Found Wanting (25 page)

"No. I gave the detective reports to the feds, and they determined they were bogus."

"But the feds have been looking for me."

"Before now, the feds weren't involved." The alcohol apparently was working on her system, because the disgust Addison surely would have hidden showed clearly on her face. "Daddy and Layton wanted to keep the problem in the family."

"So all the time I spent running, terrified we'd be found and Jonah would be taken away from me ..." Alaina's voice faded, her head spinning with the implications. Their lives could have been so different. Jonah's life could have been so different.

"No one was even looking for you."

"Mom was," Alaina said. "She told me she'd hired a private detective herself." Lowering her head, she rubbed the middle of her throbbing forehead. "She was so happy to see me, and all I could think was that Layton couldn't be far behind. I was so angry with her." Tears burned in her throat. "She died because of me."

Addison sat forward, grasping Alaina's hand. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for so many things."

Drawing away, Alaina got up and retreated to the window, where the sun was breaking through the clouds. Her emotions swirled as if caught in a twister, jerked from disbelief to anger to grief back to disbelief. All the time she'd spent looking over her shoulder ...

"The FBI agents who came to the newspaper yesterday ..." She trailed off, almost choking on the words.

"They were there to take you and Jonah into protective custody."

Despair dropped Alaina's shoulders. "And I ran." Which set off a chain reaction that led to Grant Maxwell being shot and Jonah being taken by Layton's people.

But who was to say whether Grant would have been shot if she had shown up at his home before Layton's men? Perhaps she would have been shot, too. In fact, she realized, it was probably their intent to kill her at the same time that they grabbed Jonah. A computer glitch at work had thrown off her routine yesterday. Otherwise, she would have been at Grant's picking up Jonah when the hit men stormed in.

She faced Addison, wanting more answers. "If Layton never wanted Jonah to begin with, why did he file for custody?"

"Daddy wanted him to. I remember them fighting about it. Daddy was adamant that you weren't ready to be a mother, and he said that if Layton didn't file for custody, then Daddy would. Remember how eager Layton was to please Daddy? Daddy'd say jump, and Layton would ask which bridge." Grimacing, Addison picked up the drink she'd made for Alaina and drained it. Her eyes were glazed from the alcohol, her smile sad. "Would it help to know that Daddy might have felt guilty about what happened?"

Ridiculously, it mattered. "Did he tell you that?"

"No, but when he died, he left you and Jonah a third of everything."

For a moment, shock held Alaina rigid. "He what?"

Addison laughed, waving the glass. "Layton was crushed. He thought he'd get it all. PCware is worth millions, you know."

Alaina pushed away from the window sill. "If Jonah owns a third of PCware, and Layton wants it all ... it seems pretty obvious he wants Jonah to sign over his third."

But Addison shook her head. "You both own the third, and Jonah can't sign over his part of it until he turns twenty-one. That's a stipulation in Daddy's will. The only way Layton would get it now is if you and Jonah were dead, and he could have done that with some paperwork without having to actually kill you. I checked."

"Then what does he want with Jonah?"

"I've gotten the impression that Layton wants to make a go of it as Jonah's father. You, on the other hand ... you, he wants dead. I heard him tell someone on the phone to kill you."

Alaina shuddered, wondering whether that someone had been Mitch Kane. But when he'd found her, he hadn't tried to hurt her, let alone murder her. In fact, he'd protected her from a hit man, had even killed him. Which didn't make any sense. Weren't Mitch and the hit man on the same team? And why the hell did Layton suddenly want to be a father to Jonah when he'd never even wanted him in the first place?

The questions made Alaina's head hurt all the more.

"I'm sorry," Addison whispered. "For everything."

Alaina met her sister's liquor-glazed eyes. She didn't know what to say, how to react. The apology, after so many years, seemed too easy. But what else did she want? That answer was easy: "I want my son."

Tears spilled down Addison's cheeks, and she sniffled as she swiped them away. "That's Mr. Potter's domain."

"Then let's get him back in here." Purposefully, Alaina strode to the room door.

"Ali."

She paused but didn't turn, her hand on the knob. She didn't know why hearing the old nickname should cause such a surge of emotion, but it did. "What?"

"Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive me?"

Alaina closed her eyes. What could she say? "I don't know, Addison." She looked at her sister, dug deep for some feeling other than bitter anger and found nothing. "I don't know."

"I understand," Addison said, and her voice had gone flat, hopeless.

Chapter 19

Mitch was standing at the gate, the only passenger to have not boarded Delta Air Lines Flight 839. A gate agent had informed him that if he didn't get on the plane in the next five minutes, he wouldn't be allowed to. The woman was beginning to glare when his cellphone rang. He gave her a winning smile, then turned his back to answer it.

"Talk to me, Jules."

"It's Chuck."

Mitch told himself to get over the renewed surge of betrayal. A woman's life was at stake. "Chuck. Hello."

"Your secretary told me it's urgent."

"She's not my secretary --" He broke off, took a breath. "I need a favor."

"Of course you do."

Mitch ignored the sarcasm in his former partner's voice. "I don't have time to give you details, but the feds took a woman to a safe house in the D.C. area. I need to know where."

"You know I can't --"

"She's dead, Chuck, if you don't help me with this. You know I wouldn't have called you for help unless I was desperate."

"I haven't talked to you or seen you in years. I don't know who you are anymore."

"We used to be partners," Mitch said. "You know who I am."

"I know who you were."

"I took a bullet for you. You still owe me for that."

After a brief silence, Chuck said, "I'm not promising anything."

"I need the address in two hours."

"That'll be tight."

"That's all the time I have," Mitch said.

"What's the woman's name?"

"Alaina Chancellor. They might have her under the name Alex Myers."

"I'll get back to you."

"Chuck, I probably don't have to tell you to keep it under the radar. I'll explain later, but I think there might be an information leak in the Bureau."

"Maybe you'd better explain that now."

"I don't have time. Just trust me." Snapping the phone closed, Mitch handed the impatient airline worker his boarding pass.

* * *

"I'm not going to a safe house. I want to see my son."

FBI Assistant Director Norm Potter, having just arranged for a car to pick them up in the alley behind the hotel, pocketed his cellphone and gave Alaina an unperturbed look. "I'm sorry, Ms. Chancellor, but that's not possible at this time. But rest assured, Mrs. Keller has promised us that your son will be fine."

Alaina wanted to strangle him. "My sister isn't the best judge of what her husband is capable of."

"No, but Layton Keller has given no indication that he plans to hurt the boy in any way."

"I don't care. I'm his mother, and I want him out of there. I don't give a shit about your investigation."

Potter's cheeks flushed. "I'm afraid your rights are limited, Ms. Chancellor. A judge granted Layton Keller custody of Jonah."

"That was fourteen years ago. That's no longer enforceable --"

"That would have to be decided in a court of law. Which would take time. Which means your son probably would either stay where he is or go into foster care until a decision is made. Which option would you prefer? Your sister or the unknown of foster care?"

Desperate frustration made Alaina's ears ring. Suddenly, she was eighteen again. Layton had stripped her of innocence, her sense of security and control. Now, he was taking all she had left. Jonah. "Then let me go to him," she said.

Surprise arched Potter's brows. "There's a contract on your life. The risks --"

"I need to see my son." Her voice cracked.

Potter's face softened. "You need to stay alive. Which is what you'll do at a safe house."

"You can't force me to go."

"I'm afraid I can."

"Then I'm under arrest?"

"I'd prefer to call it what it is: protective custody," he said.

"Don't I have to be a witness for that?"

Potter sighed heavily. "Let's try this: Five years ago, you killed a man and fled the scene of the crime. I can arrest you for that, if you'd like."

"Why haven't you?"

"Because I'm a decent guy and I believed you when you said it was self-defense. Now, if the safe house just won't do, I'd be happy to get on the phone and let the Madison cops know where to come pick you up." He arched an eyebrow at her. "Those are your options: You can sit in jail in Wisconsin or you can shut up and go to a safe house here, where you'll at least be in the same vicinity as your kid. What's it going to be?"

* * *

Mitch's phone rang as he was handing over his credit card at the Avis rental car counter.

"It's Chuck."

"Have you got an address?" Mitch asked.

"I'm not giving it to you."

Mitch scrawled his signature on the form the woman behind the counter slid before him. "I take it you've been briefed on the case," Mitch said.

"Yes, and I don't think you should get involved."

"It's too late for that."

"Your friend needs to stay put, and she'll be fine."

The clerk handed Mitch keys, and he nodded his thanks as he stepped away from the counter. "If she stays put, she'll be dead," he said into the phone, his tone low and urgent.

"There are some high-powered people involved, Mitch. I don't think you realize --"