The Alex Mason Series: Books 10-12 by David Archer & Blake Banner

Author:David Archer & Blake Banner [Archer, David & Banner, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Right House
Published: 2024-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

TEN

I stood and moved to leave the room. Over my shoulder I sneered, “You’re full of shit!”

“Screw you!”

I turned back and pointed at him. “You put on the big, noble Native American act, communing with the land and the sky and the animals, but your just a cheap killer for the CIA. You put on the act - both loved this land, you both bonded from childhood and were united by your love for Wyoming and the Wind River, but it’s all so much shit. You’re just a cheap, lying parasite! How much did they pay you to kill your best friend, Hohóókee? Five grand? Ten grand?”

“You know nothing!” he snarled.

“Yeah, it’s all a big secret. And ain’t that convenient! Well I know one thing, Cap! I know you’re nothing more than a low, cheap hired killer.” I allowed an anger I didn’t realize I felt so strongly to flood my belly. I pointed at him and shouted, “You knew! You knew what they were planning, because you helped to arrange it! You knew what was at stake! You knew the Caldera was to be used to generate energy for AI and you knew, better than anybody, what the risks were. You knew because you and Pete researched it together. And knowing that risk, to your friends, your family, your whole damned tribe, the land you claimed to love, your country, the whole damned human race! Knowing that, you shot your best friend in the head for a few, lousy dollars! And you have the gall to lay on this wise man of the earth act? You make me sick!”

I turned to leave, but he said, “Stop.” I turned back, breathing hard. He rasped, “I did not kill Pete.”

He screwed up his eyes and looked away. I had a flash in my mind of a mountain lion caught in a steel-jawed trap, watching me on the razor’s edge as I reached out to free it. Get it right and the animal is freed. One false move and everything goes to hell. He said:

“There are things you don’t know, things you cannot know. There are things you will never understand. But I did not kill Pete.”

I came a step closer and leaned with my hands on the back of the chair.

“Give me one good reason why I should believe you.”

I asked, but I knew the answer. A man like Hohóókee worked hard at appearing cold and indifferent, but under the surface his passions were volcanic and his pride was everything. One thing was going down and being remembered as an enigma. But going down and being remembered as a cheap traitor was not an option. He said:

“He was more than a brother to me. I could not kill him anymore than I could stop myself from breathing.”

“Sure, only a man like you, with a strong enough motivation, could stop himself breathing. You know that and I know that. But say I believed you, if you didn’t kill Pete, who did?”

“I don’t know.

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