by C. J. Miller
“I have to go back. He’ll go after Adrian if I don’t stop him. He’ll kill Helen.”
Lucia groaned. “You have my gun. Kill him. Backup will come.”
“I’m counting on it. Lucia, I only have a few seconds. I’ll shoot above your head. Slump on the ground and don’t move until Benjamin arrives, okay?”
Lucia shook her head. “I can help you.”
“You’re losing too much blood. Listen to me. We’ll get through this because we’re partners. I can’t lose you. I meant what I said. I love you.”
She smiled. “Now you tell me.”
Cash heard his father and Boot’s voices drifting toward them. Were they coming to investigate?
“I’m the master of timing,” he said. He kissed her softly and raised her gun. For the benefit of his father and Boots, he shouted a few curses at her and then, praying the bullets pierced the rusted metal and didn’t ricochet anywhere near her, he shot four times. It might be overkill, but he wanted to sell this. He didn’t want his father or Boots anywhere near Lucia.
“I love you. Stay strong,” he whispered. He left his phone next to Lucia and took hers. Brushing his hand across her cheek, he ran to meet his father. “Let’s go.”
“You sure she’s dead?” Boots asked, looking around him. “She’s with the FBI. She can identify us. You have to be sure she’s dead.”
“She’s dead,” Cash said.
“Anderson sent me along to confirm,” Boots said.
Panic sliced through him. He couldn’t let this man anywhere near Lucia. He would know Cash hadn’t shot her. “I don’t want to linger at the scene. Someone could have heard the shots.”
“I’ll check,” his father said. “Anderson trusts me.”
Cash sent his father a pleading look he wasn’t sure he caught. His father was gone fifteen seconds and returned. “Nice work, son. She won’t be identifying anyone.” He winked at Cash and relief tumbled through him.
His father was on his side. Somehow, for some reason, his father knew Lucia was alive and wasn’t selling him out.
* * *
“It isn’t helping matters that I have a gun on me,” Cash said.
Since leaving the covered bridge, Boots had had his gun to Cash’s head. They were sealed inside the tent. Easy cleanup of blood spatter after Boots killed him? His father was standing inside the tent watching.
Anderson had a laptop and an internet connection and he wanted Cash to work miracles. Cash was very good at what he did. He was good at cons and he was good at moving money, but he’d grossly exaggerated his skills and confidence in his ability to do what Anderson had asked. Without the right information, honoring Anderson’s request was impossible.
Lucia’s face flashed to mind. Had Benjamin found her? Was she safe?
As he typed, trying to buy time, Cash went for broke. “Give me the list of accounts. The full list. I can upload it to a temp database and try to simultaneously move as much of the money as I can before flags go up and the transactions are shut down.”
Anderson snorted. “Talk about sending up red flags around the world.”
Cash turned from the computer. “I know what I’m doing. We’ll have at least fifteen seconds before any of those flags warrants a human response and someone stops the money from moving. Do you know how much money I can move in fifteen seconds from across all the accounts you have? Once the transaction starts and I authenticate to the server, we’ll have sub-second response time. Even if we move only ten percent of the money you took from Holmes and White, that’s a big slice of the pie.”
Anderson licked his lips as if hungry. Had Cash sold it? Did he have enough confidence in his lie to convince the greatest con man of their generation that he was telling the truth?
“Fine, do it. This is our only shot. I have to get out of the country today. The shooting at the casino brought the cops sniffing around. Once they have their warrant, they’ll tear the place up. They’ll find something. Don’t screw this up.” He handed Cash a USB drive.
Anderson dialed his phone and spoke to someone, saying to “start the engines.”
The sound of a plane engine engaging filled the air.
“Hurry up, boy. I’ll give you sixty seconds and then I cut my losses.”
Cash needed an out. He had Lucia’s gun, but he couldn’t blast his way out of this. He didn’t want his father killed as collateral damage.
“What’s the delay?” Anderson said, resting his gun on Cash’s shoulder. How subtle.
“I’m working on it. A little heads-up would have gone a long way,” Cash said.
“Enough with the backtalk. Get it done or I’m cleaning house. I’ll grab whatever I can get my hands on.”
Cash had no doubt he was setting off alarms with Interpol and the CIA and the NSA and whoever else was watching Anderson. He set up a fake screen to make it appear as though the money was moving.
“Thanks, Cash. Good work. I’ll give your best to Adrian,” Anderson said.
Cash rose to his feet, whirled and leveled Lucia’s gun at Anderson. “You aren’t taking my son.”
“Sure I am. I told Britney she couldn’t keep my grandson from me forever and I’m always right. I always win.” He turned to Boots. “Kill them.”
Cash moved in front of his father. “We’ve done everything you asked. We’ve broken the law for you. We won’t go to the police.”
Anderson laughed. “This is my grand finale, the final act of my play. I can’t trust your instincts and you’ll bring me down. You were caught running a simple con on some drunk senator and then you fell in love with an FBI agent. Terrible, terrible.”
“Let us leave. You’ll be somewhere with your millions. We don’t matter,” Cash said.
“You won’t stop looking for me. You went to prison for your son. You won’t give up on me that easily,” Anderson said.
Anderson turned and left the small tent. The sound of the airplane engines grew louder.
“Boots, don’t do this,” Cash said.
Boots cocked his gun. “I’m hired to do what Anderson tells me. This isn’t personal.”
“Forget Anderson. Walk away from this. Don’t you think there will be backlash when the FBI figures out one of their own was killed? With me alive, the full weight of their retribution comes down on me. If you kill me, they’ll let you hang for her death. Anderson is leaving the country. He won’t and can’t protect you.”
Boots blinked at him and lowered his gun. “Forget this. Not worth it. I’m not running and hiding for the rest of my life.”
Relief tumbled through Cash. He was alive. But Anderson was free and going after Adrian. Lucia was bleeding in some rusted-out abandoned bridge. He’d saved his life, but how could he save the woman he loved and his son?
* * *
Lucia had never been so angry. Her arm was bleeding and she’d waited almost eight minutes before Benjamin and the team picked her up.
“Cash is with Anderson. Anderson will kill him.”
Benjamin wrapped her arm with cloth, trying to stop the bleeding. “We need to take you to the hospital. I’ll call for SWAT to help Cash.”
Even in her dizzy, weakened state, she knew that was a bad idea. Their SWAT team was some of the faster responders in the city, but explaining the logistics would take time. “We’ll go to the scene and we’ll call SWAT on the way. Come on, Ben. This is for your promotion.”
Benjamin sighed and then pointed to the two other cars. “We’re going to the airstrip. Approach with caution. Wait for my instructions. Lucia, you’re with me.”
She climbed into the passenger side of the car, in pain, but more worried about Cash than she was about herself. She would survive an arm injury. Cash wouldn’t survive a bullet in his head.
Benjamin waited for the other t
wo cars to pull away. Then he started the car. “You’ve been a real pain in my neck, Lucia.”
Lucia stilled. Benjamin’s voice dripped with hostility. He was not joking with her.
“You should have backed away when I warned you,” Benjamin said.
“Backed away? You don’t want people on your team to back away.”
“I didn’t want you on my team at all,” Benjamin said. “That was the unit chief’s decision. Violent crime wanted to get rid of you, but you wouldn’t make a big enough mistake for them to kick you out. They had to give you a promotion and put you in my way. I had to get a Goody Two-shoes.”
“I’ve done everything you asked.”
“That’s part of the problem! The paperwork was supposed to keep you busy and the unit chief wouldn’t let me bench you to keep you out of the field. I like having control of my team and you have something to prove. I can’t control you. That was what violent crime hated about you. Always needing to play by the rules and do things by the book.”
Lucia had missed something crucial. Benjamin wasn’t the clean agent he pretended. He was dirty. But how dirty? Was he working with Anderson? “Why did you get Cash out of prison if you didn’t want Anderson caught?”
“Again, not my choice. Someone above my pay grade took an interest in Cash after finding out that he’d been given a raw deal and realizing he had a connection to Anderson.”
Lucia had given Cash her gun. Could she grab Benjamin’s gun before he did? Her right arm was useless, but she had her left. “You’re working with Anderson.”
“Not true. He paid me to take care of a few details,” Benjamin said.
“Like killing me.”
“When the car bomb didn’t take you out, I changed my methods. I wanted you to back off and request a transfer elsewhere. If I’d wanted you dead, you’d be dead,” Benjamin said.
He’d wanted her to walk away from the case. He’d let her believe that a team of trained killers was stalking her. He’d let her believe he was investigating the person following her. He’d manipulated FBI resources for his purposes.
“But that’s changed. Now I want you dead,” Benjamin said. “I’ll clean this mess up quickly. You’ll rush to see Cash, your emotions overtaking your good sense and training, and sadly, you’ll be caught in the crossfire.”
“There will be an investigation,” Lucia said. “You won’t get your promotion if I’m killed by friendly fire.”
“You underestimate me,” Benjamin said. “I have Jonathan Wolfe and his team looking out for you. I’ve done everything to protect you. I can’t protect you from yourself.”
“They’re reporting to you so you could circumvent any plans they had to keep me safe.”
“You’re not as dumb as you look. Spoiled rich girl has some sense,” Benjamin said.
Lucia’s anger sharpened. “You didn’t tell Anderson I was undercover as Lucy,” she said.
“I played my cards close. I told him I would lead my special agents in a circle around him, but not close in. I had to tell him last night you were undercover. You were too close. Cash had already found a list of the people Anderson paid off at Holmes and White, and if you started digging, you might find the list of everyone on Anderson’s payroll and that would include me.”
“Why, Benjamin? Why would you do this? Everyone respects you.” Respected. Lucia had nothing but disgust for him now.
“I’m tired of playing the game and getting nowhere. I deserve a little fun money. I deserve a break from the job. As long as the criminals are caught, what’s the harm?”
“Anderson will kill Cash and his father and then he’ll flee the country,” Lucia said.
Benjamin laughed. “News flash, Lucia. Cash and his father are criminals, too.”
It wasn’t black and white. There were so many shades of gray when dealing with Cash, with love and with life.
Lucia looked out the window and caught a glimpse of an ice scraper tucked in the pocket of the door. It was spring, so it had likely been forgotten. She reached for it, her arm burning and throbbing. Her fingers brushed the plastic and then she carefully pulled it into her hand.
She waited until Benjamin was focused on the traffic, paying little attention to her.
She let her head fall back against the seat. “I won’t make it.”
“You were shot in the arm. You’re fine.”
She lifted her left hand, pretending to grab at her wound and switched the ice scraper to her left hand. Then she whipped it across the seat at Benjamin and lunged for his gun.
In a flurry of swinging and grappling for the gun, the car veered off the road. It crashed into something, stopping the car and Lucia sailed forward into the dashboard.
Lucia recovered and put her hand on Benjamin’s gun. She pulled it into both hands and pointed it at him. “Get out of the car.”
Benjamin held up his hands. “Careful, Lucia. You don’t want to shoot me. Your word against mine. You’ll look unstable. Being in a relationship with a criminal and trying to protect him by killing me after I realized he was working for Anderson. Think about how I can spin this to destroy your life.”
Lucia waved the gun at him, ignoring his threat. “Hurry up. I don’t have time for this!” Cash was at Anderson’s mercy. She had to help him.
She forced Benjamin out of the car and had him use his handcuffs to secure himself to a nearby iron bike rack. With onlookers watching, she pointed at a man who’d come out of a used book store. “Call the police. Please!”
“I’m an FBI agent! Help me!” Benjamin said.
“He’s lying,” Lucia said. “He tried to kidnap me. He shot me.” She gestured to her arm as proof.
She took Benjamin’s FBI identification and his handcuff keys and climbed back into the car, grateful when it started. She threw the car into Reverse and then drove. Cash needed her.
* * *
According to dispatch, the SWAT team was one minute away. Lucia dragged herself out of the banged-up FBI vehicle. Her team was positioned at the places Benjamin had asked them to be, but she didn’t wait for them, unsure if they were compromised, as well. She didn’t know if she was too late, but the sight of a small airplane on the runway, propellers whirling, told her she had seconds to stop whatever was happening.
She held up Benjamin’s ID and demanded the plane stop. The pilot ignored her. The plane started forward. Was Cash on that plane?
“Lucia!”
She turned. Cash, his father and Boots were walking toward her. Lucia ran to him, Benjamin’s words echoing in her head. This was what he’d wanted, except he wasn’t here to put a bullet in her back.
Could she trust the rest of the team?
The sound of sirens approached.
She hugged Cash with everything in her, throwing herself into his arms and wrapping her legs around him. She was so happy he was alive.
“Anderson is going after Adrian.” Cash sounded panicked.
He set her down and she turned. A line of SWAT cars were racing up the tarmac.
The sight was imposing and terrifying.
Though one woman waving a gun and a badge hadn’t stopped the pilot, an army of SWAT cars did.
The engines on the plane died and the SWAT team surrounded it.
* * *
“The unit chief approved your transfer,” Lucia said. She should be thrilled for Cash. He would be working at the field office in Seattle and be near his son. It was everything he’d wanted.
Cash looked up from his desk. “I didn’t know what to say when she told me.”
Not caring that the team was watching them, Lucia sat on Cash’s desk. “Why didn’t you say anything as soon as you heard?”
Cash stood, putting himself between her thighs. Not appropriate behavior for the recently promoted speci
al agent in charge, but Lucia didn’t care. The unit chief knew about her relationship with Cash and he couldn’t work with her anymore. Too much liability for the Bureau to take on and they had their hands full sorting out the mess Benjamin had made.
“I’m not going, so it doesn’t matter. I’m not leaving you,” Cash said.
Lucia shook her head. “You have to go. Your son needs you.”
“He does. But Helen agreed to bring Adrian here. For a visit, at first. But if it goes well, maybe more.”
“How? What made Helen change her mind?” Lucia asked.
“The unit chief called her and Adrian.” Cash’s eyes misted. “She told my son I was a hero. She told him why I ran a con and that while what I did was wrong, I did it because I love him.”
Lucia took his face in her hands. “I’m so happy for you, Cash.”
“But I could use a favor. I have enough money saved to move to a better place. A place more suitable for my son and Helen. I was thinking you and I could move to a new place together. We could be a family. A strange, patched-together family, but a family. It fits, don’t you think?”
Happiness filled her heart. “Are you asking me to live with you?”
He groaned. “You make it sound so unromantic, but yes, I can’t imagine another night without you sleeping beside me.”
“Is there a reason we can’t live together at my place? Isn’t it big enough?” she asked.
Cash laughed. “Your place is big enough for five families. But I can’t ask you to let us live there. I want to do my part and I can’t afford your place.”
Lucia stroked the side of Cash’s face. “Money isn’t something I’ll allow to come between us. Not having too much of it or not having enough. I grew up in a house with plenty of money and it didn’t mean that anyone was happy because of it. I want you and me and Adrian and Helen to be together where we’re comfortable and happy.”
“I’ll feel like a kept man,” Cash said, his eyes sparkling.
Lucia rolled her eyes. “Then we can move wherever you want. But I’m partial to my view of the sky.”
Cash gathered her close and she felt the heat and excitement of his arousal against her.
