Summer Rain (Lightning Strikes Book 3) (36 page)

He glanced at his watch. "It's been a half hour. The rest of the party should be arriving by now. Should I go look for Erica?"

Before she could answer, she felt the boat shift under her feet. An engine came to life, and when she looked out the window, she could see that they were moving. Shock ran through her.

"What the hell?" Patrick muttered, walking over to the window. "We're leaving the dock. What's going on?"

"I have no idea. The boat wouldn't leave the docks without the rest of the party."

"Maybe we are the party. I don't think the senator is coming."

Her heart sank. "You think Erica brought us here to…" She couldn't finish the statement; it was too terrifying.

Patrick left the window and strode to the door. He turned the handle. "It's locked, Dani. Erica set us up.

Twenty-Three

Dani looked around for another door, a way out of the salon, but there wasn’t one. Patrick went back to the two big bay windows that looked out one side of the boat. Unfortunately, the view revealed little more than a walkway. They couldn't see what was happening anywhere else on the deck.

"Do the windows open?" she asked.

"Nope. There's no latch, no lock."

She moved next to him. The harbor disappeared as the yacht picked up speed. The light was fading. She glanced down at her watch. It was seven forty-five. It would be dark soon. A chilling fear ran through her at the thought of being out in the Gulf of Mexico at night.

"There are other people on board," she said somewhat desperately. "That man who helped us on board, who offered us drinks. There's a captain, probably a co-captain, maybe a chef. Senator Dillon usually has a staff on hand for sailing trips. No one will hurt us with all these witnesses."

"They took down my mother's plane with five people on it, including a pilot," Patrick reminded her.

"Okay, that didn't make me feel better," she snapped.

"Sorry, but we have to face the facts, Dani. That staff you spoke of may not be here. The man we spoke to may be working for Reid. This isn't good. We need to think of a way to defend ourselves."

"I can't imagine how we're going to do that."

"We have to find a weapon of some sort."

As he finished speaking, the door suddenly opened.

Dani's heart leapt into her throat as the senator appeared. He was dressed casually in gray slacks and a navy-blue shirt, but there were dark shadows in his eyes.

"You're here?" she said, shocked. She'd thought they were alone with Erica or that Erica had put them on the boat to die. She'd convinced herself that Senator Dillon would never actually show up.

He stared back at her through bleak eyes, his expression tense, and it was then she realized there was a gun at his back. He was shoved into the room so hard he lost his balance. The door closed behind him as he landed on his knees.

"What's going on?" she asked, as she helped him to his feet.

"Erica," he said through tight lips. "She told me you asked for a meeting and that it was highly urgent. I left my party to come down here to meet you. When I arrived, she said there was trouble."

"Is that all she said?" she asked.

"She muttered something about Reid needing a cover story. I don't know what she was talking about."

"Have you seen Reid today? Is he at your party?"

"He was supposed to come. He hadn't shown up yet when I left." His lips drew into a tight line. "When I got on board, two men with guns grabbed me and brought me in here."

"And Erica?" she asked. "Where did she go?"

"I have no idea. I yelled for her, but she disappeared. What the hell is going on, Dani?"

She couldn't decide if he really knew nothing or if he was trying to hedge his bets. "What else did Erica tell you?"

"She said you had information on Reid Packer and what he's been doing the last ten years, and that it could put me in a bad situation. I asked her what she meant, but she didn't care to explain."

"She was right about you being in a bad situation," Patrick put in, folding his arms across his chest as he stared at the senator. "By the way, I'm Patrick Kane."

"I know who you are."

"Of course you do. Do you want to tell me why you've been avoiding me for weeks?"

"Because there's nothing I could tell you that you didn't already know. I liked your mother. I'm sorry she's dead, but I don't know anything about the plane crash."

"Then let's talk about Reid Packer," Patrick said evenly. "What do you know about the shadow company he's been running for the past decade?"

"What?" Dillon spluttered. "Shadow company? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Then let me fill you in," Patrick continued. "Your good friend has been operating a shadow company outside of MDT and using their resources to do it. He's been funneling money from government contracts for at least ten years, maybe longer. He's killed numerous people, including Dani's father and my mother, as well as your predecessor and good friend, Senator Stuart. Now, it's your turn."

"Do you have any proof of any of that?" Dillon challenged.

"We do," Dani said. "Patrick and I had a long talk with Tania Vaile. I know you've met her a few times. Are you aware that she was killed yesterday? It happened right after she gave me a file on my father. The company was afraid that my father had seen evidence of their weapon testing out at the Carmichael Ranch, so they had him killed."

Dillon paled with each word she spoke, until his face was ashen. "I don't know anything about murder."

"But you know about everything else, don't you?" Patrick challenged. "We spoke to the FBI earlier—Agent Damon Wolfe. He's reopening the investigation into MDT."

"You shouldn't have done that," the senator said, shaking his head. He gave Dani a disappointed and angry look. "How could you go to the FBI without talking to me? I gave you your job. I took you to DC. I made your dreams come true."

His words stung a little, but she couldn't let him get to her. "This isn't about our relationship, Senator. This is much bigger than that. Someone has tried to kill Patrick and me twice already. Forgive me if loyalty is at the bottom of my list right now. And, frankly, you're talking like you're not in as bad of a situation as we are. Erica lured you down here and locked you in. I don't know what the endgame is, but I don't think it's good."

Dillon sucked in a quick breath as if her words had finally hit home. "I don't know that much," he said slowly, making his first vague concession. "I knew Reid was doing some business on the side, but I've never known the extent of it."

"Because you didn't want to know," Patrick said.

"Sometimes it's better to have deniability," he conceded.

"Is that why you hired Erica?" she asked. "To give you more deniability?" As she watched the emotions play across his face, she was still torn as to whether he was a villain or a victim or something in between. Probably in between, she decided. Somewhere along the line, his ambition had made him look the other way.

"Erica was referred to me by Reid," he admitted. "I had no reason not to hire her. She's brilliant with an excellent resume."

"Erica was hired to make sure you didn't let the Senate hearings get out of control," she said, realizing the truth.

"How long have you been working with Reid, Senator?" Patrick asked. "Was it before Dani's father was killed? Was it before or after my mother's plane crash? When did you get into bed with him?"

"I didn't know that Reid had anything to do with the death of Dani's father," he said, sending Dani a pleading look for understanding. "Honestly, I didn't know that."

She wasn't entirely convinced. "But you don't look that surprised now. Maybe you didn't know it at the time, but at some point you did, didn't you?" she challenged.

"I didn't find out until last year when your family's name came up with the MDT problems."

She swallowed hard at the admission. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know all the details. I wasn't even sure it was true."

"Yes, you were. You might not have wanted it to be true, but you were sure."

She'd admired the senator for a very long time. She'd always thought of him as a wise man, a visionary, a person willing to fight to better someone's life, but he wasn't like that at all. He was greedy, ambitious, and a liar.
How had she been such a fool?

"I looked out for you, Dani," he continued, sending her a pleading look. "I gave you opportunities to rise within my staff. I've been a good boss. I think you would agree with that, wouldn't you?"

"Was that you or was that Joe?" She paused as another thought occurred to her. "Did Joe know about my father, too?" Her stomach twisted into a knot at that possibility. She could take the senator's betrayal a lot easier than she could take Joe's.

"God, no," the senator said. "Joe knew nothing. But he started to get suspicious and he worried about my ties to Reid and to MDT when all the problems came down. Even before Reid asked me to hire Erica, I knew I had to get rid of Joe. He was asking too many questions. He was starting to see too much."

"What did Reid have you do for him over the years?" Patrick asked.

"I helped him get contracts for the company. You have to understand that I was friends with both Reid and Alan long before I got into politics. Reid became angry when his father retired and left Alan in charge. He thought he should have been made an equal partner. Despite the years Reid had put in at the company, he was never going to run MDT. So he started to do a few things on the side. He told me he would one day roll his freelance business into a corporation and become a competitor for MDT. He'd eventually get all their business and show his brother and father who was the smartest Packer of all."

The senator's words reaffirmed what she'd already heard. "And what was your role in his plan?" she asked, certain there was more to it than to just help pave the way to some government contracts.

"After Senator Stuart died," Dillon continued, "Reid approached me about running for the seat. He said I'd have the full support of his family. I'd wanted to get into politics, so I said yes. Of course, I expected to do Reid and his brother a few favors once I was in office, but I thought I could manage them. Washington is all about compromise and favors. It's the way the city works. You know that, Dani."

"When did you find out what was actually going on? When did you know that Reid's real goal was to sell weapons and classified technology on the black market? When did you discover he was killing anyone who got in his way?" she challenged.

"I swear I didn't know about the violence when it happened, but a few years ago I noticed that several top people at MDT suddenly left, citing early retirements. I realized that Reid was taking MDT's top talent for himself. I asked him about it, and he just laughed and reminded me that he'd always told me that one day he would be the most powerful man on earth, and that day was coming soon. He was always bragging; I didn't really believe him."

"Maybe you should have," she said.

"I should have," he conceded. "A few months later, he came to me with a stronger request. He wanted me to block a contract to MDT because it was going to come with too much oversight and regulation. I told him I didn't have the power or the votes to do that, and he told me to find a way or pay the consequences. I asked him if he was threatening me, and he said it's not a threat; it's a fact. He'd been drinking that night, which made him more talkative and more volatile than usual. He told me that he'd taken out Senator Stuart's plane, and he could take me down, too. I'd never heard him talk like that before. It was the first time I realized he wasn't completely sane."

"So you blocked the contract?" she asked.

"Yes, and I did whatever else he wanted, which thankfully wasn't much. But things got complicated last year. Jerry Caldwell got involved with your sister and then your brother got tangled up with the operation in Mexico. That's when I found out about your father. Reid told me your dad had been a thorn in his side years ago. He thought when he'd taken care of your father; that would be the end of his problems with your family. But then Alicia came along, followed by your brother."

"He knew that I worked for you. What did he think about me?" she asked.

"He wanted me to keep you close. Everything you told me, I told him."

She let out a breath realizing why Reid had been able to battle everything so efficiently. "Well, that's just great."

The senator's lips drew into a tight line. "I did what I had to do. Reid needed me to stall the investigation and stack the Senate hearings with senators who liked military defense contractors. I made sure two senators recused themselves by using information I had on them."

"So you blackmailed them?" she asked, surprised once again at the depth of his treachery.

"Let's just say I suggested it was in their best interests to recuse themselves. I thought it was over when the hearings ended and the FBI investigation was closed. MDT had taken a big hit on government contracts, but I figured they'd eventually win back trust and respect as they got distance from the security problems." Dillon paused, looking from Dani to Patrick. "And then you showed up with more questions, Mr. Kane. I knew you were going to be the final straw, especially when you and Dani teamed up together. Now, here we are."

"What's Erica's role in all this?" Patrick asked. "What does she do for Packer?"

"Beyond keeping me in line—I don't know."

"What about Stephen Phelps?" she asked, curious if the press secretary was also involved. "He seems tight with Erica."

"He was her hire; I have no idea what he knows."

"Is Erica romantically involved with Reid?" she asked, thinking that Reid had made a habit of hooking up with powerful women who could help him with his plans.

"She hasn't said, but there's an intimacy between them when they're in a room together. I didn't ask her, because I didn't want to know."

"How did they sabotage my mother's plane?" Patrick asked. "Was it a bomb? Was the pilot on a suicide mission? I know he was a last-minute replacement. Did he know he was going to die, too?"