Ultimate Prey (Book 3 Ultimate CORE) (CORE Series) (14 page)

He pictured the bastard writhing on the ground, a stick protruding from his eye. “I’m sorry I interrupted you and that I was rude.” He took her hand, then quickly looked at it when she winced. “I like your plan. We’ll arm ourselves later, after we get farther ahead of him. I also want to somehow splint this finger.”

“Last year I performed on stage—in four inch heels—while suffering two broken toes.” She winked. “I’m tough. A broken pinky is the least of my concerns.”

“That’s my girl,” he said with a smile. “I’m so sorry you’re involved in this.”

After giving him a kiss, she pulled on the slippers. “When this is over, you can make it up to me by taking us on a
real
vacation,” she said, then started walking backward toward the dense cluster of cypress trees. “Deal?”

He took the lead, guiding them under a canopy of leaves. “Deal. I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

If they survived…

CORE Offices, Chicago, Illinois

Thursday, 5:43 a.m. Central Standard Time

“We can account for Joseph Lawry’s whereabouts,” Owen said, stepping into CORE’s evidence and evaluation room. “He’s currently sitting in a jail cell. Apparently he over-indulged last night and was brought in on a DUI.”

Disappointed, John looked up from the files he’d been reviewing. “Hudson just informed us that Douglas Renn can also be removed from our list of suspects. Renn is in the hospital recovering from emergency gallbladder surgery.”

“Any word on Terrance Brisbane?”

“Not yet.” John rubbed his tired eyes, then stretched. “With today being Thanksgiving, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get in touch with his parole officer. I left a voicemail. If I don’t hear back from him, I’m going to contact the detective who worked Brisbane’s case with us, see if he can do a drive-by and make sure Brisbane is where he belongs.”

“Speaking of Thanksgiving,” Rachel began, frowning at her husband, “you need to call your mother. She’s driving me crazy. All she’s worried about is the stupid turkey. Doesn’t she realize what we do for a living?”

“Now, honey, my folks skipped going to my sister’s this year to be with us. I’m sure she means well and is only trying to help.”

“So to be helpful she
meant
to tell me my kitchen is too small, that I don’t have the proper utensils or cookware? And don’t get me started on what she’s said about the baby.”

When Owen looked to him, John shook his head. One thing he’d learned when his parents had visited him and Celeste over the summer—keep the conversations light and the visit short, then everyone would be happy. Only, right now, Celeste was miserable. She was home alone with their daughter and enough food to feed six people. Hopefully her sister, Eden, had stayed with her today. Since Celeste still couldn’t gain a read on Ian, she was more frustrated now than the last time he’d spoken with her.

He was, too.

Being stuck in Chicago made him crazy. Sifting through old case files bored the hell out of him and left him with a sense of impotence. He’d rather be in Florida, doing everything he could to bring Ian and Cami home, and their kidnapper to his knees. Yes, trying to discover the man behind the hunt was the first step in helping his father-in-law, but pushing papers around wasn’t enough. He hated this waiting game and wondering if the next call from Lola would be good or bad. When she’d called from the sat phone fifty minutes ago to tell them they’d found Ian’s car, he’d been both happy and jealous. Lola and the rest of her team were
actively
doing something, whereas he had been sitting on his rear flipping through file after file, hoping to come across—

“How are things going?” Dante asked as he stepped into the room.

“Same as ten minutes ago when you went to make coffee,” Rachel said, then lifted her mug and tilted it. “Does it really take that long? I’m on E and could use a pick-me-up.”

“Sorry, I forgot to make it. My wife called, and I was filling her in on where we’re at with the situation.”

“That’s okay.” Rachel pushed her chair back, then stood. “I could use a break. I’ll make the coffee. While I’m gone, maybe you can look over what I found in Ian’s files. There was an unfamiliar name that popped up in the first few and I don’t know who he is.”

John shifted his gaze to Dante’s. Holy shit, Rachel nosed around Ian’s office?

“You went through Ian’s
personal
files?” Dante asked, pressing his palms against the table. “He’s not going to like—”

“I don’t care,” she said, crossing her arms. “He can reprimand me when he gets back here. You were the one who said we needed to do everything we could to find out who’s behind this hunt.” She shrugged. “So, I went through his files.”

Ian was old school when it came to certain things—like secrets he didn’t want people knowing. John had been aware that Ian had kept certain files locked in a safe in his office—they all knew about it—but he’d never questioned the contents of that safe because it hadn’t been any of his business. Curious, he asked, “What’d you find?”

“Don’t answer that,” Dante said. “If Ian wanted us to know he’d—”

“Ian’s not here,” he reminded Dante. “And I don’t care about what he might have on each of us. I care about bringing him home. My
wife
cares about seeing her dad again—alive.”

“I don’t have any secrets.” Dante took a seat. “I’m not sure about the rest of you, but—”

“Who gives a crap?” Rachel glanced to her husband. “Owen, is there anything you’re hiding?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“See?” She cocked her brow and shifted her gaze to Dante’s. “Everyone is good with this but you.”

“We should see what Hudson thinks,” Dante countered.

“Fair enough,” she said. “I’ll stop in his office after I get the coffee going.”

After she left the room, they all stared at the stack of manila folders. “I wonder what name Rachel was talking about,” John said, his fingers itching to grab one of those files. He didn’t care what Ian had on him. His fellow agents knew his history and what had forced him to leave the FBI and join CORE. He also didn’t care if his coworkers had secrets he hadn’t known about. He trusted these people with his life. For years, they’d worked side by side, and he doubted any secrets that might be divulged would take away that trust.

“Since she didn’t say anything about us, maybe we should have a look,” Owen suggested.

Dante looked away from the stack of folders. “We wait for Hudson.”

“Screw that.” John grabbed the top file. “Hudson isn’t going to give a shit.”

“Damn it, John. I said—”

“I heard you. I just don’t care.” He opened the folder. “I doubt Ian will, especially if this helps bring him and Cami home.”

While Dante said something under his breath, John glanced at what was a five-page report on a case they’d investigated seven years ago. “I think I know what name Rachel was referring to,” he said, glancing at Dante.

“I’ll bite. Who is it?”

“Jordan Marquette.”

“Talk about a blast from the past.” Owen moved his chair closer and reached for another file. “He quit about the same time I came on board, right?”

“About six months after,” Dante said, picking up a file and opening it. “This is a case Jordan had also worked.”

“The one I’m looking at is another one of his cases and…” Owen flipped the page. “Ian highlighted a couple of notes. Do you remember Jordan being involved in a serial murder case in Youngstown, Ohio?”

John looked up, and nodded. “I can’t remember the suspect, but I know Jordan killed him while trying to save one of the victims.”

“Not according to this.” Owen handed him the file. “Look what’s been highlighted.”

As he read through the report, his stomach twisted with unease. “Jordan planted evidence. The suspect, Austin Michael Creevy, was unarmed and…hell, the man Jordan saved wasn’t a victim, but Creevy’s accomplice.”

“What are you talking about?” Dante asked. “I remember that case. There was no accomplice.”

“It gets better. The accomplice was Creevy’s cousin, Kenneth Holmes.” John flipped the page. “Because Jordan screwed with the evidence and there was nothing found to support that Holmes was working with Creevy, he was never brought up on charges. But Ian notes here that CORE would continue to follow up on Holmes’s whereabouts.”

“As far as I know, no one from CORE has ever looked into this guy,” Dante said. “Could be Holmes has an issue with CORE because Jordan killed his cousin.”

Hudson walked into the room carrying a mug of coffee. Hopefully Rachel would bring the entire pot with her. After being up all night, John needed the caffeine boost.

“Rachel said you guys have Ian’s secret files,” Hudson said, taking a seat and grabbing a folder. “Nice to see you all waited for my vote.”

“Do you care?” Owen asked.

“Hell, no.”

“Good.” Owen grinned. “We were just talking about a case Jordan Marquette worked on seven years ago.”

“Marquette? He was an asshole and hated Ian. He should definitely be on our list of suspects.”

Dante leaned back in his chair. “Jordan wasn’t going on the list, but Kenneth Holmes, who’d been involved in—”

“Holmes?” Hudson shrugged. “Maybe. I know exactly what case you’re talking about. My money would be on Jordan before Holmes, though.”

“Why do you say that?” Dante asked. “And why don’t I remember this case?”

“Because it went down the same week Jessica gave birth to Sophia,” Hudson said with sympathy in his eyes.

John went back to the file he held and pretended to read it. Each time anyone brought up Dante and his wife’s beautiful daughter, the reminder of their loss was there, carving misery and anguish onto his friend’s face. Now that he had a little girl of his own, he couldn’t imagine the pain Dante and Jessica had gone through when their daughter was abducted. The not knowing—was she still alive, was she safe—would likely drive him to an early grave.

“I see,” Dante said, a dark edge to his tone. “I wonder how many other cases I’m not aware of, due to the personal leaves I had to take.” He hardened his jaw and shifted in his chair. “I should probably look at the investigations that were running when I was dealing with…finding my daughter.”

Hudson blew out a breath. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to bring up Sophia.”

“It’s okay. But I don’t like being out of the loop on this. Hudson, why did you say your money would be on Jordan and not Holmes? It was my understanding Jordan quit because he couldn’t hack working violent crimes.”

“The day Jordan quit, I overheard him arguing with Ian. After he stormed out of Ian’s office and left, Ian came out wiping blood from his mouth.”

“He
hit
Ian? Doesn’t sound like someone who quit on his own accord.”

“That’s because he didn’t,” John said, as he honed in on the notes Ian had added to the end of the Creevy and Holmes file. “Ian wrote, ‘Due to the way Jordan Marquette has mishandled this case, along with several others, he has become a liability to CORE. Jordan Marquette has agreed to resign from CORE without severance or letters of recommendation. Whether he follows through with my suggestion to enter into a rehab facility for his drug and alcohol addiction will be up to him.’ A copy of Jordan’s signed resignation is stapled to the page.” He looked between his coworkers. “I think that was Ian’s gentle way of saying he would have fired Jordan if he
hadn’t
resigned.”

Dante rubbed his jaw. “So, Jordan gets pissed off and takes a swing on his way out. We need to find out what he’s been up to and where he is now.” He glanced from Ian’s files, to the dozens of others sitting on the table. “I was focused on finding suspects from old cases, I didn’t even think about past employees.”

“What past employees?” Rachel asked, as she entered the room, thankfully carrying a pot of coffee with her.

Owen quickly filled her in on what they’d discovered about Jordan. Afterward, she set the coffee pot on the table, then took a seat in front of her computer. “Interesting. Since I’ve never heard any names outside of all of you—well, except the guy I replaced—I didn’t realize Ian had employed other agents. How many are we talking?”

Dante looked to the ceiling as if it had the answer. “Six.”

“Six?” She hiked up her brows. “Should we keep our concentration on these six people and set aside the list of suspects we’ve been compiling?”

“I don’t think we should discount the suspects we’re investigating,” Dante began, “but I like the disgruntled employee angle.”

John closed the folder. “I do, too. Again, think back to what the kidnapper said during the call.”

“Right. He
knows
us,” Hudson said. “He not only has a vendetta against Ian, but CORE.”

Owen tapped a pen on the table. “I agree. This is definitely personal. I can see where a criminal we’ve helped apprehend might want to go after whichever one of us had been part of their case, but why go after Ian?”

“And hunt him, no less.” Rachel began tapping away at the keyboard. “What’s Jordan’s last name?”

“Marquette,” Owen answered. “He’s probably around forty-one, was single at the time he was working for CORE, and a former cop for the LAPD before moving to Chicago.”

Rachel typed a few more keys, then turned the laptop toward her husband. “I have a driver’s license photo. Is this him?”