Tough Justice: Countdown Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  “I’m going after him,” Nick told Stemke, backing up to get a running start. “I can’t take a chance on him slipping past your men.”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  Nick didn’t take time to discourage the other man. Stemke was a seasoned SWAT member, he knew his own capabilities.

  Nick could see the thin man in black moving across the second roof. “I don’t think he’s going for the stairs. He’s going to jump again.”

  Nick grimaced hoping to catch the man before he did it if that was his plan. The leap to the third building was even farther, probably ten or eleven feet.

  Stemke shook his head. “I won’t make it if he does. Hell, I’m barely going to make it to that one.” He pointed to the second building.

  Nick just nodded. Stemke would take care of himself.

  Nick backed up and took off at a sprint, putting every ounce of power available into his legs as he took the last steps and pushed off toward the other building.

  He could see the ground sixty feet below fly past as he used his arms to gain as much momentum as possible. The landing on the other side rattled his teeth.

  But at least it was a landing on the other side.

  Nick heard Stemke grunt as he landed hard maybe a foot shorter than what Nick had managed. The SWAT team leader was right. There was no way he’d make it to the third building.

  The thin man had already spotted them and was running again. They took off after him but then dove to the side when the man began firing at them again. Nick took shelter behind an air-conditioning box. Stemke rolled until he was behind the ledge of some sort of maintenance shed.

  The man obviously wasn’t taking very good aim. Someone who had just made the shot that had killed Mitchell Halpert had skills. This guy wasn’t trying to kill Nick and Stemke, just get away.

  But a bullet fired over someone’s shoulder as he was running that caught you the right way would kill you just as dead as a one sent with critical intent.

  After three more shots, the gun went silent.

  “I think he’s out,” Nick said to Stemke. Stemke nodded.

  Nick stuck his hand out from behind the vent then pulled it back just as quickly in case he was wrong and the guy did have more bullets in his handgun.

  Nothing.

  This time Nick stuck his head out. The guy wasn’t facing him at all. He was running toward the third building, about to take the leap.

  Nick stood and yelled out, “This is the FBI. Stop running. We have you surrounded.”

  The man never even slowed down.

  Nick muttered under his breath. He couldn’t shoot the guy in the back even though he’d been firing at them a few seconds ago. He took off after the thin man, not waiting to see what Stemke was going to do about the jump. Maybe Tahirovic and Lofland had already blocked off these buildings, or maybe they hadn’t had a chance yet. Either way, Nick wasn’t letting this guy get away.

  The man was flying through the air as Nick began his sprint toward the edge of the building. He didn’t let himself overthink it, just ran and leaped.

  He knew three quarters of the way over that he wasn’t going to make it as cleanly as he’d made it over to the second building.

  But neither had the other guy.

  The breath rushed from Nick’s midsection as he slammed into the edge of the building. His fingers gripped the ledge, body dangling five stories off the ground. Now it would be a race to see who would pull themselves to the roof first.

  The thin man was lighter, but Nick was stronger. He brought his knees up to his chest and pressed his toes into the side of the building. Grunting, he pushed his legs up by his toes and pulled his body up by his hands, using the strength of his legs to his greatest advantage.

  The perp was just pulling himself up and over as Nick advanced toward him, weapon drawn.

  “Freeze,” Nick said. “Hands up.”

  The guy was as out of breath as Nick was. “Can I at least pull myself over the ledge first or should I just put them up now and plummet to my death?”

  Nick put his weapon away and reached over to grab the guy by the collar and pull him up. As soon as the bastard was on his feet he shifted away and tried to run. Nick caught him in a flying tackle that would leave bruises on both of them. The wiry man got in a punch then a kick in an effort to escape. But the struggle drained from him once Nick pulled out his handcuffs and yanked the man’s hands together behind his back.

  “I’ve apprehended the suspect,” Nick said into the comm link.

  “Roger that,” Stemke responded. “Backup is on the way.”

  Nick got himself off the ground and pulled the man up, spinning him so he could see the guy more clearly and read him his rights.

  He froze as soon as he saw the man’s face.

  Nick recognized him as soon as he turned. Nick had seen him multiple places over the years, although not one in particular that he could pinpoint or remember.

  “Shit. I know you. You work for my father.”

  The thin man just looked at Nick with dead brown eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Francis Delano. I know I’ve seen you with him.”

  The guy shook his head. “Never heard of him.”

  Nick knew reading the guy his rights wouldn’t do any good. He was never going to talk if Francis Delano had sent him to make this hit. His loyalty one of the things Nick’s father paid him very well for, Nick was sure.

  Nick read him his rights anyway. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Mitchell Halpert. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” He finished the rest then asked the man, “What is your name?”

  Nothing.

  “It’s Enzo or something like that, right?” Nick couldn’t remember. He knew he’d never met the guy formally but had definitely seen him around his father. “Did Francis Delano pay you to kill Mitchell Halpert?”

  Nick needed to get information now before the SWAT backup got here and this guy was taken into formal custody. He took the thin man and slammed him up against the door of the stairwell.

  Nick got up in the man’s face. “Are you working for Francis Delano? If you are, you need to tell me right now. It is your only chance to not spend the rest of your life in prison.”

  Nick honest to God didn’t know what he was going to do if this man provided him with the information he suspected was true. That his father had paid him to kill Mitchell Halpert.

  But the man just stared. Didn’t say a single word.

  Nick slammed him against the wall again. “Do you understand what I’m saying? Francis Delano will let you rot. You are so low on the totem pole he won’t lift a finger to help you.”

  He heard the SWAT team coming up the stairs.

  It was Nick’s last shot to get the man to talk. “Francis Delano can’t save you even if he wanted to. If he told you he’d get you off in a trial, he lied. You’ll rot in prison and he’ll forget you ever existed.”

  The man still didn’t say a word.

  Honestly, Nick hadn’t expected him to. His father would never have sent someone who wasn’t 100 percent trustworthy to his cause. But why would he want to kill Halpert at all?

  Then it came clear to Nick. Because of his father’s connection with Trevor Dunbar. Whatever secrets Halpert would’ve exposed about Dunbar would’ve implicated Francis Delano in some way. An unacceptable possibility.

  Less than a minute later the roof was filled with law enforcement. James made his way up right behind the SWAT team. SWAT secured the roof. Nick turned the skinny man over to James.

  “He won’t say anything. Even his name.”

  “Okay, I’ll take it from here,” James said.

  “What’s the situati
on with Lara?”

  “Bomb squad is with her. Last I saw she was sprawled over Halpert’s dead body, keeping her hand over his on the detonator. It’s not pretty.”

  “Christ.”

  James chuckled. “That was pretty much Lara’s feelings, too. There was a bomb under the bench. Looks like Halpert was planning to die today no matter what. This guy—” James tapped the sniper on the shoulder “—just beat him to it.”

  Nick nodded, taking one more good look at the man in custody. Was he 100 percent certain this guy was the man he’d seen with Francis? He scrubbed a hand across his face. Maybe not.

  “I’m going to get out there with Lara.”

  James nodded. “Yeah, absolutely. I’ve got this guy.”

  “If he says anything, I want to know, okay?” Nick glared at the man.

  Thin Man glanced at Nick. Nick wanted to see something in his eyes. Desperation, gloating, hell even pure evil. But all he saw was emptiness.

  Nick backed away. “Thanks, James.”

  As soon as he made his way down the stairs and out the door of the building Nick turned quickly to the side, away from the chaos of the park. He needed to do something right damn now, and this couldn’t wait even knowing Lara’s situation with Halpert’s body.

  He turned down the alley between two of the buildings and called his father. The man answered his office phone himself which was a dead giveaway to his guiltiness.

  “Nick, what a surprise.”

  “What have you done?”

  “I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a little more specific, Nick. Is this something about your mother? Your brother?”

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

  “You sound like you’ve had a stressful day, son. Sorry to hear that.”

  Nick’s fist clenched around the phone. His father was never this friendly. “Yes, I just saw a man shot right in front of me. He took a sniper bullet right between the eyes.”

  Francis made a tsking sound. “That sounds distressing, Nick. But I’m sure witnessing crimes like that is part of your job all the time.”

  Nick took a deep breath. He had to keep his cool.

  “We also ran down and caught the shooter, so that’s a big plus for us,” Nick said after a beat.

  “Right away?” His dad’s tone faked surprise. “How very fortunate for you. If I’m not mistaken that will make your job much easier.”

  “Quit the bullshit. I don’t know the man’s name, but I know he works for you. I’ve seen him around.”

  Francis didn’t falter. “Is that so? One of my employees at the office? One of the housekeeping staff? Nicholas, hundreds of people work for me. You’ll have to be more specific.”

  “No, this guy works for you under the table. I’ve seen him around when we’ve had to deal with issues having to do with Jason.”

  Francis cleared his throat slightly. “As far as my payroll goes, I’m sure the books will show that the only people I hire having to do with your brother are the psychiatrists and drug therapists brought in to try to help him.”

  Nick had had enough. “Dammit, I know he works for you. I know what you’ve done here.”

  “Do you, Nick? Did this man you’ve arrested blurt my name? Say outright that he works for me?”

  “No. You know he didn’t.”

  “Then perhaps you’re mistaken.” Francis clucked his tongue again in a sympathetic sound. “Like you said, you’ve just witnessed a pretty traumatic event. Perhaps you’ve arrested a rather nondescript man, a man that looks like any one of hundreds of other men you might have seen me with over the years. Is that possible, Nick?”

  Nick closed his eyes and leaned back against the alley wall. “I know he works for you.”

  “Well.” Francis sounded as if he was getting bored of the conversation. “I can neither deny nor confirm I’ve ever had contact with this man without knowing who he is. But if this man is not mentioning my name, then I would say there is no reason for you to think he is associated with me.”

  “Halpert was going to spill details he knew about Trevor Dunbar wasn’t he? Secrets of Dunbar’s dirty dealings that could be tied back to you. That’s what this was about. Why you hired your guy to kill Halpert.”

  Francis chuckled, a sound that grated on every nerve Nick had. “Well, hopefully, I would never be a stupid enough business man to up and openly confess to an FBI agent if I just committed a crime. Even if that FBI agent is my family.”

  There couldn’t be no missing the way Francis emphasized that last word. As if that gave him a free pass.

  “Moreover,” Francis continued slowly, deliberately. “I would never be stupid enough to say something to the affect that if the FBI couldn’t seem to get the job done with Halpert—a man terrorizing the entire city—then perhaps it’s a good thing that some outside person came in and took this bomber out.”

  Nick slammed the side of his fist up against the wall he leaned against. “Goddammit. You’ve crossed a line.”

  “I’ve done nothing, son. Just want to make sure that’s clear in case this phone call becomes a source of contention later. Whatever you think I might have done, you’re wrong. I had nothing to do with Mitchell Halpert’s death.”

  Nick grimaced, knowing every word his father said was a lie.

  “But I think we can both agree that what is done is done. No one will cry over the loss of someone who has taken so many innocent lives, right? It sounds to me like this shooter just did what no one else had seemed to be able to do: stop Mitchell Halpert.”

  Francis cleared his throat and Nick could imagine his father straightening his Armani tie as clearly as if the man was standing in front of him right at this second. “Now, we both have jobs to do. Let’s get back to work.”

  Chapter Seven

  “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.” Nick watched as Lara lightly flirted with the bomb squad guy.

  Lara spoke freely with the man. Of course, hell, Lieutenant Chandler Davis had been around the CMU team so much over the past few days he was almost like one of them. The banter between Lara and Davis was light, easy, given the fact that a dead man lay under Lara, his hand still wrapped with hers.

  “Okay, now that we’ve gotten rid of that bomb under the bench—which wouldn’t have hurt anyone but those maybe in a ten-foot radius, by the way—we can start working on that detonator,” Davis said. “Unfortunately, you and your boyfriend are going to have to hold still for a little while longer while we figure out exactly what that detonator is connected to.”

  Nick listened as Lara made a slightly off-color joke about the type of men she liked, with a pun on the word stiff. Davis all but guffawed at it. It was amazing how she could be so much more easygoing and flirty with someone she didn’t really know at all.

  That was Lara. The closer she got to someone, the more distanced she forced herself to be.

  And it totally sucked to love her.

  Sucked that he’d loved her, past tense. Not anymore. Nick couldn’t allow himself to love her anymore. To do so would end up tearing them both apart.

  So definitely loved. Past tense. He scrubbed a hand over his face.

  All he knew was that after what had happened today, after the choices she’d made over the last week, they couldn’t be together. Too much had transpired between them. She was always going to be the rule breaker and he would always be the rule follower. They couldn’t be together. Not romantically.

  He couldn’t trust her. Definitely not personally. Maybe not even professionally. But that was for worrying about another day. Right now they still had to wrap up Halpert’s mess.

  “All right, what’s our plan here?” Nick asked them as he walked toward them.

  Lara’s head spun around toward him. “Nick, that wasn’t one of your
SWAT guys who took out Halpert, was it?”

  “No,” Nick replied, taking a few more steps toward them. “It was some sort of independent shooter.”

  “I knew it.” Lara shook her head and looked down at the dead man’s hand she still held over the detonator. “There was too much at risk. I didn’t think it was SWAT, but I didn’t know for sure.”

  Nick didn’t want to go into it. Didn’t want to bring up his strong suspicions about his father. So he didn’t. “No, wasn’t us. I wouldn’t have taken that chance. Too much at risk.” Including Lara’s life.

  “Did you catch the shooter?” Lara asked, looking at him. “And how did he know where Halpert would be?”

  “Yeah, we got him. But he’s not talking so we don’t know anything about his agenda.” Nick knew the man would never talk. At least not say anything that would help with the case. “And I’m looking into how he found out where Halpert was. Maybe social media or news.”

  But Nick knew that wasn’t true. And he was pretty damn certain he knew where his father and the shooter had gotten their info. He’d be dealing with that back at CMU.

  “At least he’s caught.” Lara shifted her weight to get away from Halpert slightly. “And it ends up it was a good thing that the shooter took his shot right then. Halpert had some plan. This scheme he’s been working on for ten months. To blow up the Statue of Liberty, Nick.”

  His jaw clenched. “What the hell? It’s impossible to get a bomb in there.”

  “He took it piece by piece,” she explained. “Kai, Paul and Dunbar were taking the last needed elements. Once they got there, Halpert would have everything he needed to remote detonate. It’s already been called in.”

  “Jesus. Let me get a status report.” He turned away so he could make the call. While he’d been trying to get his father to admit to a crime, one of the most crowded locations in the city had been in jeopardy.

  It didn’t take him long to get the update they needed. Local PD had already made it to Liberty Island and had begun evacuation. They hadn’t found the missing men yet, but everyone had pictures and knew who to look for.