Tough Justice: Countdown Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  * * *

  Victoria knew as soon as she left the conference room that it was the last time she’d leave it as Special Agent in Charge. Or, for that matter, any agent at all. While the fire of enthusiasm was burning hot beneath her team, she knew there were some battles you just couldn’t win fast enough.

  Lara and Nick had been a flurry of activity since the text had come in. They’d tried to get it traced. But again, Christina swore this way and that while telling them the same thing she had earlier.

  She couldn’t trace the message. Not at all.

  The rest of the team filtered in and Nick and Lara updated them on what had happened in their absence. Victoria resisted the urge to listen in when Xander and James began to recap their talk with Oscar Mackworth. She had enough on her plate without delving back into that case. Especially since Greg had been the leak.

  Victoria didn’t want to think about him, either.

  Not now. But later, she was sure she would.

  “You wanted to see us?” Nick asked from the doorway. Victoria looked up from her phone and cleared her throat. It was time to face the music.

  And she had a feeling neither Nick or Lara would like it.

  “I want you to come to the conference room with me,” she said, gathering herself to stand. Nick cast a look over to Lara, who, like a bloodhound, seemed to be able to smell the blood in the air. Even if it was figurative.

  “We can salvage this,” Lara said, even before they started to walk down the hallway.

  “How?” Nick asked. “Once that secret is exposed...” He must have let his thought trail off to save Victoria’s feelings. But he didn’t need to. She’d already accepted what was going to happen. Even if she hated it.

  “Maybe we can get out in front of it, then,” Lara tried again. “If we can’t save her job, at least we can protect her name!”

  Victoria stopped. She turned to two of the best agents she’d ever known and tried to smile. “It isn’t your job to protect me,” she reminded them. “It’s your job to protect all of those innocent people out there who are in danger of being collateral damage. My job—my name—is mine to defend. What happens to it and me will happen. I’ve accepted that.” Lara’s face pinched. She was angry again. It was touching to see loyalty like hers in action, even if it meant that Victoria’s life was in danger to prompt it. “And I expect the entire team to not waste any time whatsoever worrying about me. That’s an order, got it?”

  Nick nodded. Even though he hadn’t voiced any outrage, Victoria suspected he did care what happened to her. He was just trying to stay strong for the team.

  Which was good, because they were about to need it.

  Victoria glanced down the hallway, picturing her conference room. Well, what had been hers. She sighed.

  “Galen Mercer is waiting for me right now.”

  Lara and Nick couldn’t stop their surprise from registering.

  “Your boss is here?” Lara asked. “But I thought he was in Washington?”

  “And does he know about the situation?” Nick added on.

  “After I sent you all to talk to Greg, Ryan and Mackworth, I called him and filled him in,” Victoria said. “He took a private jet here immediately after.”

  “But what if we managed to catch the bomber before he could expose you?” Lara asked.

  “But we haven’t yet and there’s a good chance we won’t. At least, not in time.” Victoria knew that comment hit their pride, even Nick’s, but it was the truth. “Like you said, the FBI needs a chance to get out ahead of this. Galen Mercer is the way to do that.”

  Lara’s eyes flickered down the hall and then back to Victoria. Her expression had gone blank. She was trying to reign in her emotions.

  “He’s going to fire you,” she said, flatly.

  Victoria felt a lump start to form in her throat. But she wasn’t going to cry. While she didn’t regret what she’d done with Oscar Mackworth, she’d always known that one day it could come back and haunt her. She could either try to run from the consequences or meet them head-on.

  And she intended to do the latter.

  “Yes, he is,” she said. “And there’s nothing any of you can do about it. So don’t try.”

  Victoria smiled, trying to reassure them, and then continued onward. With her shoulders back and head held high she lead them in silence into the conference room, right into belly of the beast.

  “Sit down and tell me exactly what’s happened,” Mercer greeted. He was sitting at the head of the table and looking as intense as he ever did.

  Victoria took her seat. Lara and Nick continued to stand. Mercer didn’t care. He only had eyes for her.

  * * *

  “I—I don’t even have the right words to express how furious I am right now,” Mercer said, volume turned on high. If his skin hadn’t been dark, Lara was sure it would have been nothing but red. Even sitting down Galen Mercer was intimidating. Tall, broad-shouldered and black hair with enough gray sprinkled in to pay tribute to a job that brought on constant stress. And he hadn’t pulled any punches on their account.

  “This was already a shit show, Russo,” he continued. “Now you’ve upgraded it to a magnificent cluster fuck! One that you have managed to drag the FBI straight into!”

  Victoria kept her gaze on her boss. Her posture remained straight. She wasn’t sagging under the weight of Mercer’s fury. She wasn’t some junior agent unable to take what was dealt out. It filled Lara with pride.

  Mercer took a beat to readjust his anger.

  “I am no stranger to how evidence can be manipulated,” he said. His volume had decreased but the hostility was still there, slicing through every word. “And, to be honest, I don’t care what happened in the past. What I do care about is how it affects the FBI in the present and the future. And, this?” He motioned to Victoria’s phone on the table. “This will affect us.”

  Lara was hanging on his words so tightly she jumped a little when her phone sprang to life in her pocket. Everyone’s attention drew to her.

  “Sorry,” she muttered, ready to silence the call. However, the number that flashed across her screen gave her pause. “I’ve got to take this,” she said, not waiting to be excused. She was sure if Mercer had a problem with it he would have let her know. Instead he went back to berating Victoria.

  Lara slipped outside of the room, but kept her eyes on her boss. She didn’t want to miss anything but she wasn’t prepared to miss this call, either. Considering it was the prison’s number that was currently calling her.

  “This is Grant.”

  “Agent Grant, it’s Conrad Mathews, warden of the Selden Maximum Security Prison,” he answered. That made Lara’s attention on the conference room waver.

  “Warden? And what do I owe this honor to?” she asked, a mile past concerned. It was warranted.

  “I want to ask you what your conversation with my prisoner Lamar Jeffries was about.”

  Lara tilted her head, as if the movement could make her understand why the warden himself was contacting her. Whatever the reason, it couldn’t have been good.

  “To be honest, I’d prefer not to share the details of that conversation unless I’m given a good reason for it. But it wasn’t anything dangerous or pressing. We discussed a cold case, nothing too crazy.”

  “Ah, I see.” The warden sighed. “Well I hope you got what you needed from him.”

  “What do you mean?” Lara felt her stomach tighten.

  “Mr. Jefferies was shivved in what must have been a yard argument gone wrong late yesterday. Things like this happen more than we’d like.”

  “He was shivved,” she said, slowly.

  “Yes,” the warden confirmed. “He succumbed to his injuries. He’s dead, Agent Grant.”

  Chapter Six

 
; Lamar Jeffries was dead. Surely it couldn’t be a coincidence? She’d gone poking around and then he was killed?

  Through the glass Mercer grabbed Victoria’s cell phone and slid it across the table to her. Coincidence or not, Victoria took precedence at the moment.

  Lara put her phone away and went back into the conference room. One look at Nick’s expression and she knew she’d missed something important.

  Victoria picked up her phone and started to type. “‘You win. Expose me.’”

  “Wait,” Lara jumped in. “We still have time before the deadline is up!”

  Mercer was hot on her heels. “What if he decides to blow up something before that deadline?” he asked, seething. “And what if the press finds out we had the power to stop him but waited until the last second instead?” Mercer shook his head. “It’s not a chance I—or the FBI—are willing to take.” He looked at Victoria, expectantly. She turned the phone toward him.

  “Sent,” she said, voice cold.

  Mercer read the message out loud again, as if to prove it existed. When he was satisfied his stare went back to Victoria’s own. For a moment no one spoke. And then Mercer gave one, definitive, nod.

  Victoria stood.

  “I officially accept your resignation as Special Agent in Charge of the Crisis Management Unit task force,” Mercer said. Lara felt her eyes widen and her stomach drop but, one look at Nick, and she knew she needed to be quiet. Whether the words were out there or not, the deed was already done. Before Victoria even entered the room, she had known she wouldn’t be leaving it with her job. Accepting a resignation she hadn’t offered just solidified that fact. Victoria knew that and, Lara hated to admit, so did she. There was no softening the blow, even if Lara wished there was.

  She stilled herself as Victoria nodded. But Mercer wasn’t done yet. “As of this moment you no longer have clearance or access to your office, files or any FBI property. Furthermore you are not to contact anyone from the agency or step foot in this building unless otherwise asked by myself or Inspection Division. Is that understood?”

  Lara wanted to punch Galen Mercer. Her hands fisted at the thought at her sides.

  “Understood,” Victoria answered.

  “Your phone is officially FBI property,” he tacked on. Victoria didn’t hesitate in sliding it back over to him. “Any personal items you have in your office, you can collect right now.” For the first time since they’d been in the conference room, Mercer looked outside of it. He motioned for two men Lara hadn’t seen before to come in. “These agents will see you to your office and then out of the building.”

  “Wai—” Lara started to complain but, surprisingly, Nick beat her to it.

  “Let her at least walk out on her own,” he said. “She isn’t some kind of criminal, goddammit!”

  Mercer ignored him.

  “And Victoria, if you speak to anyone in the media—or anyone at all, actually—about what you’ve done, the full weight of the FBI will come down on you. I, personally, will be behind it.”

  Victoria didn’t flinch. “Understood.”

  Lara and Nick walked out to the bullpen as Victoria and the two agents went to her office. When she came back with a small box filled with picture frames and odds and ends, Lara nearly lost it. She wasn’t the only one. The entire team came out and paused to watch as their boss was escorted to the elevator.

  When the doors shut there was nothing but anger left in the room.

  “We have to get this guy,” she finally said. Though it was more of a growl.

  “We will,” Nick said. “You can bet your ass on that.”

  Lara turned to survey the rest of the team. Anger was a theme they all understood. She cleared her throat. “Then let’s get going.”

  * * *

  The clock read eleven thirty. Considering the bomber’s previous behavior, Victoria was sure to be exposed soon. Her choosing to save lives wouldn’t outweigh his need to expose her past. He’d showed no mercy so far, why would he start with her now?

  She let out a breath that deflated the wall she’d built around herself when she knew Galen Mercer was going to fire her. Or force her resignation. No matter which way you put it, it happened. Now, tucked into her apartment, away from the eyes of FBI agents and friends, she let herself sink back into the couch cushions.

  Her cordless phone sat on the coffee table, and the television in front of her and also the one back in her bedroom were on. She was ready. But...wasn’t.

  Victoria closed her eyes and exhaled again.

  A hand grabbed hers. She opened her eyes again and looked at her daughter next to her. Despite orders to not tell anyone what had happened, she’d told Anna everything as soon as she’d gotten home. Because, as much as she hated it, her life was about to be turned upside down, as well.

  “It’s okay, Mom,” she said, a smile lifting the corner of her lips. Anna squeezed her hand. “You did what you had to and now you’re going to save a lot of people because of that.”

  Victoria might have told her daughter everything but she didn’t dare tell her everything. Especially not the niggling thought that pressed against her chest, nearly suffocating her.

  What if the bomber decided to expose her and detonate anyway?

  * * *

  Lara looked at the clock, stomach in knots. Five minutes until twelve. Five minutes until deadline.

  The CMU team sat gathered around the bullpen, computer monitors filled with news channels and websites, all waiting. Ty and Xander walked between their area and the conference room—attentions on the two televisions in there, as well. They’d been talking about the case, going over everything the team already knew again, but the closer it had gotten to twelve o’clock, the more quiet they’d become.

  Because the team hadn’t been able to find, let alone stop, the bomber in time. They had each been reminded of that sad truth when they had met in the conference room ten minutes beforehand and the chair at the head of the table had been empty.

  It made Lara feel sick to her stomach.

  One look at the rest of the team as they braced for whatever was going to happen, and she knew she wasn’t the only one.

  “One minute,” Christina said, pausing with her new cup of coffee in her hand before she went back to her office.

  Lara took a deep breath and stood.

  The sound of footsteps drew her attention to the hallway. Mercer looked at their myriad of monitors but didn’t say a word. Nick moved to her side while the rest of the team stilled.

  Lara looked at the clock.

  “Noon.”

  * * *

  Victoria almost missed it, her focus turning to tunnel vision on the clock as twelve came and then turned into twelve o’one.

  “According to an anonymous source...”

  Victoria turned to Anna, whose eyes had gone wide, before she heard her name.

  “FBI Crisis Management Unit Chief...”

  Victoria and Anna turned towards the television where CNN was on. There, across half of the screen was a picture of her.

  “... Victoria Russo withheld crucial evidence that might have resulted in convicted serial killer and rapist Oscar Mackworth’s acquittal. CNN is investigating and will provide a full report...”

  Before she could say a word her name was blaring in the living room. Anna ran back just as their landline started to ring. It was such a foreign sound considering they always used their cell phones, but Victoria knew it was all they would be hearing for the near future.

  She unfroze from her spot and hurried back to the living room to answer the phone.

  “Hello,” she said, voice low and surprising to herself. She cleared her throat.

  “Russo, it’s Galen Mercer. I’m assuming you’ve seen the news?” Victoria nodded and glanced at the TV. An
na had muted it but she could see Fox now had the story, too. Soon they all would.

  “Yes, I have.”

  “I want you to listen carefully to me,” he began, nothing but authority in his tone. “Get a pen and write these names and numbers down.” Victoria didn’t question the man’s orders, though she wanted to point out that technically she didn’t work for him anymore but, instead, she held her tongue. When he was done with the names and numbers, and satisfied when she repeated them back, he continued. “When we get off the phone I want you to immediately call each of those people and tell them you are going to give a press conference to explain the Mackworth situation, and nothing beyond that.”

  “I thought you didn’t want me to talk about it to anyone?” she asked.

  “Technically you won’t be,” he said, sharp. “You’ll be reading a script that I write up and staying within the bounds of what I say is shareable information. If you go beyond what I say you can, then you’ll have a lot more than a madman to worry about. I swear to you that. Understood?”

  “Understood,” she bit out. While she’d usually operated with slack to her FBI leash, now she felt like there wasn’t a leash at all. Just Galen Mercer’s hand around her neck, ready to squeeze if she made another misstep. Victoria glanced at Anna, staring at the television. From where she stood Victoria could see the blanket of worry that was pressing against the nineteen-year-old. As much as she hated playing puppet, Victoria didn’t want to make any more fuss.

  “I’m already arranging for you to give an exclusive interview to the Washington Post, as well,” Mercer continued. “And then, Russo, I strongly suggest you leave the city until your dispositions start up.”

  Victoria hesitated, confused. “You mean I’m not going to be arrested?” While she had once had clout, admitting that she had falsified evidence was a crime. One that she knew would land her in jail, another uncomfortable conversation she’d had with Anna.

  Mercer lowered his voice when he answered. “The FBI might be pissed with you but you’ve made friends in very high places. This is a one-time-only get-out-of-jail-free card, but, make so much as one mistake and you’ll find yourself in a cell faster than you can blink.”