Campaign of Desire (CSA Case Files 4) (17 page)

“That’s the kicker, isn’t it?” Phoebe tightened her hold on the phone. “She either didn’t, in which case I didn’t do a very good job being a role model. Or she did, meaning I really suck as a mother teaching her responsibility for her own actions. Which technically she never wanted me to be that to her to begin with.”

“Stop.”

Phoebe hadn’t realized that she’d been staring into space until she heard his order. Her head jerked and she immediately met his gaze. What the hell was she doing, sharing her most inner feelings with Lach? They couldn’t seem to go through one day without a misunderstanding. Did she really expect him to comprehend this?

“You’re right. I need to stop.” Phoebe lifted up her phone and implied she’d like to be alone. When he didn’t move a muscle from where he was positioned, she followed up her reference with words. “I have some calls to make. You can tell Brent that I’ll be here until the afternoon and then we’ll head to my father’s house.”

“You asked me a question last night at dinner about my work with the FBI. It’s not something I want to reminisce, but it certainly applies in this case. No matter what you say or do, you can’t control another person’s actions. It took me years to figure that out, although there are still nights that I struggle with the fact that maybe I didn’t do enough to save the lives that were in my hands.” Lach pushed himself off of the door. “Kimmie made her decision and will now have to deal with the consequences of what she’s done to her family relationships. Regardless, you were still going to save Kimmie’s ass had she been turned into the authorities. You’re lucky that she’s here, alive, so that you can mend what needs mending. I’m not that fortunate.”

Before Phoebe could reply, Lach had turned and walked out the door, shutting it firmly behind him. The silence of the office was deafening, and although she wanted more than anything to sit here and have a good cry, people were watching and she still had an image to uphold. She should have told her father that this layout wouldn’t work. His office should be private, but seeing as he was hardly ever here it wasn’t something he had to worry about.

Blinds. Tomorrow this office needed to have blinds on every window and a receptionist to screen people before they knocked on her father’s door. He had a personal assistant keeping things running over at the Senate building, but someone needed to be here. For now, she would just have to act as if nothing at all had happened to destroy the continuity of her small family.

Phoebe looked down at her phone, knowing she had numerous calls to make. She couldn’t bring herself to make any though, or to even reach out to her father. She knew how he was feeling, yet she also understood what Lach was saying. She shouldn’t blame herself for how Kimmie had responded to the situation. That didn’t stop her from feeling some guilt. After all, Phoebe had tried her best to teach her sister right from wrong. Failure was hard to accept and only time would tell what the fallout would be from Kimmie’s actions.

Chapter Thirteen

L
ach opened up the ALON glass security entry doors to CSA using his encrypted key card. He surmised that it would be easier to break through the steel clad reinforced concrete walls than to break through the main entrance of the CSA offices. Crest had invested quite an impressive sum in securing the workplace from intrusion and the armory inside the complex was certified to hold class three weapons. For all the security this building provided, Lach couldn’t help but wonder about those Crest left outside its protective boundaries every time Lach entered this fortress. It was going on six o’clock in the evening and Phoebe was relatively safe inside her family home, along with the highly volatile combination of Kimmie and their father. Connor, Ethan, and the PSD agents were all in place, giving Lach the time he needed to run into the fort.

“Lach, I’m glad you stopped in,” Jessie greeted, holding up some messages. He took them and quickly glanced through them, ensuring that he didn’t need to return any calls immediately. “By the way, are you attending Derrick’s birthday party?”

“That’s not for another month.” Lach looked at Jessie, noticing that she was wearing her long brown hair to the side and her make-up was applied just right. She probably had some sort of date and briefly wondered what Crest thought of that. They had an ongoing exchange of this for that. After Crest had started construction on the security upgrades for the offices, he nearly had a cow when he found out that Jessie had painted daisies on his newly poured concrete. It wasn’t any of Lach’s business, so he shrugged and crumpled the papers in his hand. “Yes, sure. I’ll go.”

“Don’t forget to tell Jax and make sure the present is age appropriate.” Jessie lifted her left eyebrow so that it arched perfectly. She was a stickler for social etiquette when it came to the CSA team members’ families. “I’ll email you a few sites.”

“Did Crest come back to the office after leaving the Dunaway’s?” Lach didn’t bother telling her that he’d purchased quite a few gifts for his nephew over the years and knew exactly what to get a one-year old boy. Jessie liked to think she was taking care of the team and he was inclined to let her. “He mentioned a conference call.”

“Yes, Gavin arrived around twenty minutes ago. He’s got another ten minutes before his video-conference meeting.”

“Thanks.” Lach headed into the core of the office, noticing that no one was around in the cubicles. Kevin and Jax must have headed home. Taryn’s light was on, but he’d touch base with her after he spoke with Crest. Knocking lightly on the boss’s door, he waited for the okay to enter and then walked in. “You knew.”

“Yes,” Crest admitted, sitting back in his chair. His tie was loosened and he was holding a pencil in his fist. He pointed toward a chair. “I knew a couple of weeks ago that Kimmie had written the letters. We had taken handwritten samples from everyone, although close family didn’t need to supply one. Dunaway had automatically given us what we needed to rule the family members out. For a brief moment yesterday, I thought maybe Mooney had something to do with it as well with the way the current note was worded.”

“It wasn’t the outcome that Dunaway had banked on.” Lach went over to the far wall and leaned his shoulder against it. “Is there a reason that you didn’t share this with the team?”

“Yes.” Crest didn’t elaborate though, not that Lach expected him too. The man had his own way of running things and it certainly got the job done. He did expand on why Dunaway hadn’t been informed. “I was hoping that Kimmie would confess, thus leaving this situation for their own internal resolution. I’m just sorry that the trust that family had has now been destroyed.”

“Not destroyed,” Lach corrected, knowing full well that Phoebe would see to it that the family relations were mended. “Just bruised.”

He saw Crest glance at his watch. Lach figured he had around five minutes to inquire about Ryland. SITREPS had been given, but more could be taken out of verbal responses.

“What’s going on with Ryland?”

“Taryn is working to find out what her relationship is with Yvette Capre. Ryland, as usual, is nowhere to be found.”

“What do you think he’s waiting on?”

“The right time.” Crest tossed his pencil down onto his desk and then rubbed the back of his neck. Lach didn’t envy the pressure the man was under to keep his team safe. “He’ll wait until the federal authorities have their minds on other priorities and then sneak into the country. Taryn has worked almost day and night to make sure the facial recognition software she created is up and running at all ports of entry.”

“So you believe the nurse when she says Ryland didn’t have plastic surgery to reconstruct his features?” Lach felt his phone vibrate and he reached into his jacket, pulling out the device. It was a text from Jax, relaying that he and Emily were headed to the club. Emily was slowly getting acclimated to the club and Jax was gradually increasing their scenes. “That’s a big gamble.”

“I don’t believe he did, but there’s nothing to gamble on. When Ryland comes for us, he’s coming when and where he’s tilted the odds in his favor. He’s taken the initiative away from us. He won’t forget that we put his ass in a federal prison. We just need to be ready when he decides to move.”

A knock came at the door right before Jessie entered. Lach was surprised that she didn’t wait for Crest’s verbal response. Instead, she walked over with some files in hand and placed them in a wooden tray on the right side of his desk.

“I’m heading out for the evening.” Jessie turned on her heel with a smile on her red lips. It didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Don’t forget your nine o’clock appointment tomorrow morning.”

Jessie took her leave, and it was only then that Lach noticed Crest observing the doorway as if she were coming back. It was obvious she wasn’t by the sound of her light footsteps moving through the office toward the foyer. Everyone knew that Jessie had a thing for Crest and that the only outcome for her was a broken heart. It was like watching a slow train that everyone knew was going to crash and they were unable to look away.

“She’s going to get herself in trouble,” Crest muttered, still not looking Lach’s way.

“Why do you say that?” Lach knew he shouldn’t have inquired, but it was the only logical question to ask. He felt uncomfortable, so he shifted his stance and moved to the middle of the office. He should go and Crest was taking a call anyway. “Look, I just had this conversation with Phoebe. Jessie is in her mid-twenties and can make her own decisions, whatever it might be that’s got you concerned.”

“It’s nothing.” Crest looked at his watch once more as if he hadn’t uttered a word. “Is there anything else you need to discuss?”

“Catori Starr touched base about that one hostage rescue assignment she needs more hands for. I told her that I was tied up on this case, but gave her a name of a buddy of mine interested in some contract work.”

“That’s for the best. If Dunaway takes the primaries like is predicted, I think he’ll opt for the Secret Service. The White House is already making overtures due to the Victor Ward case.”

“I had a feeling that might happen,” Lach replied, refusing to show any reaction to Crest’s announcement. Once Lach was off this assignment, whatever he and Phoebe did on their own time was their own damned business. “I’ll let you know if there are any new developments with Dunaway after his evening with his daughters.”

Crest’s computer chimed that his video conference was starting and Lach took that as his cue to leave. He closed the door behind him and walked across the hallway to Taryn’s office. She had her eyes glued to the computer screen in front of her, her glasses perched on the end of her nose and a pencil perfectly lodged behind her ear.

“You keep frowning like that your face will stay that way.”

“Fuck you.” Taryn reached for her cup and held it over her monitor. “Refill please?”

“Only because you asked so nicely.” Lach snatched the mug out of Taryn’s hand, walked out of the office and into the common area. He grimaced as he poured what looked like sludge into the ceramic and then put the pot back on the burner. At the rate they were killing each other, he might have to take responsibility and start making the coffee around here. He went back to Taryn’s office and set the poison in front of her. “Enjoy.”

“You’re such a snob.” Taryn kept clicking away on her keyboard. “She could be a cousin. DNA suggests a sister, but I’m sure it’s not out of the realm of possibility.”

Lach knew instantly that Taryn was referring to Yvette Capre. He wasn’t even going to mentally try to put together the pieces of Capre’s life, knowing that somewhere along the way Capre had been born into Taryn’s family and then given up for adoption. It was the only thing that made sense.

“Find a trace to follow?”

“Maybe. I’m thinking of driving up north. No better way to get answers than in person.”

“You run that by Crest? I’m not so sure he’d want you doing that on your own.” Lach studied Taryn, noticing that her fingers had stopped the clacking. She finally looked up at him and he saw the anguish in her eyes at the situation. “Ryland has set his sights on you. I’m not telling you anything that you don’t know and every time you separate yourself from us, that makes you vulnerable.”