FEARLESS (11 page)

In the meantime Clive had another problem. He knew many of the boss’s deepest secrets, the kind that could not get out. Clive had done a lot of dirty jobs for him. His boss was a man dedicated to his own public image. Clive could destroy all that, but it also made him a target.

Lara Bart’s boss had talked with Wasserman and set up her initial interview. She was supposed to have arrived later that afternoon and found Wasserman’s body and the obvious burglary scene. She was to play the role of unwitting witness. One call to the police and all the work would have been done. Unfortunately for her, Wasserman had changed the meeting time, and the word had never got back to Clive to double-time his work. Everything had spun out of control from there.

She may not have had time to learn anything, but her boss at Hampton Enterprises did. That was Clive’s in. The man, Clive thought his name was something Parker, had talked with Wasserman. He had to provide Parker with a reason for wanting to be part of the clearance investigation. There had to be a kernel of something important in there. Knowing the reason Wasserman needed to die would provide Clive with much-needed leverage in case his boss decided termination was necessary.

All Clive had to do was convince Parker to talk. Every man had a breaking point. Most could only take a touch of pain before spilling their bladders and their supposedly top secret information.

Clive smiled at the idea of crushing the guy who made his living investigating the backgrounds of others. Yes, Parker would talk.

Then the real fun would come. After a bit of practice, Clive would wield his cutting skills on Lara Bart and her annoying boyfriend. There would be a blood trail all over town, and Clive would make sure it led back to his boss. Let’s see how he liked to be set up for a murder rap. Being the decent guy he was, Clive decided to not even charge for taking out Weeks. That would be pure pleasure.

Clive raised his hand to get the waitress’s attention. Because there were only four occupied tables, she scurried right over.

“Yes?”

“I need a menu.” Suddenly he was very hungry.

Chapter Twelve

Davis leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. Between the restless night sleeping next to Lara but not touching her and the morning of searching through files for an angle on the attack, Davis’s vision blurred. The coffee helped, but after three cups the impact had worn off.

Connor had called in some favors and found out an NCIS special agent had been assigned to the Wasserman case. The police were crawling all over the marina trying to link the dead man near the parking lot to the exploding boat. Eventually someone would try to wrap a bow around it and package it all as Lara’s fault.

The Corcoran Team had to beat them all to the evidence.

He glanced at the doorway to the main hall and listened for Lara’s footsteps. She was up there showering, which had his lower body twitchy and the self-destructive part of his brain arguing that he should join her.

The chair across the conference table from him squeaked. Connor tapped a pen against the side of his head while he read the file in his hands. The chair rocked back and forth, probably without him even knowing he was doing all that bouncing.

It was a quintessential Connor pose. Deep in thought but his hand an inch away from a weapon if he had to use it.

“You okay over there?” Davis asked. “I’m the one someone is trying to kill.”

“You do have an interesting effect on people.” Connor smiled as he glanced up.

“What has you so engrossed?”

“I’m double-checking the law-enforcement professionals assigned to investigate Lara to make sure we don’t have an inside man. Someone is trying to implicate her. It would be easy for a person close to the case to do it.”

“They all need to back off. We don’t need help with this.” The automatic reaction kicked up before Davis could stop it.

“You were never good at sharing.”

Davis guessed Connor referred to their time together years ago serving on a Joint Terrorism Task Force. It predated Connor buying into and then taking over the Corcoran Team and reached back to his time in the FBI.

The work had solidified their friendship and made Davis’s post-DIA return to nongovernment work an easy transition. He hadn’t gone a single day without pay or a place to report to in the morning.

But Davis’s thoughts ran even deeper. His patterns had been set long ago. Trust didn’t come easily for him—and with good reason. For most of his life he could depend only on Pax. His mother had taken off after the car accident that had killed the father Davis had never known. It all had happened before a distinct memory could be formed of either of them.

Davis hadn’t been saddled with a naive version of family. He lived the real thing. An endless parade of distant cousins with their hands out to the state for guardianship checks. Davis had broken away from his so-called relatives as soon as he could and grabbed Pax on the way out.

Pax, and now the team, held Davis’s trust. But branching out and bringing in police, instead of wrestling with the case on his own, started a spinning in his gut that wouldn’t stop.

He’d let Lara in because he couldn’t build a wall against her fast enough. He’d interviewed her on a DIA assignment that crept into her office building, and they’d started dating three days after the case ended.

From the beginning he’d believed in her. She had lost both her parents young, too, so they were matched lost souls when it came to family. And then she had packed her bags and left him to wallow all alone. Thinking about the past, turning the rock over and looking underneath, made him feel as if a weight had dropped straight down on his skull.

Time to get back to the work topic. “Where are Joel and Pax?”

“Lara’s apartment.”

“You thinking someone has already been there?”

“Pax reported back that the neighbor complained about all the people coming and going lately.” Connor picked up the remote and turned on the largest screen. A shot of Lara’s family room filled the screen. “They’re inside now seeing what all those people were determined to find.”

Davis focused on the furniture. “It’s not tossed.”

“No, the person or people erased their tracks. Joel thinks it looks too perfect. Not even an indent for a footprint on the carpet.”

It was a common mistake. Davis had seen it a hundred times, and it usually fooled the police. “They erased signs of her along with signs of them.”

“Exactly.”

Davis watched the scene on the screen. He could see Pax’s back, which meant Joel was either holding or wearing the camera. The lens focused on a basket of laundry and the underwear stacked on top. Davis preferred them on her.

He sure didn’t like other men seeing them. “That should make Lara happy.”

“Are her worries a concern for you these days?”

Davis dragged his gaze away from the monitor and to the man across from him with entirely too much amusement in his voice. “It’s not like you to fish around in my personal life.”

“I’ve known you for a long time and have been working with you exclusively for almost a year. It’s not like you to fall all over a woman.” Connor threw the folder on the table. “This one’s special.”

More than that. She was
the
one. The only one who would ever matter. “I thought so at one time.”

“Whatever you have together looks alive and kicking to me.” Connor reached across for the coffeepot and shook it. The inch of dark brown liquid sloshed in the glass.

“I’m not the problem.”

“Are you sure?”

Davis gave up trying to read the words on the page. They’d mashed together into a long black smear. “Care to explain that?”

“You don’t give away a lot. I can see where a woman might not like that.”

“You talking from experience?”

“Yeah.” Connor poured the last of the coffee into his mug then took off to the kitchen with the empty pot.

“Any chance you want to tell me where Jana really is?” Davis raised his voice just in case Connor tried to pretend he couldn’t hear.

The guys had been talking about this issue for days. Without warning, Jana had packed up and left. Davis had missed it because he’d been too busy being hit by a car at the time, but according to Pax, they were more than two weeks into the sick-relative excuse and no sign of Jana.

Connor walked back in holding a replacement pot of coffee. They’d learned long ago one pot didn’t work. “Visiting relatives.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.” Connor slid back into his seat. “I’ve also heard your breakup story. I’m just saying you might want to go back over everything again and see what fact you missed.”

To Davis it wasn’t that complicated. He’d walked in the door and she’d left. He had called and she had ignored him.

“She was pretty clear when she gave the ring back.” A fact that still killed him.

“That woman strikes me as a fighter. There has to be a reason she gave up on you.”

The words bulldozed into him. “Yeah, you’d think.”

A screen on the desk flickered to life. It focused on the front door to the Corcoran Team house and a guy standing there. He looked out at the street, then back to the door.

Connor leaned forward in his seat. “Who is that?”

“Someone who’s not too comfortable about being out there and exposed.”

“Smart man.” Connor stood and pressed his thumb to the reader on the desk drawer. It popped open, displaying a choice of weapons. He picked a gun for his hand and a knife for his pocket. “You don’t recognize the guy?”

Davis struggled to get a clear picture of the attacker in his mind. Between his details and Lara’s they’d put together a sketch. He had to rely on her for most of the pieces.

He’d spotted the guy in flashes, and they landed punches. The attacker had worn dark clothes and kept his face out of the light. He had instinctively known where the cameras were and avoided them. The guy at the door was not him.

“No.” Davis dug the cell out of his pocket and typed in the emergency code. Now he had to hope Lara had listened to the earlier instructions and kept her phone close.

Her job now consisted of staying tucked safely up there and heading for the safe room hidden by a door in Connor’s closet. They’d practiced twice before she’d rolled her eyes and declared she needed a shower. He hoped two had been enough to get the point across.

He then sent the panic code to Pax and Joel. Davis knew they’d received it when the movements on the screen stopped and the picture switched to static.

Connor nodded. “Always good when a plan works.”

Connor slipped into the main hallway and approached the door. Davis watched from his position just inside the conference-room doorway. His attention went from the live action in front of him to the screen showing him what was happening outside. No visible weapon.

He whispered the go. “You’re clear.”

Connor opened the inside door, leaving the outer reinforced one closed. His gun stayed just out of sight behind the door. “May I help you?”

“Ben Tanner, NCIS.” The guy flashed a badge.

“I think you wandered into the wrong neighborhood. The Naval Academy is three streets over.” Connor pointed as he spoke.

“We both know that’s not why I’m here.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really?”

“So, are we done here?”

The guy looked straight into the security camera. It would take an expert to recognize it in the strip above the door. He did. “I’d love to play this game, but we don’t have time. I need Davis Weeks and Lara Bart.”

That familiar churning of energy started in Davis’s gut. He inhaled, letting the adrenaline flow through him. The oxygen fueled his blood and readied him for action. The meds from last night had long worn off, and the dull thump in his ribs gave way to the blood pumping through him at super speed.

He closed the double doors to the conference room and stepped forward, hovering just over Connor’s shoulder. “You’ve got one of us. As for Lara, we broke up eleven months ago.”

“Look, I get that you’re protecting her, and you’re right to do it, but she is in bigger trouble than you think.” Ben glanced behind him, a move he’d been making since he’d hit the front steps. “Let me in.”

Davis had read the NCIS file and recognized the name. Inviting the enemy to have coffee was not anywhere on his afternoon agenda. “We can’t help you.”

“How about this?” Ben opened his hand and a bag unrolled. “Look familiar?”

Lara’s pink hairband, or one that looked just like it. Profanity filled Davis’s brain, but he forced his expression not to change. “What is it?”

“In a pretty short period of time I’m going to get the lab results back and hear about the DNA. I’m betting the hair from that band matches your girlfriend. She gave samples to get her job, so I have a comparison sample.”

“Aren’t you enterprising?”

“The DNA will put her at the scene of two murders in less than forty-eight hours.” Ben shoved the bag into his pocket. “I want to prevent that from happening.”

The stare down continued for a full minute. None of them moved. To his credit, Ben didn’t let two guys with guns scare him off. And he clearly knew they were armed because his gaze went more than once to the space behind the door where they aimed at him.

Davis ran through the options. He settled on collecting more information over sending the guy away. With the potential hairband evidence he didn’t think he had much of a choice. “Fine.”

Without saying a word, Connor unlocked the door and stepped back. Ben slipped inside and Davis slammed a hand against his chest while Connor conducted a pat down and scanned him. Once he got the nod the guy was clear, Davis stepped back again.

“Was that necessary?” Ben asked.

“Only if you want in.”

They walked him into the sitting room across from the conference room. Connor lingered in the doorway until Ben sat down on one of the couches. Davis took the seat on the couch directly across from him. When he looked up again, Connor was gone.

That was fine. Davis knew the drill and kept the guy talking. “You’ve got the wrong woman. She’s not the type.”

Ben moved to the front of the cushion. “Can we not do this?”

“I’m answering your questions.” Davis glanced out the front window. He saw the same scene that had been reflected in the monitor—one car and no one else. Connor was probably even now scanning the grounds. Because it would take Pax and Joel time to get back to Annapolis from Virginia, they had to buy time.

As if he sensed the walls closing in, Ben braced his feet against the floor and shifted so his back was covered by the couch. “You already know I left my weapon in the car.”

Not a move Davis would ever make but good to know. “Sounds dangerous.”

Ben exhaled. “She’s being set up.”

No kidding.
“By whom?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“You’re trying to tell me you’re on her side?”

“I’m telling you exactly one special agent has been assigned to this case and he’s being told to keep things quiet, and the hints about what the findings should be are anything but subtle.”

When Ben stopped and stared, Davis decided he needed more information. “I’m listening.”

“Those preferred findings center on an unfounded theory about Lara having a secret relationship with Steve Wasserman.”

Davis was impressed Ben didn’t try to proclaim he’d solved everything. He stuck to the facts no one could dispute and added just enough information to keep the interest alive.

It was the idea of Lara with another guy that had Davis slamming his back teeth together until he heard a distinctive crunch. “That’s garbage.”

“I agree. I think this is about Steve having some information about some very powerful people, information they don’t want known. Your girlfriend was in the wrong place at the wrong time and now she is going to have all of this hung around her neck.” All of a sudden, Connor appeared in the doorway and Ben glanced at him. “Can I have it back?”

“What?”

Ben held out his hand. “The badge. Did I check out?”

“Yes.” Connor slapped the NCIS badge in Ben’s palm. “I didn’t think you knew I lifted it.”

Connor didn’t smile, but something about his expression showed he was impressed. Davis reluctantly agreed.