Found Wanting (23 page)

Mitch shot him.

Blood spurted from the hit man's chest, and he toppled backward off of Alaina.

Mitch jerked back behind the cover of the door, acutely aware that she still had the gun and probably wouldn't consider him the conquering hero. "Alaina?"

Nothing.

He tried again. "Alaina, it's Mitch Kane. I'm here to help you."

It sounded ridiculous, but he didn't know what else to say.

She didn't respond, and he listened hard for activity. Had she already slipped out of the kitchen? Looking around the edge of the door, he saw her leaning against the kitchen cabinet beneath the sink, her knees drawn up to her chest, her forehead on her bare knees. The gun, clasped in her hand, rested on the floor.

As if sensing him there, she jerked her head up. Her dazed eyes widened in recognition, and she pointed the gun at him, her hand shaking. "You." Her pale face was damp with sweat, her breath coming fast and hard.

Mitch dropped his weapon and raised his hands, having no doubt she would shoot him. "I'm not going to hurt you, Alaina. I came to help."

She braced a hand on the floor, keeping the gun trained on him, and shifted to her knees. Mitch could tell that moving was painful for her. Only when she straightened did he see the blood that covered her. Her blouse looked like it had been ripped open, and all she wore was it and underwear.

"Jesus," he breathed, feeling sick as he moved toward her.

She steadied the gun with both hands. "Don't."

He stopped, his heart hammering, not because he feared she would shoot him, but because he feared what had been done to her. "You're bleeding."

She glanced down at herself, wavering. "It's not mine." Her gaze moved to the man on the floor, and the gun in her hand shook violently. "I don't remember pulling the trigger."

"You didn't. I did."

She looked at him, confused. "But why?"

"I came to help you." He stepped toward her, reaching for her weapon, his hand as unsteady as hers. "Give me the gun, Alaina."

But she firmed her grip. "No," she said. "You work for Layton. He wants me dead."

Before he could dispute that, he heard shouts in the front room. "Federal agents!"

Mitch lunged forward, grabbing Alaina's gun hand and thrusting it up. He had the pistol away from her and tossed aside before the first fed burst through the door, guns drawn.

"Hold it!" the agent cried.

Mitch shielded Alaina with his body. "We're unarmed!"

The fed kept his weapon trained on them as more agents poured into the kitchen.

Mitch felt Alaina trembling against him, smelled the blood that covered her, and his heart twisted. Shrugging out of his jacket, he folded it around her. "It's okay. You're going to be okay."

Chapter 18

Mitch sat in his car in the parking lot of a Mobil station, glaring at the cellphone in his hand as the conversation he'd had with Norm only an hour before ran through his head.

"That hit man got to them too fast," Mitch had said. "The Bureau could be compromised."

Norm's eyes were flat, mistrustful. "Keller's people probably tracked them the same way we did. What I'm curious about, Mitch, is how you did it."

"I didn't get my info from Keller, if that's what you're getting at."

"Yeah, that is what I'm getting at."

"If Keller sent me here, why'd he send a hit man, too?"

But Norm hadn't been interested in arguing. He said he had more important things to do: such as ensure that Rachel and Alaina got to safe houses.

Which meant Mitch was shut out.

Which meant that if the FBI did have a leak, no one was doing anything about it.

Which meant that even if the feds sent Alaina to a safe house, she wouldn't be safe.

He kept seeing her, covered with blood, her eyes dazed as she stared down at the dead man at her feet. The image sent chills the length of his spine.

He shouldn't feel this way, he told himself. He shouldn't feel so frustrated and worried. She was a stranger to him. He didn't know her, hadn't had time to even care about her.

But he did. Somehow, he did.

And it made him feel desperate.

He had only one option to find her. He hit the speed-dial button on the cellphone and waited for an answer. When he got it, he said, "I lost her."

"I gathered that, Mr. Kane." Keller sounded so smooth, so unconcerned.

Mitch wrapped one hand around the steering wheel and gripped hard. Son of a bitch. If you hurt her, I'll rip your heart out. "I had her, and some halfwit intervened. Was he yours?"

"Hmm, why would I send a halfwit to find my son's mother when I hired you to do that?"

"That's what I'd like to know. Is there something you wanted the halfwit to do that you think you can't ask of me?"

"I can't have this conversation at this time, Mr. Kane. You're on a cellphone."

"I'll call you back on a land line."

"You do that."

Mitch pocketed his cellphone, got out of the car and walked to a pay phone only ten feet away. Keller answered on the first ring, and Mitch said, "The FBI has her, and your halfwit is dead. That means you have an opening, and I'm interested."

Keller was silent a moment. "I see."

"Maybe you do, maybe you don't." Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead against the phone. "Because of that bitch, I've been chasing my tail for two days. She almost broke my fucking nose, and she's been a major pain in the ass."

Keller was silent, and Mitch worried he'd laid it on too thick. Finally, Keller said, "Perhaps I underestimated you, Mr. Kane."

"I'd say you did. You hired two people when you could have had one do the same job. All you had to do was ask."

"I had the impression that you didn't do that sort of work," Keller said.

"I had the impression that wasn't the sort of work you wanted done."

"Fair enough."

Mitch almost breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll expect a larger fee, of course."

"That won't be necessary, Mr. Kane. I'll send you what I owe you."

Mitch's relief faded. "I don't understand."

"I no longer need your services."

"Fine, I'll take her out for free."

"I warned you about her, didn't I? She gets under your skin." Keller chuckled, and Mitch imagined him tossing back a shot of expensive whiskey. "Well, I appreciate the offer," Keller said. "But I've got it covered."

"The only way you could is if you've got someone inside the FBI."

"It would be unwise of me to divulge that information, don't you think?"

"All right. Let me put it to you this way: Your former girlfriend and I have some unfinished business that I'd like to take care of before your guy takes her out."

"Tell you what: If you get to her before my man does, you're welcome to have at her. All I ask is that when you're done, she's still breathing."

Mitch faltered, surprised. "I thought you wanted her dead."

"Yes, well, that was the ideal situation. But it turns out that Alaina and I have some unfinished business of our own. You see, she never bothered to tell our son about me. He has no idea who I am, which is going to make it very difficult for me to win him over. That angers me, and I'd like to discuss the matter with her."

His skin crawling, Mitch said, "Fine, when I'm done, she's still breathing."

"If you want to get to her before I do, you might want to hurry. My man promises me delivery tomorrow afternoon. Good luck." Keller disconnected the call.

Mitch pressed the receiver to his forehead, resisting the urge to pound it against the phone's metal shell. "Fuck," he said under his breath. "Fuck fuck fuck."

If Keller expected his newest goon to deliver Alaina to him by tomorrow afternoon, he had to have someone in the FBI. How else would he be able to locate the safe house so quickly? And if that were the case, it couldn't be all that tough for him to eventually find out his wife had turned on him. Which could sink the feds' entire case, further putting Alaina and Jonah at risk, not to mention Alaina's sister.

Back in his car, Mitch called Norm's cellphone and got the agent's voice mail. "Yeah, it's Mitch. I need to talk to you ASAP. Keller has someone in the FBI."

After he disconnected the call, helplessness snaked through him. Until Norm got back to him, there wasn't a thing he could do.

Starting the car, he pulled out of the gas station and headed for the airport. The least he could do was be in a position to react when Norm called him back.

Steering onto the highway, he called Julia. "I need you to book me on the first flight back to the District."

"Hello to you, too," she said, but he heard her fingers already at work on her keyboard.

"What are the odds that you could track down an FBI safe house?" he asked.

"Uh, how about none?"

"I'm serious, Jules."

"So am I. There's a reason they call it a safe house, Mitch. What's up?"

"Keller has someone inside, and I can't reach Norm to warn him."

"What about you? Surely you have contacts. What about your former partner? Isn't he a director of some sort now?"

"My former partner had an affair with my former wife, remember?"

"And that means you can't talk to him ever again? Not even to save a woman's life?"

God, she was right. What was wrong with him? "Get the number."

"It wouldn't hurt you to say 'please' every so often."

"Please. And please make it fast."

"Okay. Here's your flight number. Delta 839. Leaves in an hour." She told him the confirmation number.

"One more thing," he said.

"Shoot."

"I need you to start staking out Keller's home. Figure out what his security is like. I've been there, but I didn't pay particular attention to his setup. It'd be great, too, if you could get your hands on blueprints."

"Why?"

"If I can't get to Alaina before he does, I'm going to need to know how to get in there to get her out."

* * *

Alaina felt the scratchiness of the new T-shirt and jeans that Rachel had picked up for her in Middleton. It had been more than four hours since the hit man had attacked, and she still wasn't entirely certain what had transpired in Aunt Rita's kitchen. How had Mitch Kane gotten there? And why had he saved her from Keller's henchman? Weren't they on the same side?