Family Secrets: Books 5-8

by Virginia Kantra

  Not telling you is the hardest thing Ive ever done. I hope you forgive me when you get back. You need to know I did it out of love, nothing else. I know how hard it is for you being there in that hellhole so far away from home. And thats why Ive kept news of your son from you. If you knew, it would make every day more of an agony for you, and I love you too much for that. I love you too much to add to the burden you carry. Youre doing a noble thing there in that land so far away from ours, fighting a war that has nothing to do with us.

  Know that I think about that all the time, of how proud I am of you. And I pray. God, how I pray. I pray youll come home safe and sound to me. I pray Ill see you teaching our son how to throw a baseball or ride a bike. I pray youll forgive me. I pray youll always, always remember how very much I love you.

  Seth had remembered, Eric thought, putting down his mothers yellowed letter and swallowing against the rock of emotion jammed in his throat. Hed remembered, and hed never stopped loving her back. Never stopped mourning her. Hed returned safe and sound from Vietnam, as shed begged him to do, as hed promised to do, but he had no home to return to. No fiance. No child. Only memories, shadows of the past, echoes of all that would never be.

  Eric and Seth had submitted samples for a DNA test early in the afternoon, but now, as Eric stood on his patio and watched the darkening summer sky, he knew he didnt need those test results. Seth Mitchell was his father. He knew that deep in his bones, just as hed known Connor was his son the second hed laid eyes on the boy. He had a father, he thought again. And a son.

  And he owed both to Leigh.

  God, Leigh.

  Think about her for a change, Jake had bit out just that morning. Hed stopped by to let Eric know Ethan was expecting lab results on Erics laptop by early the next morning. Hed known something was wrong the second hed walked in the door, and Eric had seen no reason not to tell him about Connor.

  It hadnt taken long to realize Jake already knew. The quick rush of betrayal had been like a blow to the gut.

  His friend had shoved a hand through his hair and sworn softly. Hed also taken her side. She was twenty years old and so crazy in love with you she could barely see straight, hed all but growled.

  Eric hadnt wanted to hear that. We were friends.

  Jake let out a harsh laugh. Only in your eyes, Indy. The rest of us saw it plain as day.

  That doesnt change the fact that she lied to me.

  She never lied to you.

  She kept my son from me.

  Jakes mouth twisted. A son she had no way of knowing you would want. You were marrying Becky. You encouraged Leigh to go to Oxford. She loved you. After her train wreck of a childhood, you really think she would thrust an unwanted child on you? Ruin your plans? Take away the life she thought you wanted? Right or wrong, she loved you far too much for that.

  Love. The word stabbed deep.

  I never thought Id say this to you, Indy, Jake had said as hed left. But youre a goddamn fool.

  She had a party to plan. Leigh stepped off the elevator with her briefcase in one hand and a tall cup of coffee in the other, deep in thought about Connors approaching birthday. She could invite his baseball team, take them out for paintball and pizza.

  Shed have to invite Eric.

  Her heart stumbled on the thought. Eric. He would be part of their lives from this day forward; nothing could change that. She certainly wouldnt try. Father and son deserved to get to know each other, develop a relationship. Both fathers and both sons.

  The sight of Eric standing on the sidewalk yesterday beneath the glare of the late-morning sun and staring at Seth Mitchell, just staring, would stay coiled around her heart forever.

  Youve had several calls already, Julia said as Leigh headed to her office. I put them in voice mail.

  Thanks, she said absently. Youre a gem.

  Leigh?

  She paused, turning to look at her friends concerned face. Before Eric walked back into her life, the two had often shared lunch, secrets, laughter. Something wrong?

  I was going to ask you that, Julia said. You dont look like yourself.

  She forced a smile. Just tired, I suppose.

  The Jones case?

  Her heart kicked, hard. You could say so.

  Maybe the calls will be good news, then, Julia said. Someone named Ethan Williams called a little while ago, said he had something important to tell you.

  Adrenaline mixed with caffeine to send Leighs pulse racing. Ethan. The computer. Thanks, she said, heading down the hall.

  After unlocking the door to her office, she strode in and found the red light blinking on her phone console. She set down her briefcase and her coffee and quickly reached for the receiver, but a single sheet of white paper snagged her attention and stopped her cold.

  Y OU WERE WARNED

  The letters were large and bold and black, and they appeared traced from a stencil kit.

  Leigh sucked in a jagged breath, but the room kept spinning. Julia? she asked, pressing the intercom buzzer. Has anyone been in my office this morning?

  Not that Im aware of. Something wrong?

  Maybe, she said. Just to be sure, why dont you call security for me, ask them to come up immediately.

  The red light kept blinking, prompting her to shift her attention to the calls, rather than the notes. She picked up the receiver, hating the way her hands shook. She wasnt a woman to be afraid. She didnt jump at shadows. And yet, she couldnt banish the coldness drilling through her, the chilling awareness that theyd reached the final act.

  Someones mighty interested in hearing what you have to say, Bob Kitchens, chief of security, said fifteen minutes later. He held the tweezers up so Leigh could see the small device pinched between the prongs, a round metallic disc that looked like a hearing aid.

  Her heart rate quickened. Someone bugged my office?

  Looks like it.

  The implications horrified her. Are there others?

  Bob dropped the device into a plastic bag. Well do a sweep and get the police up here, but for now, Id recommend you make private calls elsewhere.

  Leigh brought a hand to her face and pressed two fingers against her temple. Her mind raced to recall the conversations shed had from her office phone, conversations that would have revealed the defense strategy she was building.

  Clean as a whistle, Ethan pronounced a short time later, when she returned his call from the conference room. Bob had checked for bugs before shed touched the phone. Someone planted a damn sophisticated echo trail on the hard drive, but my friends at Quantico have confirmed the source files couldnt have originated from Indys hard drive.

  Relief staggered through her, both for the news and the fact shed made the call from a secure line. Can this be proved?

  Absolutely. Source code buried deep within the deleted files contains an electronic signature incapable of being produced by Indys computer.

  How did the first analyst miss this? Leigh wanted to know.

  Ethan let out a low, mistrustful sound. Im not sure he
missed it at all.

  What does that mean?

  The analyst has turned up missing. No one has seen him since I started asking questions.

  A shiver ran through Leigh. Possibilities pierced deep. You think he was on the take?

  Highly possible, Ethan said. If theres one thing Ive learned, its that not all good guys are good. You cant trust someone just because they wear white.

  Leigh hung up the phone a few minutes later and thought back to the three words on the sheet of paper. You were warned.

  They were getting close, she knew. Close enough to make someone nervous. Very nervous.

  Hack confirmed that.

  Hed spent the past forty-eight hours holed up in a hotel room Leigh had secured for him, and there hed determined, through whatever magic it was he wielded with computer systems, that the convoluted cyber trails that led to Erics computer had, a few months before, led to an aeronautics company somewhere in Oregon.

  On a hunch, hed also done some snooping into another account. And there hed found a stream of $100,000 deposits and subsequent withdrawals starting shortly after the World Bank heist.

  Leighs heart kicked hard, sending anticipation streaming through her. This was why shed gone into law, why shed chosen to be a defense attorney. There was nothing like the thrill of moving in on the prey. Except this time, the prey was shaping up to be bigger than shed ever imagined.

  And far more deadly.

  Yes, shed been warned. But her prey had underestimated its opponent.

  It was early afternoon before she connected with her third caller, Alice Brady, the investigator shed sent on a wild, wild goose chase. And again, more pieces crashed into place.

  For three days Alice had been doing some tailing of her own. And during those three days, shed witnessed several late-night rendezvous in dark, out-of-the way places. Covert meetings Alice had captured on film. Sometimes the one shed watched had just talked with a man who bore a striking resemblance to General Brunos number twothe suspected militant whod been photographed with Eric. Once thered been raised voices, twice a hand-off.

  Leigh hung up the phone and smiled. Yes, shed been warned. But she wasnt a coward and she didnt scare, and now the end lay in sight. Smelling victory, she had Julia connect her to Rebecca Salinger, the federal prosecutor building the case against Eric.

  We need to talk, she told Salinger. Today.

  At precisely 3:00 p.m., Leigh was heading out the door when her office phone rang. She almost ignored the call, having all the information she needed, but on impulse, she hurried back to her desk and brought the receiver to her ear. Leigh Montgomery.

  Ms. Montgomery? the unfamiliar male voice greeted. This is Joe Lewis with Trilegient Security. Im calling to inform you the panic button has been tripped at your house.

  Leigh went absolutely, deadly still. Her heart staggered hard, then hammered against her ribcage. The panic button?

  Dispatch tried to raise someone at the house, but no one has answered. A squad car is en route.

  The bottom dropped out from her world. How long ago?

  Less than five minutes.

  Im on my way. Leigh ran from her office and down the hall, jabbed at the elevator call button. Dear God. Dear God. There was only one way to trip the panic alarm, and that was to deliberately and manually press the button. Connor knew better than to touch that button, not unless something was wrong. Theyd discussed it countless times. Security wasnt a game. Crying wolf got you killed.

  Killed.

  Connor.

  Leigh shot into the elevator the second the doors opened and pressed the button for the parking garage. School hadnt started yet. Connor was home with Trish, the college student who looked after him during the summer. Leigh had talked to them just thirty minutes before. Everything had been fine.

  They hadnt planned to go anywhere.

  But now the panic alarm was sounding, and no one was answering the phone. Police had been dispatched.

  The elevator doors opened to the dimly lit garage, and again Leigh ran. She reached her car and slung her briefcase into the passengers seat, then, once inside, gunned the engine and screeched out of the garage.

  Eric. Shed held off calling him today, wanting to give him time alone with his father, wanting their next encounter to be when she announced the charges against him had been dropped.

  With shaking hands she battled the small buttons of her mobile phone, zipped into the stream of traffic headed north and lay on her horn.

  The second Erics deep and steady voice sounded in her ear, her heart broke a little further. Eric, she practically breathed. Thank God.

  Leigh? His voice was sharp. Whats wrong?

  Its Connor. Her breaths came in short, choppy gasps. The security company just called. The panic alarm is going off at the house.

  Is he there?

  He was half an hour ago, didnt have plans to go anywhere.

  Eric swore softly. Try to relax, sweetheart. Im sure its just a false alarm.

  She held on to his voice, used it to give her calm. I received another note today, she blurted out. It said, You were warned.

  This time when Eric swore, it was neither soft nor repeatable. Im on my way.

  Hurry.

  Leigh, he said, his voice strong again, calm under fire. Breathe.

  She tried to, wanted to, but her lungs wouldnt cooperate. Blindly, she reached the interstate and gunned the engine, weaving frantically through traffic. Not Connor, she thought over and over. Dear God, not Connor. He was everything that was good and right. He was the greatest gift shed ever been given. She couldnt live without

  No. She would not let herself think like that.

  Everything looked so damn normal when she turned onto her street. The Baxter kids played in their front yard, the recently retired Aucoins leisurely rode bikes, the ever-helpful Mrs. Miller played with her petunias and a middle-aged man whod recently moved in two houses down jogged along. The trees gracefully draped over the street, providing shade and creating the illusion of calm.

  There was nothing calm about the cold terror stabbing through Leigh.

  And then she saw it, her house. The brick structure shed thought of as a sanctuary sat quietly at the end of the street, seemingly untouched. No police cars outside. No ambulances. And when she turned off her engine, she heard no panic alarm ringing from the rafters. The windows were dark, the front door closed.

  Relief flashed hard and profound, followed by a sharp blade of fear. The authorities had already come and gone. She was too late. Theyd taken Connor away

  No, she told herself again, racing from the car and running toward her house. No. Connor was fine. Thered merely been a misunderstanding. He hadnt meant to push the button.

  Connor! she called, surprised to find the front door unlocked. She pushed inside and ran through the foyer, willing her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness within. Connor!

  How nice of you to join me, came a low voice from just inside the family room. Ive been waiting.

  She saw the gun first, glinting from the shadows, s
hiny and deadly and pointed straight at her heart. Then she lifted her eyes and saw the face.

  Thirteen

  Y ou were warned, FBI Special Agent Daniel Venturi said. You should have let Jones take the fall. The Coalition wont let anyone get in their way.

  Cold horror snaked through Leigh. A setup. Shed been lured to her house, alone. The police hadnt been there, werent coming. Wheres my son? What have you done with him?

  Venturis smile was cutting, deliberate. And the light in his eyes could only be called maniacal. Why, hes racing to your side, of course. Had a phone call about thirty minutes ago from a doctor at Memorial. His lips curled maliciously. What good son wouldnt want to be by his mothers side as she fights for her life?

  You son of a bitch! Leigh hissed, charging the vile man. You told him Id been hurt.

  Only a small lie, the agent chided. Youre about to be dead.

  That stopped her. She looked in shock at his gun, remembered the phone calls from that morning. Hack had found deposits to this mans account. Alice had documented incriminating meetings. Youre working for them. Youre the one who set everything up.

  Ive always said a womans place is in the home, he said, sidestepping her accusation. That way they dont poke their noses where they dont belong.

  Eric Jones is an innocent man.

  He wont be after they find your body, Venturi predicted.

  His insinuation sickened her. Dont be ridiculous. No one will believe Eric had anything to do with this.

  He fired you, Leigh. Removed you from the case. But you kept digging. Clearly you found something you couldnt let go of, something he didnt want you to find.