No Good Deed (46 page)
Another car drove up only minutes after Sean had changed. It was a two-door pickup truck like thousands of other nondescript trucks. He recognized the man who got out of the driver’s seat.
Joseph Contreras.
He hadn’t seen him before, but Lucy’s description had been right on, including the scar on his face, his complexion, and his build. But it was more his manner, the way the others deferred to him, the way he took charge.
“Sean Rogan,” he said.
Sean remained silent.
“You and your family have caused us a lot of problems. That will end today. I will make one thing clear. I am a man of my word. You and your brother are already dead men. I’m sure you’ve figured that out—from what I’ve heard you’re quite the genius.” He stepped closer. Sean itched to hit him. His wrists chaffed under the zip-ties.
“But I give you this promise. If you retrieve our money without games, I will spare your girlfriend.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I’m being honest here, it’s your problem if you can’t see that. I could lie and say you’ll walk away free and clear after this is over, but you would know I was lying, so that doesn’t benefit us. You’ll die knowing that Lucy is alive—provided she doesn’t come after us. We’ll have what we want—our money and freedom; your dead body; and even more important, taking from Lucy what she loves the most.” He paused. “Consider this, Mr. Rogan. If the situation was reversed and you survived but Lucy did not, how would that make you feel?”
Sean didn’t—couldn’t—respond.
I’m going to kill you when this is over.
Joseph smiled, but there was no humor, no friendship. His ruthless grin cut Sean to the quick. “Exactly. Agonizing pain. Rage. Dear little Lucy will be gutted without shedding a single drop of blood. And that makes Niki very happy. And what makes Niki happy, makes me happy.”
Joseph nodded and the kidnappers put the bag over Sean’s head again, then picked him up as he struggled, partly out of survival instinct, partly because he was so angry he couldn’t remain still. They maneuvered him into the pickup, onto the floor behind the bench seat. There was barely enough room for his six-foot-one frame, and the metal on the back of the seat dug into his back.
Joseph put the truck in gear, then said, “And Sean, if you fuck with us, I will turn Lucy over to Tobias. You may not be aware, but Tobias has a particularly sick sexual fetish that I’m sure he would be happy to satisfy with Lucy. So not only will you be dead, but she will be, too—after serving Tobias’s needs for as long as she can stay alive.” He paused. “I’ve been told that the stronger girls last weeks. To me, Lucy seems to be very strong, in both body and spirit. But you won’t be around to save her from a fate that is far, far worse than death. I’ve seen some of the women when Tobias is done with them. Even I pity them.”
Nate was nearly to Canyon Lake when Jack called Lucy.
“There’s nothing here,” he said.
“Sean’s GPS says he hasn’t moved in nearly an hour.”
Jack was silent a moment. “The van is here.”
“And Sean?”
“His watch.”
Lucy’s vision darkened. She closed her eyes, willed her heart rate to slow.
“We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Stay at headquarters. I’m working with Kate on this. Let us do our job, Lucy.”
“This
is
my job.” She hung up. She couldn’t think straight. But she had to.
Focus, Lucy. Do what you do best.
“They either knew or suspected that Sean was wired or had a tracker,” she said to the men in the car. “Jack said the van is at Canyon Lake as well as Sean’s watch. Ten to one they had Sean strip. They researched him. After they read Dunbar’s memo, I’ll bet they researched Sean and learned about the technology he patented or worked with. They may even think there’s a subcutaneous chip and scanned him, which is dumb. He doesn’t trust the government enough to implant a tracker that he couldn’t easily remove.”
“They knew,” Brad said. “Or they suspected he was wired.”
“Not necessarily,” Hans said.
“We have a mole in the FBI—of course they knew!” Lucy exclaimed.
“If you were Nicole and you didn’t have a mole,” Hans said calmly, “would you run a search on Sean? Would you strip him and change vehicles?”
“Of course, but—” She paused. “I see what you mean. She’s smart and cautious.”
“She knows he’s a tech genius,” Hans said. “Maybe it went too easy at the house. Maybe they think he had a weapon or another cell phone on him that they didn’t find when they searched him initially. Whatever it is, it doesn’t mean they know he’s working with us.”
“But now we don’t know where he is,” she said. Bile burned her throat; she swallowed and squeezed back threatening tears. “He could be anywhere.”
“Not anywhere,” Nate said.
“Nate’s right,” Hans said. “They’ll take him to their safe house because once they get the money, they don’t need to hide anymore. They’ll attempt to flee.”
“They also won’t need Sean,” Lucy reminded him. She called Kate and prayed her sister-in-law would answer.
“I’m on the phone with Jack,” Kate said in lieu of
hello
. “I have no news.” Lucy heard Kate’s fingers working rapidly on a keyboard.
“Kate, do not lie to me and do not handle me. How much time does Sean have to hack into the FBI and transfer the money?”
“I don’t understand what you mean. How fast can he do it?”
“I thought you had a plan! How long can he stall? How long before they kill him?”
“Lucy, stop. You’re going to make yourself sick thinking about the worst.”
“Just give me a fucking answer!”
No one said a word. Lucy breathed deeply. Why couldn’t she tap into her icy calm when she needed it the most?
“Sean is the smartest guy I know,” Kate said. “And I don’t say that to make you feel better. As soon as he starts moving money, I’ll see it, and we’ll be able to communicate. He needs the Internet to transfer, and he knows how to send coded messages. We’ve already worked out those details this morning, and we have a backup plan. You’re forgetting one very important thing: These people are desperate for that money. And none of them, not even that bitch Rollins, knows what Sean is capable of. They don’t have tech skills, not like me and certainly not like Sean. As soon as he’s online, I’ll pinpoint his location. They can route the feed through any security or country, it doesn’t matter. I will find him.”
That actually made Lucy feel better. Kate was no slouch, but she’d once told Lucy that if she were ten years younger she would have been raised on tech like Sean had been and would have been as good. Lucy didn’t doubt it.
“I’m counting on it,” she said and hung up.
Hans said, “Ryan sent me a message. They have Oakley. She’d been locked in the trunk of her car.”
“In this heat? She could have died.”
“She’s injured, sick and disoriented. There’s damage to her car, as if someone rear-ended her. The Astrodome is near the on-ramp toward Austin, so it’s likely her car was hit, she pulled over, and then was forced to drive into the parking lot where she was knocked out, tied up, and put in the trunk. It bought them time.”
“Did she say anything?”
“She is adamant that Elise was kidnapped.”
“You don’t believe that. Because
I
certainly don’t believe it.”
“Elise may have played the part,” Hans said.
Lucy nodded. “Yes, she would. If they’d killed Dr. Oakley, she would have gloated and admitted to everything because she enjoys proving to people that she’s smart. But since they didn’t kill her, pretending to be taken against her will would keep her in the role of victim.”
“Why?” Brad asked.
“She thinks that if their plan goes south, she can still walk away. She thinks about herself first. Her self-preservation instincts are better than anyone I’ve met.”
“Fucking psychopath,” Nate mumbled.
“There’s Jack,” Lucy said when they approached the white van that she recognized from outside her house. She climbed out of the backseat as soon as Nate stopped the SUV.
Jack approached immediately. She didn’t know where he’d parked Sean’s Mustang.
“I told you there’s nothing to see,” Jack said. He stared at Nate as if blaming him.
“We were already on our way,” Lucy said. “I spoke to Kate. Fill me in.”
“Sean hasn’t gone online.”
Lucy walked over to the van and looked in the back. Tossed in a pile were all of Sean’s clothes, including his boxers, socks, and shoes. His watch had been tossed on top. Other than that, the cargo van was empty.
“Did you search the front? Compartments?”
“Yes, and it’s clean. Zach traced the plates—it was reported stolen this morning.”
“Security footage?”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “You’re not the only one who knows how to do their job.”
“Sometimes I think I am, because I knew as soon as I heard about this plan that it wouldn’t work.”
Jack’s jaw tightened. Lucy supposed she was essentially saying
I told you so
, but if Jack’s wife Megan were in Sean’s situation and Jack knew it was a bad idea, he would be saying the same thing, and he knew it. “What is your plan now, Jack?”
“Go back to headquarters.”
“You’re not my boss, you’re my brother.”
“Same thing.”
She would have laughed if she weren’t so angry. And heartbroken. She shouldn’t have come here. What had she been thinking? That Jack would lie to her? He never had—until the lie of omission this morning when he didn’t tell her about Sean’s plan. And that, ultimately, was what hurt. She trusted Jack more than anyone except Sean. He’d never lied to her, he’d always been blunt, he’d always called her on her own fears. He’d helped her in ways he could only guess: She would never have been capable of loving Sean if Jack hadn’t helped her grow strong—physically and emotionally—after she’d been kidnapped and raped eight years ago.
She became acutely aware of the silence. That Hans, Nate, and Brad were watching her and Jack while standing around the SUV.
She didn’t have all the answers. She didn’t know what to do now, but it wasn’t going back to headquarters and waiting for word as to whether Sean was dead or alive. She turned to Hans.
“What now?”
She could feel Jack’s surprise that she didn’t address him. But he hadn’t had an answer that involved her.
“Get the watch,” Hans said.
Lucy and Jack both looked at the pile of clothes in the back of the van. Lucy reached out and picked up the watch. She’d never seen it before. “You think he left us information. I should have thought of that.”
“We’ll take it to Zach,” Hans said. “I’ve heard he’s good.”
“He is,” Lucy said. “Sean has a lot of respect for him.”
“And we call Blair Novak and tell her we need information from Margaret Hunt sooner rather than later.”
“How much time do we have, Hans? Truthfully—I need to know.”
“They’re not going straight to the safe house on the chance that they were followed, and they also don’t want Sean to know where they are on the chance he gets away,” Brad said.
“Why do you say that?” Hans said. “They want their money now, not later.”
“Nicole played me for a long time, but there are some things she couldn’t hide. She’s meticulous, she’s organized, she will not leave anything to chance.”
Lucy nodded. “Brad’s right. It’s why she gloated to Sam, then killed her when she could have left her to bleed out. Because there was no guarantee that she
would
bleed out before help arrived, or before Sam could get to a phone.”
“Then I’d give them an hour or two to get to the safe house. Beyond that—I don’t know how long it takes a competent hacker to break into a government bank account and transfer money.”
“Three to four hours, tops,” Jack said. “I’m sure Sean could do it faster.”
“They don’t care if he’s caught,” Lucy said, “they will move their money again as soon as he transfers it.”
“Is Sean really capable of hacking into a government account?” Brad asked, partly in awe.
“Yes,” Lucy and Jack said simultaneously.
“You’re not letting him do it, though, right?” Brad said. “If it all goes sideways—I’m sorry, Lucy, but there is the chance—then Nicole will have tens of millions of dollars and she can easily disappear.”
“The only way the plan works is if they see the money in their account, and we don’t have that information until Sean gives it to us,” Hans said. “Then it’s up to Kate to hack it on her end and get the money back.”
“That’s a lot of what-ifs and maybes.”
“We hope it doesn’t get that far,” Hans said.
Lucy said, “So do I, because as soon as they see the money in their account, Sean is dead.”
* * *
Blair Novak hung up the phone.
Hans wanted information now. She couldn’t promise him anything, but they both knew that the longer the standoff, the worse the outcome.
Still, she wasn’t going to risk the lives of her people because the assistant director of the FBI needed information she didn’t even know if she could get. The assistant special agent in charge was on his way along with the county sheriff’s elite SWAT unit and assistance from the LAPD. The hostage negotiator had been trying unsuccessfully for thirty minutes to get someone to pick up a phone.
The SWAT team leader quickly approached her. “Something’s wrong, Agent Novak.”
“Define
something
.” She hated vague comments.
“When my team first got into place, we identified a minimum of seven hostiles inside the property. No one has moved for thirty minutes. No gunshots have been fired. We have no line-of-sight on any individual. The helicopter reports that five hostiles went into the barn on the northwest side of the property and haven’t left. There is no movement inside.”
“Any children?”
“Not that we have seen.”
Margaret Hunt was in her sixties, but if she had some sort of cult working out here there could be children or innocents. Blair didn’t have a solid understanding of what the Hunts were up to, and the lack of information disturbed her. In a perfect world, she would have had weeks—or at least a couple of days—to pull together everything on Margaret and Jimmy Hunt and Tamara Rollins, down to their childhood pediatrician and favorite movie.
