Running (23 page)

Riaz.

It was all starting to make
a twisted sort of sense.
Riaz
was in the right place at the right time for
everything. But why kickbacks and blackmail, and who were the main
players? “We have
K, George
here, and here. And here. But other than that,
the rest of these initials mean nothing.”

“
Who would Riaz have had
occasion to observe? Blackmailers have to have something to use as
leverage,” the quieter of Alessandra's brothers said in a faint
accent that reminded Seth painfully of his sister. “They usually
are. Better for someone to control the players.”

“
What if it wasn't just
blackmail? I mean, these amounts aren't anything impressive.
Nothing even to blink at. Unless they're not true amounts.” Paige
tapped the notes on the screen to make the list of financial
amounts larger. “Care...what about bank accounts? Keeney's,
Riaz's?”

It surprised him, the ease
with which his sister-in-law pulled that information out of the
ether. “Can we compare all three records side by side?”

It took him less than two
minutes to see the pattern. “Here, here and here. Date on this
list, George, K., and add a zero to the amounts from this list. It
all reconciles with Keeney's withdrawals. And Riaz's deposits.
Lines up perfectly.”

“
Looks less like kickbacks
and more like blackmail,” Mick said. “But why would Riaz kill
Keeney tonight?”

“
Because Keeney was the one
person who knew Riaz was still alive? Same for Blondie? They were
liabilities. Liabilities Riaz needed to remove from his
path.”

Al’s partner looked at him.
“But his path to
what
? And how do
we
stop him?”

Chapter
Fifty-Two

***

Seth spread every document
he had out over the large glass table that dominated the dining
area of Red’s apartment. The place was freaking huge and damned
comfortable. Sebastian was one lucky guy, in his estimate. Great
place to live, awesome team to work with every day, and one of the
hottest and sweetest women Seth had ever met.

At least one of the
brothers had ended up on top of the world. Fitting that it was
Sebastian. He was the nicest of the lot. He damned well deserved
it.

“
Anything?” Red asked as
she put a fresh bottle of lemon soda on the table next to Seth. Sin
and Sebastian were studying the whiteboard Sebastian had brought
out of their home office.

“
Riaz
stumbled into it, or got a tip, or something. He didn't
instigate
either the
kickback scheme or the follow up blackmail incidents. Some of
Keeney’s withdrawals were before Riaz transferred to the Amarillo
field office. But Riaz definitely capitalized on it. I'm trying to
figure out who is connection is...was. And where he could be
at
now.”

“
I think
you're looking at things wrong.” Red was looking over his shoulder
at the printout of Keeney's withdrawals and deposits. “It's all
about
numbers.
Money, cash. Who would or could pay Riaz for the information
he could provide, and then who he could extort for that
information. I think to identify the rest of the initials of his
targets, you'll need to consider the agencies he worked with. And
since Keeney was his most frequent target, with the greatest
amounts, I think you should start with the Office of Inspector
General.”

“
You think the scheme
originated in the OIG?” How had Riaz connected to someone in OIG?
The OIG and FBI often worked together—and often worked at cross
purposes—it wasn’t unheard of for Riaz and Keeney to have crossed
paths multiple times. Especially being in the same geographic
location.

“
Why not? I know they exist
to police the rest of the federal investigative agencies, but
Keeney proves there is corruption even within OIG. Why not? Maybe
Riaz had a connection into OIG outside of Keeney?”

“
He
might. OIG was always up in FBI grill about something. That's one
of the reasons the Bureau put me under. To find out
why.
”

“
I think you've about
figured it out.” Sin prowled around the table. Seth paid his
brother no attention; Sin always moved when he was thinking. And he
always would. “We just need to find the son-of-a-bitch. Then we'll
get the answers we need.”

“
But how
do we do that?” And
that
was Seth's main source of frustration. “Has
anyone heard from the hospital?”

“
Cody called. Al is still
awake and grouching at the hospital staff. They're letting her out
in forty-eight hours. Ed Dennis is insisting that she stay that
long for observation. She's not happy. Wants to be a part of
things. Al hates to leave things unfinished,” Sebastian said. “Cody
and Paige are there with her now, and her sister-in-law will be in
later. She's doing fine.”

Seth didn't know what to
say. He hadn't told his brothers the depths of what had happened
between him and Blondie, but he knew they
knew.
They were triplets, for hell's
sake. They always knew when one of them had it bad for a woman. And
it was about time he was at least honest with himself. He had it
way damned bad for Alessandra Brockman. And he suspected he always
would. “That's good.”

“
She'll be out of the field
for at least a month to let the shoulder heal. I may try to get her
to take some time off. She's had a rough year.” Sebastian's tone
held a warning and Seth understood it. His brother didn't want him
going near her again. Didn't want him making things difficult for
her any more than he already had.

Seth understood that, too.
He'd gotten the only woman he'd seriously cared about in a decade
shot and nearly killed. By being reckless and hot headed. Stupid.
He wasn't ever going to repeat that mistake. And he wasn't going
near Blondie again. Better to just make a clean break of
things.

He'd forget her in time,
and god knew she'd be better off just forgetting about
him.
Quicker the
better.

She'd find a guy perfect
for her. Someone who could give her a big house and a million
kids
in spite
of
the Bureau. Someone she could grow old with and who probably liked
quiet nights in front of a fire, snuggled up with a beautiful woman
while the kids slept peacefully in their racecar and princess
beds.

A man who looked at her
like Sebastian was looking at his wife. His beautiful, pregnant
wife sitting next to a roaring fire with a black cat in her lap
while she stroked the animal's fur with completely sensual
movements.

Damned lucky
bastard.

Blondie deserved a man
like
Sebastian
.
Not
one
like the screw-up that Seth was fast becoming. Or had been for a
while. Sometimes he couldn’t tell anymore. He'd do her a big favor
and just let what happened between them die a natural death aided
by time and space.

Chapter
Fifty-Three

***

He was gathering the meager
belongings he had in the apartment when Sebastian and Sin walked
through the door.

“
Thought I locked
that.”

“
The wife owns the
building, I have a key.” Sebastian closed the door and leaned
against it. Sin leaned against the kitchen island. “So…”

“
So?”

“
Going somewhere?”
Sebastian asked.

“
Home. Texas. Have a few
things to take care of before back to work on Monday. Still have
Riaz to catch. We all agree he’s probably on his way to Texas. I
have the Texas field offices and TST searching for him.”

“
Just like that? She’s not
even out of the hospital.”

“
Is she sitting there
alone? Somehow I doubt that. That Dennis guy assigned her a
guard.”

“
Carrie is with her and
Cody. She’s sticking to them like glue.”

“
And that doesn’t freak you
the least little bit? Wife and ex-wife all buddy-buddy?”

“
Not the
least. They both know I love them, and
how.
” Sebastian had that look in his
eyes again—the one that said Seth was fucking up life once again.
“They’ll take care of Al. We all will.”

“
Never doubted
it.”

“
Are you even going to talk
to her before you leave?” Sebastian asked. Sin hadn’t said
anything, just stood there, silent and unfeeling as always.
Watching. “Don’t you think she at least deserves that little
courtesy?”

“
And say what? Sorry,
Blondie, got you involved in this nasty shit. Hope the broken
collarbone heals alright? Hope the bullet scars don’t require
plastic surgery.” Seth threw his duffle bag to the couch and turned
on his brother. The perfect one, the one with the great fucking
life, the perfect little picture-perfect future. “And then
what?”

“
If you think she blames
you for that, you’re mistaken.”

“
Why
wouldn’t
she? I
am
to
blame. I should have just walked
inside
. Asked Red her damned name,
and threw myself on your mercy to begin with. Then Alessandra
wouldn’t have been anywhere near Keeney or Riaz. Instead, I went
all cowboy. Just like you said. And
she
could have died because of it.
And I pushed her away last night. She came here and I told her to
go. Yeah, she deserves what she got, alright. Bullshit.” And he
would
never
forget
the consequences of those split second choices he’d made. Ever.
“What she
deserves
is for me to stay the hell away from her. Just like you both
do. You have families now. Kids who don’t need screw-up Uncle Seth
around.”

“
Pitying
yourself?” Sin asked. “I think you’re being too hard on yourself.
You did your damned
job
, Seth. And she did hers. You think she respects you any less
for that? She doesn’t seem the type.”

“
She’s
the picket fences type. And I am not that. I wouldn’t even want to
start screwing
that
up. Best if I just go back to the life I had, and leave her
here with you.”

“
Run away, then. You’re
good at that.” Sebastian got right in his face. “Run away and don’t
look back. Let Sin and Sebastian clean up your mess. Just like
always. I’ll take care of her, bro. She’s a friend. Yeah, I’ll take
care of things for you. Like always.”

“
Because
you’re so damned
fucking
good at it.”

His brother stared at him
for a moment. Read him like Sebastian always had. Damn him. “Don’t
do this; don’t just run. At least go by the hospital and tell
her
thank you
. She
saved your ass several times over. You owe her that much, at
least.”

“
Fuck off.”

His brothers left him
alone, just like he’d wanted.

If he wanted it, why the
hell did he feel so damned unhappy? He grabbed the duffle bag. He’d
take it with him, then grab another taxi to the airport. He’d go
there. He’d see her, tell her goodbye and it was fun, then he’d
leave her alone to get back to her life. While he chased down
Riaz.

He
did
owe her at least that
much.

Chapter
Fifty-Four

***

He had to do some fast
talking to get in to Blondie’s wing—and had to pretend to be
Sebastian. His brother was on her next of kin list. Risky, but it
worked.

The room was empty except
for her. She was sleeping. He sent the two guards outside her door
off on break. He’d keep an eye on his Blondie until they returned.
They thought he was Sebastian. He didn’t disabuse them of that
notion.

He stared at her for a
while. No sense waking her up. What purpose would that
serve?

He leaned down and kissed
her forehead. Rested his against hers.

“
Well, how touching. How
the mighty fell.” It was said with a laugh. A sneer. “But I do get
it, man.”

Seth forced himself to
remain calm. He recognized that voice, and every bone in his body
was telling him to rip the man into pieces one cell at a time for
what had happened to Alessandra.

She looked so bruised and
frail. Vulnerable.

How long had Riaz been
there? Had he just been waiting for the guards to leave? Or had he
been there even longer? It wouldn’t be out of the realm of
possibility that Riaz got past the guard. He was good at that sort
of thing.

“
Well, Tony. It’s come to
this. You skulking around in shadows, in a city not even our own.
What the hell happened? Crime of opportunity?”

Seth kept his hands where
the other man could see them as he turned around. He need to assess
the situation before he could contain it. “What are you doing
here?”