He’d have to do the same.
“Do you think you can play with people’s lives this way without consequences? This trial is highly publicized. Eliminating me will only draw further investigation. You’ve only made things worse for yourself and the company. Idiot.” He growled, putting all of his anger and frustration into it. “I won’t forgive you for bringing my family into this.”
Then he charged his former employer.
The man paled, caught unprepared.
The two bodyguards drew their weapons.
A strange noise sounded somewhere above him and the bodyguard holding his sister jerked and fell backward, almost taking her down with him. His nephew reached out his hands, bound by duct tape at the wrists, and grasped at his mother. The two of them stumbled back a few steps and Marc suddenly appeared there, rushing them smoothly back toward the car.
Kyle reached his old boss then. Keeping the portly man’s body between him and the other bodyguard, he slowed a fraction as he drew his right arm down and back. Then he punched the man hard in an uppercut, high in his gut, hoping to get past the extra baggage and hit him in the solar plexus. He followed with a left hook to the jaw. The man cried out in pain and raised both hands to his broken face.
As his old boss staggered backward, Kyle looked past him at the bodyguard pointing a gun directly at Kyle. Fear spiked fresh in his chest but the man’s face was frozen in a look of confusion. The bodyguard stared down at his hands as the gun dropped to the ground. Then the man toppled over, bleeding from a shot to his shoulder.
“Get down. Get back to the car!” Marc was there again, roughly grabbing hold of Kyle and spinning him around. Marc gave Kyle a hard shove toward the open car door.
A gunshot rang out, close. Kyle saw his sister and nephew huddled down in the backseat wells of the car, their eyes wide with fear and horror.
He half turned in time to see Marc falling. Without thinking, Kyle skidded to a halt and doubled back to grab Marc. Stumbling, they headed to the car.
Shoving Marc in the backseat through the still open door, Kyle dived into the driver’s seat of the still-running car. Throwing it into Drive, he sent it careening out of the parking area.
“Scott here.” Lizzy’s voice came over the radio. “Kyle, you’re safe. All targets neutralized. You’re safe. Ease up on the gas pedal.”
Lizzy. She was still back there. He yanked the steering wheel to the side.
“No need to do celebration donuts, just circle around to the other aisle. I’ll meet you on the ground there. Ease up on that pedal.”
“Marc’s been shot.”
Silence. Then, “Hurry. I’ll do the assessment in the car and we’ll get him medical attention.”
Kyle put his faith in Lizzy and headed back to go get her.
“Nice and easy. I’m watching over you. We’ll handle what comes next together.” Lizzy’s promise settled deep in his chest and he breathed.
Yes, one thing at a time. By tomorrow, this would be settled.
Chapter-Twenty-Four
“Your contract is finished, you know.”
Lizzy didn’t bother to acknowledge Federal Marshal Nguyen’s comment, but she did give him a nod. Respect between colleagues and all that.
“There’s an investigation underway at Harbor Island.” Nguyen sounded unconcerned. “Apparently, there was an altercation before dawn this morning. Maybe smuggling. Security system was bypassed but someone reported shots fired in the area. Blood was found, but no bodies.”
Not surprising. Phoenix Biotech might’ve sent in a cleanup crew after Safeguard had left the vicinity. Or Diaz had gotten a detail in to sweep the site. She’d been focused on getting Marc, who was still in surgery, to medical care, then getting Kyle’s sister and nephew tucked away in a Centurion Corporation safe house east of the city. They’d barely had time to get Kyle showered and back to the court house to be transferred directly back into the custody of Marshals Decker and Nguyen.
She hadn’t had to worry about the sniper though. Her shot had found its mark. He was dead.
“Any reason you’re on edge today?” Nguyen stood next to her, but didn’t crowd her. It wasn’t just out of social politeness. It was professional courtesy. Both of them wanted to have room to ready their firearm if the unexpected occurred.
“The days leading up to this trial have been weird.” She didn’t mind being candid. “For a man testifying to being aware of illegal dumping, he’s had a lot of shit go on around him.”
Nguyen’s shared information had been the leverage she needed to gain access to Kyle’s ex-boss and she was grateful but she wasn’t officially supposed to have knowledge of it. She also still didn’t know why Nguyen had shared it.
“He has.” Nguyen’s agreement was far too pleasant. “Some perspective might help, if you listen to hearsay.”
Meaning anything the US marshal was about to share was never said.