Ball & Chain (Cut & Run 8)
Page 75“Found it,” Zane finally announced. “It was military time. Fifteen, not three.”
They crowded around his seat, all of them trying to see the computer screen. Dozens and dozens of files were contained in the password-protected folder. As Zane clicked from one to the next, they began to tell the story of what Milton had been involved in, and what he’d been trying to do on the island.
There was evidence and documentation of all the threats Stanton had received. Evidence that Amelia was indeed a target. Evidence that someone intended to hit them at Livi and Deuce’s wedding. There were photos of Nikki Webb and her true identity, her fake passports, and several jobs she’d been suspected of being involved with. She was a professional hitter.
“This says she always works alone, never with a partner. Why’d she change up her MO?” Nick asked.
“A million-dollar payday will do that,” Ty reasoned.
The files had nothing listed on her partner, though. Whomever she had been spotted on the beach with was still a ghost. Still on the island. Still a threat.
Milton related in a document that he intended to engage Nikki by agreeing to sell her the information she was after, and then take her out. Obviously, things hadn’t gone to plan. Milton hadn’t been expecting a second person at their meeting.
“Explains the crack to the back of his head,” Kelly said.
There were communications from Richard Burns, labeled with shorthand that Nick recognized as meaning a third party had provided the information. They detailed three of Stanton’s island staff who were involved and warned that the two groups might be controlled by the same people, and therefore aware of each other and able to join forces if need be.
Ty was speechless, still staring at the screen in disbelief. “Burns isn’t responsible for this.”
Nick turned away, shaking his head. Kelly moved with him, patting his stomach like he was trying to keep him calm. Nick knew, though, that Kelly had determined over years of practice that the best way to keep Nick from attacking was to grab him right around the hips and upend him before he could get going. Kelly wasn’t comforting him, necessarily, he was just preparing to put him on his ass if he lost it.
And he was damn well about to lose it.
Zane could see the warning signs, he just didn’t know what the hell to do about them. Before coming here and spending more time with Nick and Kelly, he hadn’t even known Nick was capable of losing his temper, much less the many and sundry things he’d demonstrated tonight. He really was more like Ty than Zane had ever guessed. Looking between the two of them, at the two friends squaring off against each other, at the rock and the hurricane, Zane couldn’t guess who would win the coming fight. He didn’t want to find out, either.
“Something bigger’s going on here, Ty, something it sure as hell looks like Dick Burns knew was coming. If he didn’t plan it all to begin with!” Nick hissed. He pointed toward the staircase. “Now either you go up there, find him, and find out what the hell it is, or I will!”
Instead of bellowing back at him, Ty put his hands up in appeasement.
“Don’t,” Nick snarled.
Ty closed his eyes and nodded. “Okay, just calm down.”
Zane was of the opinion that Nick was far more threatening when he was cool and composed than when he was shouting. Kelly seemed to agree; he took a careful step away from them, moving to stand beside Zane.
“Just give it the night, okay?” Ty tried. “Everyone is safe right now. The ferry comes tomorrow, and then we’ll have time to deal with everything, figure this shit out. Just one night of peace for everyone before we go demanding answers and stirring shit up.”
“One night of peace?” Nick repeated incredulously. “Six people are dead! We’re investigating this bullshit on an island in the middle of f**king nowhere because we’re trapped here! There are people panicking all over the f**king place, all the weapons are still missing, and we are one pig’s head on a stick away from Lord of the Flies! A night of peace went out the f**king window when we landed, Beaumont!”
Zane was pretty sure Nick was going to have a stroke if Ty opened his mouth one more time. He and Kelly both moved closer, prepared to break up yet another argument between them.
“Burns may still have you like a puppy on a leash, Ty, but I’m not his f**king golden retriever. National security or not, family or not, we have to get answers from him. We f**king deserve answers from him, everyone on the island does.”
Ty’s nostrils flared and he pointed a finger in Nick’s face. “Don’t even pretend this is about closure for these people, that this isn’t about your beef with Burns,” he snapped.
“I’m not. I’d gladly lock that bastard up and throw away the key. Far as I’m concerned, if it weren’t for him, Eli would still be alive and I wouldn’t have a box of his things sitting on my boat that I’m still afraid to go through!”
Ty took a step toward him. Nick put a hand on his chest, pushing him back. He held up his finger like a parent scolding a small child, daring Ty to come at him again.
“Oh,” Kelly said. He grabbed Zane’s sleeve to stop him from moving to interfere. “Nope. He’s going to get what he deserves now.”
Nick grabbed Ty’s jacket and pulled until they were almost nose to nose. “Did you ever stop and think, Ty, if you had listened to what I was saying then, listened to what I was trying to tell you about Burns and his f**king job offers, none of it would have gone down the way it did?”
Ty’s jaw tightened. He began to shake his head, and Nick let him go, shoving him away.
“Of course you didn’t,” Nick snarled. “It’s never on you, Ty.”
Ty still looked furious, but Zane could see something else creeping into his expression: the realization that Nick might be right.
“Eli was loyal. He could have taught you a thing or two about it,” Nick said tiredly.