No Good Deed (18 page)

Her headache was already returning.

She stretched, padded down the long hall to her kitchen to start the coffee, then back to her bedroom for a shower. She liked her house. She’d bought into a new subdivision shortly after taking the position in San Antonio. It was the smallest model in the area, though at over twenty-four hundred square feet it was more than enough for her. She’d been tired of renting apartments, and the one condo she’d bought, when she lived and worked in Phoenix, hadn’t retained its value. It was basically like renting, with more headaches.

But she’d had this house for four years, and she didn’t plan on moving anytime soon. She liked her job, liked her position, and if she got promoted into DC? Well, she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. She’d probably keep the house because she loved San Antonio and planned to retire here.

She’d washed her hair last night when she and Brad showered together. But she needed a quick, cold rinse to wake up. Two minutes later she stepped out and grabbed the towel off the hook.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement in the long, steamed mirror.

But it was too late to do anything. She had no gun in the bathroom, no phone, and she’d sent Brad packing thirty minutes ago. The fleeting thought that he’d returned disappeared when Nicole Rollins stepped into the doorway.

Nicole fired the gun. The bullet hit Sam in the right knee, shattering it. Blinding pain rushed every nerve and she collapsed to the tile floor.

Sam wanted to tell Nicole that she wouldn’t get away with this, that they would track her down and find her, that she’d go to prison for the rest of her miserable life. Sam wanted to tell Nicole to go to hell, that she wasn’t afraid of her.

But Sam was afraid. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want to die naked in her bathroom. She didn’t want to die at the age of forty-two when she had so much she still wanted to do.

Nicole smiled.

“You should consider yourself honored that I wanted to kill you myself,” she said.

“What the fuck do you want?” Her voice was weak, the pain in her leg making her nauseous. She’d never been shot before. Seventeen years in the DEA and she’d never once been shot.

“I want many things, Samantha. And I will get them all, because I always win.”

Nicole stepped into the bathroom and looked around with a smirk on her face. “I heard Brad was here last night. Let me clue you in on a little secret about Brad.”

Sam looked around in vain for anything she could use as a weapon. There was nothing. Even her can of hair spray was on the far side of the counter.

A gun trumped hair spray any day.

Nicole was going to kill her.

And there was nothing Sam could do about it.

Her bottom lip involuntarily quivered.

Nicole said, “Never mind.”

“What?”

“I don’t have time, and it doesn’t matter anyway. Brad will die this week. And Tom, down in McAllen, who figured out I used the money from the evidence locker to set up that hooker. My fault, really—but he’s going to die for it anyway. He’s on my list.” She looked at her watch. “Hmm, well, he’s already dead by now. And then I have a list of FBI agents who irritate me—at the top of it is that bitch who fucked with me. You did surprise me, though, letting her go down to Mexico in direct violation of every FBI protocol on the books. And didn’t even tell her boss about it. I was surprised, because I’ve never known you to bend let alone break the rules.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nicole, let me help you. Please. Don’t—don’t kill me.”

Sam didn’t want to beg—God, she didn’t want to beg—but she didn’t want to die. She grabbed the counter and pulled herself up. Her knee was bleeding, pooling with the water on the damp tiles. It throbbed, alternately numb and hot.

Nicole looked at her quizzically. “You really didn’t know that Lucy Kincaid went down to Mexico with Kane Rogan to rescue Brad?”

Sam blinked. Now things began to make sense. Brad’s complete trust in Lucy, why he wanted to work with her all the time, why he was spending more time at FBI headquarters than in the DEA office. Sam had thought Brad had the hots for Lucy, until she found out the agent was living with a guy. But she’d saved his life, which explained his complete trust.

Sam had followed the rules when Brad was kidnapped. She’d gone through the proper channels, knowing that the longer they delayed, the greater the chances he would be dead. But she couldn’t do it any other way.

“Nicole—”

“I don’t want you to feel
too
bad. You were marginally competent. I had to be careful, especially around Brad. But I fooled you, and I fooled him, for
years
. Took me a long time to build up his trust, but then he trusted me more than anyone. And just for the record? You were dead as soon as I transferred into your office three years ago.”

Sam felt the bullet pierce her chest. She toppled over, facedown on the tile, vainly trying to grab the counter. The pain was worse than anything she could have imagined. Worse than the knee. She couldn’t breathe.

“I’d wanted to shoot you in the gut and let you die slowly, but Joseph reminded me that you might live long enough to drag your sorry ass to the phone. Not that you know anything, but it’s better this way.”

Sam didn’t feel the last bullet as it exploded in her brain.

Nicole fired twice more just because she felt like it.

*   *   *

Joseph drove Nicole the long way back to their hideout west of San Antonio. He stayed off the interstate as well as the state highways. The police had roadblocks earlier, but not on every road and they focused on highways heading toward the border. They couldn’t stop all cars leaving San Antonio all day, every day, and once they found the helicopter a hundred miles away, they pulled much of their local resources into the expanded zone.

Which had been Nicole’s plan all along. She understood how her former colleagues thought, how they operated, how they divided resources. And so far, she’d been right about everything. Another reason he loved her.

Joseph knew southern Texas better than any native, knew every road, mapped and unmapped. He’d picked the property years ago, when he moved to San Antonio ahead of Nicole. It would take the feds—even the best of them—time and resources to track the ownership, and that would presuppose that they would even know where to start looking. The remote property could access three different state highways within ten minutes, and he had seven different escape routes. Now, because it was a dry summer, he had an extra route—a dry creek bed where he’d hidden a four-wheel drive. If the feds got close, they couldn’t cut off all passages, and they wouldn’t even consider the creek bed. And if there was an early-summer storm or they found the jeep? He had a plane.

Tobias didn’t know about the plane, or the hidden jeep. Joseph hadn’t told Nicole, either, but he hadn’t lied to her. He was in charge of protecting her; that meant he needed to get her out of danger if it approached.

He was not responsible for Tobias.

“Do you feel better?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she said, but she didn’t look happy.

“I did some damage control in Santiago.”

“Damage control,” she said with disdain. “I wanted Kane Rogan.”

“And you will still have him, Niki. Paul is a smart operative. He called in reinforcements. One of the men Rogan killed was his brother-in-law, he wants him dead but he’s willing to turn him over to us to prove his loyalty.”

“You’re right,” she said. “I should never have tried to capture him alive. I wanted to hurt him for what he did to us. But I want his execution recorded, remind him of that. We need proof.”

He’d already told Paul the exact same thing. “He knows,” he said. “At least Rogan’s death should give you some satisfaction.”

“It might. But first Paul has to find him.”

“Rogan is alone. He sent his men back to the States with the girl.”

“Why did he stay?”

“My guess? To track Dover. But Paul took care of that situation. He also has an advantage—he knows the area better than Rogan. Rogan is alone, he doesn’t have a base of operations in Santiago, and now he’s in Juarez territory. Rogan’s men are spread thin, thanks to the operations we’ve put in play over the last three months. Paul has called in a small army, and they are surrounding him as we speak. They’ll squeeze, and he’ll have to come up for air. It’s only a matter of time.”

“I can be very patient, if I know I will win.”

He took her hand and kissed it.

“Shit,” she mumbled. “The flash drive. Tobias distracted me, and Lyle said his people were able to decode Agent Dunbar’s files.”

“We’ll be back in less than an hour.”

“Good. Because I want my money back. None of this means shit if we don’t have that money.”

But when they arrived at the compound, Tobias and Lyle were gone—and so was the flash drive.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When Lucy woke up early Tuesday morning, Sean wasn’t in bed. It was barely dawn, but she couldn’t sleep anymore, knowing she had to be up in an hour anyway. They’d be pulling sixteen-hour days until Nicole Rollins was apprehended.

She found Sean on the phone in his downstairs office. He didn’t look at her when she walked in, instead stared straight ahead, his expression hard. She turned to leave but he cleared his throat and waved her in. She sat on the chair across from him, curling her legs under her. A male voice was on the other end, but Lucy couldn’t make it out.

Sean said, “It would be faster if I didn’t have to stop in Hidalgo.”

Again, Sean listened, then said, “Fine. I’ll be there in two hours, but Blitz had better have good intel when I get there or this side trip will cost us time.” He hung up. He looked at Lucy, but his mind was far away. “Kane’s missing.”

“Is this unusual?”

“If Jack’s worried, I’m worried.”

“How long?”

“Last night, when we talked to him, he didn’t tell me that he had sent his entire team with Siobhan to Hidalgo, leaving him alone to track the lone Tobias operative.”

“Siobhan—who?”

“Siobhan Walsh. She’s a freelance photojournalist. Her sister is some big lieutenant colonel at Quantico. Officer school. Kane has known Andie since he enlisted.” He paused. “Remember when I snuck into the FBI academy to see you last fall?”

She almost smiled. “How could I forget?”

“Andie was my buddy who got me through the gate. Anyway, Siobhan travels to impoverished areas and takes pictures that tell a story. I’ll show you some of her work, it’s really good. She mostly works in Mexico and Central America, and she runs into trouble on occasion. Kane gets her out of it. This time, Kane told Jack that someone took Siobhan as bait for him. Kane got her out—but he stayed behind to find out more. He told Blitz—you met him when we rescued the boys—”

“I remember.” She still had nightmares about it, though they were finally few and far apart.

“He said he’d be in Hidalgo by dawn. It’s dawn. He’s not there, and neither Blitz nor Jack can reach him. Jack pinged his plane, and it’s still at a landing strip outside Santiago.” He paused. “It could be that nothing happened, equipment failed and Kane couldn’t check in to say why he was delayed.”

“Jack wouldn’t call you if he wasn’t concerned,” Lucy said. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it for me.”

“Kane has been in and out of more jams than anyone I know.”

“But you’re going.”

Sean ran a hand through his hair. “I’m going to fly to Hidalgo. I’m hoping by the time I arrive Kane will have contacted someone. But it’s only an hour flight to Santiago from there—if I need to go.”

“If? Of course you need to find Kane.”

Sean rubbed his temples. Lucy hated the fear that clouded his eyes. “You heard Kane last night on the phone. Tobias and his people are behind this. Nicole Rollins is out there, somewhere, with a plan—and that plan so far has killed five cops. Six, including Dunbar. I don’t want to leave you. Come with me.”

“To Hidalgo?”

“To Mexico, if I have to go. You’d be an asset. My Spanish is okay, but yours is perfect.”

“Sean—you’re worried about me, I get it. But I’m aware of the threat, I’ll be on alert. I have work to do here—Hans is coming in, I’m working on the profile of Rollins, I’m talking to Elise Hansen today. We need more information so we can find both Rollins and Tobias.”

He looked pained.

“Sean—you have to go. Jack would only call you if he was truly concerned.”

“I know, but—dammit!” He slammed his fist on the desk. “This is the worst time to leave you alone. Jack would do it, but it would take him a day to get down there.”

“I’m not alone. I can ask Kenzie to come over. Or Nate. I’m not scared, Sean, but if it would make you feel better, I’ll ask the whole damn squad to spend the night. We certainly have the room.”

That brought a marginal grin to his face. “I told you we needed the space.” He leaned over and touched her hair. “I would feel better if you weren’t alone.” He kissed her lightly. “Though no one is as good as me.”

She took his hand and squeezed it. “That’s why you need to find Kane.”

“I’ll talk to Nate. I trust him.”

“Because he was army, like Jack.”

“Because he was special forces. I trust him with you, and with your life.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t get it.”

“Of course you don’t.” He kissed her nose, then rested his forehead against hers. “Lucy—do you remember the Cinderella Strangler in New York?”

“I won’t forget.”

“And how when you walked into the killer’s apartment, you … disconnected?”

“Sean—”

“There is no one who gets into the heads of these people better than you. But it affects you, and you shut down. You completely turn off. You put yourself in their shoes. You understand them. And you’ll do the same with Elise, with Nicole. With Tobias. I want to be here for you, because I know it tears you up inside.”

“Sean—don’t—”

He rubbed his hands up and down her back. “I would never leave for anything or anyone. But Kane—”

“Stop. Find your brother. It’s a day or two. I’ll have Nate. I’ll have Hans. I’m a lot stronger now than I was in New York.”