Honorable Death

by Linda S. Prather

  The news was welcome, but it didn’t thaw the ice developing around my heart. “It’s over, Dave. Too many people have died, and I don’t want anyone else killed. Park can close my brother’s case. If the feds want to keep looking for the lists, they can have it.”

  “Give Marcone a chance, Kacy. Hear him out. I know you’re hurting, but he is too. You lost a brother, and he lost a son he never even had the chance to know. The man’s been grieving for twenty-nine years.” Dave turned me to face him. “He’s not giving up on Yoshe. You can’t, either.”

  “How do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Love people when you know you might lose them. How do you stand the pain?”

  “One day at a time, and I pray a lot. Martha and I knew when we decided to have children we’d have to face that fear. The way the world is today, it scares the hell out of me.” His face softened, and he smiled. “But when one of them puts those chubby little arms around my neck and says, ‘I love you, Daddy,’ it’s all worth it. I’d do it all over again.”

  A commotion near the house caught my eye. Combs was running toward us, yelling, but the wind carried his words away.

  “What—” A tiny red dot appeared on Dave’s chest. Some situations don’t allow time to think, and you simply react. I took Dave down with a leg sweep, falling on top of him as a bullet dug into the bark of the tree. “Son of a bitch!”

  Combs streaked by us, his gun drawn. “Stay down.”

  Dave groaned. “Get off me.”

  Pandemonium had broken out in the house, and it sounded like a herd of galloping horses as Williams, Greg, Marcone, and two others rushed toward us. I rolled off Dave but stayed close to the ground. “Did you bring your gun?”

  “Yeah, but you’re not going out there.”

  “They’re not trying to kill me, damn it. They’re trying to kill you.”

  Greg and Marcone stopped as Williams and the others took off in the direction Combs had taken. “We’re okay. Thanks to Combs they missed.”

  Marcone pulled a gun from his coat. “Get them inside.”

  The tone of his voice and the fire in his eyes was a vivid reminder of how dangerous he could be. “I’m going with you. Greg, give me your gun, take Dave inside, and make sure he stays there.” Greg passed me his Glock, and I checked the chamber. “You should stay inside too.”

  Marcone glared at me for a moment before his face relaxed and he holstered his gun. “We’re all going back inside.”

  “They’re not trying to kill me. I have a better chance of taking them down than any of you.”

  “I’m going with you.” Dave walked in the direction the others had gone.

  Marcone’s lips lifted in a smile as I grumbled and handed Greg back his gun. “All right. We’ll go back to the house.”

  “Good play, Detective Capello.”

  “Call me Dave. She can be bluffed if you know what cards to play.”

  Marcone laughed, sounding so much like Kyle’s that it ripped through me. I have to end this before anyone else dies. I couldn’t bear to lose Dave or Greg. A plan began to form, one I knew none of them would like.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Out of respect for Dave and Greg, I joined them at the breakfast table and made an honest attempt to eat enough to keep me alive. Williams and his crew had returned and gone into conference in a back room. Marcone was prowling like a wounded grizzly who’d lost its cub. The mood was somber, and no one was talking to each other. When facing death, most people make a choice. They either calmly accept it, or go out fighting hoping to take a few of the bastards with them. I wasn’t a calm acceptance type of girl, but before I died, I wanted to know the rest of the story.

  Pushing my plate aside, I broke the silence. “Anyone want coffee?”

  “I’ll get it.” Greg pushed back his chair.

  “Sit down, Greg. You’re not a putz, and you’re not low man on the totem pole. It’s not your job to wait on us.” I rose and walked to the counter. “We’re a team.”

  “Like the Three Musketeers?”

  Dave grunted. “More like the Three Stooges. Anybody checked in with Park?”

  “I sent him a text earlier.” Greg held out his cup, and I filled it. “Thanks, Kacy.”

  As the atmosphere in the room changed, I finally understood what it meant to have a family. My pain was their pain. My fears and failures affected them, and they were as scared of losing me as I was of losing them. The responsibility might have been a heavy burden, but as Dave had said, it was worth it, and I would do it all again. Marcone had finally stopped pacing and stood looking out the living room window. I’d waited too late with Kyle to let him know I loved him. Yoshe is alone now. I didn’t have a choice in what happened to me, but she does. She has an aunt, and she has a grandfather.

  I walked into the living room and stood beside Marcone. “You need to come back to the table. We have a lot of talking and planning to do.” I placed a hand on his arm and waited until his eyes met mine. “I have a niece out there, and you have a granddaughter. We lost a lot of years together. We can’t let that happen to Yoshe.”

  He smiled. “No, we can’t.

  “This is still a little awkward for me, but do you prefer Dad or Father?”

  His voice was raspy as he whispered, “I prefer Dad.”

  “Dad it is then. Go get Williams and Combs. It’s time we put an end to this.”

  Dave was wiping his eyes when I came back into the kitchen. “I think my allergies are acting up.”

  “Mine too.” I started a fresh pot of coffee. “Greg, do you think you could scrounge up a few notepads and pens?”

  “On it, boss.” He headed for the library.

  “Damn it, I’m not your boss.”

  “Language, Kacy.”

  “Only if you promise to start saying Jesus again.” I watched as Williams, Combs, and my father came down the hallway. “I have a gut feeling we’ll need him.”

  “No notepads, but I found some blank paper and pencils.”

  “What’s going on?” Williams let his gaze drift over the three of us.

  I flopped on a bar stool. “Have a seat. We have some questions to ask.”

  Williams and Combs took seats at the table, but my father took the stool beside me. “We’ll never solve this case or end this unless we all have the same priorities. My number one priority is finding Kyle’s daughter and making sure she’s safe. My second priority is finding Min Wong. I don’t want to have to look over my shoulder the rest of my life. I also believe he’s the man that killed my brother. Dave?”

  “All of the above, and coming out of this alive.”

  “Greg?”

  “Ending this case and getting back to a normal life, even if that means going back on patrol.”

  I nodded. “Those are our priorities. I realize they’re not same as yours. Dad?”

  “Protecting my daughter and finding my granddaughter.”

  “Do we get a vote?” Williams asked.

  “No.” I hopped off the stool and poured a cup of coffee. “Your priorities are finding the lists Kyle stole. The only way we can accomplish our priorities is if we accomplish yours first. As long as those lists are out there, our lives are in danger, and so is Kyle’s daughter’s. My father said Yoshekita Saito was an undercover agent. I want to know about that, and I want to know what Kyle’s part in all this was.”

  Williams wet his lips then rubbed his forehead. “Yoshekita has worked for us since she was sixteen. Her sister was taken, and she came to us for help. We recruited her and sent her in undercover. Five years ago, she disappeared. We tried to find her but finally had to accept that she’d been killed.”

  My hand tightened around the cup. “And her sister?”

  He shook his head. “She never found her. Yoshekita reappeared a year ago with your brother and their little girl. Kyle had purchased her at a slave auction four years earlier. Maybe it was love at first sight. I don’t know, but the two of them staye
d together. They were still looking for Yoshekita’s sister and made the connection between kidnapped or missing children and the black-market baby sales. They brought that information to us, and we placed other agents undercover posing as parents looking to adopt. Three of those couples have adopted children, and we’ve been building our lists of attorneys and other prominent businessmen involved. We still have two couples undercover. We convinced Yoshekita to continue her undercover work on the slave sex-trade market. We were closing in on a major operation when our witness was killed.” He closed his eyes for a moment and chewed on his bottom lip. “She’d only been undercover a week when she was killed. Someone must have recognized her.”

  “How was she killed?”

  “Car bomb. She and Kyle arranged to meet at a local park once a week so Yoshe could see her mother. When she didn’t show up, Kyle called me. I told him about the bomb. Then a week ago, I learned of his murder. You contacted Derek Stevens, and here we are.”

  “Both of them knew the risks, Miss Lang. It was something they both wanted to do,” Combs said. “Yoshekita didn’t have any other family, and before you ask, we don’t know where Kyle took your niece. We have people looking for her too.”

  “How old is she?”

  “Roughly thirteen months, I believe. She was only a few months old when they came in.”

  There was one more question I wanted answered, but it was something I needed to ask my father in private. There was only one way to find the lists, and not one of this group would agree with my plan.

  Dave had almost been killed today, and the longer we waited, the more chances we gave them. And if they find out Marcone is my father, they’ll kill him too. I finished my coffee and placed the cup in the sink. “Dave, Greg, and I need to get back to the station and check in. Give us a phone number where we can reach you, and if we find anything, we’ll give you a call. We’ll expect the same from you.”

  Williams nodded, jotted down a number, and passed it to Dave. “That line rings in to both Combs and myself. One of us is always available.”

  I glanced at Dave and winked. “You ready, partner? Let’s do this.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  “We’re not going to the station, are we?” Dave asked as he gently guided the car onto the slick highway.

  “No. The only way to end this is to find the lists, and the only way to do that is confront Katherine and search the house.”

  Dave nodded. “Figured as much. I think Marcone is suspicious.”

  “He’s not the only one.” I glanced out the window. “Greg, have you talked to your brother?”

  “I left a message for him earlier, but he hasn’t called back.”

  “Keep trying. As Dave often says, ‘Something here ain’t adding up.’ Derek is with the FBI, the group at the house works for some government agency they won’t divulge, and my father works for the Colombian cartel. Strange bedfellows if you ask me.”

  “Could be combined forces for different reasons. Marcone is here to protect you and Yoshe. Derek wants to stop the slave trade and baby sales, and Williams’s group wants those lists.” Dave shrugged. “Not unusual for law enforcement to work with criminals to go after a bigger fish. We were willing to let Lenglases go to get to Moore’s killer.”

  “You left out something.”

  Dave frowned. “What?”

  “Derek told us all law enforcement agencies were looking for Wong and had been for ten years. Yet not one of them has mentioned him.”

  “They’re using you as bait.” Greg’s voice held a tinge of sympathy, as did Dave’s eyes when he turned to answer my next question.

  “Which one?”

  “All of them.”

  I could lie to myself all I wanted to, but lying to Dave was impossible, and Greg was picking up on my emotions too. I pushed down the hurt. I would have to deal with it eventually but not today. “Well, that sucks. Do you think they want him alive or dead?”

  “I’d say alive,” Greg answered. “I think we’re looking at a former government agent with one of these groups. Nobody stays hidden for ten years without someone knowing what they look like.”

  Dave nodded. “He was doing government hit jobs and found out freelancing was more lucrative and more profitable.”

  I checked my Glock. “Using me as bait was their first mistake. Thinking we were too stupid to figure it out will be their last. We get Wong in our sights, he’s a dead man.”

  “What’s our plan?” Dave asked.

  “A lot of that will depend on Katherine. I thought you and I would go in and leave Greg on surveillance to call for backup if anything goes wrong. I don’t know if Katherine was involved or not. We go in, tell her what we know and what we’re looking for.” I glanced at the falling snowflakes, which were coming down faster by the minute as the wind picked up. “I hope we don’t get snowed in there.”

  “I’ve got chains in the trunk. No way am I spending the night at that house.” Dave maneuvered around a small snowdrift. “Could sure go for a cup of hot chocolate right now.”

  The car became quiet as we all turned to our own inner thoughts. The crestfallen look on Dave’s face told me he was thinking about his girls. I wasn’t as good with Greg, but the worried look in his eyes said, “What the hell have I got myself into?” Christmas was a little more than a week away, and none of us were sure we’d live to see it.

  “How’s Popcorn, Greg?”

  “Mom is caring for him.” He smiled. “And spoiling him rotten. She keeps after Derek and me for grandkids.”

  Small talk was better than the silence, which was igniting our nerves as we came closer to our destination. “Is Derek married?”

  “He was. I think they’re having problems. He spends a lot of time traveling and undercover. I can’t blame Shelly for not wanting to put up with that.”

  Some people weren’t cut out for marriage and children. Like me. I’d given little thought to what I was going to do with Yoshe if I did find her. Dave turned onto Glencoe, and I took a deep breath and counted to ten. The lights were off, but the snow-covered trees surrounding the mansion painted a pretty picture. Dave pulled up in front and parked.

  “Give me the keys.” Greg opened his door and climbed out. “Easier to watch on foot, and if Wong shows up, I’ll be an easy target sitting in the car. I’ll take it down the road, park, and come back.”

  I unfastened my seat belt. “I like the way he thinks. He might make a good detective, after all.”

  Dave grunted and exited. “You stay sharp, kid, and if you see anything, you call for backup then call us. If we don’t check in with you after thirty minutes, you call for backup.”

  We stood on the sidewalk until he was out of sight. Dave raised an eyebrow. “You ready, partner?”

  I pulled my Glock from the holster and placed it in my waistband for easier access. “I’m ready.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Hilda answered the door on our first ring.

  “Detective Lang and Detective Capello to see Mrs. Lange.”

  Her lips lifted into what might have passed for a smile on a friendly face, but for Hilda, it came out as a sneer. “Follow me.”

  I glanced at Dave and shrugged as he closed the door behind us. We followed her down the hall, through the living room, and to the back of the house. “Where are we going?”

  “Madam is downstairs.” Hilda opened a door. “After you.”

  The familiar itch in my fingers started, and the hair on the back of my neck began to rise. I didn’t even know this place had a downstairs. The stairway was dimly lit, and no sooner had Dave followed me down than the door behind us closed. The sound of a lock clicking sent a shiver down my spine. I reached for my gun as I came to the end of the steps.

  “A shotgun is a magnificent tool. I don’t have to aim, and I can take down both of you at the same time. Although it makes a mess from this distance. Drop your gun, Miss Lang, and tell your chubby partner to drop his too.”

  I placed
my gun on the floor and stepped aside to allow Dave to do the same. The downstairs was one huge room. A line of computer monitors covered one wall above desks with keyboards and telephones. Katherine was tied to a chair near the front desk, her head hanging close to her chest.

  “Looks like you were right, Dave. Kurt and Katherine weren’t the boss.” My feet had turned to ice, and I stomped them to bring back the feeling as I kept my eyes on the beautiful Asian girl in front of me. “They told us you were dead, Yoshekita.”

  She waved the shotgun, motioning us into the middle of the room. “Poor Yoshekita is dead, along with that scourge of a brother of yours. For what it’s worth, I did warn them, but like you, they wouldn’t give up.” She tossed me a rope then shoved a chair toward me. “Tie up Chubby. You and I need to have a little chat. Your brother took something of mine. I want it back.”

  I met Dave’s gaze, and he gave me a subtle nod. She wouldn’t let us live, and a quick shotgun blast was better than waiting for her accomplice to show up. “You might as well shoot, because I don’t know where it is, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  Before I could blink, she turned the gun on Katherine, pulled the trigger, ejected the shell, and reloaded. “Now will you tie up Chubby, or do I blow his head off next?”

  Dave sat in the chair, and I wound the rope around his arms and legs and tied it off. “I don’t know where the lists are, but I do know Kyle. He would have hidden them somewhere here. Someplace they wouldn’t be noticed.” I placed my hands on my hips and faced her. “That’s what we came here for. Let Dave go. It’s me you want.”

  “Not working, sweetie. Kurt and Katherine tore this house apart, even destroying a few valuable art pieces. Kyle wouldn’t have died without giving you some clue to where he left his snot-nosed brat, and wherever she is, that’s where my documents are.”

  I moved to a desk, grabbed a chair, and situated it next to Dave. “We might as well get comfortable until Wong gets here.”