The Mist (5 page)

Neighbors drifted out of houses up and down the street to check out the commotion, see if they could help. Find out if the fire would spread and if they should get out of there. Yarborough, already taking charge, addressed two uniformed officers. "Keep them back." He looked at Bob. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Bob spat and filled him in on Scoop and Fiona. "Firefighters are back there now."

"How'd the fire start?" Yarborough asked.

"Bomb on Abigail's back porch."

Yarborough had no visible reaction. "Where is she?"

"Missing."

"What about Owen?"

Bob shook his head. "He wasn't here."

"Is he a potential target? What--"

"Hell," Bob interrupted. "I have to warn him. Give me your cell phone."

Yarborough flipped him an expensive-looking phone that Bob immediately smudged with soot, sweat and blood.
Scoop's blood.

"Bob," Yarborough said. "Lieutenant, I can dial--"

"I don't know his number. You'd think..." He opened up the phone and stared at it. "I should have all Abigail and Owen's numbers memorized. They have enough of them. Cell, here,
Beacon Street, Texas, Maine. The way they live. Their luck. I should know their numbers."

"Owen's cell phone is in my address book."

Bob squinted at him. "In what?"

"Let me, Bob," Yarborough said. He took the phone, hit a couple of buttons, handed it back to Bob. "It's dialing."

Owen picked up on the first ring. "Hey, Tom."

"It's Bob." A thousand bad calls he'd made in his nearly thirty years as a cop, and he could feel his damn voice crack. "Where are you?"

"Beacon Street." A wariness, a hint of fear, had come into Owen's voice. "What's going on? Where's Abigail?"

"Are you safe?"

"Talk to me, Bob. What's happened?"

"I don't know. I'm at the house. She's not here. There's been a fire." No point getting into the details. "Listen to me. I'm sending Yarborough over there. He'll check things out. Right now, you need to get everyone out of the building."

"The fire was set," Owen said.

"It was a bomb, Owen. Move now. Abigail's one of our own. We'll find her." But Owen was ex-military and one of the world's foremost experts in search-and-rescue. He was head of Fast Rescue, a renowned rapid response organization. He'd think he could find her, too. "You know this is different. It's not what you do--"

"I'll be in touch."

He disconnected.

Bob didn't bother trying him again. Owen wouldn't answer. He'd get everyone out of the Federal Period house on Beacon Street owned by his family and used as the offices for their charitable foundation. Then he'd go after Abigail.

"I'll get over there," Yarborough said.

"There could be bombs at Fast Rescue headquarters in Austin and their field academy on Mount Desert Island. If people are there--"

Yarborough gave a curt nod and ran back to his car.

A self-starter. That was one good thing about him.

Bob noticed his hands were steady as he hit more buttons on Yarborough's phone to see if Abigail's cell number popped up. It did, and he hit another button to dial it.

One ring and he was put through to her voice mail.

He waited impatiently for the tone, then said, "It's Bob. Call me."

A young uniformed officer, a thin rookie with close-cropped blond hair, approached him with obvious concern. "Sir, you need to take it easy. Maybe you should sit down."

"Maybe?"

He grimaced and rephrased, "You should."

"That's better. No maybes. Now go do something. I have to get back to my daughter. Keep the firefighters from tackling me to the ground."

"Sir, I think you should get off your feet."

"You think? Are you arguing with me?"

The kid turned green. He'd need to get some spine if he was going to make it in the BPD. "No, sir, I'm not arguing with you. I'm telling you to stay back and let the firefighters do their job."

Bob stared at the kid and felt nerves or craziness or something well up in him. He broke into a barking laugh, then covered it with a cough. He bent over, hawking up a giant black gob and spitting it on the sidewalk. When he stood up straight, he had the awful sensation that he was about to cry. Then he'd have to retire and buy a house next to his folks in Florida, because he'd be finished.

The rookie was looking worried. "Lieutenant?"

Bob went very still and pointed to a dark, still-moist substance on the curb about a yard up from where he'd spit. "There. Check that out. Looks like blood, doesn't it?"

"I'll cordon off the area," the rookie said with a sharp breath.

Bob bent over to get a closer look at the spot. It had to be blood. "Abigail didn't just step out for a walk," he said half to himself.

"I don't think so, either, sir."

He stood up straight. "What do you think, rookie?"

The cop flushed but held his ground. "Everything suggests that Detective Browning has been kidnapped."

"Yeah." Bob wiped the back of his hand across his face, the weight of what had just happened hitting him. The stark, stinking reality of it. "I think so, too."

A line of shiny black SUVs rolled onto the residential street.

"The feds," the rookie cop said. "How did they get here so fast?"

"Abigail's father is in town."

"The FBI director? Just what we need."

The SUVs stopped well back of the fire trucks. Bob realized he didn't have enough of a head start to outrun the FBI.

Nowhere to go, either.

"The spot," Bob said to the rookie.

The kid jumped into action and bolted for his cruiser, shouting to his partner, a woman who looked just as young, just as inexperienced.

Down the street, Simon Cahill leaped out of the back of the middle SUV. He was a man who could dance an Irish jig and was in love with Bob's niece, Keira, but right now what Bob saw coming at him was pure FBI special agent.

The SUV started moving, but stopped again. This time, John March got out. His iron-gray hair and dark gray suit were still perfect despite the heat and the awful scene in front of him.
March had been a hotshot young detective when Bob was a rookie. Now he had about a million G-men behind him, but his eyes, as black as his daughter's, were filled with pain.

Bob understood.

March hadn't jumped out of the SUV because he was the head of the FBI, but because he was Abigail's father.

Simon got to the sidewalk first. "Bob," he said, "what's going on?"

Bob's mouth was dry, his eyes and throat burning. He looked up at the hazy sky and collected himself as March joined. There was just no way out of it, and Bob told Simon and March about the blast. "We're looking for Abigail now." He kept his tone as coplike as he could. "Firefighters are still checking her apartment, but I was in there and didn't find her. Her front door and the main front door were both standing open right after the blast."

"Her car's here," March said.

"We're cordoning off the area, checking vehicles. If she was shaken up in the blast, she could have wandered into someone's backyard."

Simon stepped out of the way of more firefighters. "What about Owen?"

Bob's head throbbed. "He's on Beacon Street. Yarborough's heading there now. What are you two doing here?"

Simon answered, his voice steady. "Abigail called about an hour ago and asked us to meet her. She didn't say why."

Bob didn't know why, either, but he had an idea. Earlier that summer, she'd learned that her father had a tight, almost father-son relationship with Simon Cahill that had started twenty years ago after the execution-style murder of Simon's father, a DEA agent. She'd been trying to wrap her head around that one for weeks and could have asked them both over to talk about it.

And just before they arrive, a bomb goes off?

There was also Norman Estabrook's threat against Simon and her father, and the serial killer Simon and Keira had taken into custody in June, as well as dozens of other ugly cases Abigail had been involved in. Before Bob could follow up, the rookie cop came back up to him, white-faced now. "Lieutenant...I just..."

The kid was standing next to March, who said quietly, "Easy, Officer. Just say what you have to say."

The rookie didn't meet the FBI director's eyes, as if he thought he might go up in a puff of smoke if he did. "I just spoke to Detective Yarborough. Owen Garrison wanted to come over here and headed to his car after evacuating the Garrison house. He checked it first, and..."

"And what?" Bob asked. "He found a bomb?"

The rookie nodded. "Yes, sir. The bomb squad's on the way, but Mr. Garrison has already disarmed the device himself."

"Himself," Bob said, sighing.

Simon and March didn't speak, but they were well aware, as Bob was, that Owen would know how to disarm a wide variety of bombs. The one in his car opened up a second crime scene.

How many more bombs would they find? Who'd planted them? How? When?

Why?

It was going to be a long day. Right now, Bob just wanted to see Scoop and his daughter, but he had to get one more bit of black news over with.

He turned to Simon. "Keira called from Ireland."

The color drained from Simon's face. "Why, Bob?"

"She and another woman called to warn me there was a bomb on Abigail's back porch."

Beara Peninsula, Southwest Ireland
8:05 p.m., IST
August 25

L
izzie had used the bungee cords in her pack to tie the Irishman's wrists behind his back. He was sullen now as they headed back to the village, she on his right, Will on his left. Keira walked quietly behind them. The black dog skulked in the shadows above the ancient wall along the lane.

"Keep up," Lizzie said to the Irishman, "or we'll leave you to the dog."

He turned his gaze to her, his eyes flat. "I'll keep up."

When they reached the village, the dog bounded off suddenly, disappearing into the hills.

Lizzie glanced back at Keira, her hair hanging in wet tangles. She'd tried calling her uncle in Boston again but was unable to get through to him. "There's still hope," Lizzie said. "Don't give up."

Keira smiled faintly. "You're an optimist."

"Most days."

"Most days I am, too."

But she obviously knew, as Lizzie did, that hope and optimism wouldn't dictate whether Bob O'Reilly and whoever else was at the triple-decker in Boston had survived the blast. It would depend on luck, skill, training and timing.

Unless fairies showed up. For all Lizzie knew, they'd had a hand in what had just happened up at the stone circle. She and Keira had dealt with the Irishman and kept him from killing them, but the mysterious black dog had persuaded him to tell them about the bomb.

It was all very strange.

There was no question in Lizzie's mind that Norman Estabrook was responsible for the attack on Keira Sullivan and the bomb in Boston. He'd gone after Simon's new love and John March's daughter.

And it was just the beginning.

Eddie O'Shea and two other small, wiry men, all in wool caps, materialized out of the shadows and jumped lightly off the stone wall onto the lane. Lizzie had had no idea they were there. The barman fell in next to her. "My brothers, Aidan and Patrick," Eddie said by way of introduction as the other two men dropped back to Keira.

Will greeted the brothers with a nod. He'd said little since the connection to Keira's uncle in Boston went dead. He was a man, Lizzie thought, of supreme self-control. He'd briefly questioned the Irishman, who insisted he'd come to the Beara Peninsula alone and had no partners waiting in the village. Lizzie believed him, if only because of his deep, palpable fear of the black hound.

Aidan pulled off his jacket and draped it over Keira's shoul
ders, and she managed a smile, thanking him. When they came to the pub, Eddie's dog was at the door to greet them.

The pub was empty, the local farmers and fishermen gone home for the night. The springer spaniel collapsed lazily in front of the fire.

Will shoved their would-be killer onto a chair at the table Lizzie had vacated earlier. His ski cap had come off in his scuffle with her. He had sparse, dark hair and blue eyes, and she saw now, in the light and relative safety of the pub, that he was muscular and fit. She realized she'd done well to best him.

She also realized Will would have had no trouble if he'd arrived in the stone circle a bit sooner. Lizzie reminded herself not to be fooled into thinking his expensive clothes and aristocratic background meant he couldn't fight as well as any other SAS officer and spy.

"I'll ring the guards," Patrick, the youngest O'Shea, said.

"Patrick and I'll watch for them," Aidan, the eldest, added, and the two brothers headed down a short hall to the back of the pub.

Keira shrugged off Aidan's coat and hung it on a peg, then joined Lizzie and the dog by the fire, all of them muddy and wet. The pub was toasty warm, but Lizzie had to fight to keep herself from shivering. She slipped the thug's spare assault knife into her jacket pocket and held her hands toward the flames, spreading out her fingers. She noticed bloody scrapes on her knuckles and wrists, but she couldn't remember any pain and felt none now.

"I'll have Patrick and Aidan fetch some ice and bandages," Eddie said.

"Thank you, but there's no need, really." She gave him a quick smile. "What I'd truly love is a sip of brandy."

He nodded, but gave his bound fellow Irishman a hard glare.
"Move a muscle, and I'll have a knife to your throat before your next breath."

The thug glowered but said nothing.

Eddie went behind his bar and got down three glasses and placed them on a tray. Keeping an eye on his customers, he uncapped a bottle of brandy and splashed some into each glass.

Keira took a breath, containing her emotion. "Why are you here?" she asked Will. "Have you talked to Simon?"

"Earlier. Not in the past few hours. I spoke to Josie at your cottage and again on my way to the stone circle." He studied her carefully, obviously debating how much to tell her about what he knew. "Norman Estabrook's no longer in U.S. federal custody."

Lizzie concentrated on the flames. She knew Will would be watching for her reaction.

Keira stayed steady. "Simon was right, then. Estabrook cut a deal with prosecutors in exchange for his cooperation."

"They can re-file charges at any time if he doesn't hold up his end," Will said, then added, "There's more, I'm afraid. He left his Montana ranch this morning on a solo flight in his private plane."

"Then no one really knows where he is." Water dripped from the ends of Keira's hair, mingling with the dog's muddy prints on the warm hearth. "Will, Norman Estabrook threatened to kill both Simon and John March."

"I know, Keira. He has no history of violence, and apparently he and his attorneys were able to persuade prosecutors that he spoke in the heat of the moment."

"I don't believe that," Keira said.

Neither did Lizzie, but she was staying quiet.

Will glanced at the bound Irishman, then at Lizzie, then shifted back to Keira, his expression giving away nothing of what he was thinking. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'm fine, thanks to--" Keira turned to Lizzie with a look of embarrassment. "You just saved my life and I don't even know your name."

After what had happened at the stone circle and in Boston, with a possible British spy with them in the pub, Lizzie was even more determined not to get into names. Simon would recognize her, but he wasn't here--and the attack on Keira and the bomb in Boston changed everything.

She needed a new plan.

She moved away from the fire, out of Will's immediate line of sight. He was handy in a fight, but she had to get her bearings before she dared giving up her anonymity.

Eddie brought the tray of brandy over to the fire and handed a glass each to her, Keira and Will. For a split second, Lizzie thought the barman's suspicion of her had eased, but as he stood back with his empty tray, he tilted his head and frowned at her.

Still didn't trust her.

He turned to Will. "I told Patrick and Aidan I'd wager our black-haired stranger here knew how to knock together a head or two." He sniffed at the bungee-corded thug. "I see I was right."

Keira warmed her hands over the peat fire. "I wasn't much help." She glanced at Lizzie. "You certainly do know how to handle yourself in a fight."

"Adrenaline," she said.

"It was more than adrenaline."

"I've taken a few self-defense classes." Starting with her father when she was two. "Luck helps. I had surprise on my side. Our friend here had size, strength and experience."

"And two knives," Keira said.

"If he'd managed one good punch, he'd have knocked me clear across the bay to the Ring of Kerry."

Keira smiled, but Will didn't react at all to Lizzie's attempt at lightheartedness. The glow of the fire reflected in his eyes, deepening the gold flecks. His control was not, she knew, to be mistaken for nonchalance. He was a very capable, dangerous man on high alert.

"Why didn't you run when you had the chance?" Keira asked.

"Story of my life," Lizzie said with a smile.

Will sipped his brandy. "You fought with real skill."

"A maniac coming at you with a knife'll do that."

Keira pushed up the sleeves of her oversize sweater, the hem of her skirt soaked and muddy. She was clearly worried about her family and friends in Boston--about Simon--but she had a kind of inner serenity that Lizzie admired. Serenity wasn't her long suit.

She took one small sip of her brandy and set the glass on the table. As tempted as she was, she wasn't about to settle in for the evening with a bottle of brandy and a chat with the Irish police, who would arrive soon.

She moved in front of the man who'd attacked her. He was outnumbered and unlikely to kick her. Nonetheless, she knew how to fight from a bound, seated position and, assuming he did, too, stayed clear of his feet. "You didn't decide to attack Keira on your own, out of the blue," she said. "Who hired you?"

He turned his head from her. Even if he didn't respond, his body language would be instructive and perhaps give her--and Will Davenport--answers. Will undoubtedly had far more experience with interrogations than she did, but her father had taught her basic techniques.

"You didn't sneak off to the stone circle on a whim," Lizzie said. "Who sent you?"

The Irishman shifted back to her, cockier and less fearful now that the black dog had gone on his way. "D'you have someone in mind?" he asked sarcastically.

An unexpected coolness eased up Lizzie's spine and made her catch her breath as she remembered a night in Las Vegas in June, in the last days before the FBI arrived at Norman's Montana ranch with a warrant for his arrest.

"I do." She spoke in a near whisper. She'd come to believe Norman wanted to bloody his own hands, but now she realized he'd also wanted the drama of this multipronged attack. He'd needed help to pull it off. "I do have someone in mind. He's British. Maybe forty, with medium brown hair, gray eyes. About your height. Noticeably fit."

"How would I remember him?"

She put her palms on her thighs and leaned forward, eye to eye with him. "He's dangerous and charming and very focused. You'd remember."

"No one I know," the Irishman said.

Lizzie had no idea whether or not he was telling the truth, but she was aware of Will studying her, assessing her in steely silence. Her description of his countryman had clearly struck a nerve.

Maybe he was the one she should be questioning.

She tried not to let him distract her. "Why attack Keira with a knife? Why not shoot her? Why not poison her blackberry crumble?"

"Because of the serial killer," Keira said suddenly, quietly from the fire. "That's why, isn't it?"

The Irishman averted his eyes, giving his answer.

Lizzie saw now what he'd planned. "A copycat killing. You wanted to throw the guards off your trail by making it look as if someone was imitating the serial killer who was here earlier this summer."

He breathed in through his nostrils. "I've hurt no one."

"Not for lack of trying, my friend." She ran a fingertip along
the rim of her glass on the table. "Eddie and his brothers would recognize you if you were a local. Where are you from? Dublin? Cork? Limerick?"

He didn't react to any of the cities she named.

Will stepped forward and unzipped the Irishman's right jacket pocket. "Let's have a look," he said, withdrawing a battered leather wallet. He opened it up and slid out a bank card with his thumb. "Michael James Murphy. Is that your real name? I expect it is. You thought you had an easy job tonight, didn't you, Mr. Murphy?"

"I tried to save her. That one," Murphy said, nodding toward Keira, his tone slightly less sullen. "I saw this black-haired witch meant to do her harm. It's lucky I happened on when I did."

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Such a liar."

He glared at her. "You can fool them, maybe, but you don't fool me. I'll explain myself to the guards."

"Great. You do that. In the meantime, you're alone out here on the Irish coast with all of us."

He smirked at her, unimpressed.

Keira turned from the fire, her cheeks red now from the heat, a stark contrast to the rest of her deathly pale face. "He must have been watching for me on the lane and saw me walk up to the stone circle." She drank more of her brandy, holding the glass with both hands. "I thought the rain had stopped for good and a walk would ease my restlessness. I was missing Simon. Afraid for him."

Keira's love for a man Lizzie had kept at arm's length for the past year felt as natural and honest as the Irish night.

Michael Murphy--or whatever his name was--snorted at Lizzie. "You almost broke my poor knee. It hurts like the devil."

She was unrepentant. "What did you expect me to do when you came after me with your knife?"

"I was scared out of my wits, trying to save Keira. Untie me. I've done nothing to deserve being trussed up like a Christmas turkey."

"Nothing?" Lizzie raised her eyebrows, almost amused at his brazenness. "That's rich, my friend."

She took her brandy glass to the bar and set it on the smooth wood, resisting a sudden surge of loneliness. She had friends. Family. Why was she doing this on her own? She glanced at Will, his quiet control as he dialed his BlackBerry more unnerving than if he'd been in a frenzy. He would be focused on first things first. He'd see to Keira's safety.

Then he'd deal with Lizzie.

Her trip to Ireland wasn't going at all as she'd hoped it would. Instead of disrupting Norman's plans for violent revenge, she'd landed in the middle of their execution. She could no longer pretend she'd just stopped by the little Irish village to see Simon Cahill while she was walking the Beara Way. Simon and his friend Lord Davenport had only to put their heads together and, with their resources inside and outside of government, they'd figure out who she was. In the meantime, she had room to maneuver.

Will held his BlackBerry out to Keira. "It's Simon. He and Director March weren't present when the bomb went off. Your uncle and cousin are unhurt." He hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Detective Wisdom is seriously injured."

"What about Abigail?"

"She wasn't in the blast."

Keira took the phone. "Simon," she said in a raw whisper, "I'm fine. I love you."