A pause. Then sounds of movement. A grunt. Something that might have been a struggle.
“Oh no,” Jo breathed.
Sam was already moving, hauling Shaw to her feet. “If you’re telling the truth, prove it. Help us save our man.”
Shaw didn’t hesitate. “Let’s go.”
They ran.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Wyatt stayed on his hands and knees, gasping, sucking air into lungs that burned. His throat felt like raw meat. His jaw throbbed where the punch had landed. But he was alive.
Keller had come.
“Thank you,” Wyatt managed, his voice a ragged whisper. He looked up at Keller, at the weapon still trained on the kneeling syndicate man. “I thought—I didn’t know if?—”
“Stay down.”
Keller’s voice was different. Colder.
Wyatt froze.
Keller turned. The gun swung away from the syndicate man—and pointed at Wyatt.
“I said stay down. This will be easier if you don’t move.”
The syndicate man rose from his knees, rolling his shoulders like he’d just finished a workout. No fear in his face. No surprise. Just a cold, satisfied smile.
“Took you long enough,” the man said to Keller.
“Had to make it look good.” Keller’s eyes never left Wyatt. “You okay?”
“I’ll live. Kid’s got some fight in him.”
They knew each other. They were working together.
Wyatt’s mind reeled, trying to catch up with what his eyes were showing him. Keller. FBI Agent Daniel Keller. Cooper’s partner. The grieving colleague who’d shown up looking for justice.
All of it a lie.
“You,” Wyatt breathed. “You’re?—”
“Binding Chain?” Keller smiled, and there was nothing warm in it. Nothing human. “Fifteen years. Longer than you’ve been alive, practically. Your father and I go way back.”
Wyatt’s stomach turned to ice.
“Cooper figured it out,” Keller continued, conversational now, like they were discussing the weather. “Same as Shaw’s partner did, five years ago. Marcus Harrington. Good agent. Thorough.” He shrugged. “Too thorough. I fed his identity to our friends, and they handled the rest. Cooper was smarter—took him longer to connect the dots. But he got there eventually.”
“You killed him.” Wyatt’s voice shook with rage he couldn’t contain. “Your own partner.”
“I didn’t pull the trigger. But yes.” Keller’s expression didn’t change. “He was going to expose everything. Fifteen years of work. Hundreds of operations. I couldn’t let that happen.”
The syndicate man had moved to the evidence box, picking it up, tucking it under his arm. The box cutter. The prints that could have unraveled everything. Now it would disappear, just like Cooper. Just like Marcus Harrington. Just like everyone who got too close.
“What happens now?” Wyatt asked. He was stalling. Buying time. Somewhere out there, Sam and Jo were listening. They had to be. They would come.
Wouldn’t they?