Once Burned (Task Force Eagle)

by Vaughan, Susan

  Rage gave him new strength. He wrested the gun loose. Stepped back, ready for J.T.’s next attack, but the other man only looked behind him. Jake followed his horrified gaze. Kevin lay crumpled on the floor, a red stain soaking the Meagher Enterprises logo on his shirt.

  An animal roar erupted from J.T. He charged Jake, his face mottled with fury. “You made me shoot my own son!”

  When he grabbed for the pistol, it slipped from Jake’s hold and went flying across the room. The gun disappeared with a clatter somewhere in the fire’s smoky haze. A clip on the chin deflated J.T. to a heap on the floor.

  Coughing, Jake stumbled across the room to Lani.

  Chapter 26

  Memories stirred in Lani’s head like dark shadows in the smoke. Fire monster. Outside the barn. Clawing for her. “Help! Help us!” But he vanished. Red. Yellow. Chimneys of black. Choking clouds. Gail! Gail!

  There, face down on the floor. All the smoke. Have to move, have to get my sister out. The heat, fumes, eyes streaming. Hauling her up, dragging her. Cool air on my face. Stumbling into nothing, all black.

  She tried to suck in air but could only manage shallow pants. Heat and pain clamped her lungs. Fear rose like bubbles in boiling broth. Her legs threatened to buckle.

  “Lani! We have to get out of here.”

  She knew that voice. Gentle, soothing. Trusted. Jake. But why did she feel so weak? So lightheaded?

  She felt his arm around her shoulders. “Listen to me, Lani! You have to get moving. You were right. I couldn’t have saved Gail from herself and neither could you. But we can save each other now. Come with me.”

  His words, his deep voice, tight and sandpaper rough, spun through her addled brain.

  But she couldn’t drag her gaze from the fire. The mocking roar, the blanket of smoke, the grasping flames held her in thrall. The hungry flames. They reach for me. If she moved, the fire would take her. Crazy thoughts, but she couldn’t make herself move. Couldn’t speak.

  His hand gripped her shoulder, gave her a sharp shake. “Lani! Let’s get out of here. We can make it out together. I won’t leave you, I promise. You have to trust me.” He took her hands, began pulling her along with him.

  She managed a small nod but her voice was locked in her throat.

  Suddenly the fire wrenched Jake away from her. Not the fire. A man. J.T. Meagher. She could only watch as the two exchanged blows.

  Jake’s gaze sought hers. Something flared in his eyes that called to her. Broke through the smoke in her brain. And the world sharpened into reality. The two men twisted and turned just out of the fire’s grasping claws. By the door through the soupy haze she could make out another form on the floor. Kevin?

  The beamed ceiling creaked and groaned. Burning debris rained down upon the grappling men. Seeing flames descending on Jake stripped away the remnants of paralysis still gripping her. Panic turned to anger.

  She grabbed a pan from the dish drainer. Her backhand swing nailed J.T. on the temple, making a sickening thwack. He fell to the side and on his knees.

  Jake’s T-shirt shirt smoked. Tongues of flame licked across one shoulder.

  “Jake!” She plucked the small rag rug from in front of the sink and flung it over him. Desperately she pounded out the fire. She helped him to his feet. “We...outside.”

  He brushed the smoldering rug from his shoulders as he pushed to his feet. “Need to take J.T. He’s got to admit—” A bout of coughing cut off his words.

  Lani could find no one. J.T. Meagher was gone.

  She saw only the wall of flame eating its way into the kitchen. And the fire’s roar of rage. Over it all, the screaming of sirens. “Help is coming,” she managed.

  Holding onto each other, they bent double beneath the smoke and stumbled toward the door. They hoisted up Kevin’s dead weight between them and trudged out to the porch.

  Two firefighters in full gear met them on the steps.

  Lani collapsed against one of them.

  “J.T. Meagher. In there somewhere,” Jake rasped out.

  A great boom from the house threw them all forward off the porch.

  *****

  Solving the arson-murder of Gail Cameron and a major Northeast smuggling case, plus the scandal of J.T. Meagher’s guilt in both was the biggest story any news organization in Maine had ever covered. The Boston Globe sent reporters, and all the state’s TV channels swarmed Dragon Harbor. Over the next two days in her hospital bed, Lani pored over the news in every paper she could get the nurses to bring her and flipped through every TV broadcast.

  A passing motorist had called the fire department, but the trucks arrived too late to save the structure. Nothing remained of the farmhouse but charred beams and a pile of ash-coated debris. Like the barn, she noted with a shudder.

  The firefighters found J.T. Meagher’s body in the ruins. He’d apparently been trying to escape through the garage when timbers fell on him.

  Kevin Meagher needed surgery to repair the damage to his shoulder muscle but after physical therapy, he would recover. The day after the fire, he dropped out of the political race, sending the party scrambling for a new Congressional candidate.

  Ed Pascal aka Hector Vargas aka Hector Johnson was implicated in the fire that killed the former fire investigator, the death of Ava Warren, and the attacks on Lani and Jake. Vargas had recruited David Brandon to follow Lani, but that was Brandon’s only involvement in the murders. In an effort at a plea bargain, Brandon named names, leading Task Force Eagle to more of the Mexican cartel in northern New England.

  All well and good, but Lani had too many questions unanswered by the scant details in print and on screen. So when Chief Galt dropped in to apologize for not listening to her, she grabbed her chance.

  “You owe me, Chief,” she croaked, her voice as rough as lava. Never mind that the attacks on her played a big role in ending two major crime sprees.

  “Looks like I do.” Galt heaved a resigned sigh and settled in a chair by her bed. “My sergeant and I picked up the man calling himself Ed Pascal. Claimed he’d been at the town dock all morning. ATF agents from that smuggling task force and the state fire investigator tag-teamed him with evidence. They didn’t let on J.T. was dead, and when they intimated J.T. blamed him for everything, the man spilled some of the story. Seems J.T. bribed the fire investigator to conduct a cursory investigation and rule the barn fire an accident.”

  “Exactly what Jake and I concluded. What about the attacks on me?”

  “Interesting these recent attacks weren’t the first. Vargas said J.T. told him he’d paid another man years ago to kill you but the attempts failed.”

  She nodded. “There were a couple of incidents. Then nothing. I think he dropped his plot when he decided I wasn’t going to return and I remembered nothing.

  “Your return to Dragon Harbor changed that. So then Meagher got Vargas to scare you away or kill you and make it look like an accident.”

  “Or suicide.”

  He nodded. “Vargas admitted forcing you off the shore road. He stashed his damaged truck at the house where Jake saw him talking with Brandon. He claims his dealings with Brandon were all about discovering who the other trap cutters were. Says he was just doing his job as harbormaster.” Galt snorted his disbelief. “More’n likely he wanted the Marine Patrol out of the way for his next arms delivery.”

  “One thing I haven’t heard in the news is why David Brandon didn’t rat out Vargas as soon as he was arrested. If he didn’t know our erstwhile harbormaster was part of the smugglers, he knew Vargas paid him to follow me.”

  “Seems Brandon had dealings with the drug side of the cartel. Vargas put the fear of El Águila in the guy. Threatened him into silence.” Chief Galt grinned, deepening the creases in his cheeks. “That is, until charges started piling up on him. One of the Feds allowed as how they’d see Brandon went to a prison far away from the kingpin’s reach.”

  From what Lani understood, no prison was out of El Águila’s reach. She shud
dered, shifting to a more comfortable position in the bed. “What about Tyson and Ava? And the smuggling?”

  “Vargas would cop to none of those. Clammed up as soon as the questions were asked, Agent Donovan told me. But the barbs embedded in Ava’s arm matched the design of the ones in Vargas’s stun gun. A search of his house found C-4 and more than one timing device. A closed Meagher warehouse contained enough weaponry and explosives to arm a small country. Whether Vargas ever utters another word, he’s cooked and cracked like a lobster. He’ll go away for a very long time.”

  “About the smuggling, I’ll bet he’s not talking because he fears his cousin El Águila more than a U.S. federal prison.” Lani lay back into her stacked pillows. “How did J.T. get Vargas involved in his cover-up?”

  “We may never know for sure. But Jake Wescott’s and the Eagle Task Force’s research on him suggest J.T. had the goods on Vargas. Knew he wasn’t Ed Pascal. Wescott told me the harbormaster on Cape Cod said both the real Ed Pascal and a man he knew as Hector Johnson worked for him. Both men left about the same time. He wondered why Pascal had requested a referral but not Johnson. Possible Vargas did away with Pascal so he could take his place in Dragon Harbor. The cops there are looking for a body. And turns out about two years ago, that area experienced a rash of arson fires.”

  She thanked Chief Galt for being so candid with her, and he left.

  Lani tilted up her water glass. The cold liquid felt good on her raw throat. Jake and she had escaped the burning house before they could become victims of smoke inhalation like Gail. The eerie similarity brought tears to her eyes. She’d wept so much these last two day the nursing assistant brought extra boxes of tissues. All the tears she’d refused to shed since Gail’s death were pouring out of her with no end in sight.

  She hadn’t seen Jake since the ambulance brought her to the hospital. Minor brachial damage was the diagnosis of her injury. Nothing life threatening, only irritating. A tube flowed oxygen into her nose and down her throat in case her seared airways swelled too much.

  She chafed at being tethered to her bed, unable to go see Jake. The nurses told her he’d asked about her but that only made her more anxious. He was on oxygen too, the reason he didn’t come to her room. If only she could see him, see he was all right, the fist clamping her heart would ease.

  The door swung inward. Nora entered with a tentative step.

  “I brought you some clothes,” her friend said, crossing to the hospital bed and holding up a canvas tote. “Pajamas, underwear, jeans, and a shirt. They’re from Kevin’s sister. Mine would fall off you.” She smoothed her tunic top over her ample hips. “The sandals are mine. We wear the same size.”

  Lani was surprised to see her. Not disappointed, but Nora wasn’t Jake. She scooted higher on the bed and tucked the wad of damp tissues beneath one of her pillows.

  “Thanks,” she croaked. After her long conversation with Galt, even one word felt as if she were swallowing crushed charcoal briquettes. She lifted the glass from her bedside table and sucked down some ice water. “I need something other than this doll-size johnny. I think Nurse Ratched stole it from the pediatric ward.”

  Nora laughed. Color rose to her cheeks and a rueful smile played on her lips. “Peace offering. I’m sorry I popped off on you at the fair. I—”

  “It’s all right.” Lani reached for her friend, and they hugged for a long moment, comforting each other.

  Lani offered her a tissue from the box at her side. “A wife has to defend her husband.” She mopped her puffy eyes. “I was insensitive.”

  “No, you were right to ask.” Nora dabbed at her tears. “I still have trouble believing it was J.T. I don’t know what to tell the boys.” She sniffled as she stepped back.

  Oh my, how difficult it would be to explain to two little guys their grandfather was a murderer. “Kevin’s had a rough time of it too. To discover what his father did. How’s he doing?”

  “Resting. Lost some blood but he’s out of danger.”

  Lani smiled. “I’m relieved for him. And proud. He tried to save us, to convince J.T. to turn himself in. I might not be here if Kevin hadn’t showed up. Tell him I’m so sorry for him, about his father. And thank him for me.”

  Nora sniffled and blew her nose. “I’ll tell him. He wishes he’d figured things out faster and been able to stop J.T. Seems he overheard his dad talking to that man Pascal, or Vargas, whoever he is.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug of indulgent affection. “Kev’s not the sharpest scalpel on the tray but he means well.”

  Lani waited while Nora stowed the clothes in the room’s small locker. “Brandon was selling drugs to Kevin, wasn’t he?”

  Tears again filled Nora’s eyes. “Yes, the bastard. Kevin always drank too much, even more after his brother died. Still does sometimes. Several years ago he wrecked his car, hurt his back, and lost his license. That’s when he got hooked on painkillers. After the pain ended and doctors stopped prescribing, he found other addicts who’d sell him more. He got help a few years ago, but this run for Congress put him over the edge. Brandon was only too happy to help.”

  “He can get the right kind of help now,” Lani said, reaching for her friend’s hand.

  She couldn’t find it in her heart to feel one bit sorry for J.T.’s death. Everything was his fault. Everything. The murders and attempted murders, the bribery, and the mental abuse of his own son. He’d belittled Kevin for not being his older, “perfect” brother and badgered him into striving for more than he could handle.

  Nora looked at her watch. “I should get back to my husband. Call me if you need me.”

  “I will.” Lani bit her lower lip. Talking was making her throat sorer and sorer but she had to know. “Nora, before you go, tell me. How’s Jake?”

  “No better shape than you. Smoke inhalation. Plus first and second-degree burns on his back.”

  Her heart turned over at the thought of the pain he must be in. She knew all too well. She had to see him, to tell him how she felt. “Where is he?”

  Nora propped her hands on her hips, a stern nurse expression pursing her mouth. “Gone. He checked himself out of the hospital. Against doctor’s orders. But that’s a man for you. His brother brought him some clothes and off they went.”

  Chapter 27

  After Nora left, the nurse came in to check on Lani. She said the doctor would be in to see her later. Maybe he would release her. But what if later was too late for her and Jake?

  Outside the window in the courtyard, a hummingbird hovered above a red geranium. She marveled at the blur of its wings, at the quick movements as the tiny jewel hung in midair. It backed off, then dipped again as if fearful, then made its decision and swooped down to sip nectar. Quick as a blink, the creature darted away in a flash of iridescent green.

  No more indecision for me. She had to see Jake before he left Dragon Harbor. He’d said he needed to be here for his mother but Hank could handle things, and the house renovation was nearly ready for a carpenter. Jake had no reason to stick around. He might head back to Boston.

  If she waited, he would leave not knowing she loved him. She’d spent so much of her life behind walls. Jake had broken through her defenses and she had to take this chance. Yes, men left, but so did women. Look at Jake’s brother’s marriage. His wife was away more than she was at home, on her way out. Lani’s fear had wrapped everyone in the same package. Leave when the going gets tough? It couldn’t have gotten much tougher than the last few weeks, and Jake was there for her time and time again.

  She swung her legs around and sat on the edge of the bed. Could she remove the oxygen herself? Then she had to get dressed and hoof it down the hall before someone caught her like a kid playing hooky.

  When her door opened again, she tucked her bare legs beneath the covers. Her pulse did a little happy dance. Jake?

  But the man entering her room with an armful of yellow roses wasn’t Jake.

  “I’ll understand if you don’t want to see me, but I had
to come see for myself if my baby was all right.”

  When she saw her father’s face and heard the familiar rolling cadence of his voice, her breath stalled. Brody Cameron looked almost the same as the last time she’d seen him, when her mom had tried to reconcile them five years before. A little grayer, a little sadder, a little heavier, but dapper in crisp blue pants and a collared shirt.

  She managed a shaky breath. “Come in, Dad.”

  He approached her, but without his usual confident stride. His hazel gaze, so like hers, searched her face, caught on the crumpled tissues in her lap. “This is too reminiscent of...hell, you know.” His fingers fretted the paper sleeve wrapping the roses.

  “You’d better put those flowers in water before you shred them.”

  His gaze dropped to the golden blooms as if he didn’t know where they’d come from. Then paper and all, he plunged them into the pitcher.

  They’d probably die in the ice water. But no matter. Her father had come. Dad. “Thank you for the flowers.”

  He squared his chin. “After your phone call, Serena called me a jackass and a bad father. Not for the first time. This has gone on way too long.”

  She joined him in a small smile of agreement and amazement at his usually meek wife’s assertiveness. “I’ve been partly to blame.”

  “No.” He shook his head with vehemence. “No. I was supposed to be the adult. But I let guilt drive me into a corner. So I left your mother and you to handle everything. Serena is right. And I’m profoundly sorry.”

  She trembled, her heart tripping over itself. “Oh, Dad, I’m sorry too.”

  When she opened her arms, he gathered her in. “Lanibug, I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too.” Crap, more tears. As she sopped up the new flood, something he’d said penetrated her addled brain. “What did you mean, guilt drove you into a corner?”

  He propped a hip on the edge of her bed and gripped her hand as if he were afraid to lose her again. “I’ll tell you about it later. Long story.”