Chapter One

by Judith Rochelle

  “Breakfast,” he said, holding up a box from Krispy Kreme. In his other hand he carried a shopping bag, which he handed to Quinn, and a newspaper. “Thought you might like to feel human.”

  “What’s this?”

  “Razor, soap, change of clothes, stuff like that. Wal-Mart’s finest. Nobody else is open all night. I figured you wouldn’t leave here to go home and change.” He pointed to the patient bathroom in the corner. “You can shower in there. The hospital won’t object. They’re good to go about whatever we want.”

  “Thanks.” Quinn ran a hand over the stubble on his jaw. “I didn’t even think about it. Just let me know what I owe you.”

  “We’ll worry about that later. Go change. I’ll sit with Kate, then fill you in on where we are.” His face sobered. “And show you a little item in the newspaper that will make you as sick as it did us. It was on the late news last night.”

  Quinn froze. “About Kate?”

  “Yes and no. Go shower, then we’ll talk.”

  When Quinn came back into the room, Kate was still asleep—the result of the continuous pain medication—but she seemed to be resting a little easier. He had to admit he felt somewhat better clean-shaven, showered, and dressed in fresh jeans and shirt. But it did nothing for the knot of dread in his stomach anticipating what Jake had to say.

  Jake had produced two cups of coffee from somewhere. They carried them with the doughnuts over to the window, away from the bed.

  “Okay, give,” Quinn said when they were settled with their food and drink. “What’s in the paper?”

  “First of all, check the front page of the Metro section,” he said. “Big news when someone shoots at people in a federal building. Especially these days.”

  Quinn scanned the article, then threw the paper on the table. “I notice you told them the victim’s condition was unknown. Good move. Maybe they’ll think she’s dying and leave her alone. But your face tells me there’s more.”

  Jake turned to page three and handed the section back to Quinn, folded to show an item on the bottom of the page.

  “Woman missing,” the headline stated. The article went on to ask if anyone had seen the woman, who’d disappeared from the library two days ago and not been seen since then. Her car was still in the city parking lot next door and no one had heard from her.

  “Shit.” Quinn felt sick to his stomach. “Look at her picture. Add the longer hair and the tailored clothes and she could pass for Kate.”

  “Just as Jake and I thought.” Jake nodded. “They used the cyber traps to trace her back to the computer she used and sent someone to check it out. My guess is whoever it was must have somehow been using an old picture of her.”

  Quinn dragged his fingers through his damp hair. “Jesus, Jake. This is getting out of control.”

  “It’s unusual for them to do anything that gets this kind of publicity,” Jake pointed out.

  “Yeah, but they couldn’t know that we’d put it all together. This means we need to take extra precautions where Kate is concerned, because they’re getting more desperate.” He swallowed some of the coffee. “All right. Tell me something good.”

  “You should know Lane is seriously pissed that what happened to Kate was because his office apparently sprung a leak. I think he dragged everyone, including the secretaries, down to the office last night.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. But did you find out anything?”

  Jake watched Jake over the rim of his coffee cup as he answered him. “A couple of people remembered Efron Pendera hanging around outside Lane’s office while we were in there on the phone with you. Trying to look casual, they said.”

  “Could he hear you talking with the door closed?”

  “We weren’t shouting, but those walls aren’t the thickest. If someone listened hard enough, they could catch what was being said.” He snorted. “You don’t expect to have to hide from your own staff. From now on, we talk in the conference room with white noise in place.”

  “So what did this Pendera have to say for himself?”

  Jake didn’t answer right away. He put his coffee down on the window sill and stuffed a last bite of doughnut into his mouth.

  “Come on,” Quinn prompted. “He’s gotta be the mole. What did he say?”

  “Pendera’s dead.”

  “What?” Quinn stood up, almost knocking over his coffee. “The hell he is.”

  “The cleaning crew found his body in the dumpster behind the justice building when they went to take out the trash early this morning.”

  “Shit.”

  “Exactly.” Jake tossed back the rest of his coffee, then crumpled the cup and dropped it in the wastebasket.

  “Was he shot? DeWitt gave Lane’s messenger the fragments of the bullet he took out of Kate. I don’t think you can tell much about it, but maybe you can get one intact from Pendera’s body and try for a match.”

  Jake shook his head. “No such luck. His throat was cut. Nearly severed his head, as a matter of fact.”

  “Damn and damn again. What else?”

  “We found the car the shooter made off in. It was Pendera’s, so I’m sure he’s the one who sliced Pendera’s throat. But he had to arrange with that slug to get into the garage, so that pretty much seals it that Pendera was on the Osuna payroll.”

  “Any fingerprints? Evidence of any kind that could lead to the driver?”

  “We should be so lucky.”

  “Damn it to hell anyway. Kate was right. Wonder what else he’s fed them?”

  “We’ll find out. We’ve pulled his cell phone, office phone, and home phone records. We also got a warrant to search his house. His wife totally collapsed and her family came to take her away, fortunately, so she didn’t have to deal with that, too. There’s a team out there now.”

  “How many people know about Kate?”

  Jake’s mouth twisted in a grimace. “It was kind of hard to keep her a secret after last night.”

  “That just increases the risk factor even more. Hell.” Quinn jammed his hands in his pockets and stared out the window.

  “We’re keeping her bottled up tight here, and I know you won’t be more than two inches away from her. We just have to figure out what to do when she can leave.”

  “Forget that. I told Lane I’m taking care of it, so you all can just drop it from your minds.”

  “I hear you. But Lane insists he wants to take charge. You’ll have to fight it out with him.”

  “No fighting. My decision. It’s my fault she got shot to begin with, agreeing to bring her into town. I’m not trusting her safety to anyone else.” He shifted his gaze to a corner of the room. “Not that I’m doing such a fucking good job.”

  Jake frowned. “You can’t run with her, Quinn. You know we need to have her available. Lane hasn’t even had a chance to talk to her yet.”

  Quinn turned to him, his face so filled with fury that Jake took a step back. “I’m the one who called you, remember? I’m the one who played by the rules here, told her she didn’t have any choice. I’m the one who insisted she come into the city. Look what happened. I’m not risking her life again, so just back off.”

  “Don’t be stupid. You’ll never get her out past Lane’s guards.”

  “Fine. Then I won’t.” He turned away.

  “Ace, don’t get yourself in trouble here. I know how you feel—”

  Quinn jerked his head up. “No. You don’t. You can’t possibly. So just get the hell out of my face.” Quinn’s jaw was set, his body rigid. “I want you to forget we ever had this conversation, okay?”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Don’t fight...in sick...room.” Kate’s voice, weak as it was, stopped them cold.

  In a flash Quinn was at her side, touching his lips to her forehead. “Sorry we woke you, darlin’. Just two jerks letting off steam. How do you feel?”

  “Like a truck ran over me.” Her voice was still halting but a tiny bit stronger.

  “Glad to se
e you’re back with us, Miss Griffin.” Dr. DeWitt had come into the room unnoticed. He glanced at Jake and Quinn. “Can I have a minute to take a look at my patient?”

  Quinn stepped away from the bed while DeWitt and Sharon checked Kate’s wounds and Sharon changed dressings. The doctor read the chart, made some notations, then gave Quinn a tired smile.

  “She’s doing quite well, considering all the probing we had to do for the bullet fragments. We’ll get her up for a few minutes later today. That won’t be much fun for her, but I don’t want to leave her lying in bed and risk pneumonia. I’ll check back this afternoon.”

  “I’m going to bathe her and change her sheets,” Sharon said after DeWitt left. “How about stepping outside for just a few minutes?”

  Quinn was ready to dig in his heels. Jake, obviously deciding to head off an argument, took his friend by the arm.

  “Come on. She’s not going anywhere, and she’s safe in here. We can talk out in the hall. Besides, I have some news for you. Maybe it’ll help change your mind about what happens when Kate’s discharged.”

  As soon as they were out of the room, Jake walked him to the end of the hall. A ghost of a grin drifted over his mouth as he looked at Quinn. “We cracked the files. I waited to tell you when no one could overhear us.”

  “Hot damn.” Quinn smacked a fist into his palm. “So give. What did you find?”

  “Only the mother lode—the whole Trans Global corporate structure, just like we hoped. Jesus, you’d think they were a real company the way they did it.”

  “This means Lane can proceed to get search warrants against the brothers, right?” Quinn asked.

  “Yes, but we’re moving very carefully on this.” Jake’s face looked grim, his lips thin and the hollows deepening in his cheeks. “First. There are three files with a totally different encryption code, so we’re still working on those. Second, if the Osunas could pay off a federal prosecutor, it’s not too big a leap for them to pay off a federal judge. We’re not applying for warrants until we’re sure the judge we go to is one hundred percent clean. Lane’s conferencing with the attorney general and the FBI special agent in charge before he does anything else. We want to make sure we’ve got all the players, too, and don’t leave any loose threads.”

  “But—”

  “You’ve been there before,” Jake pointed out. “You know sometimes it takes longer than we’d like just to be sure we have a nice, neat package. Believe me, if it was up to me, we’d move today on whoever we’ve got.”

  “Jake, listen to me.” Quinn couldn’t keep the note of desperation out of his voice. They had to get to these people before they could take another crack at Kate. “As long as we don’t take steps against the Osunas and their people, Kate is still in danger. They can still come after her.”

  Jake took a long time answering. “You might as well face the fact that Kate’s going to be in some danger until everything is finished. Trial and all, especially if we need her to testify. But we’ll take precautions. That’s why Lane wants to find a safe house. And don’t forget, he still hasn’t had a chance to talk with her.”

  Quinn ground his teeth in frustration. “With all due respect, not all safe houses are safe. Tell Lane whatever you want, but no one will know Kate’s whereabouts. He’ll get to talk to her when the doctor okays it. Testifying is still up for discussion.”

  Jake studied his friend. “Whatever you say, buddy,” he said at last.

  “And don’t think you’re going to find a way around me on this. I know you have a job to do, but let’s not jeopardize our friendship, either.”

  When Sharon called them back into the room, Kate was still awake and propped up on pillows, pain cutting deep lines in her face.

  Quinn’s face hardened and he looked at Sharon. “I thought she was getting some pretty heavy medication.”

  “She is, but I had to move her around a lot to bathe her, and changing the dressings is an uncomfortable process for her. I just gave her the next dose of her meds. It should start to work in a minute or two.”

  “I’ll catch you later,” Jake told Quinn, and kissed Kate on the cheek. “Get better, pretty lady.”

  Quinn moved the chair back up to the bed, took Kate’s hand again, and began talking to her in low, soothing tones. The medication kicked in and she was breathing more easily than before. Her color had improved slightly, too. In seconds, her eyes fluttered closed and she was asleep.

  Quinn sat for hours in the room, watching the daylight fade to a rosy afternoon glow, then to the grey-to-black of night and used the time to think about what to do next. He’d been very blunt with Jake. The hell with what the DOJ wanted. Kate’s safety was priority number one and he would take care of it himself.

  He needed to do this. To make up for what had already happened, something he continued to blame himself for. In retrospect, going to Jake had been a mistake. He should have figured out a different way to go after what he needed and maybe Kate wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed now. To keep her safe he’d have to move her out of the loop as fast as he could.

  By late afternoon he had a glimmer of an idea. First he needed to make sure Kate was a lot stronger. Then he’d make a telephone call and see if he could set things up.

  ****

  Five days had passed since the surgery. Quinn didn’t know which tested his patience more—watching the machines beep or waiting for the DOJ to finally make a move. He knew they were still working on the last of the files on the flash drive, but his patience had nearly reached its limit.

  All of the monitors had finally been disconnected and removed and DeWitt had switched Kate from intravenous to oral medications.

  The first day they’d gotten her out of bed, she gritted her teeth and broke out in a sweat. The second time was easier. Now she could actually walk without looking like she was going to pass out.

  But Quinn was still frightened every time he looked at her, and said as much to Nancy.

  “She’s showing a lot of improvement,” the nurse assured Quinn. “Her color’s good, she’s moving around a lot better, and she seems to be sleeping easier.”

  “She still looks like death on a holiday to me,” he commented sourly.

  “Honey, give her time. She’s had some major hurts put on her. DeWitt’s finally put her on solid food so that’s a definite good sign.”

  For the first couple of days as he sat by Kate’s bed, he was constantly feeding her water and juice through a straw, wiping her face with a cold cloth, holding her hand. Whenever she surfaced from the narcotics and the pain grabbed her, he murmured to her in the same soothing voice until the medication took hold again.

  As she improved and stayed awake for longer periods of time, they actually carried on conversations, mostly learning little things about each other. Quinn told her what they’d found on the flash drive, and brought her up to speed on where the DOJ was as far as moving against the cartel. Neither of them said it out loud, but they were both on edge waiting for that shoe to drop.

  Each day her walks in the corridor grew longer as her strength returned. Quinn was amazed at how quickly she was recovering, remembering the terror of those first couple of days after the shooting.

  She’d just finished making a complete circuit of the floor, Quinn beside her giving her his strength, when Jake stopped in, bringing the newspaper.

  “Anything else from that flash drive?” Kate, propped up again in bed, focused her gaze on Jake. “Come on, ‘fess up. I want to know everything.”

  “I wish. But our guys are on it nonstop.” Then he grinned. “But you’re sure looking better every day. How do you feel?”

  “Just like I could run a marathon,” she joked. But even as she spoke the exhaustion of the morning took hold and her eyelids fluttered closed.

  Jake looked at Quinn. “I’m getting pushed big time by the chief about him coming to interview her. So far DeWitt’s stonewalled them but time’s running out, Ace.”

  “Just give me one mor
e day, okay? I’ll check with DeWitt when he comes in this afternoon. If he gives the go ahead, I’ll call you and set something up for tomorrow morning.”

  “Don’t let me down,” Jake warned. “My ass is on the line here, too, you know.”

  “One more day,” Quinn assured him.

  After Jake left, Quinn folded himself back into the large chair and rubbed his eyes. The overpowering hospital odor of antiseptic and illness was doing nothing to help his growing headache.

  Damn Jake and everyone anyway, he thought. This was not about them, it was about her. He’d lost one woman he loved because of this business. He wouldn’t risk it with another.

  He wanted a life with her. A future. The more he sat in the hospital room, the more certain he was of that. But to get there, he had his work cut out for him. He’d put Jake off for twenty-four hours. That meant putting his plan in operation today.

  “She’ll be sleeping for a while,” Nancy told him. “Why don’t you go get some coffee or something to eat.”

  “Okay. Thanks. I won’t be gone long.”

  But it wasn’t food he wanted. Much as he hated being away from the room, he had a phone call to make, in a place where he couldn’t be overheard.

  Jogging down the stairs, rather than waiting for the slow as molasses elevator, he came out on the ground floor in a small enclosed green space, surrounded by a brick wall. Leaning into one corner, he dialed a number he hadn’t used for far too long.

  “Vanetta.”

  Quinn and Nick Vanetta had met when Quinn was still a prosecutor. A very high profile, very wealthy attorney whose life had been threatened needed the very best in sophisticated protection. He knew Quinn and had come to him for suggestions. Quinn, more than familiar with the reputation of Guardian Security, the company Nick owned with his partner, Reno Sullivan, had recommended them for the job. The two had been close friends since then.

  Nick, like Jake, had been doing his damndest since the Ramirez fiasco to get Quinn to pick up the pieces of his life again. Maybe even come to work for them. Quinn had yet to return his calls.

  He chuckled to himself now. He didn’t think this call was exactly what Nick had in mind when he’d tried to shake him out of his isolation.