Noah almost threw his phone across the room, but that would do him no good.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Why the hell can no one reach Sean?” Kane asked Dunning. He didn’t raise his voice, but every cell in his body vibrated in anger. He had made good time driving from Laredo until he hit a wall of traffic outside San Antonio. He hated driving.
“A situation with Jesse. I don’t want to say on the phone.”
“Is the kid okay?”
“Yes. He’s on his way back.”
“ETA?”
“Lands in forty-five.”
“I’m thirty minutes out.” Kane hung up.
Eden and Liam had grabbed Lucy. Nate didn’t know if they had the bonds because he couldn’t get the safe open. But that’s what they wanted, Kane was certain. They were holding Lucy either as ransom for the bonds or … why else would they take her? No reason except as ransom. Liam, for all his fucking-ass problems and disloyalties, wasn’t a killer. At least, he hadn’t been before Kane cut him out of RCK. He would lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate, but he wouldn’t kill.
Kane was certain of it.
Almost.
But Liam would have been furious when he learned that Kane had stolen the bonds out from under him, and while he might not kill Lucy to make a point, he would want to hurt Kane. How did Lucy fit into that retribution? Because of Sean? Because Lucy was Jack’s sister?
Nothing made sense, unless Liam and Eden hadn’t been able to get into the safe. Kane had to count on that. He excelled in hostage rescue, and Lucy wasn’t an ordinary hostage. She’d help her own cause.
Liam isn’t an ordinary kidnapper.
Was Dante involved? He had to be. Dante and Liam had been best friends since they were kids. Dante’s father had been Paul Rogan’s closest friend. Why had Kane believed Dante and Liam had a falling-out?
Because Dante wanted you to believe it. Because you wanted to believe it.
Dante was the only one who could have told Liam about the bonds, and Liam’s contact at RCK—whoever that bastard was—had given up Sean.
Kane told Sean not to invite Eden and Liam to the wedding, but he’d gotten all nostalgic and done it anyway. Because Sean didn’t like anyone telling him what to do. Kane should have found another way to discourage his brother, but he was still bitter about what happened six years ago.
Sean didn’t know the story behind the bonds. Kane never sugarcoated anything for his baby brother. But Sean had at one time been close to Eden and Liam. He could have too easily followed in their footsteps, and on more than one occasion Kane told Duke that if he continued to be so fucking hard on Sean he would rebel big-time. If someone with Sean’s skill set went to work with Liam and Eden, no one would be able to stop them.
It was a fine line between the gray area and prison.
Or death.
Kane had wanted to preserve, at least to some degree, Sean’s memories of Eden and Liam. Sean knew of course that they’d violated RCK rules and were cut off to pursue their own jobs. But Sean didn’t know why Kane had been angry enough to essentially disown them. But now he would have to.
Under no scenario had Kane expected them to grab Lucy. It wasn’t their MO. Lying to her? Yes. Tricking her? Sure, though she wouldn’t be easy to trick. But … kidnapping her? That was low.
He called JT. This wasn’t the kind of thing he could tell Jack on the phone, and no matter how secure the phone, he wasn’t going to share details on a cell.
JT answered immediately. “What the hell is going on? Rick got a call from Armstrong. Did Eden kidnap Lucy?”
“I’m less than thirty minutes out. I’m still gathering intel.”
“Is it true?”
“Dunning and Armstrong are on-site. Lucy’s not there. Left her gun, badge, and purse.”
“This is fucked, Kane.”
“Someone needs to call Jack.”
Silence.
“Dammit, JT, she’s his sister.”
“He’s not reachable. Fort Bragg, deep cover, missing explosives. Jack’s there with Duke.”
“You have to reach him. If he finds out through anyone else, we’re fucked.”
“Where the hell’s Sean?”
“Situation with Jesse. He’s on his way back.”
JT said, “Could Spade have set this up? I have a bad feeling…”
“No.” Kane rarely relied on emotion or nostalgia, but this time no. “Liam and Eden are a problem, but they wouldn’t turn Lucy over to be … an example.” He couldn’t say it. He loved Lucy as if she were his sister. More. She was the love of Sean’s life, and if anything happened to her … “Look, I fucked up, okay? I didn’t read Sean into the situation. And now Lucy is paying for it. I will contain this.”
“This isn’t all on you, Kane.”
“They’re my family.”
“No. They’re our family. I practically lived with you during high school. Your parents weren’t perfect, but whose are? And whose parents would have let a kid like me with parents like mine move in, no questions asked? You’re my brother, Kane, in every way that matters, which makes your family my family.”
“Who is it?” Kane asked quietly.
“It’s killing me that I don’t know. I’ve handpicked every person who works for RCK. Who the fuck could have betrayed us like this?”
“Look beyond the obvious, J. Remember that Lucy’s squad was infiltrated by the boyfriend of one of the squad members. Think outside of the damn fucking box. Think like Sean, because when he finds out that Lucy is gone I don’t know that he’s going to have his head on straight.”
He hung up and realized that he needed to get his head on straight as well.
Lucy was missing.
So was Siobhan.
Kane swerved into a faster lane and sped up.
* * *
Gabriella quietly stepped outside to take a call from her brother.
“Yes,” she said in French. Just in case anyone was listening.
“We’re on our way.”
“I can’t leave.”
“Gabriella, dear, this is our heritage. Everything we’ve been working toward for years.”
“I’m trying to prevent war.”
“That bad?”
“Worse than you can imagine. She’s psychotic. And I do not use that word lightly.” She looked around to make sure she was alone. “Dante, I’m serious here. It’s bad and I’m going to call in the cavalry.”
“Not who I think?”
“They created this problem, they need to clean it up.”
“It’s not a good idea.”
“Why? You helped them!”
He didn’t say anything. She knew her brother well enough to know that he was trying to find a way to lie to her.
“Goddammit, Dante, tell me the truth now.”
“Lucy Kincaid overheard our plans and we had to bring her with us.”
It took Gabriella ten seconds before she realized her worst fears had come to pass. “You … kidnapped … Jack Kincaid’s sister?” she hissed. “I don’t fucking believe this.”
“Language, darling.”
“Don’t fucking lecture me, Dante.”
Jose stepped out of the house and put his hands around her waist from behind, kissed her neck.
“You’re impossible.” She hung up and prayed Jose hadn’t heard anything else.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, and kissed her again.
“Family.”
“I have one of those. I understand.”
He did, and he wouldn’t ask questions. It’s why her seduction of him last year had worked. He trusted her. She hadn’t felt guilty about it until after she killed his evil brother Samuel. But she had to stick around; otherwise Jose—who was trusting but not stupid—would know that she had used him.
The best con was when the mark didn’t know they’d been conned.
She desperately wanted to call Jack Kincaid and tell him that Jasmine was on the warpath. But Jack would never t
rust her if he knew her brother had Lucy.
What have you done, Dante? Have you gone as crazy as Liam?
She loved her brother dearly, and Liam was his closest friend. She loved Liam as well, like a brother. But he had been obsessed for the last six years.
She knew something about obsession. While Liam was obsessed with finding the treasure his father had entrusted to him, Gabriella had been obsessed by revenge. Vengeance. Killing the man who had tortured and murdered the love of her life.
“You’re still thinking, Gabriella.” Jose kissed behind her ear. He was a kind lover, sweet and romantic. Sharing his bed hadn’t been the worst con job she’d worked.
If anything happened to Lucy Kincaid, Sean Rogan would seek revenge. She knew exactly what it felt like. The anger. Rage. Soul-shattering grief.
Dante, you and Liam are fools.
“I love my brother, but sometimes I question his decisions.”
“Can I help? We’re spread thin, but I still have friends. Resources.”
She turned to face him, took his face in her hands, and kissed him. “Jose, thank you for offering. But this time, Dante is going to have to solve his own problem.”
And so would she. She couldn’t very well ask Jack Kincaid for help when his sister was being used as a pawn.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Sean knew nothing.
Nothing, except that no one—no one—had spoken to Lucy since 2:35 that afternoon.
Six hours.
Sean felt nauseous. If anything happened to Lucy …
He drove faster.
Stop. Stop thinking that way. Eden won’t hurt her.
But Sean didn’t know his sister anymore. She’d manipulated her way into his house. Kane told him nothing on the phone except that Eden had taken Lucy and Siobhan and no one knew where they were.
“Get here, Sean—I can’t make heads or tails out of your new security system.”
And that was the point—that no one could get to them anymore, short of blowing up their house. He didn’t want to worry about Lucy home alone when he wasn’t around; he didn’t want the sleepless nights to continue. He liked his house, but it was simply a place to protect those that he loved.
If the best home security that money could buy and Sean could enhance hadn’t protected Lucy, he was right in telling Jesse to stay in witness protection. If he couldn’t protect Lucy, a trained FBI agent, he certainly couldn’t protect his twelve-year-old son.
He slammed on his brakes as soon as he pulled into his driveway, bypassed his security, and opened the front door.
Nate and Noah were sitting at the dining-room table, both of them on their phones; Kane jumped up as soon as Sean entered.
“What the fuck is going on?” Sean demanded.
“Calm down,” Kane said.
“Don’t.” Sean’s jaw was so tight he thought it would break.
“I need to know if they got the bonds.”
“I don’t give a shit about six million dollars. Lucy is missing.”
“So is Siobhan. If they took Lucy and Siobhan in order to compel us to turn over the bonds, we need to know. You’re early—we have time to plan. Check the damn safe.”
Sean turned and walked down the hall to his office. Kane followed him; Noah and Nate wisely stayed back. Sean wanted to throttle his brother—it was Kane’s idea that Sean keep the bonds here. Sean had thought, Who cares? No big deal. He had good security.
Obviously not. It was flawed. Security was only as strong as the weakest link …
He stared at his office. “Someone’s gone through my desk,” he said.
Kane looked at the uncluttered desk, the computer, the lack of garbage or disorder. But Sean knew. Lucy’s picture had been moved.
Sean first sat at his computer. He booted it up, then ran through a security protocol. “Shit, she tried to hack into my computer. Why?” He ran through another log. “Disabled my warning system, but she wasn’t able to get in. Still … I’m going to have to go through it with a fine-tooth comb.” He typed in a security protocol that would run to ensure there were no viruses or trojans trying to attack his computer or extract information.
“The bonds, Sean.”
“I know—but this is important, too. The home security system runs off this computer, if I want to see exactly what happened, I need to make sure I can see what really happened.”
He stood and took the mural of the beach off the wall. It wasn’t anchored properly. Eden had definitely found the safe.
He ran through a security protocol on the safe, to make sure that it wasn’t rigged. He couldn’t imagine that his own sister would try to kill him, but he also couldn’t imagine that his own sister would kidnap Lucy. Yet Eden had been here and now Lucy was gone and unreachable.
“Someone definitely tried to hack their way into it … aw, shit.”
Sean typed in his code, then put his hand on the security pad. Opened the safe. Inside was a phone and a folded piece of paper.
The folders with his most sensitive contracts and documents were still on the narrow top shelf behind a false wall—a double safe security measure—but the bag with the bonds that had been in the main compartment was gone.
He pulled out the phone and unfolded the paper.
Sean~
Lucy and Siobhan are safe. Wait for my call. Don’t trust Kane.
~Liam
Sean read and reread the note. “Why?” he said, his voice cracking. “Kane, what is happening?”
Kane took the note, read it, crumpled it in his fist. “You never asked why I cut Liam and Eden out of Rogan-Caruso.”
“Duke told me they took an off-book job for a small cartel.”
“Yes. But there was more to it.” Kane ran a hand over his face, then said, “Seven years ago, a small but powerful Russian criminal organization working out of the Yucatán was robbed by a local cartel. They lost millions in assets because they didn’t know the territory or who to buy protection from. They hired Liam to retrieve two paintings that were worth a fortune. The Russians planned to sell the paintings to a wealthy Brazilian businessman who makes a habit of buying stolen art. I didn’t know until after the fact. Liam was of course successful—he and Eden are damn good at what they do. But the money that the paintings brought was going specifically to human trafficking. There’s a good reason why JT vets all our jobs—we don’t always play with the good guys, but we don’t contribute to the coffers of bastards who buy and sell human beings. I put Liam on notice: One more slip and I was cutting them out. Some things I can’t turn my back on.”
“And they slipped.”
“They took another job from the same damn Russians the next year. This time, to retrieve bearer bonds that were being kept in the Russian embassy in Mexico City. I caught a whiff of the plan, and JT and I went in and extracted the bonds before Liam and Eden got there.”
“And he knew you had them. But—”
“No, Liam didn’t know I took them. Not until we brought the bonds to Guadalajara to use as leverage with the Flores cartel. I should never have asked you to keep them.”
Sean was wholly confused. “You’ve had the bonds for six years and they didn’t know?”
“It had to be Dante Romero.”
“You said he and Liam had a falling-out.”
“That’s what they wanted me to believe. Liam’s always been able to play the long game. Better than me.”
“But how did they know I had the bonds here? This makes no sense!”
“There’s a reason why no one else is here tonight,” Kane said. “JT is investigating everyone at RCK. Someone on staff—someone inside or very close to someone inside—is the only way Liam could have known you had the bonds. Otherwise, Liam would have tried to get them out of RCK. He would have assumed I brought them back with me.”
Sean sat heavily in his desk chair.
“Sean, you can trust me. Don’t let Liam get into your head.”
“He took Lucy. I sure as hell don’t trust
him!”
Sean’s computer beeped, indicating the security scan was complete. Sean skimmed the logs. “Someone tried all morning to hack into my computer, failed. Except they disabled outgoing transmissions, so I wouldn’t be informed that there was an on-site hack. Damn, I should have put in another fail-safe.”
He typed again and brought up all security feeds. “I’m going to find out what happened today.”
“I have something I need to explain.”
Sean and Kane both turned and saw Noah in the doorway. He had lost his tie and jacket and his sleeves were rolled up. Sean didn’t want him here. Noah had made it perfectly clear to him that he didn’t think Sean was good enough for Lucy.
And sometimes Sean thought Noah might be right.
“Eden and I were involved more than six years ago. I found out she was a thief—she and Liam—when she lied to me. It’s a long story, but I confronted her this morning. I’m sorry I didn’t do something—put a car out front, sit on her, hell, I don’t know, arrest her!”
“Did you know she was going to kidnap Lucy?” Sean demanded.
“Of course not! I thought—I don’t know, that maybe she planned on stealing something in San Antonio.”
“Armstrong called me,” Kane said. “But I was too late.”
Suddenly a whole bunch of things came clear to him. Eden and Noah. That’s why Noah hated him when they first met two years ago. Probably still did. Sean didn’t care anymore. He only cared about finding Lucy.
He logged in and ran through the security feeds. He didn’t keep archives from inside the house—he didn’t want cameras except on the doors, because it would creep Lucy out. He had hidden cameras, but only to watch live when they were activated. But he had all the entrances and exits recorded and archived.
Noah and Kane watched from over his shoulder. At seven fifty-five a.m. Eden approached the front door. Sean hadn’t seen his sister in person in years. She’d aged, but she was still beautiful. Lucy let her in. Lucy left in her car forty minutes later.
The next person who arrived … Noah.
Sean whirled around and glared at the fed. “What happened?”
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