Free Where Evil Waits by Kate Brady

“Not now.”
    “Now,” Aidan said. He turned around in his seat, facing Varón. “Damn you, why do you care about my father?”
    “My mother used to tell me not to ask questions unless you’re sure you want the answers.”
    Aidan scoffed. “You don’t have a mother. You were raised by wolves.”
    That got a faint smile from Varón. “Her name is Katrin. And she would tell you to respect your elders.”
    Aidan wasn’t distracted. “What is it you don’t want me to hear about my father? That his company was corrupt? I knew that already. Everybody in Atlanta knows that. That he cheated on Mom? That’s old news, too.”
    “Aidan,” Kara said, but he went on.
    “I want an answer: What was my father to you?”
    Varón took a deep breath. “A hit,” he said. “I was hired to kill him.”

CHAPTER
10
     
    L UKE WATCHED HIS WORDS sink in. Kara and Aidan were speechless.
    Fine. Luke needed time to think, too. Things were happening too fast. His head pounded and his thigh hurt like a son of a bitch. After nothing more than a few minutes of conversation with Kara Chandler, everything he thought he’d known was in doubt. The man who’d killed Andrew Chandler and Elisa Moran wasn’t dead.
    That changed everything.
    Kara Chandler’s eyes drilled into Luke. “You didn’t kill Andrew. You couldn’t have. You were in custody when he was killed.”
    “That’s right,” Luke said. At least, that was the story. “Custody” had actually been the FBI field office.
    “How do you know that, Mom?” Aidan asked.
    “Because when I was preparing the case against him, I tracked his movements. He entered the U.S. nearly a month before your dad died and was taken into custody three weeks later. He was in jail when your dad was killed.”
    “The lady did her homework,” Luke said, and lookedat Aidan. “I was hired to kill your father, but I didn’t get the chance. I want to know who did.”
    “Don’t like the competition?” Aidan jeered. Luke might have chuckled if the stakes weren’t so high. If Andrew’s death wasn’t the result of a drunk driver, then the operation with Collado could have holes they’d never suspected. “I want to find your dad’s killer and so do you. That puts us on the same team.”
    “On the same team where?” Kara asked. “Where are you taking us?”
    “Not to some fishing cabin,” he said. “Out of the way. Where no one can find you.”
    They drove north, into the foothills of Appalachia and onto narrow mountain roads. After a few minutes on a winding, gravel lane, lights came into view and then the house itself. It was an angular, three-story lodge-style building with cedar siding and deep decks surrounding the upper two stories. It had windows everywhere, floor-to-ceiling, with skylights all across the front. Luke had insisted on the big windows and the skylights.
    Knutson hit a button and the garage door opened. He pulled in and nested the car next to the Carerra someone had driven back earlier, then went around to get Aidan.
    “What are you going to do with us?” Kara asked, and Luke saw true fear in her eyes. He wished he could say something to make it go away. But a cartel hit man wouldn’t bother.
    “Come on,” he said, and tugged on the handcuffs to pull her out of the car. Knutson nudged Aidan up the stairs and Luke sent Kara up behind them, climbing the stairs at her back. At the top, the door opened and kitchen light flooded the top of the stairwell. A dark head bobbed past the doorway.
    Maddie. Ah, Jesus, they’d sent Maddie.
    They walked into the kitchen and Luke kicked the door closed behind him. Knutson tugged off his black cap and tossed it on a desk, revealing a shock of thick white hair. Kara pulled back, eyeing Knutson with distrust and probably scouring through everything she knew about Luke Varón to try to place Knutson as one of his associates. She wouldn’t be able to. Luke’s identity was what the FBI referred to as deep cover: No matter how far