Tough Justice Series Box Set, Parts 1-8

by Carla Cassidy

  “No, nothing. He just said he was glad that I was suffering.”

  “Sick bastard,” Mei murmured.

  “No kidding.” She took another gulp of coffee, hoping Nick would leave it at that.

  But her partner was too good an agent—suspicious as hell and tenacious. And after the time they’d spent together, he was beginning to know her too well.

  He leaned toward her from across the table, skepticism etched on his handsome face. “I don’t buy it. He used the word home. That’s got to mean something else, something a lot more personal than—”

  A knock on the conference room door cut him off. Lara eased out her breath, grateful for the reprieve. She hated deceiving her team. She wished she could confess what had her so badly shaken and enlist their help. God knew, she could use every bit of input she could get. Moretti was a formidable enough enemy without hiding information that might yield new clues.

  And she liked Nick. A lot. She trusted him and respected his opinion, despite that aura of danger that both unnerved her and turned her on. But that baby’s safety depended on keeping her existence secret. She couldn’t reveal that story to anyone, no matter how desperately she wanted to come clean. Only Victoria knew the truth.

  “Anna’s here, so listen up.” Victoria paused with her hand on the doorknob, waiting until everyone looked her way. “We’re going to keep this brief. My daughter’s tough, but she’s been through quite an ordeal. She’ll make a statement, answer a few questions, and then she’s going back home to rest. Got it?”

  Lara added her assent to the murmurs rising around the table as Victoria pulled open the door. Her daughter stepped inside, carrying a sheath of papers, and gave the team a tremulous smile. Her face was devoid of makeup, her eye a sickening blackish-purple, her long blond hair scraped back in a haphazard ponytail that made her look younger than her nineteen years. She wore tattered jeans and sneakers, and an oversized sweatshirt that added to her vulnerable look.

  Victoria ushered her to a seat, then handed the papers to Nick. “Here are the sketches of the kidnappers the artist made. Take a look, see if either of these people looks familiar.”

  Lara took a copy from the pile and passed the rest to Mei. The kidnappers were Caucasians in their twenties. Neither looked remarkable in any way. They both had mundane features. They both wore dark glasses that covered their eyes. The man had so much facial hair Lara knew he had to be wearing a disguise. In fact, the pictures strongly resembled the sketches made from the other students’ descriptions—and were too generic to do any good. Her hopes for a break in this case began to fade.

  “Anyone know them?”

  No one answered. Victoria tossed her copy on the table and sighed. “It’s not much to go on, I know. We’ll put them in the system and see if there are any hits.” But the odds were against it, as they all knew.

  Victoria turned to her daughter and gave her a nod. “Whenever you’re ready, Anna. Just start at the beginning and tell us what you remember.”

  “Okay.” The young woman nibbled her lip, looking more shaken now that the ordeal was over and the reality of the danger had settled in. “They came into my philosophy class about halfway through the lecture. They flashed their IDs, said they were FBI and needed to talk to me. I thought you’d sent them.” She shot her mother an apologetic look. “I should have called you and checked.”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong,” Victoria said. “None of this was your fault.”

  No, it was hers. And everyone knew it. Lara fought back a wave of guilt.

  “They took me to their SUV. It was black. When I got inside, they blindfolded me. There was someone in the seat behind me with a gun.” Her face paled even more. “I didn’t see him when I got in. I’m sorry. I should have been paying attention, but I thought they were taking me to a safe house like they said.”

  “You did fine,” Victoria said. “You didn’t have any reason to suspect they were kidnapping you. And no one expects you to have seen everything. Just tell us what you remember. Sometimes the smallest things can help.”

  Anna nodded and clasped her hands. “The two who got me out of class both had dark hair. The man had a beard and mustache, like in the picture. They kept their glasses on, so I never saw their eyes. But they didn’t look too old, maybe a few years older than I am, twenties, maybe thirty, tops. The woman was about my height, five-five. The man was a little taller, but not much. Maybe five-nine or-ten.”

  “Did they have accents?” Mei asked. “Could you tell where they were from?”

  “The man had a Jersey accent. It was really strong. But I don’t think the woman was from around here.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I don’t know. She just sounded different, kind of like my friend Mary.” She looked at her mother. “You know, the one from Detroit? And she called soda pop.”

  “So she’s probably Midwestern,” Lara said. Which didn’t help them much.

  “What about the license plates on the SUV?” Victoria asked.

  “I didn’t see them.”

  “Any idea where they took you?”

  “No, I couldn’t see.”

  Nick leaned across the table toward her, his gaze intense. “How about the car ride? Could you tell how long you were in the SUV before you stopped? Or how long it took you to get to Central Park last night when they dropped you off?”

  “Maybe half an hour? Maybe a little longer... I couldn’t really tell. It’s weird how when you’re blindfolded you can’t judge the time. And when they pulled that gun on me, my mind went blank. I started hyperventilating...”

  “What about noises?” Nick persisted. “Did you hear anything unusual on the way?”

  “Not really. Just sirens and horns, jackhammers, that sort of thing. Typical city sounds.”

  “Did you go through a tunnel or over a bridge, anything that would have given the tires a different sound?”

  She shot him a helpless look. “I don’t think so. But I don’t really know. I’m sorry. I was just so scared...”

  “Don’t be,” Nick said, just as Victoria looked about to intervene. “It isn’t easy to stay calm in a situation like that. You did fine.”

  She’d done more than fine, Lara thought, her respect for the young woman rising. Given her ordeal, she’d emerged in remarkably good shape. “Any idea where they kept you?” she asked.

  “Not the location, no. But it was in an alcove studio apartment, just one small room and a bathroom. I figured it had been vacant for a while because the air seemed stale. You know how empty houses get? Maybe it was condemned. The wood floor was kind of slanted, and the balcony was boarded up. And the furniture was awful, really old and ugly. The sofa was an orange-and-brown plaid. And the kitchen was harvest gold.”

  “How about windows?” her mother asked. “Could you see outside?”

  “There was a small one in the bathroom, but it faced another building. I tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. It must have been nailed or painted shut. That’s how I got the black eye. They caught me trying to open it. They punched me as a warning so I wouldn’t try to escape again.”

  “They’ll pay for that,” Victoria promised, and Anna shot her a grateful look.

  “What floor were you on?” Cass asked.

  “The third, I think. I tried to count the stairs when we were going up, but I lost track because they were holding on to my arms so tight.”

  “Did you see anyone else while you were there?”

  “No, just those same two people. They brought me food a couple times a day, take-out stuff like pizza and subs. Except for that woman at the end.”

  “What woman?” Victoria asked.

  “Last night, when we were leaving. We were in the hall. They’d blindfolded me again, so I couldn’t see. But I knew there was another woman there because I heard her speak.”

  “What did she say?” Lara asked, her hopes ticking up again. She realized it was unlikely, but they needed some sort of break
in this puzzling case.

  “I don’t know. We’d started toward the stairs. The man was holding on to my arm. And then someone bumped into me, the woman, I think. The man got nasty. He yelled at her to watch out. And then she said something back.”

  “What?”

  “That’s just it. I don’t know. It sounded like chew... Doy-chew. Or doy-um-chew. But that doesn’t make any sense.”

  Mei sat up straight. “Sure it does. That’s Cantonese. It means I’m sorry, or excuse me.”

  Victoria frowned at that. “Your abductors weren’t Chinese, were they?”

  “No, they were definitely Caucasian.”

  “But that woman who bumped you was.” Mei sounded excited now. “That could help a lot.”

  Nick didn’t look convinced. “I don’t see how. There are tons of Chinese people in New York.”

  “Still...” Victoria’s eyes turned thoughtful now. “Did you hear anything else?”

  “Not really, just that music every night.”

  “What music?”

  Anna wrinkled her nose. “Old stuff. Your kind of music, actually, like Journey and Survivor. It was coming from below me. It was muffled, but I got the impression I was over a bar. They played the same songs every night...sometimes several times a night. “Eye of the Tiger.”

  “Don’t Stop Believin’.” And Michael Jackson. They played him endlessly. I got so sick of “Beat It,” I wanted to hurl.”

  Mei’s entire face lit up. “It was probably a karaoke bar. There are lots of them in Chinatown. There’s one, Minnie’s, out by the courthouse, that specializes in 80’s songs. I’ll bet that’s where it was.”

  “It’s not much of a lead,” Victoria said. “But it’s definitely worth checking out. You want to do that, Mei, since you seem to know the place?”

  “Sure.”

  “Good.” Victoria glanced at her daughter, who was stifling a yawn. “Let’s leave it there for now. Anna needs to rest. If she thinks of anything else, I’ll let you know.” She turned to her daughter. “Wait for me in the hall, okay? I’ll walk you out.”

  “Okay. I wish I could be more help...”

  “You did great,” Lara told her. “Seriously. Every little bit helps. And don’t worry. I promise we’re going to catch these guys.” They had to—because, despite the brave front they’d put on for Anna, they all knew they’d dodged a bullet this time. They’d been damned lucky that she’d survived.

  Victoria waited until the door closed, then turned to face them, her tight-lipped expression reflecting Lara’s thoughts. “All right, people. We don’t have time to waste here. What’s our plan?”

  Xander stirred. “I’ll check in with the guys investigating Olivia Conner’s death. Maybe they’ve found something else by now.”

  “All right.”

  “I’m still working on that ransom note,” Cass said. “I’m also trying to trace those anonymous texts.”

  “Good. Lara? How about you and Nick?”

  Lara looked across the table at her partner, unable to miss the suspicion still lingering in his brown eyes. And she knew his interrogation about the clue would resume the minute he got her alone. “I think we should focus on the sniper and see if we can get some leads.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Nick said, turning his gaze to their boss. “There can’t be that many snipers around, not of that caliber. His shots have been impossible, and he hasn’t missed. I wonder if he was in the military. Most of our SWAT team snipers were.”

  “That’s a good thought,” Victoria agreed. “Cass, you can look up ex-military snipers. Xander can help you when he has time. They should have that in a database somewhere. Lara, talk over your plan with Nick and let me know what you decide to do.”

  “All right.”

  “Ty, you’ll go with Mei to Chinatown.”

  “I’d be better off alone,” Mei argued. “Some of those people won’t talk to anyone who’s not Chinese.”

  “Tough. We don’t know who you might find around there. Until we know what Moretti’s threat means, I don’t want anyone taking chances. Make sure you carry your weapons. Stick to public places as much as you can. Situational awareness, people. We can’t let him catch us off guard.” She made eye contact with every team member, making sure they understood. “Another thing. I want you all to check in every few hours. Cass can field the calls. We need to know everyone’s whereabouts at all times.”

  “Got it.” Cass picked up her tablet and started pecking out notes.

  “I’ll send out a memo to everyone at all our bureaus to take extra precautions,” Victoria added. “We can’t minimize the danger on this.” She tapped her papers on the table and rose. “All right. Get to work, everyone. Let’s nail this bastard before he hurts anyone else.” Moving briskly, she left the room.

  The rest of the team quickly followed. Lara stayed in her seat, her belly tensing as she waited to talk to Nick.

  The door clicked shut. Silence enveloped the room. He instantly shifted toward her, his eyes drilling into hers.

  “All right,” he said, the roughness in his voice indicating he’d had enough. “Let’s cut the bullshit. What the hell is really going on?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “What do you mean?” Lara asked him, trying to sound offhand.

  “Come on, Lara. Knock it off. You must know what Moretti means. There’s no place like home? That sounds pretty damned personal to me.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t,” she added when he opened his mouth to argue.

  “Bullshit. You know this guy. You got near him when you took him down. You must have some kind of clue.”

  “Well, I don’t.” Or at least not one that she could divulge. “I’ve been trying to figure it out, and I’m just as confused as you are. I really don’t know what he means.”

  Nick didn’t answer, his silence more condemning than any words. But she needed to maintain this deception. She didn’t have any choice. Unfortunately for her, Nick was too astute. Even after the short time they’d spent working together, he could tell when she hadn’t come clean.

  “You know you can trust me,” he finally said.

  “I know.”

  He leaned forward again, his eyes still probing hers. “Lara, whatever you’re hiding—”

  “I’m not hiding anything,” she said, a note of desperation creeping into her voice. “I’ve told you everything I can. I don’t know anything else that would help us solve this case. Besides,” she added, praying he’d let the subject drop, “we don’t even know for sure if Moretti’s the one behind all this. I mean, we’re ninety-nine percent sure he is. Nothing else makes any sense. He gave us that clue about Anna, and he has the reach to pull this off.”

  As well as the motive. But she couldn’t tell Nick that. She just wished that he’d take her word for it. The rest of the team accepted the logical story—that Moretti was a twisted bastard, bent on retaliation for her role in bringing down his syndicate. Only Nick sensed that his reason went deeper—far deeper, to her everlasting remorse.

  “Either way, we need to find that sniper,” she continued. “And we don’t have time to waste. So how do you want to tackle this?”

  Nick’s penetrating gaze didn’t waver. He sat back and crossed his arms, and she knew he didn’t want to let this go. But at the moment, they had something more pressing to worry about—trying to find that sniper before another innocent person got killed.

  He finally seemed to relent. “All right. Let’s go over what we have.”

  “It isn’t much,” Lara admitted. “None of the witnesses in the shootings saw him. We’re still waiting for the ballistics report to come back, so we don’t have any clues there. The only thing we know for sure is that he’s good.”

  “Exactly. He’s not your typical hired gun. His MO is different, for one thing. Most killers do their work up close. Even the amateurs—the ones some SOB pays to knock off an unwanted spouse—usually stalk their victim and wait until they get
him alone. They don’t do it in public or from a distance like this guy does.”

  “So, he’s a pro.”

  “More than that, he’s smart, focused, disciplined. He can get into his bubble and stay detached. He pays attention to detail and makes his shots precise. And he isn’t likely to make a mistake.”

  Lara swallowed hard, her eyes settling on Nick’s right biceps where he’d been shot. The sniper’s aim had been precise, all right. He’d injured Nick just badly enough to warn him, but without doing lasting harm.

  “So, what do you suggest?”

  “A guy this good...” Nick shook his head. “We’ll never catch him in the act. He knows how to hide. He knows how to avoid detection, even after the fact. But somebody has to know him—a friend, a relative or neighbor, other killers... He doesn’t live in a vacuum. Even in a city as big as this one, word of an assassin that skilled gets around.”

  “But will anyone talk?” That was the question. Anything connected to Moretti struck terror into even the most hardened hearts. And those who did talk wound up dead.

  “Eventually, yeah. We just need to find the right person. Someone out there knows what’s going on.”

  Sure. Moretti. She bit back another sigh. “So, we need to do some legwork.”

  “Right. I’ve got some informants we can ask. But, Lara...” He waited until she met his eyes. “You heard the boss. We’ve got to be careful. This guy’s patient. He blends in to avoid detection. He studies his enemies and knows how to exploit their weaknesses.”

  “By enemies, you mean me.”

  “I mean us. We’re all his enemies now. So if there’s anything you need to tell me...”

  “I’ve already told you everything I can.”

  “I hope to hell you’re right. Because when he gets tired of toying with us...” His grim expression caused a chill to lodge deep in her gut. “He won’t hesitate to go for the kill.”

  * * *

  Nick’s ominous warning kept Lara on edge as they parked his car just north of Chinatown and began questioning the various informants he’d cultivated over the years. But three hours—and what felt like twenty miles—later, frustration had blunted her anxiety. No one would talk. No one knew a damned thing, or so they claimed. They’d questioned ex-cons, prostitutes and gang bangers, all with the same result. All she’d gained was an empty stomach and two miserably aching feet.