Mountain Refuge (Mountain Mutineers #1)

Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Josephine

T here was nothing like the satisfaction of watching a sick sonofabitch get what was coming to him. In the eight months since Adam Greene had disappeared with Lydia and Henry Gunther and in the four months since I’d learned of Greene’s innocence, I’d put all of my effort into taking down Sebastian Gunther.

It had been a long and arduous task, but I was finally seeing my reward. As I stood outside across the street from his NoHo mansion, I watched with rapt glee as Gunther was led away by the Feds in handcuffs.

News stations and various media platforms were parked outside of the police barricade to try to capture the perfect image of Gunther’s downfall.

I didn’t need to look that closely. I knew exactly what his face would look like since I’d already seen his crestfallen expression when I explained in his office just how much information I had on him. He’d tried to offer me money, power, land… It all fell on deaf ears. When he’d threatened my life, I’d taken down his bodyguards.

I’d already secretly emptied the bullets out of the gun he kept in his desk, so I stared confidently down the barrel when he’d pointed it at me.

I would never forget the expression of utter hate and despair as he realized the Feds were already outside his office door and had listened to every single word we’d spoken.

They had his confession to the murder to Boris Rimsky on tape from his own words. Best part, they didn’t need a warrant because I walked in wearing a wire after Gunther invited me over. New York was a one-party state after all.

While it didn’t get Adam Greene off the hook for the kidnapping charges, it would clear him of the murder charge. Additionally, the gun Gunther had threatened me with was the same weapon he’d killed Rimsky with. He was literally holding the smoking gun when the Feds had arrested him.

Though a lot of my efforts over the past four months were grueling, I had not been working alone. I’d been in contact with Jack nearly every day and he’d even offered me a position with the Mountain Mutineers after Gunther was out of the picture. He called Gunther my ‘interview’.

Jack was not my only assistance. I didn’t know who was helping me here in New York, but someone was constantly feeding me information. It had to be someone close to Gunther. Since I couldn’t get any information on Trenton Gunther’s whereabouts, I doubted it was him. Be it greed or hatred, Trenton did have the most to gain by his father’s imprisonment. However, no one had seen Trenton in months. If it wasn’t for Jack swearing to me that Trenton was not with Greene, I would have been sure Trenton had escaped with Greene and his young siblings.

His absence made me fear that Trenton had met a gruesome end at the hand of his father.

Whoever the mole was reporting to me had accurate enough information that I knew exactly where Gunther was going to be, when, and how many bodyguards he was going to have with him. That information cut a lot of time out of my surveillance and I was able to concentrate enough on gathering evidence to take to the Feds.

At first, I wasn’t sure the Feds believed me. It wasn’t until I’d gotten a meeting with their district agent that anyone actually took me seriously. I still had to wonder how Jack was able to pull that one off.

I took my phone out of my back pocket. No doubt Jack was watching Gunther’s downfall live on national television like the rest of the country, but I wanted to add my personal touch to the situation.

“You should be proud of yourself,” was what I got in lieu of a greeting.

“Quite,” I agreed. “I wasn’t able to get Greene fully exonerated, but at least they have the evidence to get rid of the murder charges.”

I heard clicking over the other end and pictured Jack at his desk with his hundreds of computer screens. “I’m working on getting the kidnapping charges dismissed too. I haven’t been able to locate Lydia’s birth mother, Helena. Gunther had her sign over her rights. If we can get her to come forward and claim coercion, we might be able to get the kidnapping charges dropped legally.”

“And if we can’t?” I didn’t know why but I liked being included in Jack’s ‘we’. I hadn’t been part of a team since my Marine days. There was a sense of camaraderie between Jack and I that I hadn’t realized I’d been missing.

It felt really good to have someone watching my six again.

“For Henry, it’s a nonissue. I looked through those files you sent me and discovered a small fact that Mr. Greene neglected to inform me of: he was named as Henry’s father on the birth certificate. Legally, Mr. Greene is Henry’s father.”

I blinked, not anticipating that news. “Wow. How did that happen?”

“That’s another story,” Jack said evasively.

I wanted to argue but also took note of who might be around and listening. I was on a public street after all. “It would explain why the reward was only for Lydia. I wonder if Gunther knew.”

“I have a feeling he found out when he pressed charges against Mr. Greene. The police conveniently forgot to check legal paternity.”

I fought the need to scoff. “Of course they did. They’re in his pocket.”

“Undoubtedly. With the racketeering, arms dealing, human trafficking, prostitution, and smuggling charges on top of the murder charge, hopefully the Feds will see reason to drop the remaining kidnapping charge.”

That was a long rap sheet—but Gunther no doubt had very good lawyers at his disposal.

“What about his organization?” I asked Jack. “They weren’t able to make a RICO case and connect him to others, but he’ll still have influence from jail unless we can somehow take that down too.”

“That’s why I got you some help. He should be pulling up next to you any second.”

I paused, looking up and down the street. I saw mostly police cars and news vans. “I don’t see anyone—” Just then a black sedan pulled up next to me. “Oh.”

I expected the back door to open, given the fancy car, but instead the passenger door’s window lowered. I ducked down and my jaw dropped.

Trenton Gunther took off his sunglasses and smiled widely at me. “Good to finally meet you in person, Ms. Gonzalez. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”