Stolen (42 page)

He glanced at his watch.

9 minutes, LeGrand will kill Lucy.

Don’t assume anything. I think he’ll do it anyway, but if I give him the address book, it’ll buy us time. I know where Lucy is being held, a building on Kent south of Flushing.

Noah handed Sean the address book.

Sean mouthed,
Is this real?

Noah shook his head, then wrote:

It’s a perfect forgery, with the numbers changed. We have our best decoder going through the original now.

In his ear, Sean heard Skye’s voice. “You have five minutes to be in my car, and it’s a four-minute walk.”

Sean said, “I think I found it. Is it a small pink address book with gold embossing and on the first page it says
My little pink book.
”

“That’s it!” Her voice went up an octave in excitement. “Get out. Now.”

“Tell LeGrand to stand down.”

“Just meet me. I have a plan. I’m so excited!”

Sean wrote:

Get to Lucy.

He wrote out a rough map of where she was being kept.

Noah stared at Sean for a long moment and nodded. “Be careful,” he whispered. Then he wrote:

Jack Kincaid already has eyes on Skye’s car. He’ll have your back. I’ll save Lucy.

Noah handed Sean a small phone. Sean pocketed it, turned, and left the way he came. Noah didn’t follow.

*   *   *

Noah had a SWAT team on standby near the FBI evidence locker. The warehouse where Lucy was being held captive was less than a five-minute drive at this time of night. He received a message from Jaye Morgan at RCK with the exact location of the warehouse, including blueprints. He had no idea where she’d gotten it, and he didn’t ask. By the time they reached Kent Avenue, only twelve minutes had passed since Noah last saw Sean.

The warehouse was dark, though there was a light upstairs where Morgan indicated there was an office. Likely the office where Lucy was being kept. There was roof access, and Noah sent three of the team to the roof, while he and the other three team members would split and simultaneously go in through the front and back.

Noah gave the go order and the three groups swooped into the facility.

Noah shouted, “FBI! Freeze! Hands where we can see them!”

A quick sweep of the main floor flushed out three suspects sitting on old couches in the corner.

Guns were within reach, but they froze when they saw the men in black with guns aimed at them. Anyone who moved would be leaving in a body bag.

“Smart boys,” Noah said as he kept his sight on them until the team from the rear met up with them.

“Back is clear.”

“Cuff them,” Noah said. He heard the team moving upstairs.

“Hostage is recovered. Upstairs is clear.”

Noah ran upstairs, and when he saw Lucy his heart constricted. Lucy was chained to a support beam. She was shivering, wearing only sweats and a tank top that was stained with blood, grease, and dirt. Her feet were bare, her face was bruised, and her lips swollen. He wanted to take her home and put her in a hot bath and take care of her—

He stopped himself. He’d been denying for the past year that he had feelings for Lucy. He couldn’t lie to himself anymore. Sean was right. Noah had always thought he would be a better man for Lucy than Sean. He admired and respected her, and he knew he could easily love her. But she loved Sean, and Noah refused to be the runner-up.

And Jack’s words to Duke this morning stuck with Noah.

Sean’s the best thing that’s ever happened to my sister.

Noah wasn’t going to stand in the way. And after the last few weeks, he’d accepted that Sean was a better man than he’d ever given him credit for.

SWAT released Lucy and one of the men helped her to her feet. “We’ve called an ambulance. Do you need help downstairs?”

She shook her head, but accepted the blanket he put over her shoulders. To Noah, she said, “Sean said you’d find us.”

“I ran into him at the FBI warehouse.” He tried to make his voice light, but failed. “He told me where to find you.”

Her lips trembled. “And where is he?”

“He left with Skye. He didn’t have a choice; he thought LeGrand would kill you if he didn’t return with the codes.”

“LeGrand doesn’t care about me—but he hates Sean. I know where they went. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Noah wanted to order Lucy to stay and wait for medical personnel. He looked at her feet, then called Suzanne. “Suzanne, I have Lucy. She needs shoes and a jacket. We’re headed to—” He glanced at her.

“Marine Basin Marina. The yacht is called
Rosebud
and they’re meeting a ship out at sea to sell the toxin in exchange for transport out of the country.”

Noah asked Suzanne, “Did you hear that?”

“Yes. I’ll meet you at the marina. With backup and shoes.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Skye ordered Sean to drive south on Nostrand while she sat in the passenger seat and logged in to her computer. He remained silent, watching his rearview mirror. He hoped it was Jack following him, because he couldn’t see the driver.

As soon as Skye found out the codes were fake, she would order Lucy killed. Sean knew Skye well. She would kill Lucy out of spite and anger.

“Your whole plan was smart,” Sean said, “except for the fact that you let the FBI seize your account book.”

“That was on Kurt,” she snapped. “He should have known as soon as he went whistle-blower the FBI would be crawling all over the place. I only needed one more day—and that day has cost us two years of our lives.”

“You should always have a backup plan.”

“Really?” She stared at him. “And what’s your backup plan now, Sean? You think you can talk your way out of this?” She softened her tone. “It doesn’t have to be this way. I have the accounts. We can disappear together. It was eight-point-seven million two years ago. Think of how much money is in the accounts now.”

“Depending on the interest rate, you’re probably looking at ten mill, take or leave.”

“Ten million is a lot of money. We can disappear. We can go anywhere.”

“Ten million is a drop in the bucket if you don’t want to be caught.”

“I already have property waiting for me; I can live on the interest alone for the rest of my life.”

She started typing again on the computer. She took out the book and logged in to a secure account. Granite Trust.

She caught him looking and turned the computer away. “I should have known you’d try to manipulate me.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“We were really good together.”

“We had fun,” he said. “But that was a long time ago. Before I knew you were a killer.”

“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black! I’ve followed your career for years. You’re certainly no saint.”

“I never killed anyone in cold blood. Colton was our friend.”

“Some friend you were. He worshiped you and you walked away. Who stayed? Hmm?
Me.
”

“You killed Hunter.”

She didn’t say anything.

“Dammit, Skye! He didn’t do anything to anyone.”

“You had him spying on me. His death is on
you.
”

Skye went back to her laptop. Her hands were shaking. Was she angry or upset?

Sean looked behind him again. The car was still there.

He said, “This road goes on forever.” And it was slow. There were lights and stop signs. It was a residential and business area. “There has to be a faster way to go wherever we’re going.”

“Shut up. This isn’t working.”

“You must have typed wrong. Or maybe your lover Kurt took the money a long time ago.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He wouldn’t have gone through this elaborate and expensive plan if he had the accounts
and
the decoding key.” She’d obviously thought that might have been a possibility.

She stared at the address book and slowly turned pages, rubbing them with her fingers. “This isn’t my book. It doesn’t feel right.”

“And you can tell that after two years.”

She pulled out a gun and put it at his head.

“Pull over.”

“Skye—”

“Now!”

The phone in his pocket vibrated once. He hoped that meant Noah had Lucy. He had to believe she was safe.

Sean pulled the car over to the side of the road and slipped it into park.

“Hands on the wheel!”

He did as Skye ordered, waiting for the right time to attack.

“I don’t know what you did, but this isn’t my book. I will kill you. After you hear your girlfriend die.”

Sean used his right arm to push Skye’s gun hand up, toward the roof, and his left hand to reach over, grab her wrist, and disarm her. He turned her gun on her and said, “Get out.”

“I hate you!”

Sean saw movement on Skye’s side of the car.
Jack?
Suddenly Sean’s door opened. He turned his gun toward his attacker.

Evan.

Evan slammed Sean’s head into the steering wheel. Sean dropped the gun; Skye retrieved it. Evan slammed the front door shut, then got into the backseat. He put a gun to Sean’s head. “Drive or I kill you.”

Sean wiped blood off his nose and glanced around. He saw a shadow disappear and wondered why Jack hadn’t helped him. Unless Lucy wasn’t safe yet.

Sean put the car in drive. His nose was probably broken; it hurt like hell.

Skye said, “Evan, thank you. I swear, I don’t know—”

Evan turned the gun on Skye and shot her in the head. Sean was so startled that he swerved the car, sideswiping two parked vehicles.

Evan had the gun aimed at the back of Sean’s head. “I had the car wired. I heard everything. In case you’re wondering, I acted on LeGrand’s orders.”

Sean had no idea what was going on or who was in charge. He glanced in the rearview mirror but couldn’t see anything except Evan’s scowl.

“Turn right here,” Evan ordered.

Sean looked in the side mirrors. There might have been a truck following, but he couldn’t be sure.

“If you’re looking for your buddy, I slashed his tires. You’re on your own. Turn left at the second light and it’s a straight shot down to the marina.”

Evan reached over and took the pink book, now bloodied, from Skye’s lap. “If she’s right and this is fake, you’re going to be Kurt’s little lapdog. You’ll get him every dime you stole from him. We don’t care where it comes from. I know you can do it, and so does he.”

“Fuck you.”

“Tough guy.”

The truck following them looked like the same one that followed them before. If Evan really did slash Jack’s tires, who was that?

Crossing Brooklyn seemed to take forever. They finally emerged at the ocean, the change sudden and welcome.

“Here,” Evan said. “Turn at the gate. Roll down your window carefully. The code is three-two-nine-eight.”

Sean typed in the code and the gate rolled open.

“Drive as far as you can on the dock, then turn off the car.”

Sean did as Evan ordered.

Evan was on his phone. “I have Rogan and the codes. Skye said there’s something wrong with the book before I shot her.”

He listened, and Sean couldn’t hear what LeGrand said.

Evan hung up and said, “Slowly get out of the car. I will shoot you if you do anything other than what I tell you.”

Sean got out of the car slowly.

“Keep your hands up,” Evan said as he got out of the back. “Now put them on the roof of the car.”

Sean complied, discreetly glancing around to get his bearings. The icy wind from the Atlantic Ocean stung his arms and eyes, whipping the water up, dampening his skin. Evan cuffed him, then led him down the dock to the end.

Sean couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw a shadow moving along the dock parallel to them. If that was Jack, how was he going to get to
this
dock? Swim?

Maybe it was his imagination.

LeGrand stepped out onto the deck of a beautiful forty-two-foot cruiser named
Rosebud.
His face was red with rage. As soon as Sean was on the deck, LeGrand hit him. “Evan, take the boat out. Now, Sean Rogan, you will pay for stealing from me again.”

LeGrand took the book from Evan as Evan went up to the small wheel room. LeGrand said, “You will find my money or I’ll kill you.”