Authors: Karen Rose
Scarlett shrugged. ‘Sorry, Mom. This is me.’
‘Of course it is,’ her mother said. ‘I’m just . . . Wow. I guess I don’t have to worry about you on the job anymore.’
‘No, ma’am.’ Scarlett rubbed her hands together. ‘We need a plan, Mr O’Bannion.’
His lips curved with pride. ‘Yes, we do, Detective.’
‘One that doesn’t involve you trading yourself.’
‘I’m open to suggestions,’ he said mildly.
She scowled at him, then swallowed hard. ‘I’m really mad at you, you know. To even consider it.’
He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. ‘I know. But she’s Gayle and she’s scared. And so am I.’
She pulled away to sit at a table in the corner. ‘We need a way to track Sweeney, but we don’t even know who he is.’
Lisette sat down across from her. ‘I spent the two hours before . . . well, before the shooting searching every database I have for Ken Sweeney. He doesn’t exist. Nor does Demetrius Russell.’
‘They’re using aliases,’ Scarlett said, ‘which is no shock. Kate said the same. She tried tracking the car Alice was driving. It’s stolen. When I left, one of Tanaka’s guys was working on breaking into both Alice’s and DJ’s phones, hoping to find contact information or addresses or anything at all.’
Marcus sat down next to Scarlett. ‘Don’t be mad, but we need to assume we’re not going to find Sweeney in the next two hours.’ He pulled up a map of the park on his phone. ‘We need a plan that gets me in and out of Shawnee Lookout
alive
.’
She nodded. ‘Alive is good.’
Cincinnati, Ohio
Wednesday 5 August, 10.15
P.M.
Ken packed the last of his old photos in a box to go in his suitcase. He was taking only what he couldn’t replace. The photos, the first dollar he and Demetrius had made. His MVP trophy he’d earned playing football during his senior year at college. He’d packed his mother’s diamond earrings, the tiny ones that had no monetary value. Just sentimental. There was no other jewelry. He’d sold it all years ago. Before he and Demetrius had started the business, of course.
He’d needed the money way back then because he’d wanted to keep his family’s home. Which was why he and Demetrius had started the business in the first place.
He’d packed a few changes of clothes, enough cash to get by for a while without raising any flags while going through airport security. He had a bank check he’d use to open an account once he got there. He’d already transferred funds from the other accounts into the offshore account he’d opened years ago under his alias. His rental house was pre-paid for the next six months from that same account.
‘I think I’m ready,’ he murmured.
‘Were you going to say goodbye?’
Ken turned slowly. Sean stood in the doorway, arms loosely crossed over his chest. He didn’t look angry, which was good. Ken didn’t want to have to kill him too.
‘I was going to call when I got there. I didn’t know if you’d want to join me or not.’
‘Depends on where you’re going.’
Ken frowned. ‘Why are you here?’ Sean so rarely left the downtown office. In fact, the last time he had been out to the family house had been right around the time his mother had disappeared. Of course, Ken knew where Sean’s mother was. He’d sent her body through the woodchipper himself. That had been years ago.
‘Have you seen the news?’ Sean asked.
‘No, I’ve been busy. Why? Is Alice all right?’
‘She’s fine as far as I know, but someone wearing a ski mask walked into the
Ledger
and starting firing a modified AR-15. It’s all over the Internet. Six dead, one wounded. One missing. Four survivors.’
Ken didn’t blink.
What the fuck? One wounded? Four survivors?
‘That’s terrible,’ he said. ‘Was one of the dead Marcus O’Bannion?’
‘Why hide it?’ Sean asked, bemused. ‘You’ve been angling to kill O’Bannion. Why act all innocent now?’
‘Habit, maybe.’ He zipped up his carry-on. ‘Anything else?’
‘The cops pulled DJ in, too.’
Ken sat down on the side of his bed, stunned. ‘How would they even know?’
‘From the gym. Remember? It’s how Alice kept an eye on O’Bannion after his accident to make sure he hadn’t started digging into the McCord story again. DJ joined the gym too and they spotted each other. Both with weights and with watching O’Bannion. Either Alice talked to the cops or Marcus was called in to ID her and remembered DJ, because they picked him up from the gym this evening.’
‘How’s he holding up?’
‘As far as we know, fine. Why did you feel the need to shoot up the
Ledger
?’
Ken narrowed his eyes. ‘I never said I did, but if I did, it’s no business of yours.’
‘It is my business, because there are cops crawling all over the place. With Alice and DJ in custody, it’s only a matter of time before everything comes crashing down. The cops aren’t going to let this pass. Neither will Marcus O’Bannion. You murdered his people. He’s going to be out for your blood.’
‘Let me worry about Marcus.’ Ken handed Sean the folder he’d prepared. ‘This is everything you need to know. Suppliers, customers, pricing, profits. It’s all yours.’
‘Such as it is,’ Sean said, keeping his arms crossed over his chest. ‘After that stunt you pulled tonight, I don’t know that our company will be worth diddlyshit. Our customers will go running for the hills if they’re smart.’
Ken tossed the folder on the bed. ‘Suit yourself. With everyone either in jail or dead, you could rule it all.’
‘And I’m telling you that there is nothing left to rule. It’s all gone. Including the funds in the company accounts.’ Sean lifted his brows. ‘I wonder who could have taken that money,’ he said mockingly.
‘I don’t like your tone, son. Talk to Joel. He told me that he’d found missing money and traced it to accounts in Demetrius’s and Reuben’s names. Maybe that’s where the funds went. Reuben’s probably sitting in the Caribbean right now, with an underage girl on each knee.’
‘Is that where you’re going? The Caribbean?’
‘No. When I get to where I am going, I’ll send for you. It’ll be your choice to come.’
‘What about Alice?’
‘She got caught, Sean. We all know the price of getting caught.’ He grabbed his suitcase and carry-on, pushed past his son and went down the stairs.
Sean followed him. ‘Who’s the woman in the cage?’
‘Don’t you know?’ Ken asked mockingly. ‘I thought you knew everything by the way you were talking.’
‘You’re going to lure O’Bannion here.’
‘No. I’m not.’
Sean grabbed his arm. ‘Then where? You shot up his office to rile him so that he’d let his guard down when he came after you. You stole his office manager to make sure he came.’
‘Looks like you
do
know everything.’
‘All alone, Dad? You’re going to take O’Bannion on all by yourself?’
Ken smiled condescendingly. ‘You’re offering to help me? Really?’
Sean’s eyes narrowed. ‘You can’t go alone. That man was an Army Ranger.’
‘So? I shot up his office single-handedly. Took out three guards.’
Sean nodded. ‘But you left five survivors, not including the woman in the cage. Stone O’Bannion didn’t die.’
Ken shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter. I covered my face. Now if you don’t mind, I have a meeting to prepare for.’ He went into the garage to load his luggage in his car, but Sean followed.
‘Where’s the cash,
Ken
?’
Ken lost his temper. ‘I don’t know. Now shut up and get out. I don’t answer to you, Sean.’ He turned his back to load his luggage and realized his mistake too late when the barrel of a gun dug into his kidneys.
‘Now you do,
Dad
.’
Cincinnati, Ohio
Wednesday 5 August, 10.15
P.M.
‘No,’ Isenberg said flatly. She’d arrived at the hospital a short while before to help them develop the plan. Which basically meant that she wanted to tell Marcus what he could and could not do. ‘We do not condone the use of civilians as bait in hostage negotiations.’
Scarlett, her father and Deacon’s boss Zimmerman had asked Isenberg to join them in their little war room – set up in the same place where Scarlett had interviewed the
Ledger
team the night before – and Marcus had agreed out of respect.
But it didn’t mean that he had to agree with Isenberg’s opinion.
Marcus shrugged his shoulders and settled his body in the chair he’d deliberately chosen – the chair in which Stone had sat last night. It made him feel a little closer to his brother and at the same time reminded him what was at stake. As if he really needed reminding.
‘With all due respect, Lieutenant,’ he said, ‘it doesn’t matter. It’s my choice.’
‘You’re choosing to get killed, then?’ Isenberg asked sarcastically, but there was a flicker in her eyes that was genuine concern. The sight helped Marcus get his temper in check. Mostly.
‘No, ma’am. But this man has to be stopped. He shot my brother and left him for dead.’ Marcus’s gaze shifted to the empty chair between Isenberg and Zimmerman, and his hands began to tremble. It was the chair where Cal had been sitting the night before. ‘Sweeney killed a man who’d been like family to me for most of my life. Gunned him and too many others down in cold blood. Like they were
nothing
. He sells people – families with children – like they’re animals.’ He thought of Gayle, how terrified she had to be, and his fury flared. ‘He’s holding the woman who is a mother to me, and he’s got her in a
fucking cage
. . .’ His voice faltered and he cleared his throat roughly. ‘So forgive me if I don’t care what you do or don’t condone. This is my family, so it’s my business.’
Isenberg bristled. ‘It becomes my business when you include my people.’
Marcus stiffened. He hadn’t asked for help from anyone but Scarlett. It had been Isenberg, Zimmerman and Jonas Bishop who’d started throwing additional law enforcement bodies into the mix. ‘Sweeney needs to be
stopped
. He needs to
pay
. Right now he’s fixated on me, so right now I’m the highest-value chip on the table.’
Isenberg narrowed her eyes, but Zimmerman spoke before she could. ‘He killed one of my men today too,’ he said quietly. ‘I want him to pay as much as you do, Mr O’Bannion. I want him stopped. But I want this done right. I want to be smart.’
Marcus started to open his mouth to tell Isenberg and Zimmerman that they could take their people and shove them, but Scarlett shook her head gently, stopping him from messing the whole thing up.
‘What would you recommend instead?’ she asked, meeting Isenberg’s eyes first, then Zimmerman’s, then, last, her father’s. ‘We’re putting snipers in the trees around the meeting place – here and here.’ She pointed to the map of the park that they’d spread over the table. ‘Kate Coppola is an expert marksman and Adam can certainly hold his own.’
They’d tagged Deacon’s cousin, Detective Adam Kimble, for the op, and he had agreed right away. Which was nice of the man, because Marcus didn’t know Adam from . . . well, from Adam. Marcus understood that Kimble hadn’t done it for him. The detective had agreed for Scarlett’s sake, as they’d worked together for years, and for Deacon’s sake. Faith was about to become Adam’s cousin by marriage and since she and Marcus were already cousins, that apparently made Marcus family.
‘We’ve got air support with night IR goggles, plus search-and-rescue dogs on standby,’ Scarlett continued levelly. ‘We’ve got an FBI SWAT team gathering on the ground, ready to back us up. Marcus will wear full body armor rather than the Kevlar that Stone was wearing this afternoon.’
Because bullets fired from an assault rifle went through Kevlar like a knife through hot butter. Stone was lucky to be alive. The fifteen bullets hadn’t hit anything major. At least that was what they’d been told by the surgeon when he’d come out to speak with them mid-way through the surgery. He’d been “hopeful” that Stone would make it.
Marcus still couldn’t let himself relax. Not until he saw Stone and heard his voice.
‘What would you recommend instead?’ Scarlett asked again.
Zimmerman shook his head. ‘Nothing at the moment.’
‘I don’t know,’ Isenberg admitted. ‘This feels wrong.’
Scarlett’s smile was tight. She was scared too. Marcus could see it in her expression, could feel it in the way she gripped his hand under the table, so hard that his tendons crackled.
‘Of course it feels wrong, Lieutenant,’ she said. ‘It
is
wrong. Sweeney’s picked the venue and the time. This could be – and probably is – a trap. If I can find out where he’s holding Gayle in the next thirty minutes, we’ll punt to our “storm the castle” plan and stage a rescue. Otherwise, Marcus pretends to do a switch, just until we have Gayle in our hands. Then Adam and Kate incapacitate Sweeney and we go in for the arrest. Unless you can think of anything better,
this is the plan
.’