Cold Secrets (Cold Justice Book 7)

by Toni Anderson

  * * *

  Lucas wanted to jump over the armed guards and rip Brandon Chang’s head off. It took every measure of discipline he learned in battle not to immediately leap to Ashley’s rescue. They had one chance of making this work, and the odds of any of them getting out of this alive were shitty at best.

  One of Chang’s bodyguards had surprised him, but Alex had gotten the drop on the fucker and returned the favor. Between the four of them they’d hunted down another three of Chang’s goons and stripped them of their clothes and weapons.

  Alex shoved Lucas ahead, keeping him between Alex and Chang’s henchmen. Benny and Nelson were ambling along the beach from the other side. Feigning confidence and walking right up to the group in the darkness as if they belonged. It was a gamble, but what choice did they have?

  No way was he letting the Devils take Ashley. No fucking way.

  As soon as Benny and Nelson got within ten yards of the firelight, Lucas dropped to his knees and aimed the weapon he’d clasped behind his head. Someone was firing before the words “FBI” left his lips.

  He stayed low, rolled, and used one of Yu Chang’s men as a shield while he took out the guards closest to the old man. Alex was picking off the ones farther away with the AKs, dropping them with unerring accuracy.

  Didn’t take long for the Devils to start retreating.

  Brandon tried to drag his father to the boat, but the old man wasn’t leaving Ashley. The old bastard grabbed onto her wrist where she lay curled up in the sand as bullets flew overhead.

  One whistled past Lucas’s cheek, and he ate sand as he rolled into a new firing position. He shot the man who’d fired at him—the asshole Cho from the brothel—and the remaining guards scattered and started to run away.

  Ashley’s brother had dropped to the sand when the shooting started and suddenly appeared to come out of his daze. He clambered to his feet and picked up the gun Ashley had held to her head.

  Watching her do that had just about given Lucas a coronary. Andrew raised the weapon, and Lucas was about to nail the guy when Andrew raised it higher and pointed it at his cousin’s chest.

  “You told your father about Lily, didn’t you? You told him I cared for her, and that’s why he raped her.”

  Andrew fired the weapon, and Brandon Chang went down with a flash of surprise in his eyes. He dropped his father’s hand.

  Ashley kicked at the old man hard enough to break his grip and scrambled backwards in the sand toward where Lucas crouched.

  Brandon started laughing in the sudden silence, and the sound sent something disturbing crawling through Lucas’s veins. The guy sounded insane.

  “Now you’ve decided to grow a pair of balls?”

  “You raped Monica so you could send me those photographs and get us to break up.”

  Brandon leered. “She was seeing other guys, Andy. I just gave you proof. She drank too much, fucked us all, and then cried rape.”

  “I don’t believe you!” Andrew shot him again, and this time blood bloomed around Brandon’s chest. Lucas was pretty sure Brandon Chang was dead. The guy had been shot through the heart.

  Yu Chang gaped as he looked about him, suddenly appearing like a frail old man rather than a vicious criminal mastermind. His men had fled. His son was dead. His gaze shifted first to his nephew, then to his niece. His eyes stayed on Ashley.

  Chang sank to his knees. “I love you, Jun,” he pleaded. “Everything I’ve ever done has been because I love you. Don’t leave me again. Please don’t leave.”

  “I’m not Jun, you sick creep. You killed Jun.” Ashley’s voice shook. “And you don’t get to have sex with your sister or niece just because you want to.”

  Lucas placed Ashley firmly behind him, denying the old man the pleasure of looking at her.

  Andrew’s gaze swung toward his sister. “God, Jenny, I’m so sorry. I should have protected you.”

  He turned back to Yu Chang and put a bullet into the man’s chest. “That’s for Lily, you bastard.” He fired again. “For my parents, for Jenny, for me!”

  Benny and Nelson sprinted toward him, but Andrew raised the gun to his own head and blew his brains all over this small slice of paradise.

  “Jesus.” Lucas pulled Ashley to him and buried her face in his shirt. Her entire family had just been wiped out, and she didn’t need to see any more than she already had.

  Benny went to check Andrew to make sure he was dead while Nelson went to the old man.

  Yu Chang was miraculously still alive. Nelson spat in his face. “That’s for Detective David Shaw HKPD, asshole. You’re under arrest.”

  No one argued as Nelson cuffed the dying man. He’d been working toward this moment even longer than Ashley had been running. Yu Chang’s eyes turned away from Nelson and once again sought out his niece. Lucas wasn’t giving him that satisfaction. He hid her with his big body, wishing the bastard would just die already.

  “I’ve got you, baby.” He wrapped his arms tight around her. He wasn’t letting her go.

  * * *

  Ashley’s fingers were trembling, but she held on tight to Lucas. She couldn’t believe they’d come through the firefight unscathed and that Yu Chang, Brandon, and her brother were dead.

  “The Thai soldiers let you go?” she asked.

  “Let’s just say there was a minor misunderstanding as to why we were detained.” His pained expression suggested there was more to it than that. “I’m sorry, Ash.”

  “What for?” She leaned her head back, confused.

  “For doubting you, for kidnapping you, for suggesting even for a moment you were in league with those psychos.”

  “Lucas, you didn’t do anything wrong. You were being a good agent. I’d never hold that against you.” She reached up to touch the side of his head “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to be.” She took a breath. “I’m sorry for everything, too. For lying, for taking off and trying to do this alone. I just needed to get Becca to safety and didn’t think you and Alex would be released in time. Thank God you were.” She forced herself to push out of his embrace. She needed to put some distance between them, starting now. “So what happens next? Am I arrested, or can I turn myself in?”

  He put his hands on his hips and angled his head. “No one here is arresting you. You just put your life on the line—”

  “Good. I’d rather do it stateside.” She glanced at the local detective who was walking around making sure all the bad guys were either dead or disarmed. She assumed backup and emergency services were on their way, but it was a good thing none of them had been injured. They’d have bled to death by now—like her uncle.

  The sea breeze suddenly felt cold, and the fire was dying. She wrapped her arms around herself and wished her teeth would stop chattering.

  “It’s not that I don’t trust the Thais, it’s just that I’d rather be in a prison where I understand the process—”

  His jaw clenched. “You’re not going to prison.”

  She raised a brow. “You don’t know that.”

  “Wanna bet on it? One of my brothers-in-law is a top criminal defense attorney in DC. He’ll figure it out.”

  “I’m not involving your family in my mess.”

  He frowned. “Why not?”

  “They’re already going to hate me, Lucas.” Her voice reached the others who glanced their way and then went back to studiously ignoring them.

  “They won’t hate you.”

  She scoffed. “I’m going to be a national pariah when this gets out. My family did terrible things, and yours are practically American royalty.”

  “I don’t give a shit about misperceptions.”

  “But I do.” Her eyes narrowed. “I won’t have you tainted—”

  “Tainted?” Now he sounded angry.

  “Look, my relatives were scum, Lucas. And I’m just as bad. I lied to get into the FBI and may have jeopardized an untold number of cases that I was involved in.” Her stomach churned when she thought about the possible consequenc
es of her actions.

  He held his hands wide in exasperation. “You faked your own death at sixteen years of age to escape an evil despot. Then fooled polygraphists in order to join the FBI and help bring down one of the biggest criminal organizations in the world. If that gets out, you’ll be a frickin’ hero.”

  She turned away from him, but he swung her around to face him again. “Do you know what it was like to watch you put that gun to your head and know you were willing to pull the trigger? To watch the woman I love gamble with her life, but have to sit silently, praying the fucking gun didn’t go off, and the pervert who wanted to rape and kidnap her backed down?” The pain in his eyes destroyed her. She’d never meant to hurt him. “It felt as if someone was ripping out my throat, and I couldn’t breathe.” His voice broke.

  “How can you love someone like me?”

  He took a step toward her. “How can I not, Ashley?”

  Her vision blurred, and she swallowed thickly. “I’m disgusting.”

  His eyes glinted with fierce determination. “You are amazing. You are brave, dedicated, smart, tenacious, proud, and great in bed.” He grinned to tell her he was joking. Then his expression grew serious again. “You did what you had to do to survive.”

  Like Becca. Like Andrew.

  “And then you came back swinging.” His stare drilled into hers. “How could I not love you?”

  Maybe he was right. Fighting to survive wasn’t a crime—it was what you did afterwards that mattered. And she’d fought for justice and against evil. Maybe that was worth something.

  “I don’t understand you.” Emotion clogged her throat, and she was sobbing. “But I love you, Lucas.” Tears finally spilled over and dripped off her chin. “I’ve never let myself love anyone before. I never realized it wasn’t a choice.”

  He pulled her against his chest, and she buried her nose, inhaling the familiar masculine scent, the reassuring heat of him through his T-shirt.

  “It’s a choice I’d make over and over.”

  Ashley didn’t know how she’d been so lucky as to find this man. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to fully forgive herself, but maybe she could try. She’d always relished a challenge, though this might be the biggest one of all.

  * * *

  She loved him. Knowing that made Lucas believe they’d be able to get through this mess. “I love you, too, sweetheart.” He hugged her closer, kissed her hair. “And nothing’s going to happen. It’s over.”

  Ashley wiped her eyes. “Stop saying that. You don’t know for sure.”

  He smiled into her worried face. “Neither do you.”

  Her mouth thinned. “Well, I’m pretty sure the truth is about to come out.”

  Lucas looked from Benny to Nelson. “Maybe. Maybe not.” They’d talked in the car earlier about the possibility of keeping Ashley’s identity to themselves. If he could convince Sloan and Frazer, they might be able to keep a lid on this thing.

  She looked over at her brother’s body. “Is he definitely dead?”

  He nodded.

  Her expression grew pensive. “I let him down.”

  “He was a grown man. He made his own choices.”

  She nodded, but the sadness remained in her eyes. It was going to take time for her to recover from this, but he wasn’t going to fail her again. He had her back. And he was going to prove how much he loved her, every single day.

  Suddenly the whole area was lit up by the lights of a battleship. A spotlight rested firmly on Yu Chang’s boat and showed people running around the deck.

  “Now that’s a boat.” Beside him, Alex grinned.

  “Typical Navy,” Lucas said, one side of his mouth quirking. “Always show up late to the party. Any idea who it belongs to?” His vision was still double. Something he should probably get checked out.

  “It’s ours.”

  He nodded with satisfaction. Frazer’s idea of backup. “Let’s go find Becca and make sure she’s safe,” Lucas said. They nodded to Nelson and Benny and started walking up the beach.

  “Don’t go far,” Benny told them.

  They found the teen on the road with a tourist she’d flagged down. Becca threw herself into Lucas’s arms, and he squeezed her tight.

  “Think you can fit us into your jeep and get us to Phuket airport ASAP?” Alex asked the tourist after Lucas ponied up his official credentials. “I can guarantee a substantial reward and the eternal thanks of the US government.”

  “Can you throw in a good word with the IRS?” the guy joked.

  “I don’t do miracles, sorry.”

  There wasn’t much space, and Ashley had to sit on Lucas’s lap the whole ride back. He didn’t mind. He liked holding her in his arms. The warm night air rushed over them as they drove past towering forests and massive plantations. The towns were bustling with tourists and travelers, and it seemed surreal that life went on as normal even when people were dying just a few miles away.

  Becca’s fingers crept into his as she sat next to him, and more regrets washed through him. “I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise, Becs.”

  Her smile was sweetly innocent. “You came for me. I knew you would. And now they’re all dead, and I’ll be safe.” Her eyes were huge. “I’m going to become an FBI agent, too. I want to carry a badge and a gun and make people do what I say.”

  He smiled. If only. “I think you’d make an excellent federal agent, but how about you spend some time being a kid first?” He pressed her fingers with his. “I still owe you a trip to the mall.”

  She smiled, and then asked, “Is Agent Sloan alive?” Her voice grew very small.

  He nodded. “She’s in intensive care, but the doctors think she’s going to make it.”

  A frown worried her brows. “You know I told you about the man who made me call him ‘Daddy’?”

  Ashley tensed in his arms. Lucas nodded. Like he’d ever forget.

  “He was there.”

  It was his turn to frown. “What do you mean?”

  “At Sloan’s house.”

  Realization was blinding. “Her husband? Brian Templeton?”

  She caught her bottom lip in her teeth. “I didn’t know his real name, but I don’t want him to hurt me again.”

  She didn’t know. Christ.

  “He’s dead. Sloan killed him.” And now he knew why. It was a damn shame. Lucas would have loved to punish the motherfucker himself.

  So Brian Templeton was the reason the Devils were always one step ahead of them. One mystery solved.

  “What about the others? What if they find me?” Becca whispered.

  Ashley raised her head and answered. “You see Mr. Parker sitting there in the front seat, Becca?”

  Becca nodded.

  “He and I are going to work together and identify every last one of these people, and you are going to help us put them away in prison. You up for that?”

  “Promise?”

  Alex turned in his seat, and he and Ashley spoke together. “Promise.”

  A rush of emotion threatened to choke Lucas. He turned his face to the window, not wanting to reveal weakness in front of the teen, but Ashley knew. She laid her cheek against his. “Thanks for saving me, Lucas,” she whispered. Her fingers tightened on his arm.

  “Pretty sure you saved yourself,” he said gruffly.

  He felt her smiling. “You gave me the strength to stand up to my past. Without you I’d still be running.”

  And he’d be alone. The thought was an unsettling one.

  “Time to stop running. Time to start building a future with me.” He kissed her, keeping it soft and gentle with Becca sitting beside them, but needing to tell Ashley that his feelings for her hadn’t changed. They’d only grown stronger until the idea of her not being with him felt like a hacksaw working its way through his chest.

  Truth was, he didn’t know what was going to happen next. He could only hope for the best and be there for Ashley and Becca, and Sloan too.

  That was all anyone
could do.

  Epilogue

  Five months later…

  Ashley smoothed down her favorite Calvin Klein skirt as she sat in a Boston courtroom and waited for the judge to announce the verdict. She’d been here every day for the last week and had listened to the witness provide heart-wrenching testimony that the accused had repeatedly visited her in a brothel to have sex.

  SSA Carly Sloan sat at the back of the room along with the SAC from the Boston Field Office. Sloan had never revealed the family connection between Ashley and Brandon. Ashley didn’t know if she’d not known or simply chosen to keep quiet about the fact once the perpetrators were dead and Becca had been saved. Sloan’s face was gaunt with dark circles under her eyes. She’d taken several months to physically recover from the knife wound but still didn’t look ready to be back at work. The woman had taken full responsibility for her husband’s actions even though it hadn’t been her fault. She’d tried to resign. The director hadn’t let her.

  As the shootout had occurred in Thailand, and most of the bad guys were dead, the full extent of Ashley’s involvement with the Dragon Devils had never come to light. Benny and Nelson had been given the major credit for taking down the notorious crime family and rescuing Becca, with the FBI’s role being played down to minor. Everyone was fine with that, and Sloan and Frazer had insisted she and Lucas were following orders.

  Greg Trainer had gotten credit for finding and closing down many other establishments run by the Devils, and the FBI had cracked down sharply on sex trafficking—although the problem was still huge.

  DNA from thirty-four women and four men had been found in the bombed out brothel, not counting Mae Kwon. The lab had also isolated DNA from used condoms in the garbage. They were using that physical evidence, combined with the cell phone and financial information she and Alex Parker had painstakingly obtained, to try to convict as many johns as possible.

  Becca had identified six men from the photographs so far.

  The accused today was an anemic-looking accountant with two daughters about the same age as Becca. His wife sat on the other side of the courtroom, her face stark with suffering as the verdict was read.