Revealing

by Calle J. Brookes

  Georgia met her outside 3B4. “What’s this about, Paige?”

  “Interview. I’d like your opinion. And to be honest, I don’t want to talk to this woman alone. I used to know her twelve years ago.”

  “I see.”

  “Just be there with me. Let me know what you think of her.” And metaphorically hold Paige’s hand if necessary. That was all.

  When had Paige turned into such a wimp?

  Was Mick right, was it just fear? She looked at the other woman. Georgia and her husband Hellbrook had had some huge fights back in the early days of PAVAD. They’d snapped at each other just as much as Paige and Mick did. Until someone had targeted Georgia and Hellbrook had gone all hot and protective.

  Was that what was happening with her and Mick? Why hadn’t she realized that before?

  ***

  Mick’s brother must have rushed from his office. He met Mick in 3B1 within five minutes of Paige leaving. “Mick? You got Butelli?”

  “Yeah. Real prick. I was wondering what you thought of him. Hell, I can’t get a read on the guy. But that’s not my thing.”

  It had taken Mick a long time as a young man to be comfortable with his own strengths compared to his brother. Mal hadn’t meant to overshadow him through their childhood. And Mick had almost always known that. Mal was two and a half years older than him. He’d had perfect grades in school; Mick had struggled with reading disabilities and communication disorders. Mal had been athletic and popular. Mick had been too damned clumsy for his size and borderline antisocial. Their parents had been careful not to compare the two, but that hadn’t stopped the rest of the world.

  Now that they were adults he was better able to appreciate his brother’s strengths, and be comfortable with his own weaknesses. Same with his younger sister. She was almost as goody-goody as Mal. But in her own unique way.

  They were brothers and they loved each other. And always would. Just like they would always love their sister. “And to be honest I am trying to resist knocking the bastard upside the head for what he did to her twelve years ago. She was just a kid back then. He didn’t have any business touching her. Even if it was consensual.”

  Mal nodded. “I assume we’re talking about Paige. I’ll admit there are some holes in her background that I don’t know how to fill. And I’ve never asked.”

  “He was her first. And he made a point of bringing that up.”

  “Did that seem to upset her?”

  Mick grinned, though he was only mildly amused. “She pointed out to him that what mattered was the last guy a woman slept with. At least she’s seeing through him.”

  “That pleases you.”

  “Of course it does.” Mick glared at his brother. “I don’t want some asshole hurting her. Not if I can stop it.”

  “I see.”

  Then again, there were times that Malachi Perfect Brockman saw just a little too much. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Mal. You’d feel the same way if you were the one interviewing the bastard.”

  “Probably. You think it’s this guy?”

  Mick thought for a moment. “No. I don’t. Our killer is still out there. Somewhere.”

  ***

  Chapter 41

  Cam looked at the kid beside him. The boy hadn’t said much since they’d left the hotel that afternoon. He’d be taking the kid to the home of the oldest Daviess offspring. Cam had spent most of the day researching the guy—making sure he was a good fit for Simon. And they’d talked, him and Simon. About families and missing people, and making good decisions.

  They’d spent most of their time at the hotel trying to decide what the kid would do next. And Cam had spent a good portion of the morning on the phone with various social workers and bureaucrats trying to get permission to keep the kid in Missouri, and not ship him straight back to the Texas welfare department. The Texas DPS wasn’t too keen on letting him out of their control until they’d followed the proper procedure.

  Cam was actually almost sad to see the kid go. But he’d finally gotten what he’d wanted with some help from his boss. He called Agent Daviess and got directions to her older brother’s home. The sister-in-law was waiting to officially take custody of Simon, on behalf of his older sister. Cam knew the details would be worked out between Paige and her older brother. They’d take care of the kid.

  They were the kind of people who would. “You’ll be ok. These people, they seem decent. And they understand. This Luc guy came from nothing, then look at what he built. And his sister is pretty cool, too.”

  “Guy’s a millionaire. What are we supposed to talk about?”

  “Billionaire. He’s the richest guy in the city, if not the state.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Hey, Simon, this is your chance for a great life. You have a family now. One you were lucky to find.” He’d probably never find his sister. And that loss had caused the fracturing of the rest of his family. He hadn’t spoken to his parents in six months or more. What did that say about him? “Family is important. Take this chance you’ve been given.”

  The kid didn’t say anything.

  Cam drove on in silence. What could he say to the kid? He couldn’t give the kid a guarantee. Maybe Daviess’ older brother was a real ass. Though the wife seemed nice. Pretty and sweet. Able to take care of a kid in need. And they were rich. Could buy the kid all the help he needed. But he didn’t get the impression Agent Daviess would be that way. She’d seemed to really connect with Simon. “Paige is nice.”

  “Yeah. She’s pretty cool. She’s FBI. I never thought that.”

  “I knew her a long time ago. She was a pretty good thief, too.” Cam checked his mirrors. There was a car riding his ass. That always pissed him off. No sense in people driving stupid. Lives had been lost that way.

  “Cool.”

  “Not something you should aspire to repeat, kid. She obviously made a damned good choice to leave that life behind.” The car behind them was gaining. Reckless.

  Something about it had Cam feeling a wee bit nervous. “Simon, tighten your seat belt. And stay back against the seat until I tell you to.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Just do it.” Cam had his weapon on his side. He’d be ready.

  A black truck pulled out in front of him.

  Cam didn’t have time to react.

  He slammed into the back of the vehicle.

  The air bag deployed.

  Chapter 42

  She had a lot to think about as Mick drove toward Luc and Payton’s that evening. They hadn’t been able to find Miles, yet. But general consensus was he was the most likely suspect.

  They had Jazz and Hernandez, Evan and Josh, still working on finding him. She and Mick would head to Luc’s to talk with Simon and Agent Lake, enjoy Luc’s birthday dinner, and then head back to the hotel to rest for the night. If Miles hadn’t been located by the morning, they’d keep looking, and let the rest of the team off for a few hours to rest.

  Normally Paige would have been right there with her team, but with the injuries to her head and the news of her mother’s death, Ed Dennis had stepped in and ordered her off the clock for a few hours.

  She’d had no choice but to follow orders. No…she had had a choice. She’d chosen to follow the orders of a man she liked and respected.

  They’d all made their choices, even in situations where it had seemed like they hadn’t. She’d been thinking of that all afternoon.

  About the past, about the present, about Mick. About Leo. There was nothing she could have done differently back then. She’d made a choice the day she’d met Carrie to protect and love her sister. And she’d kept the promises she’d made. She would never regret that.

  Amy and Heather, Megan and Elizabeth, Amber and Ceci—they had all had choices to make that day too.

  It wasn’t her fault.

  She needed to accept that.

  Mick wasn’t saying much. She didn’t blame him. They had a lot they needed to talk about. She hadn’t
forgotten the call he’d received from his contact in the Maryland prosecutor’s office. Where he’d been before he’d come to St. Louis. He was going to have to go back, testify in Mara’s murder trial.

  She hated the idea of him being in the midst of an organized crime trial. But she knew he would do it, because it was the right thing for him to do. Her cell rang and she pulled it from her pocket.

  “Paige?”

  “Payton?”

  “What time was Simon supposed to get here?”

  “What do you mean?”

  She’d given Lake the directions to Luc’s house over an hour ago. He was going to take Simon straight there, and get the kid settled with Payton, before Luc’s birthday dinner. Even if they’d stopped at a gas station or had traffic issues, they should have arrived by now. Luc lived relatively close to the PAVAD building.

  “They’re not here. And Agent Lake isn’t answering his phone.”

  “I’ll head out that way. Payton? You and your guards-stay put. Don’t get involved. Do this for me.” Her brother had security guards that followed Payton everywhere. But that didn’t mean her sister-in-law wouldn’t send the two men out to help, if she thought it was necessary.

  Her phone rang again. She grabbed it, but didn’t recognize the number. She downloaded the text after reading the message. Want your brother and sister alive? You’d better hurry.

  “Mick? He’s got Simon!”

  Chapter 43

  Mick saw the panic in her dark eyes. She turned the phone toward him.

  Her phone beeped again. Mick took it from her hand. He checked the new images. Two. One of Simon. And one of a dark-haired woman facing away from the camera. At first glance he was certain the half-naked woman was Paige. But it wasn’t.

  But there was enough similarities between the two to make it very clear the woman in the photo was most likely Paige’s missing sister. Damn it.

  And the image of the boy made him sick. Simon looked so afraid. And after he’d been promised he’d be ok, by Paige, by Mick, by Lake. “Where’s Lake?”

  “I don’t know. If this guy has Simon, he’s had to do something to Lake. I have no doubt of that.”

  It took every bit of experience he had to keep from pulling her against him and telling her everything would be all right. “We’ll get them back.”

  Mick pushed on the gas.

  They found Lake’s rental car, amidst several St. Louis cops, more than halfway to Luc’s home. Mick put the SUV into park but left it running. He and Paige jumped from the vehicle and approached the car. Mick flashed his badge at the cops that stepped toward him. “Where’s the driver?”

  “Ambulance is on the way. He looks bad,” a local cop that Mick recognized said. The guy was a friend of Mick’s sister. Of Paige. “Daviess, what’s going on here? Guy took a few knife wounds to the chest and gut. He’s lucky to be alive.”

  “He had a kid with him, Charley. Did you see him? He’s my brother! He’s twelve.”

  “No. Do you have a photo? We’ll issue an alert.”

  “I’m sending it to you now.”

  “Good.”

  Sirens split the air. Mick looked over at Lake again. Guy was awake, but it definitely looked bad. Lake waved at him. Mick walked to the guy’s side.

  “Well, Brockman. Don’t let it be said that St. Louis isn’t an entertaining city.”

  “You going to live?”

  “I think so. Sure as hell hope I will. If I don’t…there’s a woman. Danielle Connor. Texas field office. Pretty girl. Best friend I got. Let her know what happened to me, gently. For some reason she cares about my ass.”

  “Rare woman, indeed. Who did this?”

  “Butelli?”

  “Leo?” Mick had let the man go three hours ago. He cursed himself for being so stupid.

  “The brother. Miles. Get Simon back. Find out what happened to Ariella for me, will you? I’ll owe you.”

  “Consider it done. Hold yourself together. I’ll get some duct tape out of the trunk if you think it will help.”

  “Mick?” Something in Paige’s tone had him looking up at her. She had her phone again. “What was the address of those two warehouses Hernandez and Jazz were going to check out today?”

  He gave her the information. “Why?”

  “That’s where he is with Simon. Look. That’s the same kind of pillar that was in the images gathered by Hernandez and J.T. Warehouses owned by Leo’s company.” She pointed to a distinctive concrete post behind Simon’s head in the image. There was a company emblem on it. Black and gold. Unlike the building where the girl’s image had been taken. “Here’s the other one.”

  “So Leo owns both buildings.” Mick stepped back as the paramedics lifted Lake onto a backboard, then onto a gurney. “Lake! Hang on, ok? Hate to have to make that call to your girl.”

  “I hear you! Good luck out there. Guy is a mean bastard. And he had another person with him. They drove the second truck. Watch your backs.”

  Mick called it in to the PAVAD dispatcher. She’d mobilize the rest of the CCU to meet them. Paige tried to reach her teammates on their cells. Nothing. Mick knew what it possibly meant.

  He and Paige were back in the vehicle within minutes. Mick looked at his passenger. “Simon or Ariella?”

  It was a horrific question he was asking her. And they both knew it.

  Brother or sister.

  There would be no way he’d ever have been able to make the choice she was being forced to.

  “It has to be Simon. He’s just a kid. Far more vulnerable.”

  Mick turned the vehicle toward the warehouse. “We’ll get him back.”

  “I hope so.”

  They smelled smoke when they were a block away. “He’s lit the place on fire!”

  Paige was out of the SUV as soon as Mick put it into park. “Paige!”

  She had her weapon ready. “We need to get in there.”

  “And it’s you he’s wanting. You’ll be a walking target.”

  “What other choice do we have? He’s set it on fire. With a twelve-year-old kid in there. How can we not go in?”

  He looked at her, and he knew the truth of what she was saying. “You follow protocol. Procedure. And you don’t do anything stupid.”

  “You have to trust me, Mick. You have to. I’m good at my job. And this is my brother. I’m going to be as careful as I can, so that I can get him out of there safely. You know that. And you know you’d do the exact same thing.”

  He would. He’d risk his very life to save Al or Mal. And he knew they’d do the same for him. “Just be careful, baby. I trust you. I don’t want to lose you now.”

  It wasn’t the word trust he meant, and they both knew it.

  Chapter 44

  Paige entered the warehouse. It was clear from the first look around that the six thousand square foot building was the secondary location the thirteen dead girls had frequented. They’d kept their theft operation in this place? In Leo’s building. Miles had to have done that, or was Leo still involved? Why?

  That was a question she’d have to answer with Miles. Why had he killed the girls? Where had he taken Simon?

  The smoke was thickening around them. “You called the first response teams and the locals?”

  “On their way. ETA four minutes.” Mick had his weapon ready, eyes trained on the shelves surrounding them. “Keep your eyes open.”

  “Of course.”

  They headed deeper into the warehouse.

  The power went out around them. The sprinklers started, then stopped. Faulty?

  Where exactly was the fire? Her brother? Miles?

  Smoke billowed from the back room. Someone screamed. They started in that direction.

  Paige tripped over the body just inside the second, smaller room. She caught herself then knelt down and rolled the man onto his back. She checked for a pulse. Mick shined his flashlight that he always carried on the man’s face.

  Paige bit back a curse. “Saul? Hernandez, wake up?
”

  “He’s out, Paige. Knock to the head, or drugged. I’m not sure which.”

  They heard an explosion in the room behind them. Paige coughed. She tried to pull her teammate up. He must have come to the warehouse again. Where was Jazz? His partner wouldn’t have been too far away from him. Unless they’d split up for some reason. “Jazz may be here somewhere. We need to keep that in mind.”

  “We need to get him out of here. He’ll suffocate before we can come back for him.”

  “Then carry him outside. I need to keep going. Jazz, Simon, they both may be in here somewhere. Go. Get him outside, then get me some help.”

  He didn’t want to. She knew that.

  But… “Trust me, Mick. You’ll have to trust me!”

  Chapter 45

  The hardest thing Mick had ever done was let her go deeper into that building alone. He hefted Hernandez over his shoulder. The guy was close to two hundred pounds, but Mick had carried heavier in the military. He’d get the guy outside, then get back in to help the woman that he loved.

  He wasn’t leaving that warehouse without her.

  Mick dumped Hernandez outside the warehouse where the first responders would find him. He could hear the fire engines getting nearer. He needed to get back inside.

  She was counting on him.

  He was running back toward the area of the building where he’d left her when he heard the first of the gunshots.

  “Paige!”

  Chapter 46

  Paige ran, her footsteps echoing through the warehouse. Simon was in there somewhere, and she’d find him. No matter what. Where was he? He was just a kid, defenseless in a world that did nothing but destroy the defenseless.

  She had to find him, and hope that Mick got there in time to find them both.

  She cursed Miles for forcing her to this place, this decision. She wouldn’t think of Ariella. The woman wasn’t her sister, not really. She had never met her, there was no connection except for the tenuous bonds that biology made—which were nothing to her really.