by Karen Rose
Ken turned slowly. Sean stood in the doorway, arms loosely crossed over his chest. He didn’t look angry, which was good. Ken didn’t want to have to kill him too.
‘I was going to call when I got there. I didn’t know if you’d want to join me or not.’
‘Depends on where you’re going.’
Ken frowned. ‘Why are you here?’ Sean so rarely left the downtown office. In fact, the last time he had been out to the family house had been right around the time his mother had disappeared. Of course, Ken knew where Sean’s mother was. He’d sent her body through the woodchipper himself. That had been years ago.
‘Have you seen the news?’ Sean asked.
‘No, I’ve been busy. Why? Is Alice all right?’
‘She’s fine as far as I know, but someone wearing a ski mask walked into the Ledger and starting firing a modified AR-15. It’s all over the Internet. Six dead, one wounded. One missing. Four survivors.’
Ken didn’t blink. What the fuck? One wounded? Four survivors? ‘That’s terrible,’ he said. ‘Was one of the dead Marcus O’Bannion?’
‘Why hide it?’ Sean asked, bemused. ‘You’ve been angling to kill O’Bannion. Why act all innocent now?’
‘Habit, maybe.’ He zipped up his carry-on. ‘Anything else?’
‘The cops pulled DJ in, too.’
Ken sat down on the side of his bed, stunned. ‘How would they even know?’
‘From the gym. Remember? It’s how Alice kept an eye on O’Bannion after his accident to make sure he hadn’t started digging into the McCord story again. DJ joined the gym too and they spotted each other. Both with weights and with watching O’Bannion. Either Alice talked to the cops or Marcus was called in to ID her and remembered DJ, because they picked him up from the gym this evening.’
‘How’s he holding up?’
‘As far as we know, fine. Why did you feel the need to shoot up the Ledger?’
Ken narrowed his eyes. ‘I never said I did, but if I did, it’s no business of yours.’
‘It is my business, because there are cops crawling all over the place. With Alice and DJ in custody, it’s only a matter of time before everything comes crashing down. The cops aren’t going to let this pass. Neither will Marcus O’Bannion. You murdered his people. He’s going to be out for your blood.’
‘Let me worry about Marcus.’ Ken handed Sean the folder he’d prepared. ‘This is everything you need to know. Suppliers, customers, pricing, profits. It’s all yours.’
‘Such as it is,’ Sean said, keeping his arms crossed over his chest. ‘After that stunt you pulled tonight, I don’t know that our company will be worth diddlyshit. Our customers will go running for the hills if they’re smart.’
Ken tossed the folder on the bed. ‘Suit yourself. With everyone either in jail or dead, you could rule it all.’
‘And I’m telling you that there is nothing left to rule. It’s all gone. Including the funds in the company accounts.’ Sean lifted his brows. ‘I wonder who could have taken that money,’ he said mockingly.
‘I don’t like your tone, son. Talk to Joel. He told me that he’d found missing money and traced it to accounts in Demetrius’s and Reuben’s names. Maybe that’s where the funds went. Reuben’s probably sitting in the Caribbean right now, with an underage girl on each knee.’
‘Is that where you’re going? The Caribbean?’
‘No. When I get to where I am going, I’ll send for you. It’ll be your choice to come.’
‘What about Alice?’
‘She got caught, Sean. We all know the price of getting caught.’ He grabbed his suitcase and carry-on, pushed past his son and went down the stairs.
Sean followed him. ‘Who’s the woman in the cage?’
‘Don’t you know?’ Ken asked mockingly. ‘I thought you knew everything by the way you were talking.’
‘You’re going to lure O’Bannion here.’
‘No. I’m not.’
Sean grabbed his arm. ‘Then where? You shot up his office to rile him so that he’d let his guard down when he came after you. You stole his office manager to make sure he came.’
‘Looks like you do know everything.’
‘All alone, Dad? You’re going to take O’Bannion on all by yourself?’
Ken smiled condescendingly. ‘You’re offering to help me? Really?’
Sean’s eyes narrowed. ‘You can’t go alone. That man was an Army Ranger.’
‘So? I shot up his office single-handedly. Took out three guards.’
Sean nodded. ‘But you left five survivors, not including the woman in the cage. Stone O’Bannion didn’t die.’
Ken shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter. I covered my face. Now if you don’t mind, I have a meeting to prepare for.’ He went into the garage to load his luggage in his car, but Sean followed.
‘Where’s the cash, Ken?’
Ken lost his temper. ‘I don’t know. Now shut up and get out. I don’t answer to you, Sean.’ He turned his back to load his luggage and realized his mistake too late when the barrel of a gun dug into his kidneys.
‘Now you do, Dad.’
Cincinnati, Ohio
Wednesday 5 August, 10.15 P.M.
‘No,’ Isenberg said flatly. She’d arrived at the hospital a short while before to help them develop the plan. Which basically meant that she wanted to tell Marcus what he could and could not do. ‘We do not condone the use of civilians as bait in hostage negotiations.’
Scarlett, her father and Deacon’s boss Zimmerman had asked Isenberg to join them in their little war room – set up in the same place where Scarlett had interviewed the Ledger team the night before – and Marcus had agreed out of respect.
But it didn’t mean that he had to agree with Isenberg’s opinion.
Marcus shrugged his shoulders and settled his body in the chair he’d deliberately chosen – the chair in which Stone had sat last night. It made him feel a little closer to his brother and at the same time reminded him what was at stake. As if he really needed reminding.
‘With all due respect, Lieutenant,’ he said, ‘it doesn’t matter. It’s my choice.’
‘You’re choosing to get killed, then?’ Isenberg asked sarcastically, but there was a flicker in her eyes that was genuine concern. The sight helped Marcus get his temper in check. Mostly.
‘No, ma’am. But this man has to be stopped. He shot my brother and left him for dead.’ Marcus’s gaze shifted to the empty chair between Isenberg and Zimmerman, and his hands began to tremble. It was the chair where Cal had been sitting the night before. ‘Sweeney killed a man who’d been like family to me for most of my life. Gunned him and too many others down in cold blood. Like they were nothing. He sells people – families with children – like they’re animals.’ He thought of Gayle, how terrified she had to be, and his fury flared. ‘He’s holding the woman who is a mother to me, and he’s got her in a fucking cage . . .’ His voice faltered and he cleared his throat roughly. ‘So forgive me if I don’t care what you do or don’t condone. This is my family, so it’s my business.’
Isenberg bristled. ‘It becomes my business when you include my people.’
Marcus stiffened. He hadn’t asked for help from anyone but Scarlett. It had been Isenberg, Zimmerman and Jonas Bishop who’d started throwing additional law enforcement bodies into the mix. ‘Sweeney needs to be stopped. He needs to pay. Right now he’s fixated on me, so right now I’m the highest-value chip on the table.’
Isenberg narrowed her eyes, but Zimmerman spoke before she could. ‘He killed one of my men today too,’ he said quietly. ‘I want him to pay as much as you do, Mr O’Bannion. I want him stopped. But I want this done right. I want to be smart.’
Marcus started to open his mouth to tell Isenberg and Zimmerman that they could take their people and shove them, but Scarlett shook her head gently, stopping him from messing the whole thing up.
‘What would you recommend instead?’ she asked, meeting Isenberg’s eyes first, then Zi
mmerman’s, then, last, her father’s. ‘We’re putting snipers in the trees around the meeting place – here and here.’ She pointed to the map of the park that they’d spread over the table. ‘Kate Coppola is an expert marksman and Adam can certainly hold his own.’
They’d tagged Deacon’s cousin, Detective Adam Kimble, for the op, and he had agreed right away. Which was nice of the man, because Marcus didn’t know Adam from . . . well, from Adam. Marcus understood that Kimble hadn’t done it for him. The detective had agreed for Scarlett’s sake, as they’d worked together for years, and for Deacon’s sake. Faith was about to become Adam’s cousin by marriage and since she and Marcus were already cousins, that apparently made Marcus family.
‘We’ve got air support with night IR goggles, plus search-and-rescue dogs on standby,’ Scarlett continued levelly. ‘We’ve got an FBI SWAT team gathering on the ground, ready to back us up. Marcus will wear full body armor rather than the Kevlar that Stone was wearing this afternoon.’
Because bullets fired from an assault rifle went through Kevlar like a knife through hot butter. Stone was lucky to be alive. The fifteen bullets hadn’t hit anything major. At least that was what they’d been told by the surgeon when he’d come out to speak with them mid-way through the surgery. He’d been “hopeful” that Stone would make it.
Marcus still couldn’t let himself relax. Not until he saw Stone and heard his voice.
‘What would you recommend instead?’ Scarlett asked again.
Zimmerman shook his head. ‘Nothing at the moment.’
‘I don’t know,’ Isenberg admitted. ‘This feels wrong.’
Scarlett’s smile was tight. She was scared too. Marcus could see it in her expression, could feel it in the way she gripped his hand under the table, so hard that his tendons crackled.
‘Of course it feels wrong, Lieutenant,’ she said. ‘It is wrong. Sweeney’s picked the venue and the time. This could be – and probably is – a trap. If I can find out where he’s holding Gayle in the next thirty minutes, we’ll punt to our “storm the castle” plan and stage a rescue. Otherwise, Marcus pretends to do a switch, just until we have Gayle in our hands. Then Adam and Kate incapacitate Sweeney and we go in for the arrest. Unless you can think of anything better, this is the plan.’
Isenberg turned on Jonas Bishop, her equal in the CPD hierarchy. ‘Did you talk to her?’
Jonas nodded. ‘I did. She’s prepared to turn in her badge if you press her. So, please, think carefully before you press her.’
Isenberg visibly flinched. ‘What?’
Marcus’s eyes widened as he turned to Scarlett with a combination of shock and dismay. ‘You’re what?’ he demanded. ‘No. You are not turning in your badge. Not because of me.’
Scarlett shrugged. ‘It’s my badge. I can do what I want.’
Marcus met Isenberg’s eyes. ‘I feel a little sorry for you, Lieutenant.’
Isenberg stared at him for a moment, then shocked him by chuckling. ‘Good. You should.’ She turned to Scarlett. ‘All right, Detective. I can approve your plan without liking it.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Scarlett said mildly.
‘And do not think about turning in your badge. It would never have come to that. I would have transferred you first.’
‘That’s good to know,’ Scarlett murmured. ‘I believed you were worried for my own good. It’s nice to know that for sure.’ She checked her phone. ‘We should be leaving soon. I don’t want to text Deacon again about Diesel and the safe.’
‘They’ll text us every thirty minutes with progress,’ Marcus said. ‘Deacon’s been good about that.’ Deacon was testy because Scarlett kept bugging him between updates.
‘I know. I just thought cracking a safe would be faster,’ she grumbled. ‘It is on TV.’
‘I wish he’d done it in five minutes,’ Jonas said, ‘but I’m actually a little relieved that he isn’t so good at it. I might actually have arrested him.’ He said it with almost a straight face, but his eyes twinkled at the last minute, defusing some of the tension. ‘Except that I wasn’t prepared to tangle with you, Scarlett.’
‘I called in one of the CPD safe experts,’ Isenberg said. ‘They were on a call across town, so it may be a little while, but—’
There was a knock on the door of the small conference room and Faith stuck her head in. ‘Excuse me, please. Marcus? There’s someone here to see you.’ She held the door open, and Marcus blinked in surprise at the tiny woman who stood there.
‘Delores?’
Scarlett rose to grip the woman’s hands. ‘Delores, is everything okay?’
‘I don’t know.’ Delores was pale and had been crying. ‘That’s why I’m here.’
‘Delores runs the dog shelter where I got Zat,’ Scarlett told her father as she led Delores into the room. ‘What brings you here?’
‘The hospital wouldn’t tell me anything. Where is Stone? Is he all right?’
Surprised, Marcus glanced at Scarlett from the corner of his eye and saw that she was equally perplexed at Delores’s sudden arrival and obvious tears. ‘He’s still in surgery,’ he said, ‘but the first news was good. He’ll make it, but there was a lot of damage.’
Delores sagged. ‘But he’ll be okay? Oh, thank God.’ She sank into the chair Scarlett pulled out and dropped her face into her hands. ‘I’ve been so worried. I finally got in my car and drove out here as soon as I saw the story on the news.’ Her china-blue eyes filled with tears. ‘I’m so sorry, Marcus.’
‘Thank you. Me too.’ Marcus proceeded carefully, remembering Stone’s reaction when he’d thought Delores might be in danger. There was something going on that they’d missed. ‘You only met Stone a few times.’
‘More than a few,’ she admitted. ‘He brings me things for the shelter at least once a week. Stacks heavy bags, helps me clean out cages. He made me promise not to say anything. I think he was worried everyone would think he was a mushy sap. But last night he showed up right at sunset. Told me that you two had been followed yesterday, that a killer could know my name. He stood guard in front of my house last night. All night.’
‘Stone?’ Marcus said, shocked. ‘My brother?’
‘My cousin?’ Faith asked from the doorway, equally dumbfounded. ‘Really?’
Delores’s mouth curved. ‘Really. He’s very sweet. He never came in, just sat out on my porch working on his computer all night, even though the mosquitoes ate him up. He said he’d come back tonight, but he didn’t, and I got worried. He wasn’t answering his cell phone. Then I turned on the news.’
‘It got shot up,’ Scarlett said. ‘We didn’t know you were worried or we would have called you. Unfortunately Marcus and I are headed out. We’ll be back, but Faith’s staying.’
Faith put her arm around Delores’s shoulders. ‘Come and meet everyone.’
‘Oh no, that’s all right. I’m not here to intrude. I was just so worried.’
‘So is everyone here,’ Faith said. ‘And you’re not intruding.’ She gave Scarlett a look that was both hopeful and scared. ‘Be careful.’
‘Always.’ She turned to Marcus. ‘You ready?’
Jaw set, he nodded, even though his gut was an absolute mess. ‘As I’ll ever be.’
Isenberg stood up, her expression severe. ‘This is not a suicide mission, Mr O’Bannion. If your lives are in danger, you fall back.’
Marcus said nothing. He wasn’t about to give her a reason for canning the op, but he was not leaving Gayle in that cage.
Isenberg rolled her eyes. ‘For God’s sake.’ She stuck her head out the door, looking into the hallway. ‘Officer? I’ll take it now.’ An officer came into view holding a backpack, which Isenberg took, then shoved into Marcus’s hands.
It was heavier than he’d expected. He unzipped it with a frown, his chest growing tight as he realized what the lieutenant had done. ‘Thermal blanket, first aid kit, water, protein bars, and bolt cutters.’ He looked at Scarlett. ‘Collapsible, so they’re easier to carr
y.’
Scarlett gave her boss a grateful smile. ‘To free Gayle. Thank you, Lynda.’
‘Just don’t be stupid, Scarlett,’ she snapped, but there was no heat behind her words. Only concern. ‘One more thing. Agent Coppola is lead on this op. You report to her.’
Scarlett’s grateful smile faded. ‘Why?’
‘Because you are emotionally invested,’ Isenberg said. ‘I want you both back alive. If Coppola says fall back, you’d sure as hell better say “yes, ma’am”. Am I understood?’
Scarlett’s nod was curt. ‘Yes, ma’am.’ She leaned up on her toes and pecked her father’s cheek. ‘See ya.’
Jonas tilted her chin, locking gazes. ‘Your LT made the right call. You are invested.’
‘I know,’ she murmured. ‘I don’t have to like it.’ She rocked back on her heels. ‘Let’s move out.’
Cincinnati, Ohio
Wednesday 5 August, 10.28 P.M.
Ken drew a deep breath, keeping his cool despite the gun shoved in his back. His son’s gun. He’d been in far tenser situations, but Sean had taken him by surprise and had the upper hand. ‘I have to say,’ he said mildly, ‘that I always thought if either of you staged a coup, it would be your sister.’
‘Surprise, surprise,’ Sean said coldly, and shoved the barrel harder. ‘Start walking. Slowly. Any sudden moves and I’ll blow your fucking head off.’
Ken began walking, carefully evaluating his son’s stride, his balance, his hold on the weapon. Despite his bravado, Sean had never been in the field, had no experience in these matters. The hand that held the gun trembled, and Sean walked a little too close. Ken had no doubt that he could disarm him easily, but he wanted to know what he was up to first.
He also wanted a clear path away from his son should the disarming not go as planned. So he decided to wait until they were outside before he made his move.
‘Why?’ Ken asked, putting a tremor in his voice.
‘Just walk.’
‘If it’s the money, we can discuss this.’
Sean laughed. ‘It’s not the money. I’ve already taken it all back. Your offshore account has a zero balance.’