Framed For Murder

With nothing but glaring silence coming from the men, frustrated, Aaron went back to Sam’s cell. They needed to find out what happened here quickly because there was no way the two murders weren’t connected.

He looked up expectantly when Liz returned.

She shook her head, confirming what he knew in his heart. “Whoever did this is gone. Just like at Michael’s place. Did Sam’s men give you anything?”

“They’re not talking.” Aaron felt for a pulse, not expecting one. “I’d say he’s been dead several hours. Rigor has just begun to set in.”

There were no signs of an injury. Aaron rolled Sam’s sleeve up. “There’s a needle mark on his arm. He was obviously injected with something deadly,” he confirmed while still reeling from the impossible.

“Both Sam and Michael had to be killed within hours of each other,” Liz pointed out.

Aaron’s gaze locked with hers. “That’s right. There are video cameras in each of the cells. Whoever killed Sam has to be on the tape,” he told her.

They hurried to the command center and Aaron brought up the video for Sam’s cell. The timestamp appeared to be a few hours earlier. The person who entered the prison was heavily disguised. Dressed entirely in black and wearing a heavy jacket and gloves, their face was almost completely covered with a ski mask with the exception of their eyes. He zoomed in closer, but the feed became grainy.

Aaron pulled up the entry log on the computer. It showed every single entry into the compound as well as which secure passkey was used. What he saw there was most alarming.

The passkey used to enter both the compound and the prison before Sam’s death was Liz’s. He stared at her in disbelief, unable to digest what was in plain sight.

Each key had a sensor device in it so that when used, that particular Scorpion member was identified as the user. It couldn’t be faked. There was no mistaking it was Liz’s key. The only question: How?

Her clear emerald-green eyes filled with worry as she shook her head. “No, that’s not possible.” He’d never seen her look so frightened before. He resisted the urge to take her in his arms and reassure her everything was going to be okay. Since his former girlfriend Beth’s betrayal, he hadn’t been able to let himself get too close to another woman. He’d loved Beth so much and yet she’d used him, and in the process she’d destroyed his ability to trust his heart to another. Instead, he kept himself buried in work.

Liz tossed her raven braid off her shoulder. She appeared so vulnerable right now, and yet her fragile beauty was deceiving. As a highly decorated agent, he couldn’t think of anyone else he’d want to have his back.

“It wasn’t me, Aaron,” she said in a shaky voice. “I promise I didn’t do this.”

But if not her, then who? Someone had used her passkey to enter the prison and kill Sam. As much as he wanted to believe her, there was no denying the evidence certainly made her look guilty.

* * *

“I don’t think you killed Sam,” he reassured her because he knew Liz. They’d become close while working together and he’d witnessed time and again that her faith in God was as unshakable as her valor. She didn’t kill Sam or Michael, but clearly someone was trying to make them believe she had.

“When was the last time you used your passkey?” he asked, hoping there was some innocent explanation. Maybe she’d lost it. Had it stolen?

She didn’t hesitate. “This morning when I left the compound with Michael.”

“Where is it now?” he prompted.

“In my purse. Aaron?”

“Go get it,” he interrupted and watched as she flinched at the hard edge in his tone.

She stared at him for a second then hurried away and he regretted the way his words had sounded.

When she came back with her purse, he saw the truth on her face even before she said the words.

“It’s not there,” she said and shook her head. “I have no idea where it is.”

Aaron tried to squash the dread growing inside of him. “I need you to account for your time today, Liz,” he told her and hated that the request sounded like an interrogation.

She never broke eye contact. “After we left here, I took Michael home and made lunch. I hung out with him for a while and then I left him to rest.”

“What time was that? Where did you go afterward?” he asked because they needed to create a timeline before he could her to rule her out as a suspect.

“I left around two. Then I ran some errands and went for a long walk.”

All things that couldn’t be accounted for unless she’d purchased something along the way.

“What type of errands?” he pushed and couldn’t keep the urgency from his tone.

“Aaron, you’re scaring me,” she breathed the words out.

His heart went out to her but he needed answers now. “I know and I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “Answer the question, Liz.”

She struggled to bring her thoughts together. “As I said, I left Michael’s house around two because he insisted. I didn’t want to leave him, but he told me he was tired and wanted to rest. He promised me he’d be okay. He told me he’d call me when he woke up.”

“What did you do first after you left Michael?” he prompted and he watched as she swallowed visibly.

“I went for a drive to clear my head then I stopped by the library in town. After that, I got coffee. Hung out a while, and then drove to the trailhead at the base of Painted Rock Mountain. The view there is beautiful and I go there to think. I was there until late. Then...” She hesitated long enough to capture his full attention. “Then when I didn’t hear from Michael, I went to his house. And you know the rest.”

None of her earlier moves could be documented fully, which meant she could have had time to murder Sam and then Michael. It didn’t look good and he needed to conduct the investigation by the book. He’d have the library and the coffee shop checked. Maybe someone would remember her being there.

“Liz, I need you to go home. Now. You know you can’t be part of this.”

There was no mistaking the hurt written on her face. “Aaron...”

“Like it or not, you’re a suspect because of the passkey and you were the last person to see Michael alive,” he said gently. “Take my SUV. Go home and don’t talk to anyone until you hear from me.” He dug in his pocket and handed her the keys and then walked outside with her.

It was hard to associate the lost expression on her face with the competent agent he knew Liz to be.

“Aaron, you believe me, don’t you?” she asked with a hint of desperation in her tone.

He stopped next to the SUV, squeezed her shoulder and tried his best to assure her. “Of course I do. We’ll get to the bottom of this. There has to be another explanation we’re missing. I’m calling the team in and I’ll have Reyna get here as soon as she’s finished at Michael’s. In the meantime, go home. I’ll call you the minute I know anything.”

Aaron waited as she reluctantly left the prison. Then he went back inside and called Alex Booth.

“Reyna just left. We’re wrapping up here. I called in the local police department as you asked. They’re canvassing the area now,” Alex said, assuming the reason for Aaron’s call.

“Let Gavin finish there. We have a much bigger problem,” Aaron said, his tone brittle. He stared down at the lifeless body of the man who had caused so much pain. “Sam’s dead.” He briefly explained the crime scene.

Stunned, Alex audibly sucked in a breath. “I’m on my way.”

“Good. I’ll see you soon.” Aaron disconnected the call. He knew how bad this looked for Liz, but what he couldn’t understand was why she of all people was being targeted.

Agent Alex Booth arrived within minutes of the call. “Reyna’s right behind me.”

Reyna Bradford was the wife of the base commander, Jase Bradford. As a doctor, Reyna had willingly agreed to head up the medical team for the Scorpions. Reyna was highly skilled and had proven to be a huge asset.

“How did someone get into this secured prison in the first place?” Alex asked in disbelief. When Aaron didn’t answer right away, he prompted, “There’s more.”

“Yes,” Aaron said. “It appears someone used Liz’s passkey. I’ve been unable to determine their identity, as the person was covered from head to toe. Whoever did this had a working knowledge of our security system. They must have hacked their way into it.”

“Unbelievable. Where is Liz?” Alex asked without thinking.

“I sent her home. She can’t be part of the investigation.”

Alex shook his head. “I can’t see Liz mixed up in this.”

Aaron certainly didn’t either. “No, but we can’t afford to dismiss the evidence in front of us. We need to do this by the book, Alex. Call in the crime scene unit. We need something else to go on other than Liz’s passkey. Without Sam’s help, we may never know where the missing weapons disappeared to or what the plan was for them. An attack could be imminent.”

When Reyna arrived she went straight in to examine the body. It didn’t take her long to come to the same conclusion as Aaron. “I have to agree with you, this was obviously something fast acting. The murderer would want to ensure Sam was dead before he left and he couldn’t stick around long. I’ll know more once I have the body at the lab, but I’m guessing he was killed before Michael.”

The killer had somehow gotten Liz’s passkey, then come here to murder Sam. From the video surveillance tape, it appeared Sam had been sleeping when the person entered his cell. When the needle was injected into his arm, he’d woken up, attempted to get up, but was too disoriented. It didn’t take long for the poison to do its job. Sam never had a chance.

There was no evidence that anyone had been there with the killer. It was obvious they’d wanted the team to witness the murder. But for what end? Aaron had studied the footage carefully hoping for clarity. The killer was tall and slim built. It certainly could be a woman. He leaned in closer—even though the tape was grainy, he was just able to make out the color of the perpetrator’s eyes. They appeared green...like Liz’s. He quickly shoved that thought aside.

“Thanks, Reyna,” Aaron said with appreciation. Reyna had been an amazing contribution to the team and she and her husband, Jase Bradford, were good friends to Aaron.

Once the crime scene unit arrived, Aaron knew what he had to do even though he dreaded it. Still, it would be best if it came from him. After the director found out about Sam’s murder it wouldn’t be long before he pulled the case from the team entirely. Aaron couldn’t let that happen. They needed answers and they needed them now.

He took Alex aside. “Let me know the minute you have anything. I need to go speak with Liz.” Just saying the words made him feel as if he’d betrayed her.

Alex patted his shoulder. “I know this is hard, but we’ll find out what’s really going on. It’s only a matter of time.”

Aaron forced a smile. He sure hoped Alex was right. They needed something, anything that would help clear Liz’s name, because he wasn’t about to let someone he cared about get framed for a crime she didn’t commit.

TWO

The moment she opened the door, Liz knew someone had been in her cabin.

Liz reached for her weapon and eased inside. At first glance, nothing appeared out of place. The quiet of the cabin settled around her. A quick search yielded nothing to back up the feeling.

She glanced down at the envelope in her hand.

For Your Eyes Only!

The sense of someone watching her permeated every molecule of her body. Was she simply being paranoid?

Liz blew out a shaky breath, killed the lights and parted the living room curtains. Nothing moved in the early morning world outside.

You’re being set up... The message from the unknown number had troubled her, though at the time, she hadn’t understood its meaning. And in the chaos that had ensued after discovering Michael was dead, Liz had forgotten to mention the text to Aaron.

She grabbed her burner phone again and typed a message to the mystery person.

Who are you? How did you know Michael was dead?

As she stared at the phone, willing an answer to come through, the blank screen in front of her seemed to confirm her suspicions. There was no way the texter could know about her partner’s death if he wasn’t somehow involved.

Liz struggled to make sense of what had happened in less than twenty-four hours. There had to be something more in the works here than what the team had originally believed. This went much deeper than Sam and his deadly schemes.

Through all the unanswered questions, one thing crystallized. She had now become the number one suspect in Michael’s murder. If she let herself be taken into custody, she had a feeling she wouldn’t walk out of the prison alive.

Yet if she stayed, with all the evidence mounting against her, Aaron wouldn’t have a choice but to bring her in. She couldn’t bear the thought of him thinking she was guilty. His friendship had come to mean so much to her.

Either way, time was running out on her freedom and possibly her life, so Liz hurried to her bedroom and stuffed as many things as she could into a backpack, then she went to her closet. The box that held her spare weapon was on the top shelf. Liz felt around until she’d found it. Right away she knew something was wrong. The box’s lid was open. Her Glock was gone.

She was almost positive Michael had been killed with the same caliber gun.

It was as if someone was carefully orchestrating her downfall.

Liz dropped her personal cell phone on the kitchen table. If she took it with her, they’d be able to trace her movements. Instead, she grabbed the burner phone and her regulation gun along with the envelope and backpack and headed out the back door.

Leaving headquarters presented another set of problems. She wouldn’t get far in Aaron’s vehicle. They’d be watching for it. She had one other option.

Don Warren, the ranch’s caretaker, kept a work truck close by in one of the old barns. He let every team member use it whenever they needed. If she could reach the barn, it would at least buy her some time, but after that she’d need to find another means of transportation. As soon as the team discovered she’d taken the truck, they’d be on the lookout for it.

She recalled Michael kept an old Jeep stored on the property he leased for hunting, which was adjacent to Aaron’s ranch. She’d been to the place once, but had no idea if the Jeep’s plates were even current or if it was in working order, but if she could make it there, she’d have a fighting chance of blending in with her surroundings. Jeeps were commonplace here in the mountains.

Liz cracked the back door and listened. Nothing but silence. It wouldn’t last. Aaron would be coming for her soon.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered for him and then slipped out into the cover of night.

The evening was filled with thousands of stars. It was one of the things she loved about the wide-open ranch. Not a city light could be seen for miles.

Liz rushed to the storage barn that held Warren’s old truck. The keys hung in the ignition still. Don kept his passkey secured underneath the driver’s seat. Liz fired the tired old vehicle up and eased toward the back entrance of the compound knowing full well the noise would carry. Hopefully, no one was around to hear it. When she reached the gate, she swiped the key and the gate slowly opened.

“Come on, come on,” she whispered with urgency while keeping a careful eye behind her.

The gate finally opened enough to allow the truck to pass through. Once she’d cleared it, she floored the gas pedal.

It was a good ten-minute drive to Michael’s hunting cabin under the best of conditions. Running for her freedom and constantly checking the rearview mirror expecting trouble made those ten minutes feel like a lifetime.

Once she reached Michael’s property, a single strand of barbed wire was all that kept curious onlookers away. Liz flipped the truck lights on bright and got out. A sense of being watched made her reach for the night vision binoculars she’d shoved in her bag last-minute. She scanned the surrounding area expecting someone to have followed her. She felt hunted and she had no idea who was coming after her. But nothing beyond a few animals searching for food stirred the quiet of the early morning.

Discovering her backup weapon was missing felt like the final nail had been driven into her coffin. She had no doubt the Glock would turn up eventually and be matched to Michael’s murder weapon and then Aaron wouldn’t have a choice. He’d have to take her into custody and she couldn’t allow that to happen. If she did, she wouldn’t leave prison alive.

With her freedom slipping away, there was only one option left. Run.

Liz undid the makeshift gate leading to Michael’s cabin. The grown-up path that served as a road didn’t appear to have seen any traffic in a long time. Still, if she wanted to stay under the radar, she’d have to find a place to hide Don’s truck.

Once she’d cleared her name and the real killer was in custody, she’d let Don know where she’d left the truck.

Liz relocked the gate and eased down the path. Overgrown weeds slapped at the truck’s undercarriage. After a series of double-back bends, the headlights found Michael’s one-room cabin. Tucked in close to the side of the place, his primer gray–colored Jeep was parked under a ponderosa pine.

Nothing about the cabin or the wreck of a Jeep was encouraging. What if the battery had drained due to the cold weather and lack of use? She didn’t even know if it was in working order.

As hard as she tried to shut out her worries, she couldn’t. She had no idea who was trying to set her up. What if the text message was sent to throw her off and get her out in the open and unprotected? The real killer could be waiting inside the cabin right now.

Liz closed her eyes and prayed fervently, then let God have her worries. She’d need a level head to make it through this thing alive. She couldn’t afford to fall apart now.

She parked the truck some distance from the cabin in the shelter of a grove of aspens and peered out the window at the desolate surroundings. A shiver sped up her spine.

Michael told her once that he’d grown up hunting and fishing in Montana. He spoke fondly of his father who had passed away when he was a teen. Yet whenever she’d asked more about his family or his past, his answers were vague. She sensed that his childhood might have been troubled, so she’d let it go. Now she wished she’d been more persistent.

The envelope she’d found at his place called out to her from the passenger seat.

As much as she trusted Aaron with her life, she had to know what was in that envelope before she told him about it. What if something in there implicated her?

Desperate for answers, she ripped it open. A key fell out onto her hand. She turned it over. It appeared to be a house key, but what did it fit? Michael’s hunting cabin didn’t have a lock. He said he kept it secure by propping a chair in front of the door.

More confused than ever, she pulled out the single piece of paper left inside. It contained a rudimentary map and directions to a remote cabin near Black Bear, Alaska, where Michael went salmon fishing. But it was what was scribbled in the note beneath the map that was most alarming. From the handwriting she could tell Michael had written it in a hurry.

Liz, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. If you’re reading this note, then I’m probably dead and you could be next...

Please forgive me. Tears filled her eyes. What had Michael done?

Go to the cabin in Black Bear. Everything will be explained when you get there. Call Rick Evans. He’s a friend and he can fly you to Black Bear. You can trust him. Rick operates out of a private airstrip near Talkeetna, Alaska. Once you reach Black Bear, talk to a woman by the name of Jessie Chena who can get you to the cabin. I’ve hidden a fireproof box filled with evidence at the cabin. Get there and make sure you don’t tell anyone from the team where you’re going.

Both Jessie and Rick’s phone numbers were written at the bottom of the note.

Don’t tell anyone from the team where you’re going.

Why hadn’t Michael trusted his own team?

Under the best of conditions, Talkeetna, Alaska, was a fifty-six-hour drive from Colorado. Running for her life in a vehicle that was questionable at best, she’d be forced to take as many back roads as possible, which meant the drive would take even longer. Flying was out of the question. She wouldn’t make it through the first security check.

With her heart in her throat, she eased from the truck. She hadn’t felt this alone since learning Eric had been killed while on that final mission for the CIA. The days following his death had been filled with crippling grief and long, lonely nights. The pain almost physical.

Now, every little noise had her jumping, expecting the enemy. Aaron. The team she’d vowed to protect had now become her enemy and it was a bitter pill to swallow.

She’d covered only a handful of steps when a noise behind her grabbed her full attention. It sounded like...a footstep on the creaky porch. Someone was here.

Liz whirled with her weapon drawn. “Who’s there?” Her breathless voice chilled in the early morning cold.

“Drop the weapon, Liz...” Aaron’s normally smooth-as-caramel Southern drawl held a steely edge to it she’d never heard before. He’d found her. Anticipated her next move.

He stepped closer, the look in his eyes matching his tone. Just for a second she lost what little bit of hope she still clung to. Did he think she was capable of killing Michael?

“Aaron, you scared me.” Her voice shook slightly, her nerves wrecked.

“You need to come with me, Liz,” he said quietly with regret on his face.

She swallowed back the betrayal she felt at those words. She wouldn’t blame Aaron. He was just doing the job he’d been tasked to do.

“I—I can’t do that. I didn’t kill Michael, but someone wants you to think that I did.”

His face twisted with gut-wrenching pain. “I know you didn’t kill him, but running makes you look guilty. Come with me. I promise we’ll figure it out together. You’ll be treated fairly.”

She stepped to within inches of him and shook her head sadly. “If you want me to come with you, you’ll have to shoot me.” She was close enough to witness the battle raging in him as they faced each other in a silent standoff.

“Liz... Don’t throw your life away like this.”

Aaron’s cell phone rang and her already-battered nerves had her jumping at the sound.

He didn’t break eye contact as he answered the call. “Yes, Jase.” Would he give her up? Please, God, no. She had to find a way to convince him to let her go. “Not yet. I’m working a lead now. I’ll let you know the minute I have her.”

She blew out the breath and leaned over, hands on her knees. He hadn’t told Jase. She couldn’t imagine how hard that was for Aaron. Jase had been his friend for years.

“I’m sorry, Aaron,” she said once he’d ended the call. And she truly was. This wasn’t the way she wanted things to go. She turned and headed for the Jeep while silently praying she knew him as well as she thought.

“Liz, stop.” With her heart pounding in her ears, she reached for the door handle and then heard it. Click, click, click.

“Run,” she yelled, turning from the Jeep. Aaron grabbed her around the waist and all but hauled her away. They’d barely cleared a handful of steps when the Jeep exploded and fire and shrapnel blasted past them like a tidal wave sweeping them in its wake.

Liz hit the ground hard. Landing on her injured wrist, she screamed in agony as searing pain shot through her and she almost blacked out. Seconds later, the cabin nearby exploded and reality struck hard.

Someone had planted a bomb inside the Jeep to be detonated when the door was breeched. The only question was, who was the intended target? Michael or her?

Aaron slowly moved to his knees beside her. He was bleeding from his forehead and his cheek. There were cuts in several spots on his hands.