Page 109 of The Outpost (Jamison Valley 4)
Henry asked me a few more questions and then shut off the recorder. “Thanks, that’s all I need. I’m sorry we made you wait so long to finish this up. It’s been a busy night.” He raked a hand through his hair. “You should know, Viktor and Ivan Federov were murdered.”
I gasped at the same time Beau’s arm jerked. “What? What happened?”
“I can’t tell you much. We’ll release a statement tomorrow, but they were both killed in a riot at the prison this evening.”
“Russian hit?” Beau asked quietly.
Henry just nodded.
Anton had planned his escape the same day the Russians had planned their hit. His escape might have been thwarted if there hadn’t been that prison riot. The Russians would have killed him, not me. The coincidence was just . . . so fucking unfair.
“So that’s it?” I asked. “They’re all gone?”
“Yeah. They’re all gone.” Henry’s sad eyes were full of guilt. “I have a specialized cleaning crew coming in tomorrow, so you’ll have to stay out until Sunday. We’ll put you up in a hotel.”
“Okay.” I started to stand but Beau kept me on the couch.
“We’re not done, Dalton.” Beau’s voice was quiet but angry. “You said she’d be safe.”
“And I fucked up. I won’t make any excuses. I fucked up and I’ll always be sorry. I should have put her in WITSEC.” Henry’s eyes left Beau’s and came to mine. “I’m sorry, Sabrina. This never should have happened. What can I do?”
Killing Anton had been my only choice but maybe if I had more of the facts, it would help me make sense of all that had happened tonight. “I’d like to know how Anton got in here.”
“Okay.” Henry looked up at an agent with a camera, hovering by the door. “Are you all done?”
“Yes, sir. Is there anything else you’d like us to finish?”
“No. I’ll escort Ms. MacKenzie to her hotel when we’re done talking. Get everything back to the office and put a rush on processing. I want her to be able to come back by Sunday morning at the latest.”
“Yes, sir.”
He waited until everyone had left and the door clicked shut to resume talking.
“This has to stay between us until the official report is released.”
I nodded.
“Anton wasn’t with his father or brother, because he was in the infirmary. He faked appendicitis and bribed a corrections officer to smuggle him out of the prison with a change of clothes and a weapon. With the Russian hit causing a big stir, none of us even knew he was gone until it was too late.”
“So he had been planning this for a while?” I asked. “He was never going to let me go, was he?”
Henry shook his head and looked to his feet. “I should have known.”
“And I shouldn’t have let you leave Montana,” Beau said, pressing a kiss to my temple. “I should have found another place for you to hide.”
“There’s no use looking back. It’s over now.” I leaned further into Beau’s side. I had no idea what that kiss meant or where we went from here, but I didn’t care. I was going to lean on him until I could stand on my own. Then we’d deal with the rest.
“How did Anton get in here?” I asked.
Henry’s face hardened. “He came in through the stairwell entrance. We’ve got him on video coming in with another tenant. He must have known your cleaning crew’s schedule because he slipped in while they were leaving. He probably pretended to be an agent.”
“But Agent Mitchell . . .” I didn’t need to finish my sentence. Agent Mitchell had been by the elevator on his phone. “Huh,” I scoffed. “That folding chair and phone probably saved his life.”
“Maybe,” Henry said. “Or else he was bribed too. I’ll be finding out and he’ll either get fired or go to prison himself.”
We all sat quietly for a few moments. I was out of questions about Anton and hoped never to mutter his name again.
“What now?” Beau asked, breaking the silence.
