Once his hands were free, Shamus took the cloth and dabbed at the blood. “How old are your children?”
“They’re Gloria’s. Carlos is five, and Ramona is six. I’ve been following the story you and Miss Carter have been writing.” She lowered her voice. “It’s why I untied you. She’s never going to let us live.”
The children started to whimper again, and Tonia placed an arm around each. “Why is she doing this?”
Shamus used the wall to get to his feet. “She wants to get her hands on Andi Carter.” He studied the room, which was nothing more than concrete blocks and totally empty. Electrical wires hung from the ceiling and crisscrossed the room, running down the wall to the panel box. “She probably thinks she can trade me for Andi.”
“Will Miss Carter do that?”
Shamus nodded. “Aye, she would.” He walked to the panel box and studied the wires. “I don’ plan on letting it go that far.”
Tonia whispered softly to the children for a moment, seated them both on the floor, and stood. “What can I do to help?”
“Me head hurts too bad to climb the stairs. Check the door and see if we can get out that way.”
Tonia quickly climbed the steps. “There’s some sort of wire attached to the doorknob on this side. Looks like it goes to the other side. It may be some sort of alarm. Do you want me to turn the knob?”
“No!” Shamus staggered as he sped to get to the steps. “Come back down, lass. Slow and easy.”
Tonia backed away from the door and started descending the steps. “What is it?”
Shamus had never had to fight in his country as his brothers had, and he had no military experience, but he’d seen the aftermath of traps set for unwary victims. “We can’t be sure without opening it, but I suspect she rigged the door with a bomb that will go off if it’s opened from this side.”
Tonia sat against the wall, pulling the children back onto her lap. “So there’s no way out?”
Shamus lowered himself beside her. “Aye, lass, we’re trapped.”
CHAPTER FORTY
“We have two major issues,” Jerry stated as Bart Pratt entered the kitchen area of O’Reilly’s. “How’s Gambini?”
“Doctor says he’ll live.”
Jerry nodded and continued to address the group. “On one hand, we have the Cobra and her hostages. If we take her down and she’s in contact with the guy who has Mollie Singles, he’ll simply kill her and disappear. Patrick and Shamus’s brothers are doing surveillance on the maid’s house now. We should be hearing from them soon. Tracy identified Councilman Terrence Graves as the man who was killed at the warehouse. There was one other man there that night, but we don’t know who that was, and we don’t know who the boss is. Tracy, anything else you can think of that might help us?”
Tracy shook her head. “I was hoping the blonde would lead me to the boss.”
“Andi?”
“When we were going to Cordell, Dylan asked what happened to the residents there. I’m sure all of them didn’t leave willingly. Maybe we should talk to some of them. Somebody pushed them out, and we need to know what project the council was voting on. That seems to be where all this started.”
“We don’t have the manpower at the moment to do that. Jasmine, any insights?”
“These people are smart and organized. He isn’t going to just show up at that warehouse tomorrow to meet Tracy without knowing it’s safe. They have to have another source feeding them information, either at the police department or somewhere here in West Hollywood. We need to find that mole.”
Palano’s phone dinged, and he glanced at the text message and sighed. “Patrick says the maid’s house was empty. They should be back any minute now.”
“What about McHugh? Have they arrested him yet?” Andi asked.
“He’s gone into hiding, which means Jasmine is right. We have a mole in the department.”
“Then let’s use him,” Andi said. “You haven’t told anyone yet that we have Tracy. If you go into the station and tell them you’ve got a tip on where she’s hiding, someone is going to have to leave, make a phone call, or get there before you do to make sure she isn’t captured.”
Jerry smiled for what felt like the first time that day. “Good plan. Any suggestions where to send them? I’d prefer it not be someplace public where bystanders could get hurt. And I’ll need someone there when they show up.”
She smiled at him as Patrick and the brothers walked through the double doors. “We could use one of the houses on Cordell. They’re all empty.” She nodded toward the trio. “And I think Coilin and Dylan could handle whoever shows up.”
Patrick pulled out a seat. “Fill us in on what you’re talking about.”
Jerry quickly brought them up to speed. “We’ve only got until noon tomorrow, so let’s split up and make this happen. We need this guy alive so he can make that all-clear phone call tomorrow.”
“Aye, he’ll live.” Coilin grunted.
Jerry shivered at the look in the other man’s dark-blue eyes. “Andi, you can go with me. Everyone knows she’s talking to you.”
Patrick shook his head. “She stays with me. Until we know for sure, she’s safer that way.”
“Know what?” she asked, her gaze traveling from Jerry to Patrick and back again.
Jerry shoved his hands into his pockets. “It’s not him.”
“Well, one of you had better tell me what the hell you’re talking about.” Andi turned to Patrick. “It’s not who, Patty?”
“I’m sorry, lass. Richard Thomas is still alive, and he’s here.”
The room was silent for a second before Andi grabbed her head and screamed.
Jerry rushed toward her, his heart skipping a beat as her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell, unconscious, into his arms.
~ ~ ~
“What happened?” Andi opened her eyes and tried to sit up.
Jerry placed a hand on her shoulders and gently pressed her back down onto the booth seat. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” His eyes were shadowed with concern. “You grabbed your head, screamed, and passed out.”
“How long have I been out?” She glanced at Patrick, Shamus’s brothers, Jasmine, Pratt, and Tracy. They all hovered near the bar, watching her.
“About ten minutes. Patrick called a doctor.”
Jerry always runs away when I need him the most. Somewhere deep inside, she knew her thoughts weren’t fair to him, but he should have been the one who told her Thomas was alive, as soon as he knew it. “I don’t need a doctor. Let me up.”
He compressed his lips into a tight line, but moved back and allowed her to sit up. “If I’m not needed here, I’ll go in and get our plan started at the station.”
“You don’t have a mole.” She tried to stand, and Jerry placed his arm around her and helped her to the bar. “Patrick, pour me a drink, please. Make it whiskey.”
“I don’t think now’s the time to be drinking, lass.” Patrick pulled out a barstool and helped Jerry lower her on it.
“I’m disappointed, lass.” Liam O’Conner pulled out a barstool and sat. “Shamus thinks you hung the moon, and now you’re just giving up.”
“I’m not giving up. I just need something to steady my nerves.”
Patrick poured a glass of Jack Daniels and set it on the bar. “Courage doesn’t come from a bottle. It’s something we either have, or we don’t.”
Andi twirled the glass, watching the lights reflect off the amber liquid. Tell me what I want to know, and I won’t hurt you again. A shudder went through her, and she placed the glass back on the bar. “I should have recognized this sooner. The first few weeks after he tortured me, the headaches came every time I tried to remember what Thomas did to me. He had me for almost a month, but all I could remember was three days. It’s why I checked into the mental rehabilitation center. It wasn’t just to clear my body of the drugs and alcohol he poured into me. It was because the headaches were so severe I couldn’t stand the pain. The doctors t
old me not to try to remember, that I was free and it wasn’t important anymore.” Andi swiveled the stool to face them. “Later, it was just a minor throbbing when someone would mention my past.” Her voice shook, and tears filled her eyes.
“You don’t have to do this now.” Jerry placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’re not even sure Thomas is still alive.”
“No, Jerry, that must have been the key—the doctors call it a ‘trigger.’ He wanted me to remember, but not until he was ready. There was this woman with him and she hypnotized me every day, pumping me full of drugs and alcohol and repeating over and over what I was supposed to say. That’s what Thomas meant when he laughed and said ‘I can’t believe this crap actually worked.’ After three days of torture and countless injections of truth serum—or whatever he was using—I finally said the words they’d implanted during the sessions. I told him I was investigating Gambini running young girls. McHugh finding him for me and his death at my hands was all planned before they let Gambini rescue me.” She met Patrick’s gaze. “I don’t think they planned on the beating you gave him beforehand, though.”
“I wish now I had killed the bastard.” Patrick picked up the glass he’d poured for her and quickly downed it. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
“I still don’t understand the Cobra’s part in this,” Jerry said. “If Thomas isn’t dead, wouldn’t his daughter be the one person who would know that?”
“I don’t know the answer to that.” Andi took a deep breath. “We’ve been looking at this all wrong. It isn’t something happening right now. It’s something that happened ten years ago. They counted on the fact that the trauma would destroy any memories they hadn’t erased. And I played right into their hands, drinking myself into oblivion day after day and night after night. They didn’t destroy my apartment to send a message, like I thought. They destroyed it looking for the notes on my investigation then.” Andi glanced at Tracy and smiled. “What they didn’t count on was Tracy escaping or having the nerve to fight back.”
“What were you investigating ten years ago, Andi?” Jerry’s voice was soft and held a tinge of emotion she couldn’t make out as her own emotions were so out of whack.
“The night Thomas took me, I was supposed to meet David Sinclair. He’d come across information linking certain members of the council and mayor to connections with the Russian mob. He was terrified for his life and believed his children were involved.” Andi lowered her head and closed her eyes. “I didn’t make that connection, either. Mr. Sinclair and his wife both disappeared the same night I was kidnapped.”
~ ~ ~
“There’s so much blood.” Gloria hesitated at the doorway to the mayor’s house.
Cherese shoved her inside and flashed even, white teeth in the darkness. “That’s what happens when you piss off the wrong person, Gloria.” She waved the flashlight toward the stairs, motioning in that direction. “You’d be well warned not to piss me off. Let’s go.”
Gloria preceded her up the steps, and Cherese took one final look at the living room below. She felt cheated. She’d wanted to kill Divina Morgan herself, after a few hours of torture. Her only satisfaction came from the knowledge that she knew who had killed the woman. The signature was distinct, which meant her father was still alive. I hope he enjoyed his reprieve. He would have been better off if he’d let them kill him.
“What are we looking for?” Gloria reached the top of the stairs.
“Things that are valuable. The bitch didn’t pay me, so go through the closets and look under all the beds.”
It took them over an hour to search the top-floor bedrooms. “There’s nothing here.” Gloria shrugged. “My children will be thirsty and hungry. Can we go, please?”
Cherese backhanded her, and she fell into the bookcase, dislodging the bottom shelf and revealing the hidden wall safe. “You just got lucky, Gloria. Otherwise, your children would be dead. Now move out of my way.”
Gloria scurried across the floor on her hands and knees, huddling in the corner as Cherese knelt in front of the safe. Arrogance and overconfidence was the downfall of most of the rich and powerful. Morgan had been so sure no one would ever find the safe that she’d installed only a cheap combination lock. Cherese had it open in seconds. She quickly emptied the contents then sorted it into cash, jewelry, and a series of picture envelopes. “Let’s see who you’ve been hiding, Divina.” She opened the first envelope, her hands trembling as she stared down at the smiling faces. The picture was dated last year. She quickly tore open all the envelopes, ripping the pictures into tiny pieces as her rage simmered, caught flame, and burned out of control. She tossed the cash and jewelry into the bag she carried then stood. She’d get rid of the maid, her snotty kids, and her sister. Then, she’d finish off Gambini and the O’Conner kid.
“Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” Gloria ran to keep up with her.
“We’re going to take care of your children, Gloria. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Andi sipped her coffee and continued her property search, her admiration for Shamus’s computer skills growing. Her earlier revelations had kicked the group into gear. Jerry had gone to talk to Gambini to see if he could shed any light on Thomas. Her main priority now was finding Shamus and Mollie. “There’s a corporation here with hidden owners. They’ve been gradually buying up property in three neighborhoods over the past ten years. Once the government awards contracts for housing for the homeless, they stand to make millions.”
“Billions with the type of renters they’d put in. It’s a perfect front for drugs and money laundering,” Coilin commented, “which is why the Russian mob is involved.”
Andi jotted down the addresses. “All of them were low-income housing units, mostly occupied by immigrants.”
Patrick refilled her cup. “Easy targets to displace.”
Andi nodded. “And easy for Morgan and the council members to push through the purchases and rezone the property later. Making their move gradually over a number of years kept anyone from really looking at what was happening.”
“Any way of finding out the names of the real owners of the corporation?”
“Not until morning, when the Secretary of State’s office opens. Even then, we’d probably only get phony paperwork.”
Coilin joined them at the booth. “This is all very interesting, lass, but how does it help us find Shamus?”
She pulled the city map across the table. “They have to be holding him, as well as the maid and her children, somewhere.” She circled three spots on the map. “They’ve concentrated their purchases on three streets so far: Cordell, Mason, and Grover. We can mark off Cordell, because she wouldn’t have taken them so close to Gambini. That leaves two. If we split into teams, we can search all of them in less than an hour.”
“Damn, how could I forget that?” Jasmine joined them at the booth. “Is there a way to check and see if any of them have electricity?”
“I’d have to run every address, and I don’t think we have that much time. As soon as the Cobra realizes Gambini is gone, she’ll kill her hostages and disappear. Why?” Andi asked.
“It didn’t strike me as odd until now, but there was a light on in the basement where Gambini was being kept. I’d consider that unusual for an abandoned house.”
Dylan picked up his rifle. “Let’s go. We can move faster by checking the meters on the outside of the house. Liam and I will take Grover.”
“Coilin and I can take Mason.” Patrick met Andi’s gaze. “It would mean a lot to me, lass, if you’d stay here and wait for Palano.”
She nodded. As much as she wanted to go with them, she knew if the Cobra called and wanted a trade, Patrick would never let her go. At least this way, she could sneak out without anyone suspecting what she was doing. “Call me as soon as you find Shamus.”
Patrick stopped only long enough to kiss her on the cheek. “Aye, lass, I’ll bring the lad home safely.”
Andi watched them go, sadness washing over her. They were up against professional killers, and one or all of them might not return.
“They’re going to be okay.” Jasmine placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s almost over.”
“I still feel like there’s something missing, some vital part that everything around it hinges on. Why would McHugh work with Thomas and the Russian mob? They’ve always been on opposite sides of everything.”
“Money is the only reason I can come up with.”
An image of Daniel McHugh ten years before popped into Andi’s head. He must have been at least sixty then. His hair was almost white, and his body had begun to soften, taking on fat to replace muscle. Jasmine was probably right, and McHugh wanted to retire. She glanced around the room. “Where’s Agent Pratt?”
“He went with Jerry to check on Gambini. Pratt was moving him to my apartment in case McHugh decided to have a go at him now that the heat is on. Jerry thought Gambini might be able to give us some information on where Thomas was hiding all these years.” Jasmine glanced at the clock. “I thought they would be back by now.”
“I think Pratt’s got a crush you, Jasmine. Might be a good catch. With that Ferrari, FBI agents must pull down a pretty hefty salary.”
Jasmine laughed. “Not interested, and the Ferrari belongs to Stuart.”
Andi frowned, a sick feeling starting in the pit of her stomach. “No, it doesn’t. Stuart would never own a Ferrari. He doesn’t even drive.”
Jasmine’s face paled. “Crap, after he helped rescue Stuart, I never thought to check him out.” She jerked out her phone.
Andi pulled the shotgun from beneath the bar. “Stay with Tracy.”
Jasmine grabbed her arm. “I’ll go. You stay with Tracy.”
“He knows you’re CIA. He’ll suspect something if you show up.” Andi hefted the gun. “He’ll probably think Santa Claus has arrived when I show up. He’ll have Palano, Gambini, and me all in one spot.”
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