Best Laid Plans (50 page)

“You get no complaints from me.”

“Casilla wants a full report.”

“He’s going to have to wait. This isn’t over. They have Lucy.”

“Casilla knows that Lucy and Donnelly are hostages. We have a team there. Our top hostage negotiator is already on scene.”

“I’m not going to the house,” Sean said, though that’s exactly what he wanted to do. “Elise Hansen is on the move. I’m tracking her.”

“Shit, Rogan, you can’t—”

“And how long until you get someone in place to track her?”

Proctor spoke into his mic. “Dunning, Quiroz, meet me at base stat.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. You’re going to turn everything over to Quiroz. It’s up to him if you get a ride-a-long.”

Two minutes later, Sean was showing Ryan and Nate how the GPS tracker worked, and where Elise was. He made up a bunch of technical jargon to make it sound far more complicated than it actually was. Ryan said, “Just come with us, but don’t do anything stupid.”

“No, sir,” Sean said with a straight face.

Nate sighed, but only Sean heard him. He caught Nate’s eye and stared. Nate understood. He didn’t say a word.

Ryan grabbed one of the FBI SUVs and Sean navigated from the passenger seat.

Elise was only a few miles away, but she was going in a familiar direction.

“I know where she’s going,” Sean said. “She’s going to Mona Hill’s place.”

“Who’s Mona Hill?” Nate asked.

“She runs a prostitution ring, but she’s also one of the people Elise hooked up with when she arrived in San Antonio. She doesn’t know the area well, so it stands to reason she’ll go to the one place where she’s comfortable.”

“You’d think she’d be running,” Ryan said.

“Maybe she’s picking up something. Like money.” Or killing Mona Hill, another loose end.

“How certain are you?” Nate asked.

“Ninety percent.”

“I know a faster way. I think we can beat her there,” Nate said.

“Give it to me,” Ryan said.

Nate navigated and Sean considered what he was going to do if Mona Hill ratted him out.

He would have to cross that bridge if and when he came to it. He still had the trump card about her sister, and he would use it.

“Kane learned that Mona Hill has a connection to Tobias,” Sean added. “A connection that isn’t solely through Elise. I just want you both to be prepared.”

“Your brother has been around a lot lately,” Ryan said.

“Your point?”

“What’s really going on?”

“You know as much as I do,” Sean said.
Almost.

“Somehow I doubt that.”

“Kane doesn’t tell me everything.” Which was true.

“Turn left, then a quick right into the alley,” Nate said from the back. “This brings us right across from her property.”

Ryan did as Nate directed, then cut off the lights.

The apartments were all dark.

“Where is Elise?” Ryan asked.

“Less than a mile.”

“Let’s go in and wait. Rogan, stay. I’m not joking.” Ryan handed him an earpiece. “You be our eyes, let us know what she does when she gets here.”

Sean bristled, but he stayed in the SUV.

Ryan and Nate, both in black SWAT gear, left the SUV and ran across the street. They blended into the tall hedges that surrounded the dark property, then the building blocked them from Sean’s view.

Sean waited for Elise. A Jeep drove up and slammed on the brakes in front of the apartment complex. Elise got out of the passenger seat and headed toward Mona Hill’s unit.

“She’s coming your way,” Sean said over the com. “There’s someone else in the car.”

“Stay put,” Ryan said over the com. “That’s an order.”

Sean didn’t take orders from Ryan or anyone. But he waited.

The driver got out. It was Mona Hill. She stood next to the Jeep waiting for Elise to return.

This was fucked.

Sean slipped out of the SUV and, using other parked cars as a shield, approached the Jeep. He muted the com so Ryan couldn’t hear what he was saying.

“Mona.”

She jumped. Fear flashed over her face, then anger. “Get the fuck out of here. You’re lucky they’re giving me a second chance.”

“Run.”

“I can’t.”

“Do they know about your sister?”

Her eyes widened. “No! God, no.”

“Then go. Disappear. You’re good at that.”

“They’ll find me. You don’t know these people like I do.”

“Mona, I’m not telling you again. Leave. I will stop them.”

“You can’t.”

“Don’t underestimate me.”

There was a loud crash from the apartment and Mona jumped. Over the com, Ryan ordered Nate to go right.

“Now,” Sean told her.

Mona jumped back in the Jeep and sped off. Sean ran back to the SUV but stood to the side. He unmuted the com.

“The Jeep just left without her,” he said. “Elise is cutting across the lawn running after it.” Elise had a bag over her shoulder that she hadn’t had before.

Nate came from behind the building and tackled the girl. She went down on her bad arm with a scream. He got up and secured her.

Ryan asked through the com, “Did you see who the driver was?”

“No,” Sean lied. “He didn’t get out of the car.”

“Plates?”

“No, sorry.”

Nate said, “Suspect is secured.”

They approached the SUV. Sean handed Ryan back the earpiece.

“Can you please drop me off at Everett’s house before you take her in? Kane isn’t responding to my messages, and neither is Crawford.”

“It’s because your lover is dead, and no one wants to tell you,” Elise said with a bloodied-nose smirk. “Go ahead, check my phone.”

Nate pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the history. He didn’t say anything.

Sean grabbed the phone from Nate. Ten minutes ago, at 9:50
P.M.
, Elise had sent Peter a message.

Kill them all and disappear.

Ryan pushed Sean back before he could hit the girl. “Lucy is fine,” Ryan said.

But he didn’t know that. No one did.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

The grandfather clock chimed 10:00
P.M.

“There’s police everywhere,” Joyce said.

“Get away from the fucking windows,” Peter ordered.

Joyce cowered and sat on the floor, her back against the wall.

When the police cars and unmarked vehicles began to arrive, Peter had told Joyce to handcuff Lucy. She should have expected it, but she’d hoped that she’d have more mobility.

The phone had been ringing on and off for the last twenty minutes.

“You need to answer the phone,” Lucy said when it started ringing again.

“So they can stall? I know how this works.” But he was worried. He hadn’t planned on being caught. What criminal did?

Elise Hansen. She’d planned on being caught. It was a game to her.

But she’d also planned on escaping. Perhaps the shooting at the hospital this morning had been the first escape attempt. Or maybe Kane and Sean were right, and it had been an attempt on Lucy’s life.

Or both.

The phone stopped ringing.

Peter had barely moved. The boy, still bound and gagged, sagged in the chair. He might have fallen asleep, or just felt defeated. There had been no more sounds from upstairs. Lucy wished she could find out if the mother and daughter were okay.

Peter kept looking at his phone. A message had come in a few minutes before, and Peter seemed to be waiting for something else.

“Joyce, go upstairs and get the mom and girl. We’ll kill these two, then take the kids hostage. They won’t shoot us with kids.”

“We can’t go out there!” Joyce exclaimed. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. You said there was a plan.”

“Elise had a plan,” Lucy said. “Her plan was to leave you here holding the bag. She has the money, and she didn’t come for you.”

“Shut up,” he said. “Go, Joyce! Get them!”

Joyce ran up the stairs. The phone rang again.

“Answer it, Peter,” Lucy said, her voice calm and reasonable. “You need to tell them that everyone is fine.”

He shook his head.

“Elise is a sociopath,” Lucy said. “She only cares about herself. You know that, don’t you? How long have you known her? A few weeks?”

“You have no idea who Elise is.”

“Tell me. Tell me how you see her.”

“She’s fucking smart. She’s not scared of anything.”

“How did you meet?”

“I worked for—” He stopped as Joyce ran back down the stairs.

“They’re gone.”

“What the hell?”

“They’re not where I left them!”

“Did you let them go? I tied them up, I know they were secure.”

“No! I swear—”

“You had a soft spot for the girls. You bitch—”

“I didn’t touch them!”

SWAT must have found a way in through the attic or a second-floor window. She caught Brad’s eye and he gave her a little nod. He thought the same thing. Good. Two safe, one to go.

“They’re going to kill us. They’re going to kill us!” Joyce screamed.

Peter shot Joyce in the head. Lucy jerked involuntarily and almost caused the chair to tip over. Joyce crumpled to the tile floor, blood pooling around her head. Lucy stared at the body. She hadn’t expected him to kill his partner. She shook her head to clear it.

Focus, Lucy. Focus on Peter. Get him to lower his guard. Just for a minute.

The phone rang again.

“Answer it,” Lucy said, “or they’ll swarm in and you’ll be dead.” She glanced at Brad again. He caught Lucy’s eye, then blinked once and refocused his gaze toward the ceiling.

She discreetly looked upstairs. There was the curving staircase, a landing, and then the hall disappeared to the right and left. She saw the tip of a sniper rifle aimed in the direction of Peter. But there was no clear shot from that angle.

“I need to think! How can I think with all that noise?” He pulled the boy up from his seat and held the gun on his neck. The boy sagged, his eyes on the dead body. Peter held him up.

“Don’t look at her,” Lucy told the kid. “Look at me.”

The boy averted his eyes from the body to Lucy. They were glassy with terror and resignation that he was going to die. No child should witness murder.

She wanted to offer a trade, her for the boy, but the way Peter was acting, he would think it was a trick. He wouldn’t do anything she said. Lucy looked at Brad. He’d been hit a couple of times, but the injuries were minor. Fortunately, he’d kept his mouth shut for the most part. Peter definitely had an issue with male authority, which was probably why he responded so strongly to Elise’s powerful female presence.

“You’ll walk in front of us, Agent Kincaid,” Peter said. “Open the doors for me. Stay close. But make no mistake about it, I will shoot this kid if you do anything different from what I say. We’re going to walk out, get into the closest car, and drive.”

“I can’t drive cuffed.”

“You’ll manage.”

He pushed the kid forward. Lucy backed away toward the front door and gauged the angle of the sniper to Peter.

Two more feet. Two more feet.

“Peter, think this through,” she said.

“What do you think I am, stupid? I’m not stupid!” He aimed his gun at Brad. “One down, one to go,” he said.

A shot came from the stairway above, taking off the top of Peter Rabb’s head. He collapsed and the boy fell down, covered in Peter’s blood.

Lucy rushed over to the boy, and even though she was cuffed, she shielded him with her body. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she said over and over. She looked over at Brad. He was unharmed. Peter hadn’t gotten a shot off.

SWAT swarmed in from upstairs, the front, and the back. Someone helped Lucy up and took the boy outside. She felt the cuffs being released from her wrists, and another officer uncuffed Brad.

Sean ran in, followed by Kane. Sean pulled Lucy into his arms and held her. “Elise told him to kill you. I thought he had.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” she repeated.

They stood there for a moment. When Lucy opened her eyes again, Kane was gone.

Maybe he hadn’t even been there.

*   *   *

Lucy bolted upright in bed.

The clock said it was 6:10
A.M.
, but she’d been sound asleep. Something had jolted her awake, and it wasn’t a nightmare.