“Daughter. Her name is Elizabeth.”
“—wouldn’t have been abused like that. That email proved nothing, and the pressure was on him to drop his investigation. The problem of MacLain is your creation.” Dane’s ears perked up.
“Bullshit. The kidnapping was Alice MacLain’s idea. We needed leverage. I ran with it. At the time, you thought to distract MacLain. There was no way to know she’d become unstable.”
Dane felt sick. Marnie tugged at his arm, but he couldn’t move away from the cubicle’s edge. He had to watch.
“I should have let you go down for that.” Whitman grimaced. “It cost me an arm and a leg to pay off Tuttle.”
“I’ll clean this up,” Joe said. “No one else has to die—”
“Don’t waste more of my time or money, please. I have to pick up a report from accounts receivable on the second floor,” Whitman said. “Walk with me. I want an update on all things MacLain.”
Their voices trailed off as they entered the elevator and the door closed behind them. Marnie pulled out climber’s rope from the duffel. “We can’t exit using the elevator. I’ll go back into the security server by way of Whitman’s computer. I can disable the alarm on his balcony door using the admin rights.”
Marnie was avoiding his gaze. She’d heard what he heard. Why wasn’t she saying anything? He stared at the elevator, wanting to chase after Whitman and Joe. At the very least, beat the shit out of them. Rope slung over her shoulder, she bolted back to Whitman’s office. He didn’t follow. He couldn’t.
Joe had to be undercover, lying to Whitman, saying what had to be said to string the evil fuck along. When he confronted Joe, he’d admit this and help Dane take Whitman down. That had to be it. Marnie popped back into sight minus the rope. She was waving him over, impatient that he wasn’t moving.
She hurried back to his side, out of breath. “I did it. The alarm is off, but time is up. We have to go.”
He grabbed her chin and kissed her hard. “I’m sorry.”
“No.” She slapped his hand off her chin. “Stop it. We’re leaving.”
“Go without me. I’ll meet up with you at the farmhouse.”
He could see her shaking. “You don’t have the right to be this stupid.”
Dane held out the duffel. “Take this.”
She shook her head, staring at it like she feared it would bite her. “Elizabeth is waiting for you.”
“I have to do this.” She had to know that. When WE was destroyed and Alice’s killer was brought to justice, there would always be this lingering question of where Joe’s loyalty lay. If he and his family were ever to be safe, Dane had to know. “Go.”
He dropped the duffel and headed after Joe and Whitman, standing before the closed elevator. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marnie follow, hesitate, and then haul ass back to Whitman’s office with the duffel. She was activating plan B. Good girl.
The second-floor light shone above the elevator doors. Dane didn’t think it sensible to follow that way. Guards would be waking, and they’d be pissed. He had more of a chance stumbling onto them than Joe or Whitman if he used the elevator. The stairs? His opportunity to confront Joe was dwindling. Then the elevator binged, and the third-floor button lit up. Dane had moments to make a decision.
Strategy won out. Stepping behind the nearest cubicle, he crouched, fists shaking, waiting to see if it was Joe or a cadre of security guards with guns drawn. The elevator doors opened, and he forced himself to be still. Joe stepped out alone and headed to Whitman’s office, toward Marnie and the balcony.
Dane stepped in front of him. Joe pulled his sidearm from his shoulder holster, aiming at Dane.
Dane couldn’t believe it. “You’ve had plenty of opportunities to kill me, Joe. You won’t now.” The truth was written on Joe’s face. Guilt. It hurt like a physical blow.
Joe’s shock mingled with confusion, but his aim remained steady. “How the hell did you get in here?”
“Why, Joe?”
He shook his head, panicking. “We’re friends, Dane. I’m protecting you.”
“You’re working with Whitman.”
Joe blinked, sweating. “He owns me. He owns everyone. There are things you don’t know.” Joe opened his mouth as if to explain some more but closed it again, discarding that approach. Dane had known Joe a long time, knew his quirks, the way his mind worked, but never once had he suspected. “You’re a dirty cop.”
Joe’s anger surged and then faded to acceptance. “I’m alive because I’m a dirty cop.”
“Who is everyone?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He grimaced. “You should never have come here. You should have thought of Harper. Dammit, Dane. What about Elizabeth? Haven’t they been through enough?”
Dane rushed him, slapped the gun aside and swung, his fist connecting with Joe’s jaw. His knuckles split on contact, and Joe fell to the ground with a grunt. Dane could feel his body shaking with rage as he struggled to control the endless fury that only seemed to grow as he stared at his best friend, the man who’d saved his life in Afghanistan, who’d gotten drunk with him when Alice was murdered, who kept an eye on Elizabeth when Dane couldn’t. “Enough? What is enough, Joe? You don’t get to say that to me! You betrayed me! Alice is dead!” He would kill him. Dane flexed his fingers, straining not to kill him. “You are working for the man responsible!”
Joe climbed to his feet, backing away from Dane. He still held the gun, still aimed it at Dane, but this time he looked as if he was using it to defend himself. He was afraid, and that was more of an indictment than anything Dane had heard so far.
“Things spiraled out of control,” Joe said.
“You were sleeping with Alice.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Dane scrubbed his hands over his face, restraining a howl. His world was spinning out of control. “In what world do those words make sense? You betrayed me on every level. You were family.” He stepped forward and only stopped when Joe shook his head, threatening to shoot.
“Alice wanted out of the marriage. She thought I was her way out. You’d stopped talking to me about the case and wouldn’t stop asking questions about the company, about Washington, so when Alice made a play for me, I went along with it. Yeah, we had an affair, but I was just using her for information. Trying to protect you. But then you stopped even talking to Alice. I became desperate, because Whitman had lost his patience, wanted you dead. I had to do something. And Alice, she wouldn’t give up, kept asking me to run away with her. She came up with the idea of the kidnapping—” He nodded when he saw Dane’s skepticism. “She did. She wanted money, a ransom to live comfortably on when we ran. I needed to keep her happy if only to keep her quiet.” Joe clenched his teeth and growled, his frustration seeming to overpower him. “You stopped trusting me, dammit.”
“I was trying to save your job. The signs were everywhere they were looking for a reason to fire me.”
“Fire you? Whitman was one order away from killing you! I had to do something. Alice’s idea would keep you too busy to continue pursuing the case. And when you got Alice and Elizabeth back, they’d need you around. You’d have to back off. So I jumped at the kidnapping idea. Whitman backed off, I thought everything would work out, and then it all went south.” Dane heard the words but none of it seemed real. “Look,” Joe said, “I’m not the man I want to be. I’m the man I had to be.”
An image of Marnie popped into Dane’s mind. She’d said much the same thing, but when it was time to choose sides, she chose him. A complete stranger chose Dane and his family over Whitman’s threats. Why couldn’t Joe? “Is that what you’ll tell yourself when you kill me?”
Joe’s grip on the gun tightened. “Where is Marnie Somerville? Does she have the files? It’s a mistake, Dane. They’ll just get you killed. If Whitman doesn’t get you, his bosses will.”
“What?” There was another faction of the business, someone Whitman was accountable to? Well, damn. He’d
take them all down.
Dane’s vision cleared. He saw what was instead of what he wanted. Joe was struggling to pull the trigger. It was undeniable and understandable. With Dane alive, there was no out for Joe. He’d implicated himself in the kidnapping. Joe was going to prison otherwise.
“Whitman had Alice killed,” Dane said. “What’s to stop him from killing Doris?”
“There are things you don’t know.” Dane barely heard him. All he saw was Joe’s finger tighten on the trigger. He waited for a bullet to rip into his chest and waited some more, every second an eternity of hell.
“If you’re going to kill me, at least let me know why. Help me understand,” he said. “Better yet, help me take Whitman down. We have proof now.”
Joe’s expression sharpened to keen interest, and his finger loosened on the trigger. “Where’s Marnie Somerville? We know she tried to copy files earlier this week. Was she here with you now? We’ll find her, but a lot less people will die if we find her sooner.”
“Do you even hear yourself? Joe, this isn’t you. Make up for all the bad. Make a deal with the DA—”
“There’s no deal. No negotiations.” Joe didn’t sound upset or frustrated anymore. It was as if he were disassociating. “Whitman is surrounded by obedient toadies—do what you’re told or your family dies. Honestly, I could give a shit if Doris were killed. Hell, it would save me from paying alimony. But my parents are still alive. Whitman has no pity. He’ll find what you love and kill them one by one. There’s no negotiating. Alice is dead because of you.”
“No.” Joe’s words were an echo of Dane’s fear.
Joe stepped forward, his gun shaking, pointing it at Dane’s head. “You wouldn’t back off!” Frustration poured from him. “Couldn’t drop it, couldn’t forget the Whitman name, and now we’re paying because of a fucking email. Pay your damn bills! The company asks one thing from its customers. Just pay your damn bills! Washington knew that. He knew!”
“You’re not making any sense.” Dane didn’t even recognize this man. “This is about my wife and child.”
“Yeah.” Joe was breathing heavily now. “Don’t mourn Alice. She wasn’t worth it. Believe me. She was going to take Elizabeth from you and disappear, letting you think they’d both died.”
“What? No. I don’t believe you.” But he did, and it killed him.
“I was doing my best,” Joe said.
His best. Hadn’t Dane been telling himself much the same thing these last two years? His breath left his body in a ragged exhale as he tried to forgive his friend. WE had destroyed Joe’s life, too, and because Dane couldn’t believe his ex-partner would kill him, the moment suddenly became about saving Joe. Putting him on the right path again. He tried once more.
“Put the gun down, Joe. I’m not hunting you. I want the man that killed Alice. Help me get that son of a bitch.”
Instead of lowering the gun, Joe stepped closer and snapped a silencer onto its muzzle. “I didn’t want anything to do with Whitman, but he gave me no choice.” He spoke conversationally, glancing over his shoulder, assuring himself they were alone. His face was clear of agitation. “When Alice died, everyone fell into line. No one was willing to risk what happened to you. Whitman rules by fear and extortion. Every time we obey, he has one more thing on us. He made a tape…” He shook his head, stopping himself. “He gets you, holds things over you. There’s no end. I’m sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”
He didn’t look sorry. He looked resigned. “Prove it. Help me.”
“He’s going to kill you, Dane. I’d prefer it wasn’t me who pulled the trigger. Tell me where Marnie Somerville is. Where are the files?”
“It’s not too late for you, Joe.”
“It is. He has an army of powerful people on his payroll, and even more muscle ready to step into my shoes should I fail.”
“For every bad cop or judge, there’s plenty more that are good.”
“That hasn’t helped you.” Joe shrugged. “Dane, I’m his right-hand man at the precinct. It’s been my safety net, and yours. Without me, you’d have been dead two years now. But you’ve gone too far and even I can’t help you.”
Dane didn’t think he had any more time. Joe looked ready to pull the trigger. “I have his files. Decrypted this time.”
“The woman was here, then. Still here?” He took a quick breath, looking beyond Dane. “I guess this is it, then.”
Thoughts of Elizabeth, Harper, and Marnie and how they’d feel if he died gave Dane the strength to push aside pride. “Don’t.” It was the only word he could force past his lips.
“Whitman would torture the information from you. I’m doing you a favor.” The gun trembled in Joe’s hand, but this was the moment. Dane had no doubt.
Movement behind Joe grabbed Dane’s attention. Joe noticed and turned as Marnie swung a fire extinguisher at his head. Joe collapsed. Dane lunged forward, ripping the extinguisher from her hands before she could hit Joe a third time. Marnie’s eyes were wild. Her chest heaved, and her hands shook.
“We need him alive, dammit.” He’d have information. He pressed his fingers to his ex-partner’s neck and felt a pulse. Assured he was alive, Dane threw Joe over his shoulder. They’d have visitors soon. “We’re bringing him.”
Marnie’s shock equaled her fury, but after a brief hesitation, she ran back to Whitman’s office without a word. Dane followed at a fast clip and arrived at the balcony as she balanced the long rope on the railing.
“Prop him against the railing. We’ll tie the rope around his waist,” she said. Dane kept him steady as Marnie tied a slipknot. Joe hung on the railing, his head over the side. When Marnie grabbed Joe’s pant legs near his ankles, Dane was curious. When she tugged them chest height and threw Joe over the side, he lunged to save him and missed.
“Shit.” He leaned over the railing, trying to see in the shadows below. Were the guards awake yet? Did they notice?
“Stop worrying,” Marnie whispered. “People like him have nine lives.”
She donned leather gloves, took hold of the taut rope, and jumped over the edge, swiftly repelling down the three floors. Dane followed suit, descending an instant later, stopped from reaching the ground by Joe, who was swinging a foot above the ground. Dane landed on his feet next to him. He wasn’t looking forward to the interrogation ahead.
Marnie tugged and snapped the rope, which released this particular type of knot’s hold on the balcony’s railing. Joe dropped to the ground with a thump. Their twenty minutes were up, and the guards in the booths would be waking soon, so Dane made quick work of helping Marnie gather up the rope and tuck it into the duffel.
Dane threw Joe over his shoulder again and ran across the parking lot to their hidden van. Marnie unlocked it and opened the sliding door, stepping aside to allow Dane to lay Joe inside. After patting Joe down, dismantling his phone, she made quick work with a roll of silver duct tape and secured Joe’s wrists and ankles. She then hopped into the van.
“You drive.” She used her burner phone to call someone, impatiently waiting for the line to connect as Dane sat behind the wheel. “I have a guy I need to put on ice.” He saw her distance the phone from her ear, cringing as the person reamed her out. Dane could fully sympathize with whoever was on the other end of the line. He wanted to wring Marnie’s neck for putting herself in danger in Whitman’s office.
Dane put the van into gear and then drove away, clamping down on his emotions as the call continued. He turned the headlights on only when he was sure they couldn’t be seen from the security booths. Someone—he assumed Smith was on the other end of the line—wasn’t happy, but Dane was so dazed by his new reality, he found it hard to care. When the curses wound down, Marnie pressed the cell back to her ear. “I’ll explain—” She was interrupted, but what she heard took much of the stress off her face. “The regular place.” She hung up, typed something into the computer linked to the security server, and then shut the laptop down. “Pull over there.”
He found a safe spot and did as she asked. “We have to talk.” He had to have it out with her about her behavior back at the office or his head would explode.
“Later. Please.” They switched places, leaving her in the driver’s seat and Dane in the back of the van. “I know where we’re going, and I think it’s best if you keep an eye on this asshole. I need to think, and I can’t even look at him.” She pulled back into traffic with barely a delay.
Dane balanced on his haunches, studying his ex-partner and friend. Joe looked like shit. The damage she’d done to his head was extensive. He was bleeding everywhere, and the mess on the floor in the offices wouldn’t go unnoticed. Dropping him off the balcony—sure, he didn’t hit the ground, but that rope probably broke a rib or two when it caught him. “What the hell were you thinking?” Dane forced himself not to yell, but he wanted to. He wanted to vent all over Marnie’s ass.
Marnie glanced in the rearview to meet his gaze before turning her attention back to the road. She was angry, too. “Are you talking to me, or him?”
“You.”
“Which part?”
“Three floors. You could have killed him.” And it would have been a straightforward, bald-faced homicide. If anyone was going to kill Joe, it would be Dane. Once and for all, they had to have it out. Marnie was not allowed to risk her life or liberty for him. It was unacceptable. He could not allow it.
“He’s alive, isn’t he?” She was looking defensive, but her rage fairly crackled about her. “He would have killed you.”
He remembered the look on Joe’s face just before Marnie hit him. Yeah. Joe was going to kill him. “Maybe. But he could have killed you, too. I told you to leave, to get out of the building. You had what we came for. You had no right to jeopardize your safety or the operation. Hell, Marnie, if he’d turned a moment sooner, you could have been the one bleeding on the floor. Dead. What were you thinking?”
“At least I was thinking. You stayed to confront Folsom.”
Betrayed by a Kiss Page 19
