Undercover Rebel (The Mighty McKenzies Book 4)

by LENA DIAZ,

  Ian chose a love seat to the left of the fireplace for him and Shannon. Once everyone was settled, he dove right in and brought them up to speed on what was happening with the human trafficking investigation and the dilemma he found himself in.

  “I don’t know who to trust. Someone on the inside had to have blown my cover. I can’t think of any other way for them to have found out.” To his family’s credit, not one of them looked at Shannon with any suspicion or questioned whether she could be the mole.

  Ian continued. “I can’t even tell my boss about what was written on the other side of that index card without knowing whether he’s the one who betrayed me. I’m at an impasse, and time is running out for the victims.”

  Adam sat forward. “Your boss put you on administrative leave. I’m putting my money on him being the mole.”

  “That’s my thought too,” Ian agreed. “He’s never done anything before to make me suspect that I couldn’t trust him. And I can’t think of any reason for him to have suddenly turned to the dark side. But if he is sabotaging the search, then it’s my duty to prove it so I can ensure that we have the best chance at actually finding and saving these young women.” He grimaced. “And kids. From the pictures I saw, two of them are little more than children.”

  His father rested his forearms on his knees, looking deep in thought. “Either the chief of police is rotten, the special agent in charge at Homeland Security is rotten, or it’s the assistant district attorney. Have I got that right? No one else knew about your cover?”

  “I did,” Shannon admitted. “Not all along, just recently. But I knew before the botched deal at the warehouse.”

  His father smiled kindly. “I appreciate that, Miss Murphy. But Ian is here with you, which means he trusts you one hundred percent. That’s good enough for me.”

  She exchanged a surprised glance with Ian.

  He gave his father a curt nod. “Thank you, sir.” He cleared his throat. “There’s one other person who knew—Special Agent Chris Parker. He’s been my liaison in the field the whole time I’ve been here. Chris and I have been in the trenches together many times, and I don’t feel that he could be involved. However, to be certain, I sent an anonymous tip to internal investigations that he was accepting bribes. They suspended him pending an investigation.”

  Duncan let out a bark of laughter. “I’ll bet he loved and appreciated that.”

  “I’ll make it up to him sometime. The investigation is ongoing. But they dove in fast, and everything is checking out. He’s not our guy. That kind of strategy, an anonymous tip, won’t fly for someone more senior like my boss. They’d investigate, but they’d be a lot more careful and would take their time. He wouldn’t be suspended until they found credible evidence.”

  “You don’t need to get him suspended,” his dad offered. “You need to trick him, and the others. Keep it simple. The goal isn’t to gather evidence for prosecution at this point. You need to identify the mole, remove him from the investigation so you can get the ball rolling and make sure every effort is truly being made to find the women. And those poor kids.” He shook his head. “You won’t need anything elaborate. Just fast.”

  “What do you suggest?” Ian asked.

  “Pick three different locations for a sting operation. You can put out the word to each of your suspects that one of Butch’s men contacted you and is willing to trade information and testify against everyone else involved if he can cut a deal. I’m assuming this Butch guy has enough men in his chain of command that it will fly.”

  Duncan nodded. “I like that. It’s simple, like Dad said. And it lets you find out right away which one is your mole.”

  Shannon glanced around, then looked at Ian. “Everyone else looks like they understand. But I’m lost. How exactly will you find out who blew your cover?”

  “My father is suggesting that I feed the same fake information to the police chief, my boss and the ADA and let them know that I’m meeting Butch’s guy who’s squealing on him. I tell them each a different location, but the same time. I’d have to get each of them to agree not to come there, that it has to be just me and the informant or they’ll bolt. I can use the disastrous warehouse debacle as justification for going it alone. Whichever one of them shows up is the mole.”

  Shannon’s eyes widened with alarm. “But won’t the mole show up planning to try to kill you and the informant?”

  “Yes, but I wouldn’t give him that opportunity. I’d pick locations with limited access, then spy on all the approaches using long-range binoculars. It won’t matter if he tries to ambush me. I won’t be in a position for him to get me. The goal is just to find out who shows up. Low risk, high reward.” He nodded. “It could work.” He stood, and this time he offered his father his hand. “Thank you, sir. Sometimes an obvious answer is hard to see when you’re deep inside of the problem you’re trying to solve. I appreciate your perspective.”

  Everyone stood.

  His father smiled as he shook Ian’s hand. “Happy to help, son.”

  “You can’t be in three places at once,” Adam said. “And you’re still pursuing the investigation on the side, isn’t that right?”

  Ian shrugged. “I’ve got a few contacts I can tap, see if they’ll help.” He put his hand on Shannon’s back to lead her out.

  “You already have three people right here who can help.” This time it was Duncan who spoke.

  Ian stared at him in surprise. “Are you volunteering?”

  His three brothers exchanged looks, then nodded in unison.

  “We all are,” Colin said.

  “Why?” Ian asked. “Why would you offer to do that?”

  Adam stepped forward and put his hand on Ian’s good shoulder, probably remembering that his left one was still sore. “We’re family. That’s what family does. We have each other’s backs. Let us do this for you.”

  Ian studied each of them, automatically suspicious of their motives. “What do you get in return? What do you want?”

  Shannon gasped beside him. “Ian, I think they really do want to help.”

  Colin grinned. “He’s right, lass. There’s a catch.”

  “I knew it,” Ian grumbled.

  Duncan and Adam frowned as if they had no idea what their brother was talking about.

  “Just a minute.” Colin jogged to a decorative table against the far wall that was stacked with envelopes. He brought one back and handed it to Ian. “Your official wedding invitation. Agree to be there, and we’ll help you find your mole. Using us will be way faster than you having to find three other people in a short time frame like this.”

  Ian reluctantly took the envelope. “This is blackmail. I’m pretty sure you’re committing a felony right now.”

  Colin’s grin widened. “Peyton will be thrilled to see you there.”

  Duncan smiled. “Remi has been dying of curiosity to meet you. She’ll be happy to see you there too. Thanks, Ian.”

  He gave them a curt nod, still not comfortable with the way they were all getting along these days. Maybe he should start a fistfight just to get his world back on its normal axis.

  An hour later they’d planned out the locations, time, and Ian had finished contacting the ADA, police chief and his boss to set everything up. He rose again to leave. But when he held out his hand to Shannon, she shook her head and settled back against the love seat.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she insisted, crossing her arms.

  Ian sat back down and leaned in close so he could whisper. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

  She gave him an irritated look and made no attempt to whisper her reply. “Your brothers don’t have to leave right away since the meeting time everyone agreed to is several hours from now. Which means we all have time to address the elephant in the room. Ian, I think it’s high time that you told your father why you ran off when you were eigh
teen. It’s time for you to tell him why you’ve resented him all these years. You need to tell him about Willow.”

  Ian’s entire body flushed hot and cold as he stared at the one person he’d trusted, ever, with his secret. And now she was throwing it out in front of his family like a bone to a dog.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” he whispered harshly.

  “Willow?” his father asked behind him. “Is she talking about Willow Rivera?”

  Ian ignored him and continued to look at Shannon. “Why?”

  “Because I know what it’s like to harbor resentments inside you. You nurture your wounds and feed them until they fester like poison. You have to get them out in order to heal. You have to forgive in order to move on and find peace.”

  “What do you know about getting out the poison and moving on?” he bit out.

  She stiffened but didn’t look away. “I forgive you for lying to me.”

  He stared at her in shock. “You forgive me?”

  “Who’s Willow Rivera?” Colin asked.

  “Beats me,” Adam replied.

  Shannon took Ian’s hands in hers, her eyes brimming with tears. “I do. I forgive you. And I trust you, with all my heart. I really do. And that’s what I want for you. I want you to get the poison out and begin to heal.”

  “Ian?” His father sounded shaken. “Please, son. What’s this about?”

  Uncaring of his audience, Ian cupped Shannon’s beloved face in his hands and kissed her. When he pulled back, she shuddered and gave him a fierce hug. He held her a long moment, then kissed her again before sitting back beside her with his arm around her shoulders. But this time he wasn’t trying to give her strength. He was drawing his strength from her.

  His brothers and father stared at him, a host of confused expressions on their faces as they each sat back down and waited.

  Ian announced to the room at large, “Willow Rivera was an eighteen-year-old woman I met when I was fifteen. Father found out about her and thought she was a bad influence on me. He ordered me not to see her anymore. I tried to explain to him about our relationship and what was really going on. I tried many times. But he refused to listen.”

  His father’s face reddened. “There was nothing to explain. She had a criminal record, for prostitution. What has this got to do with anything?”

  “You refused to listen,” Ian repeated. “Willow needed help, not condemnation. She wasn’t a prostitute by choice. She was a victim. Her stepfather was pimping her out, beating her, withholding food. He forced her to walk the streets. I was her friend. I was trying to help her. But when she needed me the most, you essentially kidnapped me and took me up to a cabin hundreds of miles away for a two-week father-son fishing trip. You tricked me into going with you. Had I known we’d be gone that long, I would have refused to go.”

  His father frowned. “I was trying to get my son away from a bad influence.”

  Ian gritted his teeth. “When we finally came back,” Ian said, “Willow was gone.”

  “Thank God,” his father said.

  Ian stared at him incredulously. “God had nothing to do with her fate. You can chalk that up to the Mighty McKenzie. She was desperate, with nowhere to turn. Her one friend in the whole world—” he thumped his chest “—me, I wasn’t there for her. She ran away to escape her abusive stepfather and got taken in by what we now call a human trafficker. He killed her, Dad. You failed her. We both failed her. And she paid for our sins with her life.”

  His father’s face turned ghost-white. “That’s why you hate me? You blame me for her death?”

  Ian closed his eyes for a long moment, then slowly shook his head and met his father’s tortured gaze. “I don’t hate you. I thought I did, for a very long time. But I hated myself even more, for not standing up to you, for being too afraid to outshout Mighty McKenzie and make him listen. Every time I tried to tell you the truth about her, you shut me down. I should have fought harder, made you listen. After her death, I was so disgusted and ashamed that I became the juvenile delinquent you believed me to be. And from then on out, everything I did was to spite you. If I was doing too well in school, I’d purposely not turn in an assignment or flunk a test. You wanted me to go to college, so I ran off the day I turned eighteen, determined that you would never see me make anything of my life. I wanted you to feel like a failure because I’d failed already, in the worst possible way, and blamed you.”

  His father’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. He cleared his throat. “But you’re with Homeland Security. I don’t—”

  “Understand how they’d take a total screwup?” Ian glanced at his brothers, who were riveted on the conversation but, surprisingly, weren’t jumping in to tell him what an idiot he was. Beside him, Shannon had tucked herself against him and had her hand on his back, as if to give him strength. The anger that had been flowing through him as he recounted his disastrous youth seemed to drain away. “I went to college on a full scholarship. I just never told you about it. I got a degree in criminal justice and worked briefly as a sheriff’s office intern before joining Homeland Security. I became what you wanted me to be. But I never told you, because I didn’t want you to have that satisfaction. And I’ve spent my entire life blaming you every time something went wrong, when all along—” he blew out a deep breath “—it was my failings that haunted me.”

  His father tentatively put his hand on Ian’s shoulder and stared deep into his eyes. “I was so worried about you, thinking that woman—”

  “Willow.”

  He swallowed. “Willow. I thought I was protecting my son. I cut off every conversation where you tried to bring her up, because I was so upset that I’d failed you in the first place by not realizing you were associating with someone whom I thought to be a bad influence, until it was nearly too late. I thought I was doing the right thing.” He shook his head. “I was wrong. I’m so sorry, son. So deeply sorry that I hurt you, and that Willow paid the price for my stubbornness.”

  “I’m sorry too.” This time it was Adam who spoke. “I was your big brother. When you started to rebel and get in trouble, I should have sat you down and talked it out, found out what was really going on. Instead, I let my anger drive my actions. I should have been there for you, but I wasn’t. I’m sorry, Ian.”

  Duncan cleared his throat, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “We were all too quick to judge you. We were your worst tormentors as teenagers. We should have had your back. Instead, we just got mad because it seemed like you were getting all of the attention, bringing the family down, making Mom and Dad look bad to their friends. We should have known there was a reason you were acting out. But none of us took the time to ask you. I wish I could have a do-over, Ian. But hopefully we can move forward and have a new start. That’s the best I can offer. But it’s a sincere offer. I want you in my life, in our lives.”

  His father, who still had his hand on Ian’s shoulder, nodded in agreement, as did Adam.

  Colin slapped his hands on top of his thighs and looked around at all of them. “I agree that Adam and Duncan were total jerks growing up. It’s about time they apologized for it.”

  Adam and Duncan both shoved him off the couch onto the floor.

  “Hey, hey, quit picking on the favorite son here.” Colin grinned, then pointed at Ian. “Made you smile.”

  Ian shook his head, surprised to realize that he was indeed smiling at his brothers’ antics.

  His father’s hand tightened on his shoulder. “I love you, son. More than you’ll ever know. I hope you’ll give me the opportunity to prove it, and be a part of our lives going forward. I don’t deserve it. But I’m asking you to give me a chance.” He stood and held out his hand.

  Ian hesitated. He’d never expected this moment to come in his life. His father had been the villain of his story for so long. Even as an adult when he’d finally realized he’d overblown his father’s
culpability, that he was using him as a crutch, blaming everything wrong in his life on his relationship with his father, he’d never once envisioned a moment where they’d be able to set the hurts of the past aside. And if it wasn’t for Shannon, he’d never have known how badly he wanted to do that.

  He stood and shook his father’s hand.

  His mother came into the room, wiping her hands on her apron and smiling. “I’ve got fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies and some...” She blinked and stared at Ian and his dad, who still hadn’t let go of Ian’s hand. “Ian? William?” She couldn’t seem to formulate anything beyond that.

  Colin jumped up from the floor and shoved Adam and Duncan before hurrying out of their reach to stand beside his mother. “Cookies sound great, Ma. I’m starving.” He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her with him toward the kitchen.

  Adam and Duncan got up, shaking their heads.

  “You’re always starving,” Adam accused.

  Shannon smiled up at Ian from the couch.

  His father let his hand go and motioned toward the kitchen. “Your mother still makes the best chocolate-chip cookies in Tennessee. And she won’t let you leave without trying them. You might as well give in.” He winked at Shannon, then followed the others out of the room.

  Ian pulled Shannon to her feet and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. “I was furious with you for starting all of that. Now I realize you’re wise beyond your years. I feel like a weight has lifted off my shoulders. Maybe not quite all the way yet, but mostly.”

  “It will take more than one conversation and a handshake to heal your soul, Ian. It took me years to forgive my mom for what she did to me. But when I did, I realized forgiveness is something you do for yourself, not for others. It’s important to forgive in order to move on. I’m so glad you’re beginning to feel that same joy.”