Leverage (The Brannock Siblings) (17 page)

Lucas was just as frustrated as Gus, but he knew it wasn't
as simple as following a few guys and having a neon sign pointing to the one
they were looking for. He had just hoped, that's all.

"I know, Gus, but we are a few steps closer."

Gibbs and Montgomery were just as frustrated and both of
them had already expressed their anger, but they didn't say much more. None of
them really trusted each other still and it was just getting sad now.

The elevator door opened and they all stepped out.

"Shit, I left my phone in the car, I'll be back up in a
bit," Conall called after them before he pushed the button to go back
down.

Lucas checked his phone again and saw another call from his
landline in his house. He had felt like such an asshole when he didn't answer
her calls. He knew she was worried about him, her voicemails had said so, but
he had been with Gibbs most of the night and didn't want to speak with her
unless it was in private. He pocketed his phone again, deciding to call her as
soon as he could be alone.

They headed toward the offices with their heads hanging and
their eyes drooping. It had been a long day and Lucas wanted nothing more than
to climb into bed next to Ash's warm body and hold onto her until morning,
forgetting everything around them for just a little while.

"I thought Rains was supposed to be here," Gus
stated as he plopped down in said detective's chair and spun.

Lucas eyed his partner's desk and looked around the room.
"Yeah, he is. Maybe he is still out with Theresa." He turned to
Montgomery who looked a little uneasy. "Didn't you say he was still taking
her out."

He nodded and shrugged, "That's what she told me this
afternoon when we got back from hauling you out of here."

"We can check, you know," Gibbs said with a grin.

"You know where they were going?"

He shook his head, "Nope, but he has a tracker."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You didn't know? I was sure Brannock would tell
you…" he shrugged and perched himself on Lucas' desk. "The night the
captain died, I ran into him on his way out of his office. He looked pissed and
I asked him what was going on. He said he was working on a new program to track
everyone, keep an eye on all the officers, detectives, pretty much everyone and
not just because he didn't trust anyone, but because if something happened to
one, we could easily find them. He said he couldn't figure out how to get the
software working and was going to wait until the morning to get someone in here
to help him out. I'm pretty good with computers, so I told him I could help
him. He showed me the program and I got him set up, but that was it. It was
still just in trial mode and he was just going to test it out to see if it
actually worked before saying anything."

"And how was he going to do this? Put trackers on
vehicles?"

He shook his head, "No. Badges."

"Badges," Lucas repeated. "So the plan wasn't
to keep this from everyone?"

"Hell no! He wanted everyone to know that he had eyes
on them, but he hadn't gotten there yet. It was something he was still trying
to clear, he just wanted to get a head start on it."

"So how is this going to help us see where Rains is?"

"That's the thing. He told me he needed a guinea pig to
make sure the software was working. Rains had left his badge on his desk that
night while he was finishing up some paperwork with Theresa. Convenient,
huh?"

Lucas nodded in agreement and glanced at Gus who was looking
more and more anxious. "Yeah. Did he test it out?"

Gibbs nodded, "It worked great. He told me to go home
while he played around with it a little more, so that was that. He wanted to
get one on yours, too. I was planning on talking to him about it the next
morning, but…"

Montgomery suddenly shot out of his chair and stalked across
the room to the open doorway. They watched him turn the corner before they
heard him shout, "Hey, Theresa. Come here for a second would ya?"

He heard Gus sigh in relief at the sound of Theresa's name,
but Lucas got a churning in his gut. She was here, so Rains should be, too, but
when she walked into the room, she was alone. He stood and tried to ignore the
need to run out of there and get to Ash. Something didn't feel right. "You
already go out with Rains?" he asked steadily.

She shook her head and looked a little confused, "No,
Shade. He cancelled on me." Her voice was laced with bitterness and she
cocked her hip out and started tapping her high heeled foot. "What are you
doing here? I thought you were…"

"Long story," he said quickly. "Why did he
cancel?"

She shrugged and folded her arms over her chest, "Got a
weird call on your phone, said something about you to whoever it was. I had
been walking away at that point. Then he told me something came up, but he
wouldn't say what it was. I guess he just didn't want to take me out."

Lucas didn't have to say anything as he ran toward the
captain's office, the men followed him. Gibbs immediately sat in the chair in
front of the computer and started clicking, pulling up the tracking program he
had just been telling them about.

"What's going on?" Theresa asked from the office
door.

Montgomery led her out of the room and told her not to worry
about anything and to head home for the night. She hesitated, but did what she
was told.

Lucas had his cell in his hands and dialed his home number
to talk to Ash.

No answer.

He looked at Gus who was already white as a ghost and shook
his head, letting him know that she hadn't picked up.

"She… she could be in the shower… right? She could just
be in the shower and didn't hear the phone," Gus said frantically.

"Who?" Gibbs asked, but didn't press while he
continued to load the program.

Lucas dialed again, and again.

Nothing.

"She called me a few times… while we were… I should
have just answered it," he said and tugged nervously on his hair, praying
she
was
just in the shower.

Gus nodded in understanding. He knew why Lucas hadn't
answered his phone. "She called me, too."

"Here it is. Shit, Brannock
must
have gotten one
on yours. There are three trackers set up. Yeah, look here," he said,
pointing at the list on the screen. "Rains, Shade, and a no name. Not sure
who that one is."

Lucas looked at the numbers on the screen and watched as it
switched over to a picture of a map with a red blip in the middle of it.

"This is Rains. Looks like he's at home."

Lucas sighed in relief, but still felt the heavy weight of
worry on his shoulders. Something still didn't feel right. If something came up
that made him cancel his date with Theresa, why was he at home?

Gibbs clicked a few more times. "Here is the no name…
wait… isn't that the captain's house?"

"Yeah, it is," Lucas replied, then smiled. The
captain must have put his own tracker on. "My badge is in Rains' glove
box. Left it there this afternoon. Thought it would be more dramatic."

Gibbs nodded, "It was. He had spoken to a few of the
guys about it this afternoon. Said he thought you might be dropping the case.
It convinced him and everyone else." He clicked a few times before saying,
"I'll pull all three trackers up."

The screen switched back to the list of numbers and Lucas
glanced over them wondering why they looked so familiar.

111300
.

"Wait a minute." He pointed at the screen and looked
at Gibbs. "What's that number for?"

Gibbs read the number and shrugged, "Must be the
assigned number for the tracker, a way to identify each one."

He didn't wait for him to finish, he ran towards his desk
and ripped open the top drawer, pulling out the envelope where he had put the
tiny piece of paper he and Aislinn had found in her locket. He had tried to
figure out what it could mean, but hadn't gotten anywhere with it, so he had
put it away and all but forgotten about it.

Keep this close. 111301.

Brannock had put a tracker on the locket, he must have known
there was a chance she would be discovered. He ran back to Gibbs who was
watching him curiously. "What are the other numbers on there?"

Gibbs clicked the mouse and the screen changed,
111300
was at the top of the list next to his name,
111302
was at the bottom
next to Rains, and the only other number…
111301
.

"Pull them all up," he ordered firmly, but his
voice didn't come out steady that time. He knew damn well what he would find.

He clicked again and the screen changed back to the map with
three red blips blinking furiously and a white box next to each one with their
label and location written inside. His badge and Ash's locket were at the
captain's house, and now… both were leaving it.

His head snapped over to Gus who looked like he wanted to
shoot someone. "It's Rains. He's got Ash. Liam put a tracker in her
locket, she hasn't taken it off since..."

"What the hell are you -" Gibbs started to ask,
but the crash just outside the office pulled all of their attention away from
him.

"Luke!" Conall shouted just before bursting into
the office with his phone to his ear. "It's Ash! She called my phone a few
minutes ago from her cell," he was breathing hard and looked more
terrified than he had ever seen his friend before. "The voicemail… there
was a crash and a scream…"

Lucas didn't wait another second before he ran out of the
office. "Gibbs, stay here and watch the trackers. Tell me where they are
going," he shouted, Conall and Fergus following after him with Montgomery
on their heels asking what the hell was going on.

"Ash has been in town this whole time. We've been
trying to keep her invisible," Gus answered him.

Lucas ran right passed the elevator to the stairs. He didn't
have time to wait, he had to get to Ash. When they got out to the cars, he
didn't slow down and ripped open the driver's side door to his car. He was
seeing red, not thinking straight, not even considering that he might be doing
something stupid. He had put Ash in danger when he promised her he wouldn't.

"Luke, wait! We can't just go barging into whatever
place they take her," Montgomery shouted, making him pause. "Think
for a minute. He won't be taking her anywhere that he doesn't have back up.
He'll be taking her to Banetti. We go in there blind…"

The fury that Lucas had been feeling since he saw that blip
on the screen next to the one on Ash's locket, doubled. Banetti wouldn't just
use Ash as leverage for them to drop the case, he would use Ash. Period.

"I'm not going to let that fucker touch her!"

"Then stop and think, Shade," Ray demanded.
"We need firepower, we need to know the layout of where she is taken,
otherwise, we're all dead men. We need back up, you know that better than
anyone."

"We need to go to my dad's, Luke," Gus said
firmly. "He's got firepower. Enough for each of us. Gibbs will keep an eye
on them. We have a little time." His face said otherwise, he didn't want
to wait either, but he had been following in his father's footsteps for long
enough to know what
needed
to be done.

Conall nodded in agreement even though his scowl said
otherwise. Apparently, they were both still capable of actually thinking.

Lucas raked a hand through his hair and took a deep breath.
"Okay, let's go."

They all piled into the car and Conall sped through the
city. Gibbs called just before they turned down his street and Lucas didn't get
a word out before the man spoke quickly.

"These two trackers have separated, Shade. Your badge
is stopped near the edge of town, but the no name is on the move again. Fast,
too. Definitely not on foot so…."

"They must have switched cars. The no name is Aislinn
Brannock."

"I figured from the way you tore out of here. I didn't
think she was in town."

"Has been this whole time. We found that tracker number
in a locket she used to wear, she hasn't taken it off since. I had no idea what
it was until I saw those numbers."

Gibbs cursed, "Why the hell didn't you idiots send her
home?"

"She's been here for weeks, Jon. Got here the night
before the threat. She was moving back for a while. Brannock and I both thought
it would be better if she wasn't alone," Lucas said through clenched
teeth.

There was a pause, then a grunt, "Guess that was the
safest option."

They screeched to a halt in front of the Brannock's and
every one of them shot out of the car and ran towards the front door, which
Lucas could now see had been kicked in.
No!
His racing heart picked up
speed and he felt lightheaded.

"Son of a bitch! Gibbs, stay on her. I'll call you
back."

He drew his gun as Conall and Gus started through the house
with each of their 9mm's in hand.

"Clear!" Gus yelled from the kitchen.

"Clear!" Conall called from the office.

Lucas went straight to the stairs and ran towards Ash's
room, Montgomery on his heels. He didn't stop to check any of the other rooms,
there was no need for him, he needed to see what had happened. Montgomery burst
through each of the doors and was in the process of clearing the additional
bedrooms when Lucas ran into her room.

What he saw made his chest tighten, like a fist was clamped
around his heart and twisting it violently. The tiny bit of hope he had that
she hadn't been hurt was immediately destroyed.

"No," he whispered.

The closet door had been torn off, her clothes were
scattered on the floor along with all the hangers, and there was a hole in the
back wall. The small door that Ash still fit through had been ripped off the
wall and her cell phone was lying just inside.

How the hell did he find her?