“Brian. Run!” Mr. Psycho smacked her in the side of the head with her own Glock.
Cho grabbed her husband, dragging him inside and closing the door behind him.
“He doesn’t know anything! Leave him alone!” she yelled.
Mr. Psycho smirked and shook his head. Becca’s eyes went wide.
Brian looked around wildly. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Cho shoved him into a seat so he was facing her. Then the man bound his wrists behind his back with duct tape.
“I’m so sorry, honey.” Tears filled her eyes. She’d never meant to bring danger into their home.
Brian’s eyes bounced off every person in the room, landing on Becca as if he couldn’t believe what was happening. “What do you want? Why are you in my fucking house?” He started to struggle, but Cho pressed down on his shoulders.
“I want to know where I can find a certain FBI agent,” Mr. Psycho said silkily.
Why was Chen so important?
Brian gaped at him. “You think you can torture it out of my wife? She’ll never tell you a damned thing.”
The smile the psycho sent him gave Sloan chills.
No.
Cho slapped tape over Brian’s mouth.
“You’re right. I think she’s too brave and stoic to save herself, but you? I’m counting she has a soft spot for you.” The psycho pulled out a knife and tested the point. “It’s a little blunt I’m afraid.”
A tear spilled over and slid down Sloan’s cheek. Becca’s eyes were still wide with horror, but Sloan couldn’t save the girl from what she was about to witness.
Chapter Twenty
Ashley showered while she waited for the men to come back. Lucas had restrained her one wrist just loose enough to slip the cuff and, with a free hand, she’d made short work of the other. Had it been a test? New Agents in Training learned to get out of handcuffs at the academy, but it was more likely he’d underestimated the narrowness of her wrist bones.
They’d brought her luggage from her car in Virginia so she had a fresh change of clothes and a full makeup kit. It didn’t do much for her black eye, but it did boost her self-esteem.
She resisted the temptation that was Alex Parker’s laptop, even though it was right there out in the open, and she’d probably never get another chance to look at it. She doubted she’d be able to crack his password in the time available. She didn’t touch her machines because she was trying to prove a point.
She wasn’t trying to escape. She wasn’t the bad guy.
By the time they’d finished their tête-à-tête on the beach she was once again the consummate professional, dressed in a navy pantsuit, sitting with both hands resting in clear view on the tabletop.
Lucas came to an abrupt halt when he walked in the door. Alex offered a small smile over Lucas’s shoulder. She watched him replace his gun in his holster.
Christ, the guy was scary fast.
“I guess you saved us the trouble,” Lucas said cryptically.
“Trouble?”
“Of letting you go.” He checked his watch. “Where do you want us to drop you?”
“Pardon?” She didn’t understand.
“We believe you.” Alex spoke up. “We owe you an apology. I definitely owe you an apology. I’m sorry that my suspicions put you in danger, but you can’t say they weren’t warranted.”
She frowned.
“We need to get out of here ASAP. I have a meeting to get to…” Lucas eyed her as if she was holding them up.
Her eyes widened at the implication. They were actually letting her go? They believed what she’d told them. Or they were pretending to. “I’ve changed my mind about running away.”
“You don’t get to change your mind about that.” Lucas walked into the bedroom she’d been held in, and she heard the rattle of handcuffs and the straightening of sheets. He came back thirty seconds later and pointed his finger at her. “You stay, you die. Simple as that.”
She shook her head. “I’m the best chance the FBI has of catching these people.”
“What?” He huffed out a cynical laugh. “After all these years, you’re finally going to sacrifice yourself to that cause?”
She jerked away as if she’d been stung.
“You said it yourself, Ash, you’ve got one chance of surviving this, and we’re giving it to you. Call Frazer, resign from the Bureau for personal reasons with immediate effect, and disappear. You can send in your creds and weapon. Alex and I never saw you. This”—he waved his finger between them—“never happened. That keeps you off the FBI’s radar and gives you a head-start on the people hunting you.”
Something in his voice gave him away, and she remembered what Mallory had said about his poker face. She stood up and placed her hand gently on his arm. “He’ll never stop looking for me, Lucas. I will be on the run and looking over my shoulder until the day I die. I do not want to live like that.”
“It’s the only way you will live.”
“Use me as a lure.”
“No.” He wouldn’t look at her.
“Tell him, Parker. Tell him the best way of catching these animals is by using me as bait.”
Rather than replying, Alex stared at her for a long moment. Then he zipped up her laptops into their respective bags, grabbed her luggage, and headed out the cottage door.
She was stunned by his silence. She’d thought he’d be the first to stake her out as the sacrificial goat.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You can’t stop me from going to Sloan.”
“Sloan is no longer in charge of the investigation. A guy named Greg Trainer is. He’s one of the stick-up-his-ass agents your godfather warned you about. You tell him who you really are, and he will stick you in jail and wave you like a red flag to prove to the world his team is cracking down on the Dragon Devils and their associates. You’ll be vilified as the inside source. The Devils will know exactly where you are and how to get to you.”
He crowded her against the kitchen counter. “You need to get out of here before I change my mind about letting you go.” The words were supposed to be a threat but sounded like a wish.
“Do you really believe I am on the FBI’s side?” she asked. “Or is this some game you’re playing to see what I do next?”
He gripped her elbows and kissed her deep, like he’d never get the chance to kiss her again. She kissed him back, wanting to stretch the moment for as long as possible but knowing it would end far too soon.
Finally, he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry I kidnapped you. And I’m sorry that the only way I know to protect you is by letting you go.”
Ashley closed her eyes and gripped his shirtfront. She nodded, then pushed away from his chest, breaking them apart. She brushed past him and headed to the van. He had it backward. The only way to protect him was to walk away.
* * *
The smell of blood was so cloying that Sloan tried to breathe through her mouth. The look of agony on Brian’s face, the fierce way he fought with his attackers, destroyed her. They’d cut off his ear, and blood soaked his neck and shirt collar. She twisted and struggled against her bonds, but she couldn’t get free.
Becca’s reaction was the most surreal. It wasn’t horror or repulsion—it looked oddly like satisfaction.
Mr. Psycho’s cell phone rang, and he answered it with a slight frown. He’d barely drawn a sweat. He hung up and ran the knife down Brian’s front and slowly lowered it until it rested on his penis. “Perhaps we need to speed things up a little.” He flicked the button off Brian’s trousers and lowered the zipper as if opening a surprise. Brian went rigid, eyes popping. “A husband might forgive a wife for getting his ear mangled, but he’d never forgive her for losing his dick. Not that it’s much of a dick right now.” The psycho’s gaze rested on Becca. “Fetch her.”
Cho untied Becca and ripped the tape from her lips so viciously she cried out. Then he dragged her over and forced her to kneel at
Brian’s feet.
The psycho tipped up her chin with the edge of the blade. “Touch him. You know how.”
Oh, God, no. No.
This, Sloan could not bear to watch. “I don’t know where Chen is!”
“Do better. I just want to talk to her. I don’t need to know where she is.”
“I don’t have her number.” Her voice cracked like ice on a pond. The psycho moved the knife closer to Brian’s genitals, and she said quickly. “But I have the number for the agent who is with her.”
The psycho brought her phone over to her. “Which one is it?”
Sloan cleared her throat. “Randall. Lucas Randall.”
The slimeball smiled as he slapped a strip of tape over her mouth.
He took her phone and sat cross-legged on their beautiful dining room table.
“That wasn’t so difficult, was it?” His eyes caught Sloan’s horrified gaze as he smiled.
Oh God. He was a monster. She shouldn’t have told him, but there was no way she’d make Becca endure more torture. She slumped in defeat, tears filling her eyes as he made the phone call.
* * *
Lucas was pretty sure everyone in the vehicle knew his heart was shattering, but no one mentioned it. Alex had wanted to drive, but Lucas refused to let him, so the guy was now asleep in the back. Lucas needed something to concentrate on or else he’d change his mind and come up with another plan that involved keeping Ashley at his side for as long as physically possible.
But even if they used Ashley as a lure—which he refused to even consider without full FBI backup—there was no guarantee they’d capture the uncle when he was probably holed up in some exotic location far away from US jurisdiction. And there was no telling how extensive a network the Devils had in the US. It was Lucas’s job to find out—just as soon as he said goodbye to Ashley and Alex, and made sure Becca was securely installed in a safe house. He’d been ignoring calls from Sloan and Fuentes for the last two hours and at this rate he’d be lucky to have a job to go back to.
Logan International Airport came into view and within minutes he pulled up outside the drop off point for Departures.
The last time he’d been this miserable he’d just found a basement full of dead people.
He focused on saying goodbye to this woman he’d only known for a few days, and yet already liked more than anyone he’d ever met.
She sat beside him in silence. Her face was tense, her knuckles translucent beneath her pale skin. “I’m sorry for everything.”
“Everything?”
She huffed out a sad smile. “Not everything.”
“I’m sorry for this.” He raised his knuckle to her black eye but didn’t touch. If he touched her he wouldn’t let go. And no way could Ashley Chen stay.
Her hand was on the handle, and she started to open the door, and he forced himself to hold tight to the steering wheel.
She hesitated. “I know it doesn’t make any difference, but I didn’t lie to you about the things that are really important. I just wanted you to know that.”
His cell interrupted. It was Sloan, and he had to take it. “Give me thirty seconds, okay?”
If ever there was a bad time to take a call, this was it. She nodded. Maybe she was as reluctant as he was to say goodbye. Or maybe he was fooling himself.
“Randall,” he said.
“I need to speak to Ashley Chen.” He didn’t recognize the male voice.
“Who is this? Where’s SSA Sloan?”
“Sloan can’t come to the phone right now. Put Ashley Chen on the line immediately.”
He wanted to tell the guy to go fuck himself, but he was already in enough trouble. He put it on speaker and held it out to her.
“Yes?” she said uncertainly.
“Ashley Chen?”
Ashley’s eyes widened as the color faded from her skin. “Yes.” Her voice was firmer.
“Can anyone else hear this conversation?”
“No,” she denied, looking at Lucas and then Alex.
The man laughed. “Long time no speak, cousin. How’s life as a ghost?”
“Better than when I was with you.”
Lucas glanced into the back of the van, and Alex was on his phone speaking rapidly to someone on the other end. Shit, if they had Sloan’s phone where was the SSA?
“What do you want? Where’s Sloan?”
“No words of welcome or love? Didn’t you miss me?”
“Where is SSA Sloan?” she repeated forcefully.
Alex leaned forward and showed them a text message on his cell. Sloan and Becca had both been abducted from the hospital.
“She’s a little busy right now,” the man said.
Ashley looked confused. And no wonder, considering she didn’t know who Becca was. But she knew what to do.
“Do you have Becca with you?” she asked.
“The girl is fine. Having fun.”
His tone made something cold slide down Lucas’s spine.
“I need to know she’s not dead,” Ashley insisted.
Proof of life was important in a kidnapping. It provided a reason to keep people alive.
“And I need you to slip away from your FBI pals and head home for a family reunion. I’ll send details in a few hours, and you better be on your way or else you’ll miss the fun stuff. But the kid won’t.”
A photo appeared on the screen, and Lucas wanted to vomit. They had Becca. After everything he’d done to try to protect her…
He’d been so busy worrying about his suspicions regarding Ashley that he’d taken his eyes off the ball. The guilt almost crushed him, but he had a job to do.
Bottling up his rage, he muted the phone. “Tell him you’ll come, but if Becca or Sloan are hurt in any way, you’re in the wind and no one will ever find you.”
She nodded and conveyed the message. The man on the other end laughed. “Sloan sends her apologies. She probably won’t make that rendezvous, but the kid will be there. She’ll go free if you come alone. If you don’t…” He hung up.
“Did you trace it?” Lucas asked Alex.
“Yep. Sloan’s home address. Cops are on their way.”
* * *
Sloan hauled herself across the hardwood floor, blood oozing from the knife impaled in her left side. Every inch was torture, the blade sinking into virgin flesh whenever she moved or sucked in a breath. Blood ran in messy streaks down her body, leaving ugly smears across the gleaming boards.
She recognized the pattern from crime scenes. She’d never expected to live it.
The psychopath had stabbed her and then smacked Brian so viciously on the side of the head with her Glock he’d been knocked unconscious. Then the sonofabitch had grabbed Becca’s hand and strolled out like nothing had happened.
The psycho had spoken to Chen. Called her “cousin.” Sloan didn’t know the story, but it hadn’t sounded like a happy family reunion. It had sounded like the agent was asking for proof of life, which meant she was still working toward rescuing Becca. Hopefully the cavalry would trace the call to this location and turn up any minute in time to save her and her husband.
Brian hadn’t moved.
When she finally reached him, she rolled him on to his back. His semi-naked state reminded her of what had been done to him, and she dragged up his boxers to give him a little dignity. She knew better than to mess with a crime scene, but they weren’t dead yet.
“Brian, wake up.” His pulse beat steadily beneath her trembling fingers. She was starting to feel dizzy from loss of blood and didn’t want to pass out. Not yet. Not if they were dying. His breath was a faint brush of air across the back of her hand.
“Brian.” She tapped his cheek gently, and he stirred.
He rolled onto his side and vomited. Not a good sign for a head injury.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. I think so.” He rolled onto his back and swore.
“They’re gone.”
He groaned and held his head. “D
id they take Rosie?”
“Rosie?” She frowned in confusion. Then their eyes met and she knew…
She recoiled away from him. “You knew that girl?” It was her turn to feel nauseous.
“No! No.” He was indignant. “One of them must have called her that. I wouldn’t go to a brothel.”
She held her side as she laughed mirthlessly. The head injury had affected his wits. “Then how do you know she was from the brothel?”
She laughed harder as facts clicked into place. All those late nights, their passionless sex life, sleeping at the office, it all started to make a grim sort of sense. Her head pounded as the laughs turned to sobs, and blood continued to seep out of the wound on her side.
She pushed herself away from him, pain secondary to the revulsion of being near him. “I don’t believe it. You’re the leak. You. Everything we told the mayor’s office. Tidbits you pried out of me by pretending to be interested in my work. Fuck.” She’d been so worried about him, so guilt-ridden that she’d brought these criminals into their home, and it was him!
She was so stupid. So goddamn stupid. She held onto her side as a wave of agony crashed through her.
He crawled over to her on all fours. “Carly, I love you. Please don’t say anything. I’ll be ruined. You’ll be ruined! No one will want an FBI agent whose husband…”
She glared up at him. “Fucked children? You’re right. But you’re a pedophile. You deserve to be ruined.”
“Carly,” he beseeched.
But he must have seen the stark reality etched between the grimaces of pain. There was no way she’d conceal this.
“You sanctimonious bitch. You think I would have gone seeking it elsewhere if you were any good?”
She swallowed, wishing her vision wasn’t going gray. She thought she heard sirens. “I deal with people like you every day, Brian. You can insult me and, sure, it might hurt a little, but I know how deviants like you justify your own twisted appetites. You blame someone else like the cowards you are.”
“Bitch.” Fingers encircled her throat.
“What are you doing?” She started to scramble away but found no purchase on the blood-slick floors. She reached for her weapon, but she didn’t have it anymore. She couldn’t breathe.
Cold Secrets (Cold Justice Book 7) Page 27
