Page 79 of Tango

“Right.” He nodded as if to humor me.

“Thanks to Josh’s footage from his father’s tattoo shop, we’ve got a nice clear shot of him as he left. Oh, and I understand there’s some audio of him talking to you.” I pointed my finger at him. There wasn’t any audio, but there could have been.

“Mmhm.”

“But the best part of all of this,” I leaned my arms on my legs, “is the testimony we got.”

He rolled up his sleeves but stayed where he was. “You think I bought that? You think I believe for one second that someone from that Afghan village came forward, traveled all the way over here, just to testify about what happened to some random soldier?” He snorted and leaned against the side table, full of self-confidence while I dug my nails into my palms. “The truth is,” he went on, “Brown was losing his shit and was going to shoot me. I was protecting myself and those around me.”

“So, you claim self-defense?”

“Of course. You were there. You saw it.”

“What I saw was an egotistical asshole who couldn’t let the fact that Brown embarrassed him in front of a woman go unpunished. I saw a coward hiding behind a weapon who saw an opportunity to kill and took it, even though a brother was at his lowest point.” I slowly stood.

“The fuck you say to me?” He pushed up to his full height, his face like a belligerent schoolyard punk.

“You can only bully for so long, Hill, before someone who can’t take the guilt anymore spills the beans and tells the truth.” A lazy smile spread across my lips. “Bullies don’t develop real friendships, Hill. Lying’s only worth it as long as they get something out of it. You’re a narcissistic asshole who let his ego get too big. He sold you out.”

“Who?”

“Dustin.” His eyes flared, but he didn’t accept defeat. Not yet.

“He’s such a loser.” He waved me off. “No one would believe a word he said, anyway.”

“Maybe not, but they’d believe this guy.” I held up my phone and played a video that Cole sent me.

“Come on, man. I’ll tell you whatever you want.”

“On that last day in Afghanistan, who shot and killed Brown?” Hill’s face turned to stone as he watched in horror as Rivera sang like a canary.

“Hill killed Brown, shot him in the head.” Rivera started to sob. “Beckett had him under control, but Hill had a hate-on for Brown.” His eyes pleaded. “He took the opportunity to take him out.”

“And will you testify to that?” Frank’s voice.

“Yes, to that and everything else.”

Hill suddenly reached behind the table then cursed as he raced across the room to the bookshelf and cursed again.

“You think I wouldn’t have done a sweep of the place first?” I snarled. “Come on, Hill, give me a little credit.” I looked at the phone. “Or maybe a lot of credit.” I shrugged and gave a humble smile.

“Fuck you, Beckett,” he hissed. His eyes darted everywhere as he tried to think of a way out of the situation. “That’s just one fucking person. Rivera’s lying!” he spat.

“And Dustin too?” His murderous face swung over to me. “Yeah, Dustin also came forward. Your dear brother had some pretty juicy stuff upstairs in his safe. Quite incriminating. And now Rivera.” I clucked my tongue. “I think that means you’re gonna be street meat for the guys behind bars. I mean, when they find out you killed one of your own while on duty.” I whistled. “I wouldn’t drop the soap if I were you.”

He bolted for the door, and I shook my head as he backstepped into the room again with his hands up. Moore had a rifle pointed at his head. Frank stepped slowly through the door with Cole and Paul right behind him. The lights from the MP squad cars lit up the place like Christmas morning.

“It’s over, Hill,” Frank commanded then looked at me and whispered something to Cole. They turned their backs to us and left. The others who had come with them followed. Someone closed the door behind them.

I stepped up and got in Hill’s face. “We made a pact years back that if something bad happened to one of us at the hand of someone else, the rest of us would make that person pay.”

“Eye for an eye, right?” Hill opened his arms. “Do it!”

“See, that’s the difference between you and me,” I poked his forehead with my index finger, “I have a conscience.”

“You better back off,” he growled and took a step closer, and I prepared to swing, “or I won’t make the call to my guy who’s watchin’ your girlfriend right now at Zack’s.” Everything around me went silent at the mention of her name.

“He’s lying.” Moore snickered behind me.