Tough Justice: Countdown Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  “Give it some time. You guys have got to establish a new baseline of normal. That’s going to take a while. But you’ll get there.” She squeezed Lara’s hand.

  “I hope so.”

  Victoria let go of Lara and began reorganizing the file. Putting it back together so the information would be easy to access when it was needed again.

  “Hard to believe this might be the last time I hold a live case file. I shouldn’t even be holding this one. Don’t tell Mercer that you came here, for God’s sake.”

  Victoria tried to interject humor into her tone but Lara could hear her voice catch.

  This woman had been Lara’s mentor and boss. But more than that she’d been Lara’s rock. She’d been the person who knew all Lara’s secrets—the darkest ones Lara had barely been able to stomach herself—and Victoria had kept those secrets. Protected Lara when Lara perhaps hadn’t deserved to be protected. She was her moral compass.

  If there was one thing Lara had learned over the course of her life it was that family wasn’t always blood, and blood wasn’t always family.

  Victoria Russo was Lara’s family.

  And the woman had lost just about everything.

  “I wouldn’t change anything you know.” Victoria stopped refiling the papers to look directly at Lara. “With Mackworth. Getting him off the street all these years was worth whatever price I pay now.”

  “We’ll get him.” Lara hadn’t started the thought as a vow but it was one. “If Mackworth gets out of prison after the retrial, we will make sure that if he so much as glances the wrong way at a woman that he goes right back in.”

  Victoria nodded. “I know you will.”

  “Halpert too.” Lara took the file from Victoria. “Your insight helps. We’re going to nail this bastard.”

  “I don’t doubt that either.”

  Both women got down from their stools.

  “Did you run some evidence under my name and ID since I left?” Victoria asked.

  Lara shook her head, surprised Victoria had even asked that. “No. So we wouldn’t have to, Mercer gave Nick and me the same clearance you had. Why do you ask?”

  Victoria shrugged. “I got a call from a friend in the lab. I don’t want to mention any names, but this lab tech has been there a long time. We go pretty far back. Of course, everyone knows what happened with me, but he called me yesterday to say that he remembered the Mackworth case and that he didn’t blame me for what I did.”

  “A lot of people feel that way. It doesn’t take much perusal of the evidence to see how guilty Mackworth was.”

  Victoria shrugged. “My lab friend also called out of personal courtesy to me to say that officially the lab could not run evidence under my ID anymore because of my termination.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure that’s true. Maybe there’s some requests left under your ID that need to be switched over.”

  “That’s what I thought, too. But this request came in after I was gone. That’s why I thought maybe someone had used my ID, hoping to fast track something.”

  “Okay. I’ll look into it, but I don’t even think we’ve sent in many requests for this case. Something must have gotten screwed up.”

  “My friend said he ran the evidence. Despite my ID—or hell, knowing him, because of my ID—so just stop by the lab next time you’re in the building. I don’t want him thinking he risked reprimand for nothing.”

  “Sure. Absolutely. No problem.”

  Victoria shrugged one shoulder. “And honestly if it is something to do with the case, you probably need to have it run again under your or someone else’s ID. You do not want my name to be associated with this case in any way. Don’t want me associated with any case.”

  It was the saddest Lara had ever seen Victoria look. Knowledge that her law enforcement career was over hung heavy on her shoulders.

  “Victoria, what are you going to do?” Lara meant the question in every way possible.

  “Just keep swimming.” She walked over to the sink and poured herself a glass of water. “Anna has a chance to study in Oxford next semester. I think I’m going to tag along. Check out Europe. Figure things out.”

  Lara wished there was more she could do. Some way to make this right for the woman who’d given her so much.

  “All right, get out of here.” Victoria walked back over to Lara, slipping her arm around Lara’s waist and pushing her toward the door. “Go back to Westchester. Use my brilliance. Catch the bad guy.”

  “I’ll keep you posted,” Lara said. “Don’t leave town without saying goodbye.”

  “You won’t get rid of me that easily, believe me.”

  Lara pulled the older woman in for a quick hug. “Thank you. For your help. For your service. For being the glue that kept me together during Moretti. For everything.”

  They released each other and Lara slipped out the door, afraid to look back at Victoria lest the tears blurring her vision became sobs. She was walking quickly down the porch steps when Victoria spoke. Lara stopped but didn’t turn around.

  “Lara, you’re one of the most naturally gifted agents I’ve ever known. Trust your instincts even when other people can’t understand.”

  Lara nodded. Nick couldn’t seem to ever understand Lara’s instincts.

  “But Lara, trust the team, too. You need them. You’re strongest together. And that’s what it’s going to take to beat this guy.”

  Chapter Eight

  In a bunker deep underground in the woods of Cougar Mountain State Park Mitchell Halpert sat back and relaxed.

  His laptop sat right in front of him, along with cases of spare batteries and three dozen burner phones all with one week’s worth of 4G internet capacity. The laptop batteries and means of getting online were the first things he’d taken care of when he’d built this place.

  He knew he could survive a lot longer without food or water than he could without internet connectivity.

  But he had the food and water, too. Enough for a month. A cot to sleep in.

  He knew eventually they would figure out who he was. That was part of the game. But he hadn’t thought that peasant Benjamin Johnson would be the one to lead them to him. Mitchell had been certain his bomb would end Johnson’s miserable life.

  No more than he deserved, taking selfies at the bomb sites. Cheapening Mitchell’s handiwork.

  Johnson should be dead right now. Not able to identify Mitchell. But that was okay, because with ten minutes on his computer Mitchell had pretty much wrecked Johnson’s life. The man had no idea yet.

  But he would. Mitchell laughed, wishing he could be there when it went down. Now he was sort of glad that Johnson hadn’t died. This would be much better.

  But Mitchell had to admit that Johnson identifying him did up his timetable. They probably thought they were super smart to have figured it out.

  They really hadn’t figured out any of it yet. Mitchell would be amazed if they did.

  People rarely amazed Mitchell.

  He still wasn’t sure how Agent Grant and her team had gotten to Johnson in time. But only because he hadn’t had yet had a chance to search through the CMU system and figure it out. Not because he wasn’t smart enough to do so.

  Mitchell could guarantee he was smarter than everyone on the CMU task force. Including Agent Grant.

  Although he had to admit, she intrigued him. A total disregard of system rules. Made for an interesting adversary.

  Mitchell glanced over at the other half of the room at the huge cachet of his handcrafted bombs and his box of wigs and sunglasses. This bunker had been his storage facility for those items for months.

  Would a cheap disguise enable him to fool Lara Grant? No. She’d be ready for that. Would try something unexpected, not by-the-book, to take Mitchell down.

 
She wouldn’t succeed, of course. There wasn’t any question in his mind about that. But at least it would be more of a challenge. And the fact that she was tied to Victoria Russo just made it that much more interesting for Mitchell.

  The original group of people who had rejected and humiliated him were all suffering.

  Penelope Porterini? Check. Lost her marriage and her national television job when he’d forced her to tell her secret.

  William Walsh? Check. Chose the coward’s way out and cost other people their lives. Then went ahead and killed himself anyway. What a loser. Should’ve done the noble thing and offed himself before the deadline.

  Victoria Russo? Check. Noble. Looked so dignified as she’d admitted to her wrongdoing. Lost her job.

  Mitchell felt very magnanimous that he’d given each of them the option about what they wanted to do. He hadn’t killed them. Hadn’t hurt them. Just forced them to face their sins. Let them experience some emotional torture for a while.

  Which was kinder than they’d been to him when they’d destroyed his life and his future. Plus, Mitchell couldn’t be blamed if they made the selfish choice. Two had made the selfish choice, two had not. As far as Mitchell was concerned, the blood of those who had died was on the hands of those who had made the selfish choice.

  But now he was moving on to those who had most refused him. Humiliated him. The others had really just been a warm-up.

  Kai Aoki. Paul Prentice. Terra Mapson. The directors of BrainWave. They thought they were so high and mighty sitting above everyone else. Judging. Refusing the skills Mitchell had offered.

  Beckett Clarke had made that mistake, too. Had interviewed Mitchell, listened while he’d explained everything he could bring to the table at BrainWave.

  Then promptly dismissed him.

  Clarke had already been taken care of. A practice for Mitchell, if you will. And now it was time for his bosses to pay also. It wasn’t enough to just continue to cost them money by keeping their system shut down. They needed to pay with their own blood.

  He could feel anger coursing through him at just the thought of the BrainWave directors. Thinking about how they must have sat in their offices and laughed at him. How he’d tried so hard to explain what he could do... To explain all he’d created, even though it had gone wrong.

  They’d rejected him. Thought they were smarter than him.

  A Metallica song flowed over Mitchell’s speakers, but he turned it off. He knew he needed to keep himself under control and music played a role in that. He’d studied music the way he’d studied computers and explosives and anything he wanted to know about.

  He tapped his keyboard to bring up a new playlist. Bruno Mars. Maybe a little too light, but would help to balance him out. Plus it reminded him of the time when he saved that guy before the bombing.

  To remind himself that he was in control. That Mitchell could choose who lived and who died.

  He smirked. And to totally throw the investigators off course. Mitchell was sure they’d put hundreds of man-hours into trying to figure out the connection between the people he’d “saved.”

  He’d saved them because he could. Plain and simple.

  Mitchell stood and stretched his shoulders and back. But he was done saving. Johnson’s ability to identify him meant he needed to speed things up. He’d planned to make the BrainWave directors suffer emotionally just as the others had.

  And maybe he still could. But he’d have to get Agent Grant and her team of merry misfits off his trail first. He looked down at his computer screen. He knew just how to do that.

  Agent Grant didn’t know it yet but Mitchell was helping her with the obsession she hadn’t wanted to share with the team. She needed more details about her mother’s murder? Mitchell would be happy to help. He’d already started.

  The weight of the cold case—her own mother—must weigh heavily on her. After all, Agent Grant spent so much of her spare time trying to figure what happened to poor Mommy, surely she would appreciate his help.

  He smiled. She was going to get it whether she wanted it or not.

  * * *

  “Where the hell have you been, Lara? James and Xander have been back here for hours.”

  Lara winced at Nick’s tone on speakerphone as she drove back from Victoria’s house in Hudson Valley. Not checking in for six hours had not done much for bridging the gap between them.

  “The protection detail on Benjamin Johnson ran into some problems. It looks like Mitchell Halpert has wreaked havoc on Selfie Guy’s finances and identity. Going to take a while to sort that mess out.”

  Nick sighed. “As if Christina doesn’t have enough to do.”

  “Yeah, I told Johnson to just sit tight. She’ll get to it when she can. I think he’s more upset about his social media accounts than anything else, to be honest.”

  If it was possible, Lara could actually hear Nick’s eyes roll. “He’ll just have to wait. Did that take the entire time?”

  “No. I went out to talk to Victoria about the case.”

  Nick was quiet for a moment. She could hear people talking around him until he obviously moved somewhere more private.

  “Mercer will go apeshit if he hears we’re including Victoria in any part of our investigation. Not to mention the heyday Halpert’s lawyers could have.”

  “I wasn’t planning to take a billboard ad out announcing it.”

  “What did she say?”

  Lara smiled slightly. At the end of the day, she and Nick were always on the same team. They may have different ways of doing things, but they both wanted to catch this bastard.

  “She thinks we should concentrate our efforts at the state parks. Fort Portage and Cougar Mountain. The latter is probably the better bet. She pointed out that he’s brilliant, but he’s also young. And that people, young or old, tend to be creatures of habit.”

  “Okay. We’ll double our efforts there starting first thing in the morning. The county sheriff’s office has pulled back everyone for the night because of a storm. But that’s a pretty big place, a hundred square miles. Finding a lone camper in a tent isn’t going to be easy. Perhaps we could feed these two areas into the geophysical database searching the photo from Clarke’s Facebook page to see if it will come up with anything.”

  “He probably has a cabin or something, Nick. He’s too smart not to have realized his identity wouldn’t eventually be found out. He’s had a backup place all along. Somewhere where he can get electricity and get online.”

  “Yeah, one of Halpert’s computer science professors showed me some of Halpert’s computer world he developed. However smart we thought this guy was, he’s much smarter. This software he developed was like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

  “I’m not surprised, given his hacking skills and what he’s done to BrainWave’s system and Benjamin Johnson with pretty minimal effort it looks like.”

  “Well, even more disturbing is that he started killing off all the players in the game. Gruesomely realistic. Disturbing.”

  Lara cursed. “Are we dealing with some schizo, do you think? Someone who is confusing a game with reality?”

  “No. I think he was practicing on them, Lara. Killing them off first before moving into the real world.”

  “That’s not promising either.”

  “Trust me, if you could’ve seen how realistic that computer world was, you’d feel even less good about it.”

  Even less good wasn’t encouraging.

  “Look,” Nick continued. “Don’t come all the way back out here. Go home. Sleep in your own bed. There’s nothing that can be done here right now. I’ll call you if anything changes.”

  “No, it’s all right. I don’t want to leave you in a bind—”

  “Just do it, Lara. We’re fine. Trust me, if the roles were reversed, I’d be taking
you up on the offer.”

  “I don’t want to say yes, then somewhere in your mind you think that this is me not being a team player again.”

  “I won’t. Coming back fresh tomorrow is probably the best thing you can do for the team.”

  She nodded even though Nick couldn’t see her. “Okay. But call me if anything comes up.”

  “Anything. You got it. Sleep well, Lara.”

  The huskiness of his voice said something, but she wasn’t sure exactly what. Maybe that he wished he would be sleeping beside her.

  Or maybe that he just wished he could also get a good night’s sleep as well.

  They disconnected the call without saying anything else.

  It was early but all Lara wanted to do was what Nick suggested: get some rest. But as she drove back into the city she found herself taking the exit ramp leading to Rockaway, Queens. A few minutes later she was pulling up outside of her childhood home.

  She sat in the driveway just staring at it for a long time. There wasn’t any point in going inside. It was empty; completely cleaned out. She should sell it. She knew she should sell it.

  But she wouldn’t. Not until her mother’s murder was solved. Maybe then she’d be able to let go of this place. Let go of the memory of finding her mother’s body in the kitchen when she was only ten years old.

  Lara reeled herself in. She knew where these thoughts headed. She knew that if she let them go unchecked, instead of sleep tonight, she’d be studying her board. Looking for new clues or connections or something that had to do with her mom’s murder.

  She’d have a finger of whiskey while she’d looked.

  And she’d finally fall asleep, no closer to finding answers for that ten-year-old girl who had found her mother on the floor. And definitely further from being fresh when she got back to the team tomorrow.

  Lara wiped a hand across her face.

  Not tonight.

  And she could admit it was because Nick was trusting her to get some rest. To come in ready to help, to lead, the team tomorrow. That if she wasn’t going to take advantage of that opportunity there was someone else on the team who should be given a chance.