Fay's Six

“Let’s not bullshit each other, okay? We both know you killed those boys. You don’t like me. You want me to look bad so that I’ll get fired. Just like you wanted my plan to fail when I was with the CIA. You were willing to sacrifice your buddies just because you’ve got some fucked-up issue with a woman in power. Did your mother not give you enough attention when you were a boy?”

“Don’t you dare talk about my mama. She was a good woman. The best. She knew her place and she raised me to know it too.”

Jesus. What the fuck did that mean?

“My mom took good care of her children. She was always there for us when we got home from school. Not like some of my other friends who had working mothers. Mothers who spent all their time and energy at the office so when they came home all they could manage was a frozen dinner, yet they had no problem fucking my old man.”

Okay. That explained a lot.

“Your type is never satisfied. You will always want more and you take what isn’t yours.” He marched across the room and got within inches of her face.

She didn’t back down.

“You needed to be taught a lesson.”

Her heart dropped to her stomach. Her palms became sweaty. She’d needed him to confess, but watching him become unhinged terrified her. The fire in his eyes was horrifying. He had a deadly stare and she knew he could reach out and put his hands around her neck and squeeze the life out of her if he wanted to.

She swallowed.

Hard.

“You got your men killed. Walker was injured and had to give up a career he loved because of you.”

“No. That was your fault. Your plan had holes.”

“It had blind spots. Because we didn’t know where the leak was. Now we do,” she said. “It was you.”

He shook his head like a wild dog. The alcohol must have begun to take effect.

She didn’t know if that was good or bad.

“There was a breakdown in communication before I started sending the enemy information. The first attack on our location wasn’t me. The rest was me.”

Holy shit.

She took a step to the side and gripped the counter. Her lungs burned. She’d been wanting this answer for a long time. Now that she was hearing the truth, her head and heart ached for the men who lost their lives that week.

And for Walker, who was listening to this entire conversation.

“You betrayed our country,” she whispered.

“Our country betrayed me first by letting a woman command the very mission that was to rescue me.”

There was no reasoning with this man. None.

“Did you kill those two young men?”

“Yes,” Lee admitted.

“Why?”

“To prove what an idiot you are. And that stupid cop Sparrow. And I’ve done that. But now I have a new problem that I need to fix.”

Yeah. She knew exactly what that problem was and she had a good idea on how he planned on dealing with it when he reached for the drawer where Walker kept his butcher knives.

“You think killing me is going to solve that?” She stared at the sharp blade as Lee waved it around with his right hand and poured more whiskey into his glass with his left.

“I will admit I’ve underestimated you.” Lee took a sip of his beverage. “And Sparrow. Maybe it’s a pack mentality thing or something. Or perhaps it’s having all these quality ex-military men helping out, but you’ve left me with no choice.” He polished off his drink. “Now all I have to do is figure out how to make this look like self-defense.”

“You’ve lost your fucking mind.” Her heart pounded in her chest so fast it hurt. She’d been in the line of fire more than once. She’d been shot, more than once. Each time she’d been frightened. No one wanted to face down death.

At least no rational person.

“No one will buy this.”

“Let’s see. I came back here to lick my wounds because you didn’t give me the respect I deserve.” He waved the knife closer to her body.

She stepped back.

He continued to inch closer.

“That’s bullshit,” she managed with a ragged breath. “We didn’t have words at the station. And don’t try to say you and Walker got into it because you didn’t. Not really.”

“You’re right.” He set the shot glass on the counter and pulled out his phone, holding it up, showing off a blank screen as if that meant something. “I sent a text to some friends about my frustration over this case. As a matter of fact, I’ve been documenting it from the start. How you’ve been manipulating me and putting me down, forcing me to do grunt work, treating me like I’m some dog.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? Because ever since I got here, I’ve been your fucking errand boy,” he said. “Do this, Lee. Now do that, Lee. Go here and watch them do this, Lee,” he said with a raised voice. “So when I cracked the case, because that’s what happened back there, I set it up so that Randall would go down for murder, and he will.”

“If you’re referencing the sweatshirt, you’re wrong.”

He narrowed his stare.