Deadly Ties by Vicki Hinze Page B

case, but Mark wasn’t surprised the team knew as much about it as they did. Once you were inducted into the intelligence world, you might leave it, but you were never really out of it. The reality of black ops and covert operations just didn’t work that way. You know too much, and too many continue to come after you to find out just how much you know. “The other Johnson, Paul, is in jail with Chessman.”
“Gregory Chessman. Now there’s a piece of work.” Tim cleared his throat. “I challenge anyone to name an illegal activity he wasn’t involved in.”
“There isn’t one.” Joe dragged a chip through the bowl of salsa. “Jerk’s corrupt to the core. He was even working with the mayor’s wife.”
Darla Green. Mark nodded. “She and Paul Johnson killed the mayor. Chessman thought his secret partner was the mayor, but it was his wife. Now she’s in jail too.”
“For how long?” Nick asked. “She probably got a slap on the wrist. Don’t look at me like that, Tim. She had money, connections, and a local judge. Of course she got a slap on the wrist.”
“Unfortunately, Nick’s right.” Mark didn’t like it any better than the rest of them. “She got five years. Normally a third would be cut off, but I hear there’s something in the works to get her down to time served.”
“Sickening.”
“Predictable, Tim.” Sam downed a swig from his glass and hiked his chin to the screen. “Those two seem pretty chummy.”
Ben and Kelly had been through a lot together. Trial by fire can do that. “They are close.” Mark moved to block the glare streaking across their faces and studied the slide. “One day they’ll end up married, but it’s going to take some time to work through their issues.”
“I can see where it would.” Nick stroked his thin brown mustache. “She looks just like his wife.”
“Kelly and Susan do resemble each other, but they’re different. The more you know of them, the less alike they seem.”
“How?” Sam asked Mark.
“Susan was softer, gentler, and more reserved. Kelly’s stronger, blunt, and takes big chances. I think a lot of them both.” Mark advanced the slide.
A grainy image of Annie appeared on the screen. In her midfifties, she had a head full of gray curls. Her weariness etched lines into her face that dragged at the corners of her mouth. “This is Lisa’s mom, Annie Harper Hauk.” His voice went husky. “She’s a good woman in a bad situation.”
Sam slid Mark a sidelong glance. “Well, why haven’t you gotten her out of it, bud?”
“Tried. She refused. Still trying.” It was complicated, and he didn’t want the guys to bog down on this, but they needed to understand the complexities to grasp the threat. “Lisa’s dad was a doctor, and they were supposedly well off. Good Christian family. Everyday average Americans. But when Lisa was seven, she heard about this orphanage in Haiti that needed a roof. Charles went down to tend to the kids and help out. In short, he fell off the roof and broke his neck.”
“He died?”
Mark nodded at Tim. “The second he hit the ground, gone.”
Sam looped his arms on the back of his chair. “So if they were wealthy, what’s the deal? Why’s Annie in a bad situation?”
Mark rubbed the back of his neck. “They really weren’t wealthy—at least not at the end. Charles lost everything in a Ponzi scheme. He borrowed against his life insurance policies to stay afloat.”
“He doesn’t sound like the kind to be suckered in. What happened?” Nick asked. “Drugs? Gambling? Women?”
Leave it to Nick to go down the dark road. “Nothing like that. He just fell for a con with a slick tongue and no conscience.” Mark grabbed a handful of Sam’s pretzels. “He left Annie and Lisa penniless and crippled by debt.”
“Oh man.” Sam groaned and stared at the ceiling. “Annie got jammed into marrying the jerk.”
“In a way. She’s got a weak heart. Working was out. All she had left was the house, and it was about