Tough Justice Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  She dug into her jacket pocket to retrieve her cell phone and glanced at two messages waiting for her. One was from her dentist and the other was from... Anna.

  Her fingers trembled so much, Lara could barely unlock her phone. Once she did, she sagged against the wall, bracing her hand against the rough stone to stay upright.

  She read the text again.

  Tell my mom no worries, FBI agents just picked me up to take me to the safe house. I’m in the car now.

  The words on the display socked her in the gut.

  No way. Victoria would’ve never sent random agents to pick up her only child. She would’ve been there herself, in person, to verify her daughter’s safety. And why was Anna texting her instead of her mother? That made no sense...unless someone else sent that text from Anna’s phone.

  She called Victoria again, and the call went straight to voice mail.

  Her boots scuffing against the pavement, Lara exited the prison walls and headed to the car.

  As she settled against the seat, she tapped the display for Victoria’s name and closed her eyes. Please, answer this time.

  Victoria answered halfway through the first ring. “She’s gone, Lara. Someone took my daughter.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  “What?” Lara’s eyelids flew open. Her fears about the text had just been realized. “You don’t have her?”

  “I called and texted her as soon as I got off the phone with you, but she didn’t answer. I thought maybe she was in class and had her phone turned off. I continued to call her as I took a car to campus, fully intending to take her away with me and place her in a safe house—no matter how much she protested.” Victoria’s voice ended on a sob.

  “No other agents contacted you?” She told Victoria about the text she’d received from Anna’s phone.

  Victoria’s response to that bit of information came fast and hard. “Anna would’ve contacted me, not you, if some agents had picked her up.”

  Lara took a deep breath and flattened the emotion out of her own voice. “Are you sure no other agents picked her up?”

  If someone had told her a year ago that she’d be soothing Victoria for a change, she would’ve laughed hysterically.

  “I’m sure, Lara. After your call, I only notified our task force, and I happened to be the closest one to Columbia. But by the time I got to her philosophy class, she’d left. What did he say? What did that bastard tell you?”

  Lara pressed a hand against the butterflies in her belly. “He told me Anna was a target, a special target.”

  Victoria growled. “I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him myself.”

  She knew the feeling.

  “Did you question anyone in the class?” Lara massaged her right temple. “Did you talk to her friends?”

  “I flashed my badge and pulled her professor aside. He could only tell me that a woman entered the classroom, showed him a badge similar to my own and asked to speak to Anna. He pointed her out, and Anna left with the woman.”

  “And her friends? Did you see any of her friends?”

  “I didn’t recognize anyone in the classroom. I don’t know where she hangs out on campus. I’m back at the office. Where are you? Are you on your way? I need you here, Lara.”

  As far as Lara knew, her boss had never needed anyone in her entire life, at least not since her husband died.

  “I’m on my way. Take a deep breath, Victoria. We don’t know enough to panic.” She spewed that lie with all the practice she’d cultivated working undercover.

  But Victoria wasn’t swallowing any of it.

  “He has her, or at least the bastard’s crew has her.”

  * * *

  Controlled chaos greeted Lara when she slipped inside the taskforce office.

  Cass, stationed at a computer, tapped away at the keyboard as if attacking it. Ty on the phone, smiling, charming, cajoling information out of some unsuspecting criminal grunt.

  Mei hunched over a laptop, her long, black hair creating a veil around the display. Xander on the phone in the corner, arguing with someone and jabbing the air with his finger.

  And Nick. Nick keeping up with Victoria as she paced the room, her usually impeccably styled hair sticking up in all directions, her eye makeup smudged across her face.

  Nick met Lara’s gaze as she walked into the office, cocking his head, a quizzical look in his dark eyes.

  She raised her eyebrows at him. “What are you doing here? You should be at home taking it easy.”

  He patted his arm. “Because of this little scratch? Don’t think so.”

  Lara shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it over the back of a chair.

  The activity in the room ceased when they realized she was back. Nick tilted his chin toward her. “Did Moretti tell you anything?”

  “Only that Anna was a special target.”

  The room erupted again in chatter, and the team pummeled her with questions, snatches of words and phrases assaulting her.

  “Hold on.” She crossed one index finger over the other, holding them in front of her face. “That’s all I know. That’s all he told me.”

  “You were there a long time for that bit of information.” Nick scratched his stubble, and Lara felt the suspicion beneath his words.

  “He wanted something in return.”

  A muscle jumped in Nick’s jaw. “They always do.”

  “Are we still granting that piece of crap favors? I’ve got a better way of getting intel out of him,” Xander added.

  Crossing her arms, Lara wandered to the whiteboard that sported a diagram of Moretti’s organization. “He wanted to know how we’d gotten a line on his business, how he got on our radar.”

  A soft sigh escaped Cass’s lips. “Did you tell him?”

  “I did.” Lara’s gaze darted to Victoria. “We want to get Anna back. That’s all that matters right now. Besides, we’d never made a secret about how we got a bead on Moretti.”

  Victoria nodded. “It’s not classified information.”

  “And in exchange for that, all he told you was that Anna was a special target?” Mei tossed her long hair over one shoulder. “Generous, isn’t he?”

  Ty spread his hands in front of him. “Sounds like he’s playing you, Lara. How can we trust anything this guy says?”

  “It’s all we’ve got right now.” Victoria laced her fidgeting fingers in front of her. “He said Anna was a target, and Anna went missing, supposedly going with some agents. If he says she’s a special target, I believe him—on this point, anyway.”

  “We need to find out more about these so-called agents,” Nick added. “Columbia is a busy campus. Someone had to have seen something. I think we should all go back and canvas the area, get a roster of students in that class and find out if Anna told one of them something before she split.”

  Cass interrupted. “I’m working on that right now, and I think I’d be more useful here in front of my computer than running around Columbia.”

  “Mei and I will take one car and hit up the professor.” Ty plucked his jacket from the back of his chair. “Mei still looks like a student herself, so she’ll fit right in.”

  “I’m going, too.” Victoria held up her phone. “I’ve been in touch with a couple of Anna’s friends, and I’m going to meet them on campus.”

  Xander ran a hand through his blond hair so that it matched Victoria’s errant strands. “C’mon, boss. I’ll drive you over.”

  Nick grabbed his leather jacket and eased his wounded arm into the sleeve. “I guess that leaves us, partner.”

  “One second.” Lara crossed the room and hovered over Cass’s shoulder. “Can you contact some of those students and set up a meeting for us on campus?”

  Cass nodded, never lifting her busy fingers from the keyboard. “I’m on it. Watch your phone for my text message.”

  “You’re the best, Cass.” Lara squeezed the other woman’s shoulder before joining Nick at the door.

  On the drive over, Nick kept gla
ncing at her profile, until she turned to face him. “What? You’re studying me like I’m a bug under a glass.”

  “You look...tense.” He touched her arm.

  Even through the thick material of her jacket, she could feel the heat of his touch, soothing her frazzled nerves—but not if he was going to start asking questions about Moretti.

  “Aren’t we all tense? We need to find Anna.”

  Nick snatched his hand back and gripped the steering wheel. “That man, Moretti, he set you on edge. He always sets you on edge.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s a bad guy, Nick. You’ve seen his handiwork.” Her cell buzzed in her hand, and she held it up. “It’s from Cass.”

  “Did she set up something for us on campus?” He rolled his shoulders as if trying to release his own tension.

  Tapping the display, she said, “We have a meeting outside the bookstore, near Butler Library. She was able to reach three students from that class who might have some information about Anna’s departure from campus. She included a campus map.” She pointed out the car window. “You can head up Broadway to 114th.”

  Nick parked the car on the street in a no-parking zone, their government plates ensuring they’d be immune from a ticket. As they walked onto campus side by side, Nick’s hand bumped hers occasionally. All she had to do was grab it and hold on for dear life.

  She wanted to, more than anything, but they were two agents, on the job—partners who shared a kiss. A mind-blowing kiss...

  Clearing her throat, Lara held her phone in front of her face, looking at the map. “When we get past the library, we turn left.”

  They rounded the corner, and Nick pointed to a table. “Let’s hold court there. Do you want a coffee or something?”

  “Since we probably have a while before the students show up, I’ll take a coffee—black.”

  “I’ll be right back. Hold down the fort.”

  Her eyes followed Nick as he ducked into the coffee house. Even in his dark jeans and leather jacket, he looked too mature to be a student. He could pass for a professor of... Not art history. Not philosophy. Journalism? Political science?

  Someone coughed, and Lara jerked her head to the side.

  Two young women with long, straight hair parted down the middle hovered at her elbow.

  The taller one spoke first. “Are you the FBI agent?”

  “I am.” Lara glanced at her watch. “That was fast. And your names?”

  Cass had texted their names, but Lara always played things close to the vest.

  The first speaker said, “I’m Farah Marshall, and this is Jenna Holt.”

  Jenna stuck out her hand, glancing at Lara’s jeans. “You’re Agent Grant?”

  “Yes.” Lara shook her hand and tipped her head toward Nick, approaching the table with a cup of coffee in each hand. “This is Agent Delano.”

  Lara introduced Nick to the girls, whose eyes lit up at the sight of him. She didn’t blame them—hot older man, intense, dark eyes and a killer smile. He had them in the palm of his hand at hello.

  As the girls sat at the table, a young man on a bike joined them. “Are you the FBI agents looking for Anna Russo?”

  Nick asked, “Who are you?”

  “Teddy McNamara.”

  Lara made the rest of the introductions. “Do you want to pull up a chair, Teddy?”

  “I’m okay on my bike.”

  “So, the three of you were in Anna’s philosophy class and saw her leave with a woman.” Lara took a sip of coffee, watching the three students over the lid of her cup. “Can you tell us what this woman looked like?”

  Farah tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “She had dark hair, about shoulder length, very thick with bangs. I’m not sure how tall she was because I was sitting down, and I think she had heels on, probably average height.”

  Nick had been writing this down in a notebook and looked up. “About how old?”

  “Maybe in her thirties, maybe younger. She was wearing a suit, so that may have made her look older. Oh, and she was wearing sunglasses—inside—so it was hard to tell her age.”

  “Naw, she was younger than that. If she was thirty, she wasn’t much older...and she had a tattoo.”

  Lara’s heart slammed against her rib cage. “A tattoo? Of what? Where?”

  “I couldn’t make it out, maybe a bird or something like that on her ankle, on the outside.” He shrugged as the two women stared at him. “She had nice legs.”

  “Did you hear what she said to Anna?” Nick tapped his pencil against his coffee cup.

  “I was sitting the closest to Anna, but the woman sort of leaned over and whispered. I didn’t hear anything she said.” Farah rolled her eyes. “And I didn’t notice any tattoo.”

  Crossing his arms, Teddy leaned back on his bike. “That’s because you were looking at her face. I couldn’t tell you what hair color she had or if she even had hair.”

  Nick quirked his eyebrows at Lara, and her lips twitched.

  Farah huffed. “Anyway, she whispered something to Anna, Anna got her stuff, and they left the room.”

  Teddy spun one of his pedals around with his foot. “The car was a black SUV, but I didn’t see a license plate or anything. I wasn’t looking for that.”

  Nick dropped his pencil. “You saw Anna get into a car?”

  “I was by the window, looking out on Broadway. I lock up my bike down there when I have that class. Honestly?” Teddy adjusted his backpack. “I wasn’t looking out the window to follow Anna. I was just checking on my bike. Even if a bike is locked up, people around here will strip it clean if they can.”

  “So, the woman and Anna walked to a black SUV parked on Broadway? Did Anna look like she was in distress?”

  “I don’t think so, but there was a guy with them, too.” His gaze scanned Nick’s casual attire. “He was wearing a suit.”

  Lara turned to the women. “Did you two see anything? Did you see the man?”

  Jenna shook her head. “I wasn’t looking out the window.”

  “Me, either.” Farah hugged a book to her chest. “Is Anna in trouble? Is she in danger? I knew her mom was some kind of federal agent, so I didn’t think anything of it when that woman came into the classroom. She must’ve had some ID, because she showed it to Professor Hutter.”

  “We’re not sure yet what’s going on.” Lara told the soothing lie without blinking an eye. No need to upset the coeds. Moretti wouldn’t be coming after them—she glanced up at the windows of a few buildings—at least she hoped not.

  Nick nudged the front wheel of Teddy’s bike with the toe of his boot. “Black SUV, woman from class and a man escorting her, no struggle and no license plate. Is that about right?”

  “Yeah, and I didn’t get a good look at the man, either. Looked like a typical suit to me. He may have had a beard, and he was wearing sunglasses, too.”

  “Did you notice the make of the SUV?”

  “One of those big-ass gas guzzlers, tinted windows, the whole nine yards.” Teddy held up one hand. “If I thought Anna was being forced into the car, I would’ve called campus police or something. There was nothing like that going on. Tattoo lady walked her down, and the suit must’ve been waiting for them downstairs because he was walking on the other side of Anna toward the SUV. The three of them went into the car, and I didn’t even notice them driving away.”

  Holding up his notepad, filled with his black scrawl, Nick said, “Ladies? Anything to add?”

  “Yeah, do we have anything to worry about?” Jenna wrapped her long, brown hair around one hand.

  “Nothing.” Nick rapped his knuckles on the table. “This is related to Anna’s mother, but if I can get back here tomorrow with a sketch artist, can you help us out?”

  They all agreed to help with a sketch.

  She and Nick handed their cards to each of the students and thanked them for their cooperation.

  The girls wandered into the bookstore, their heads together, and Teddy hopped on his bike and pedaled
away.

  Lara checked the messages on her phone. “Interesting, but not all that helpful. And those descriptions? Thick hair with bangs? Sunglasses? Facial hair? Obviously, the kidnappers had on disguises. Now, if Teddy had bothered to check the license plate of tattoo lady’s big-ass SUV, we might have something.”

  “Any updates from anyone?” He tilted his notebook her way before stashing it in the inside pocket of his jacket.

  “Mei and Ty are done with Professor Hutter, and Victoria and Xander just wrapped up with Anna’s friends.”

  “Speak of the devils.” His gaze shifted over her shoulder.

  They pulled out the chairs Farah and Jenna had just vacated, and Mei dug her elbows into the table and propped her chin in her hands. “Nothing, nada, zip. Professor Hutter had his mind firmly on Hume, Camus and Russell, not fake FBI agents.”

  “Zip it.” Ty drew a line across the seam of his lips with the tip of his finger. “Here comes the boss.”

  Nick pushed back his chair and stood. “Have a seat, Victoria.”

  Her eyes darted from face to face. “I can tell you didn’t have any better luck than we did.”

  Lara reached across the table and curled her fingers around Victoria’s hand. The woman had been there for her more times than she could count. “Anna’s friends couldn’t tell you anything?”

  “No.”

  “We got a little something from her classmates.” Nick related what the students had told them about the woman, and what Teddy had revealed about the man and the black SUV. “So, we have another black SUV on the scene, like the one that pulled over for Dunst.”

  “Another black SUV in a sea of black SUVs.” Victoria squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose.

  Xander, standing next to Nick, shoved his hands in his pockets. “Hang tough, boss. If Moretti wanted Anna dead, his people would’ve killed her already, stamped her and dumped her someplace public.”

  Lara kicked Xander’s foot under the table. Leave it to him to lay it all out there. She held her breath as Mr. Sensitive opened his mouth again, and Nick looked ready to strangle him.

  “Look, they drove off with her in some comfy SUV. Make no mistake. Moretti wants something. He called her a special target, remember?”