You said so yourself.”
“He can hunt, but he won’t find me. I’ll leave the country—go somewhere remote.”
I stood from the kitchen chair and cupped her face with my hands. “They found you once; they’ll do it again. I know these types of people, Emily. You have to listen to me. The only way to end it is to put your uncle in his grave. The others will eventually forget you, but your uncle never will.” It was time for all of it to end, one way or another.
Tears slid down her cheeks. She appeared so innocent and lost—wrapped in her blanket, hair wet and matted—but she was far from it. Lost maybe … but not innocent.
She didn’t like her options, but she had no one to blame but herself. She made her bed, and she would have to lie in it now, even if it was her very own death bed.
Placing a bittersweet kiss on each of her cheeks, I tasted the salt from her tears. I didn’t like seeing her upset, but my feelings were irrelevant. Facts were all that mattered. Her ties to Los Zares. Her willing participation in their organization. There was no escaping what that meant for her, regardless of how much I cared for her.
I hardened my resolve, forcing myself to stay firm. To keep with my convictions.
“I need you to trust me,” I whispered against her lips, well aware that I was lying to her just like she had lied to me.
She nodded, her gaze hardening. “Promise me, if I do this, you’ll help me kill him.”
I’d spent more than a decade perfecting my ability to deceive, so when I smiled and lied to her face, there wasn’t the faintest hint of uncertainty. “You have my word.”
Chapter 22
Emily
We closed up the cabin for winter, and two days later, we were on our way to the Minneapolis airport. Being in a public space brought out the worst of my paranoia. I looked over my shoulder constantly, and everyone seemed suspicious. My palms were clammy, and my stomach a tangled mess of nerves. On top of it all, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a horrible mistake.
I wasn’t certain I agreed with going back to Texas, but at least I wasn’t keeping any more secrets. I’d offered Tamir the last of my ugly truths, and he hadn’t turned his back on me. It was an enormous relief, but I could still feel the intangible presence of a barrier between us, and I had no idea why. I had hoped that if my confession didn’t send him away, that it might give us a chance at something real. A connection. I wasn’t sure I was bold enough to call it love, but whatever it was, I wanted it. I wanted him.
He was protective and passionate. Capable of anything he set his mind to and possessed an understated confidence. He was observant, understanding, and exceptionally patient. He had drawbacks, just like anyone, but nothing overshadowed the collective brilliance of his overall person. My sincere regard for him was the only reason I agreed to go back to Texas. I trusted him.
If only he felt the same way about me. I had hoped that after I’d laid myself bare to him, there would be nothing left between us. But when his hands were on my face, our breath comingling and lips only inches apart, I could feel that barrier in the air between us, keeping us from one another. For a second, I thought he might topple that wall with a single kiss. Instead, he fortified its moorings with the touch of his lips upon each of my cheeks. So close to what I wanted yet so very far away.
I didn’t know what else I could do to redeem myself in his eyes but to lay my life in his hands. It was the ultimate sacrifice, and the one I made by allowing him to take me back to San Antonio.
No more running.
No more lies.
Either Tamir would kill my uncle to keep me safe, and we’d have a chance at a life together, or my uncle would kill me and put an end to the ordeal. One way or another, it would be over.
Tamir told me we’d discuss the plan once we were at the rental house. Considering his past, I had no doubt he could do the job. I just hoped I lived to see it through.
When we stepped off the plane in San Antonio, I couldn’t get my hat and sunglasses on fast enough. I probably looked like a battered woman hiding her black eye, but I didn’t care. Anything was better than being spotted by Los Zares.
“I’ve called in a couple of my friends to help us,” Tamir told me as we walked. “They arrived a couple of hours ago and have a rental car waiting for us out front.”
Help was good. In fact, help made me feel significantly better, but I was curious about who he would feel comfortable pulling into such a dangerous situation.
“Who are we meeting that would be crazy enough to help us? I assumed you severed all your military connections when you fled Israel.”
“Not exactly. It was risky, but I couldn’t leave without reaching out to Uri. I discovered that he and some of the others who knew me well supported what I’d done. I told him where I was going, and when he got out of the service not long after, he followed me to America.”
Tamir led us to a black Escalade parked by the curb at passenger pickup. The front passenger door opened, and a broad-shouldered man slid out, giving Tamir a nod and opening the back door for us.
He was rugged looking with hair buzzed close to his head. He had a beautifully savage aura to him—like he could have walked straight out of a zombie apocalypse edition of an REI catalog. He wore cargo pants with a fitted T-shirt and leather boots and a knife strapped to his belt. His eyes were so squinty, I couldn’t tell what color they were, and his jaw was lined in scruff. The odd thing about him was the sense of familiarity I got when I looked at him. He reminded me of Tamir, in a way, and I could only assume that was the source.
I tore my gaze from the man and cautiously eyed the interior of the vehicle from behind Tamir, noting the driver and one man in the middle row.