by Katie Reus
“Good work.” He turned his focus on Clay. “You remember Belgrade?”
The corners of Clay’s mouth pulled up in a knowing smile. Without pause, Clay took a few steps toward the men. “Who do you work for?”
Silence.
All three men stared at the floor. Of the three, only one looked scared. Wearing a black beanie, faded jeans, and a black T-shirt, he couldn’t be more than eighteen or nineteen. He kept his mouth shut just like the others, but noticeable sweat rolled down his face.
“All right. Which of you is willing to die for your boss?”
That got their attention. All the men stared at him. Two with hardened defiance. One with terror. Declan cut the bindings on the youngest kid’s feet, then grabbed his collar and yanked him to his feet. “Let’s see if you can fly.”
“What the hell are you doing, man?” He tried to struggle against him, but Declan kept a firm grip on his shirt.
“In case you guys haven’t figured it out, we’re not cops.” Another reason he hadn’t involved law enforcement. He didn’t mind working in shades of gray sometimes. “You don’t have any rights. One way or another, you’re going to answer my questions.” He shoved the kid toward the door that read STAIRS.
Once they were in the stairwell, Declan made a decision. He could threaten to throw this kid off the roof and hope the information he got under duress was good, or he could level with the kid and maybe cut a deal. Fear would go a long way in getting the guy to talk, but Declan’s gut told him he’d get better information if he played a version of the good cop role. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Jeremy,” he muttered.
“What are you doing with these assholes?” Declan pushed open the door leading to the roof.
When he didn’t answer, Declan motioned with his pistol. As they walked outside, the kid’s face paled to an ashen gray. The gravel beneath their feet crunched as they made their way to the ledge. No doubt he was thinking all sorts of bad things now. Like how he wouldn’t survive a drop.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Declan peered over the edge of the roof and whistled. “Long drop.” Sometimes the fear of the unknown was worse than torture itself.
“Man, what do you want from me?” Jeremy took a small step away from the ledge.
“I want to know who you’re working for.”
“Man, I don’t know. One of my buddies asked if I’d help out with transferring some weapons today. I barely know those guys.”
“So who’s their boss?”
“Some guy they call Rick. That’s all I know. I swear! I just got here two hours ago. Some heavy operation they were running went wrong and they needed more manpower to haul this stuff out. They’re paying me a grand for two hours work. What am I supposed to do, say no?”
“Where are the rest of the weapons?”
“They left in my van and a semi-truck like half an hour ago. This was supposed to be easy money.” He stared down at his boots and Declan was struck by how fucking young he looked.
When he’d been that age, he’d been in the Corps. “Where’d they take the weapons?”
“I don’t know the exact address but it’s plugged into the truck’s GPS.”
Declan couldn’t believe how stupid this guy was. “You know they were probably planning to kill you right?”
“What? You’re crazy.” He shook his head and took another step away from the ledge.
Yeah, he was the crazy one. “Were they wearing masks earlier?”
“Well, yeah…”
“And now they aren’t. They took them off because they don’t care if you see their faces. Whoever asked you to help out, isn’t your friend.” Declan shook his head at the kid’s naiveté. If this guy wasn’t connected to the kidnappers, he’d be the perfect distraction for Declan and his men. Rick had to know Declan would eventually figure out more about him, especially after Alena’s escape. If Declan had to guess what the original plan was, they’d probably planned to shoot the kid and leave him for dead with some of the weapons. It would send Declan on a pointless chase trying to figure out who the kid was connected to.
“Clay? You okay down there?” He spoke into his mic.
“Yeah.”
“Check the GPS in the vehicle. Copy the last few places it’s been and whatever location it’s currently set to go to, then erase everything.”
“On it.”
Declan grabbed the kid’s collar again and dragged him toward the stairs. “Why’d they kidnap Alena Brennan?”
“Kidnap who? What the hell—”
“Never mind. Listen, I’m going to pull out your wallet so don’t try anything stupid.” He still had his hands bound, but Declan wanted to put the warning out there. Declan plucked the kid’s worn leather wallet from his back pocket then memorized the address on his license. “This is a pretty nice neighborhood you live in. What do you do for a living?”
His neck turned red as he stared at the ground. “I go to the University of Miami.”
“You’re a student?” God, he really was just a kid. Declan tucked the license back inside. “You live with your parents, kid?” When he didn’t answer, Declan bit back a groan. He couldn’t allow this guy to be locked up with the men downstairs. They’d kill him in general holding just because he’d talked to Declan. Before he could change his mind, he pulled out his pocket knife and cut through the zip ties.
Jeremy stared at him with wide eyes, but the kid didn’t move.
Declan shoved the wallet into his hands. “What’s your friend’s name? The one who told you about this job?”
“Louis Wesley. I know him from school but we’re not best friends or anything. I…I bought some weed from him at a couple parties.”
“Stay the hell away from him and stay out of trouble. I’m going to run your information and you can expect a visit from me or one of my associates next week. If I find out you lied—”
“I didn’t. I swear! This is a fucking nightmare, man. I just wanted to make some quick cash, that’s all.”
“Come on. You can leave out the side door.” He gave the kid a nudge with his weapon.
“You’re really going to let me go?”
“Yeah. Don’t make me regret it.” When he’d been younger all he’d cared about was fast cars and girls. Cliché, but true. Thanks to a protective older brother, Declan had gotten out of more situations than he cared to remember. He couldn’t let this kid do jail time for being an idiot. Hopefully this would be a wakeup call.
Under different circumstances and with more time, he might have been able to get more information from the two men downstairs. They both had prison tats he recognized, and after four or five days of an intense psychological operation, maybe he’d have been able to get some viable information from them. Of course, he could try to get into their heads later—and he planned to—but he’d have to wait until they fell asleep. Either way, he couldn’t find out shit from them now.
Instead, he was going to leave them tied up and call the cops. Let the locals deal with them. He’d bet all those weapons they were hauling around were hot. Not to mention the fully automatic AKs were illegal anyway. They could try to play it like they don’t know anything about them, but their prints would be all over them and this warehouse. No matter what, these guys were screwed.
Chapter 23
“Why’d you let that guy go?” Nathaniel asked from the backseat of the SUV.
Declan glanced at him in the rearview mirror. Nathaniel and Kevin had both seen him from their rooftop perches. “He was just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time. He told me everything he knew.” Which wasn’t much.
Tonight things were going to change. He’d tried to get into Alena’s dreams once, but he was going to have to try again. There might be something about the kidnappers in her memory she wasn’t aware was helpful. Then, he was going to get into Clay’s head and dig until he found what he needed. After him, he was hitting all his men’s dreams.
He pulled out a burne
r phone he kept for emergencies from the center console of the SUV and called the cops and reported what he’d just seen, leaving out a few details of course. Once he was done, he took the battery out and handed it to Clay.
“Wipe it down for me?”
Clay nodded and got to work.
Declan’s own phone buzzed in his pocket as he pulled up to a stoplight. When he saw his friend Ronnie’s name on screen, he answered. “Tell me you’ve got good news.”
“You alone?” Ronnie asked, his voice tense.
“No.”
“Can you meet me soon?”
“Half an hour work?”
“I’ll be at that diner you like. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going.”
When they disconnected, he noticed Nathaniel give him a curious look, but he didn’t ask questions. Not that Declan expected him to. His men were all professional and while they were friendly, Declan tried to keep a certain amount of distance from everyone. His years with the CIA had ingrained that in him. Of course, he’d ignored it once and almost gotten killed.
Looking back, he realized he’d ignored all the signs because he hadn’t wanted to see them. Madelyn had been calculating. A killer for hire with no remorse. Even though he knew Nika was holding a lot back from him, she was nothing like Madelyn. Nika had a vulnerable streak a mile wide that was driving him crazy with the need to protect her. Which was insane. No matter what, she was still up to something. Yet he wanted to protect her anyway.
The drive back to Andre’s place was quiet. When they pulled through the gates of his driveway, Declan left the SUV running as the other men got out.
“You coming?” Clay hoisted his backpack out of the front seat.
“I’ll be back in an hour or so. Got my phone on me if you need me.”
“Want some backup?”
“Nah, but thanks.”
“All right.” Clay shrugged and shut the door.
As soon as Declan put the vehicle into drive, his phone buzzed again. He smiled when he saw Blair’s name. “Declan here.”
“I’ve got good news and bad news,” she said by way of greeting.
“Bad news first.”
“I don’t know exactly why you wanted me to run Odell’s records, but it looks like he’s run up a substantial gambling debt. Got in deep with a casino up in Jersey.”
“Okay, how bad?”
“I’m emailing the information to you now. He’s paid a lot of it down, but he owes about fifty grand.”
“They’re letting him pay it off?”
“I’m not sure why, but it looks that way.”
“Make sure you include all the contact information of the casino.” He was going to take care of this, then he was going to take care of Odell. “What’s the good news?”
“Maybe good was too strong of a word. I found the information you wanted on the missing girl. Selina Reynolds, age ten, went missing five years ago in southern Georgia. She was out camping with her parents when she just disappeared. Apparently there was a known pedophile in the area, but his preferences ran in the other gender direction so he was eventually cleared.”
“Can you find out who was in charge of the case, if it’s still open—”
“Already done it. I’ve sent you all the information you’ll need.”
“Thanks for all the help. I know today was supposed to be your day off so if you don’t have anything pressing to work on, don’t worry about going to the office tomorrow.”
“Okay, I’m probably going to take you up on that. I’ll be hanging out with friends tomorrow but I’ll bring my phone and laptop if you need me.”
As they disconnected, he pulled into the parking lot of the diner. Ronnie’s truck was already there. Once he was inside, Declan found him sitting in a booth. “What’s going on?” he asked, sliding in across from him.
Ronnie was a wiry man with bright red hair, freckles covering his entire face and sleeves of Celtic tattoos. His long-sleeved shirt was pushed up to the elbows. In front of him was a package with brown wrapping and a cup of coffee. He slid the package to Declan. “This is the gun you had me run prints for. I don’t want it anymore.”
Scanning the restaurant, which was mostly empty, Declan took it and placed it on the seat next to him out of sight. “What did you find?”
“Whatever it is, it’s not good. I had a buddy of mine run these as a favor. He got a hit almost immediately from a top-secret flagged file.” Now Ronnie glanced around.
Shit. “What agency?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. The only thing I do know is that the computer locked up and kicked us out of the system for half an hour.”
Declan scrubbed a hand over his face as the reality of Ronnie’s words sank in. “I’m sorry man. I wouldn’t have asked if—”
Ronnie snorted. “It’s cool.”
Declan wasn’t so sure. “That shit will trickle down eventually. They’ll figure out who ran the prints if they don’t already know.
“My buddy ran the prints using a recently deceased cop’s access code. This won’t be traced back to either of us, so I’m in the clear. Where’d you get that thing from anyway?”
“I can’t exactly say.”
His friend gave him a half-smile. “I probably don’t want to know anyway.”
“Probably not,” Declan murmured.
After paying for a to-go cup of coffee, Declan settled into the front seat of the vehicle and turned on his tablet. He knew he could call Vernon and send him a copy of the prints. Even though the prints were flagged, the FBI director would have no problem getting the clearance to view them. Something told him to hold off, however. If the prints could somehow throw Nika’s sister to the wolves, he had to talk to her first. Even if she was still holding back from him, he felt like he owed Nika that much.
As the main screen flared to life he called the one man he knew he could count on to be discreet. Carlisle Williams, his former handler with the CIA.
Carlisle picked up on the third ring. “Declan Gallagher.”
Declan grinned at the familiar voice. “That would be me.”
“Been a while, son.” Carlisle’s deep voice had a distinctive cadence to it that Declan would be able to pick out anywhere. There was just a hint of a southern accent in it.
“Last time I called, you were too busy to talk.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m busy now and something tells me this isn’t a social call. How big is this favor anyway?”
He snorted. “You assume it’s for a favor.”
“I recognize the tone,” he said dryly.
Yeah, he would too. “It’s big. And no one can know about this.”
“Lay it on me.”
“I need you to run a set of fingerprints. A thumb and forefinger. I already know these prints are flagged, but I don’t know by which agency.”
“So you’ve run these and been denied access?”
“Not me personally, but yeah.”
“Anything else?”
As he spoke, Declan forwarded two emails to Carlisle. “Yeah, and it’s going to sound weird—and these two things aren’t related. I’m sending a missing persons case to you right now. The missing girl in the file is dead and she passed away not far from her parents’ campsite. From what I’ve read, the locals thought she was kidnapped. They spent a lot of time and energy hunting down suspects, but she drowned in some kind of hole—not man-made from the sound of it.”
“A hole?” He sounded skeptical.
“Yeah. Near a funny looking tree. Those aren’t my words, but it’s all I’ve got to go on.”
“Did you get this information from one of your dream walks?” Carlisle was one of the few people who knew about Declan’s gifts. He’d taken full advantage of Declan when they’d worked together.
“No. And I can’t say more than that.”
“What’s my approach with the missing person’s case?”
“I need you to make some calls, get people on the ground. I don’t care what
it takes, but I need that body found. Call in a favor, whatever you’ve got to do.”
“Is this about a woman?” His former boss’s voice took on an edge, subtle as it was.
Declan ignored the question. He didn’t have to help Nika with this, but if spirits were visiting her dreams, there was a reason for it. And fuck, it was a missing kid. The parents had a right to know what had happened to her. “Are you going to help me out or not?”
“You know I will. Which favor is more important?”
He didn’t have to think about it. “The prints.”
“I’ll get back to you as soon as I know anything.”
“Thank you. I owe you one.”
Carlisle grunted then disconnected.
Sighing, Declan turned off his tablet and headed back to Andre’s. Now it was just a waiting game. There were too many possible reasons for those prints to be flagged and he needed to see the results for himself before he confronted Nika or Alena about anything.
Unfortunately, Declan wasn’t so sure what he was going to do with the information when he got it. Weeks ago, everything had been so clear. Find out who the women were and what their true objective was. Now his main objective was keeping Nika safe from harm. Even if that meant keeping her safe from herself.
* * *
Alena held onto the edge of the heated swimming pool and waited for Nika to surface. As her sister reached the deep end, Nika stopped at the wall a few feet from Alena.
“You done?” Nika asked.
“Yeah. I’m going to go find Andre. Do you want to have lunch with us?”
Nika’s expression darkened as it seemed to do so often lately. “No thanks.”
“So, what, now you’re pissed at me?” She couldn’t keep the annoyance out of her voice.
“I want to walk away from all this. I don’t know another way to say it. Uncle—” Nika stopped abruptly and glanced around the enclosed pool room. It was still empty, but she wasn’t taking any chances. She lowered her voice. “I spoke to him earlier and he agrees. He said he’ll be home soon and he’ll find another way to take care of this.”
