Forged Risk

by Sidney Bristol

  The house was sparse, almost decorated like a show room. Karen didn’t want the house to say much about her. In case she had to pick up and go?

  “What is it?” Evan stood at her side now.

  When had the come so close?

  Felecia frowned. “Is Karen someone my dad helped? Is this how she’s paid him back? Being his keeper?”

  “We don’t know. Not yet at least,” he said.

  Felecia stood and crossed to the dresser. Kelsey was making headway on the clothes judging by the small pile of things growing on the bed.

  “Dear lord, is she a squirrel?” Kelsey said as she tossed a pill bottle on the bed.

  “It’s an old trick,” Felecia said as she flipped the lid open on the jewelry box. “You hide valuables in the pockets of hanging clothes and leave cheap stuff in the obvious places. See?”

  She held up what appeared to be a diamond solitaire ring.

  “Chances are this is fake, but someone trying to steal won’t think beyond their prize until they’ve already left.” Felecia replaced the ring in the box then poked at the other odds and ends.

  All of it was fake.

  She put the lid back on then crouched and pulled open the bottom drawer.

  It was empty.

  Only four of the six contained clothes. Even what she found had little personality.

  She turned around and frowned at the small pile of random things on the bed. Kelsey sat perched on the edge. Evan had gone off to help the others, leaving them alone.

  “There’s nothing here,” Kelsey said.

  “Nothing that we’ve seen.” Felecia went to her knees and lifted the bed skirt. “I see boxes. Help me get them out?”

  She and Kelsey began hauling battered cardboard boxes into the open floor between bed and dresser. Felecia sat with her legs crossed and picked the closest box. It was one of the newest looking ones with the least amount of dust. Inside were dividers with neat script documenting month and year, and between the dividers, pictures.

  Kelsey groaned and fanned several pages in the air. “This is the brat’s school work.”

  Felecia ignored the other woman and slid out one of the most recent snapshots.

  At first she just looked. They’d known a woman and child lived here based on the furnishings, but now they had faces.

  Felecia’s mouth went dry and the rest of the room seemed to fade away as she focused on the woman’s face.

  A face that could have been her own.

  Evan had said she was a dead ringer for her mother.

  She was murdered. That was what Dad had let Felecia believe. They’d gone out, he’d come back disheveled. There’d been blood.

  Felecia pulled another picture then another from the boxes. Only a few included the woman—Karen. Most were of the boy.

  He had dark curling hair, a chubby face and dark eyes that always seemed to be lit up with a smile.

  “Felecia?” Kelsey said slowly. “Evan, get up here. I don’t do feelings and our girl looks like she’s about to have a lot of them.”

  Felecia began pulling pictures out from farther back. It took her roughly thirty photographs to find one of just her mother.

  Just Olga.

  But that wasn’t her name anymore.

  She was Karen now.

  Hair was straight and sleek. Her clothes tailored and simple. She’d put on weight, her features rounding out.

  Olga was dead.

  “Felecia?” Evan kneeled by her side, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. “Hey.”

  She thrust the handful of pictures at him. “She not my mother. That woman is not my mother.”

  His brows rose, but he didn’t say anything. He took the pictures and flipped through them.

  “I need air. I need out of here,” she said and shoved to her feet.

  “Hey, easy now.” Kelsey had her hands up, body blocking the door.

  “Move,” Felecia snapped.

  “Here.” Kelsey pressed a tissue into Felecia’s hand.

  She stared at it and only then realized her cheeks were wet. She was crying for a woman who’d left her to start a new life. A woman who had abandoned her to a life spent locked in a cage like an animal.

  It all made sense now. The address, this house, that chair.

  Dad had killed the woman Felecia knew as her mother. As Olga. And in her place he’d made Karen. Mom didn’t have money, so Dad had made an arrangement, likely one that kept Mom trapped as much as Felecia was. The only difference was that Mom had the illusion of freedom.

  She’d had another child.

  Felecia had a brother.

  No.

  She couldn’t think like that. Karen was not Felecia’s mother. That woman was a stranger to her. End this better

  WEDNESDAY. AUSTIN-BERGSTROM International Airport. Austin, Texas.

  Obran’s phone began ringing the moment he powered it on.

  The local number could only be one of three people. He sighed. His luck was shit lately.

  He pressed the answer button as he strode through the airport.

  “Hello?”

  A woman’s strangled sob came through the line. He thought he heard her say, “She’s in my room.”

  “Karen? Karen, take a breath and tell me what’s going on.” He mentally cursed whoever had given her a phone. He needed information, not a sobbing woman.

  “She’s in our house,” Karen said.

  “I heard that.” He tried his best to temper his tone, but it had been a long trip. “Who is with her? What are they doing?”

  “She found my pictures,” Karen whispered.

  Obran stifled a curse. Photographs were one thing he’d never been able to wean Karen off. She’d live like a monk, but she had to have her keepsake pictures. The same as Olga.

  Sometimes it helped him if he thought of them as two different women. In many ways they were.

  “Oh, god. She’s a woman. You never told me how tall she was. She’s beautiful.”

  Obran stepped out of the press of people and put his back to the cool wall. “She is. She looks just like you, but...she acts like me.”

  “Why is she here?” Karen’s voice was almost impossible to hear.

  “Something happened. I have a plan. I’ll tell you about it later. Keep watching the videos. Stay inside.”

  They said a few more things then ended the call. Karen rarely showed emotion. The tears over Felecia startled him, but more than likely she was simply stressed and surprised.

  When he’d orchestrated Olga’s death and transformation into Karen, he’d done it out of desperation. He was losing her. It was the boy, their son, that had tipped things over the edge. In an act of selfishness Obran had kept Felecia with him. He’d told Olga he couldn’t get them both out that things were moving too fast, but the reality was that he couldn’t give her up entirely. If their daughter was the only piece of the woman, he loved he’d get to keep, well, he’d hold on to her with both hands.

  But life had thrown them a curveball.

  Skilton would use Karen if he found her.

  Obran couldn’t lose Felecia. He’d already given up his wife and his son.

  Was it possible for him to have it all? Was there a way now?

  He glanced around, but no one paid him any mind. Satisfied he was still traveling unnoticed, he merged back into the pedestrians headed for the airport exit. He pressed his phone to his ear and waited for his men to answer.

  There was a slim chance he could come out of this with everything he ever wanted.

  17.

  Wednesday. Obran’s Stash House. Austin, Texas.

  Evan felt as if he were being torn in all directions. The revelation that Obran’s wife Olga was the previously unknown Karen had set the whole team on edge. Then there were the implications of her hasty exit to consider.

  She’d known they were coming. Or at least there was the possibility of exposure.

  They might never find Karen now. Obran was good at what he did.
<
br />   And then there was Felecia.

  She’d stalked out of the house and was standing under the big magnolia tree in the front yard, a picture clutched in her hand, staring at the grass. She’d told him her mother was dead and she believed it. Her whole world was being rocked and here he was setting up some damn cameras.

  It stood to reason that Obran or someone who worked for him might come back to the house, and if they did that their team needed to know. The cameras were a necessity. But Felecia needed a shoulder and he couldn’t be that for her. Not until the damn cameras were up.

  Logan strode down the sidewalk to where the others were clustered out front. Given what they’d learned, it had seemed prudent to pull back and leave the search to the professionals with badges.

  “Circle up,” Logan said.

  Evan finished activating the last camera trained on the street, wiped his hand and headed for Logan.

  Felecia still stood under the other tree looking like a lost child.

  So much had been stolen from her.

  Logan pounded his fist into his palm. None of them liked knowing they’d narrowly missed their target. “The FBI should be here soon. We’re holding tight and they will take over from there. Diha’s trying to get ahold of Zora so we know what our next move is.”

  “Who all is involved?” Tucker asked. He had his arms crossed across his chest and a scowl on his face.

  “Everyone.” Logan grimaced.

  They all shifted, knowing what that meant.

  The mole knew where they were and what they were doing.

  Evan glanced at the cameras he still needed to set up then to Felecia.

  When the FBI got there, he wasn’t sure what they’d do or how far their reach extended. Would they take Felecia into custody? Would they try?

  Screw it.

  He stepped around Harper and Jamie who had their heads together and made straight for Felecia.

  Her shoulders drooped and his heart ached for her. He was an outsider in his own family, but it wasn’t the same thing. Still, he understood that sense of loss even if he’d never experienced it to this degree before.

  “Hey,” he murmured and laid his hand on her back.

  She swayed toward him so he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.

  “Talk to me?” he asked in Ukrainian.

  “He stole everything from me. What did I ever do to make my own father hate me this much?” She tilted her face up and looked at him, the anguish clear on her face.

  Evan didn’t have an answer for that. He doubted Obran hated her. If he did, why was she alive? No, there had to be something else, but she wouldn’t want to hear that.

  “May I see?” He lifted her hand holding the picture.

  She’d taken an image of the boy. His chubbier cheeks and wide smile were a lot what he imagined Felecia had looked like as a child. The boy couldn’t be more than eight.

  It all unfolded in Evan’s mind. He didn’t know why Obran had initially made Felecia and Olga hide away with him. Obran was likely the only person who could explain that. But this move? That was one Evan understood.

  The moment Olga got pregnant again she became a ticking time bomb. More children meant more pressure points, more ways Obran was vulnerable.

  It made sense he’d hide his wife and new child away.

  “Why didn’t he send me here? With them? What did I do wrong?” Felecia asked.

  Evan opened his mouth to answer. His gut knotted and he stopped himself.

  Obran sounded like a monster, because that was how Felecia saw him. Evan wasn’t so sure. There was a lot of risk in keeping her the way Obran had. It would be easier to kill her. But he hadn’t. Because she was his daughter and despite how it looked, Obran loved Felecia. He just had a shitty way of showing it.

  Felecia sniffled. He pulled her closer, tucking her head under his chin and squeezed her tight.

  An undeniable truth haunted Evan’s mind.

  A man in love was dangerous.

  Obran wouldn’t let Felecia go.

  If he still loved his daughter, he’d want her back. To keep her safe and protected in his own way, even if it was slowly killing her.

  If that love had soured, if he believed Felecia had turned on him, Obran might throw everything he had at killing her. And who knew how far Obran’s reach went?

  Then there were the other loves to consider.

  Obran and his wife were still working together. Their team had threatened that love and that child.

  Evan had a bad feeling that they’d just kicked a hornet’s nest.

  “He should have let me go with them.” Felecia pulled away from him. “He should have let me go. Why didn’t he? Why keep me locked up like an animal? Why?”

  Tears streamed down her face.

  He’d been an arrogant ass to think he had any understanding of how she felt.

  “We’ll find him. We’ll get answers,” he said, though he wasn’t sure that would happen. “Your mother—”

  “My mother is dead,” Felecia snapped. She swiped at her face and drew in a breath. “My mother—Olga—she died. Whoever this Karen woman is, she isn’t my mother. She’s my brother’s mother. But she isn’t mine. My mother wouldn’t have left me with a monster.”

  Evan drew in a deep breath. There were layers of pain here he wasn’t going to be able to work through. Not when they had so many things to consider. No, this was something to talk about later. When she was safe.

  Logan called out something and gestured at a van rolling down the street.

  The FBI.

  At least something was going right.

  “Hey, listen. The FBI are about to be here to take over the scene. After that we’ll probably check into a hotel or go to a safe house. Let’s talk about this there, okay?”

  She nodded and leaned back against the tree.

  He didn’t want to leave her for a second, but he had a job to do. One that would keep her safe, and that was what had to matter.

  Evan leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I’m here for you.”

  Her lips curled in a smile, but it was fleeting and never reached her eyes.

  There had to be something he could do for her. Some way he could help lift this burden.

  “Evan,” Logan called out.

  “Coming,” he replied and jogged toward the cluster of his team.

  Tucker and Logan stood together, watching him. Jamie, Harper and Tucker were focused on the SUV with most of the luggage. Kelsey was bent over the case of camera equipment.

  Evan slowed his pace as he got closer to the two men. He didn’t like the way Logan and Tucker were looking at him.

  This was about Felecia. Some decision had been made and they’d waited until the last moment possible to tell him.

  Evan’s stomach knotted.

  He stopped there in the grass and turned to look at the blue van coming to a stop in front of the house.

  A hand grabbed at Evan’s arm, holding him tight.

  The doors to the van opened and three men jumped out. They were in all black with guns. Guns pointed at Felecia and them.

  Why would FBI agents who knew who they were point guns at them?

  The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

  Because they weren’t FBI.

  “No,” Evan roared.

  He tried to pull away from the others, but more hands grabbed him.

  Felecia stood there for a second, eyes wide. Then she screamed and threw herself toward the house, but the men were faster.

  “No! Those aren’t FBI,” Evan said as more hands grabbed him.

  Men grabbed Felecia. Her limbs flailed. She kicked out. One man got an elbow to the face. But they had her. As quickly as they’d shown up, they shoved her in the van, jumped in and were gone in a cloud of burning rubber and exhaust.

  Rage and fear pulsed through Evan’s veins.

  “Calm down,” Logan ordered in a stern voice.

  Evan wrenched his right arm free. He t
hought it might have been Jamie holding him, but he wasn’t sure. Evan turned, throwing all his weight into the punch. He drove his fist into Logan’s face. The pain was a dull, distant sensation compared to the boiling rage.

  Logan staggered back, eyes wide.

  They’d just handed Felecia to the bad guys. He knew it.

  “You just let them take her,” Evan shouted.

  Tucker planted himself between Evan and Logan. “He did his damn job. She’s part of this. She has to be taken into custody.”

  Evan kept staring at Logan. “That wasn’t the fucking FBI.”

  “They pointed guns at us,” Kelsey said as she took up a spot on Evan’s left.

  “The FBI said they were almost here.” Logan rubbed at his jaw. “We knew they wanted to take her into custody.”

  Evan stared past Tucker at Logan.

  He’d known and he’d chosen to not tell Evan. To not inform Felecia of the change of plan.

  She was still wearing the bracelet, but Evan no longer trusted Logan or the others with that detail. Evan could activate the GPS, follow it himself, and... What? What could he do on his own?

  “Uh, guys?” Jamie thumbed over his shoulder.

  Two blue vans similar to the one that had just left stopped at the curb behind their SUVs. These had FBI painted on them in bold, yellow letters.

  Logan frowned then glanced at Tucker. “Stay with him.”

  That done, Logan strode to meet two familiar black men in suits.

  Kelsey turned her back to Tucker and looked up at him. “That wasn’t the FBI, was it?”

  Evan shook his head. “Did you know?”

  Kelsey grimaced. “At the last minute. I don’t think Logan and Tucker told anyone until they had to. That wasn’t right.”

  No, it wasn’t and Felecia might be the one to pay for their fuck-up.

  “Evan!” Logan called out, his voice ragged.

  Evan closed his eyes.

  He didn’t need to be told.

  He was right.

  He was fucking right.

  And Logan had stood there, holding him back, while Felecia was taken from them.

  Evan grabbed Kelsey’s arm and bent his head. “Can I trust you?”

  “Evan.” Logan jogged toward him, eyes wild.