Read Truth & Lies: A Queen City Justice Novel Online
Authors: Elizabeth Bemis
Tags: #Mail Order Bride, #FBI, #military, #Police
He grinned wryly. “I strained one of the pins in my leg. It’ll be okay. Just remind me never to try to run on it again.”
She continued to give him a skeptical look.
“They did X-rays. I’m not going to need surgery. I’m just going to have to take it easy for a bit.”
The previous night came flooding back. “Oh God. What about Anka? How is she?”
“She’s fine. She’s in protective custody. She didn’t get hurt. Turlucci’s in a hospital—not this one—under armed guard.”
“Good. Is Hvala okay?”
“Yeah. She’s staying with Emilie until we get home.”
The word “home” settled into her heart and she felt tears prickle behind her eyes with the rightness of the word.
He adjusted his chair so he was closer to the bed and took her hand. She squeezed his fingers, feeling more connected—not only to him, but to the rest of the world.
“We found the other women being held in that building too. No idea who owns it yet. But we got them all out.”
“The Chinese girls?”
“The Chinese girls who worked in the salon with Lee Jing, the Bosnian women who worked at the laundry, and more than a dozen Russian women who worked as part of a housekeeping service.”
“Oh, wow. That’s a lot of cases closed at once.”
He nodded. “How are you doing?” he asked.
Dana stretched slowly, feeling her various aches and pains. “A little sore.”
“Do you need any more pain meds?”
“Nope. I’m good.”
“I’m so glad we found you in time. The sign language in the video was brilliant.”
Dana smiled. “I’m just so happy you figured it out.”
“Did you mean what you signed?” he asked.
Dana looked deep into his eyes.
Am I ready to say it?
She nodded.
“I love you too,” he whispered. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. “Don’t scare me like that again, okay?”
“I will do my best,” she said.
“When you get out of here, I’m taking you home with me,” he said, leaving her no room for argument.
“Is that a request or an order?”
He gave her a little lopsided grin that did something to her stomach that was terrifying but not unwelcome. “Whichever will be most likely to get you to come home with me.”
“Yes,” she said. She had no desire to go back to her lonely, cold existence.
Happiness radiated from his face, and she felt, for the first time in her life, that she’d come home.
Chapter Twenty
Monday, January 5—8:30 a.m.
Cincinnati FBI Field Office, Kenwood Neighborhood, Cincinnati, Ohio
“Welcome back, there, Dragon!” Jack said as she stepped out of the elevator.
She had to grin at the nickname. “Thanks.”
“How’re you feeling?”
Dana straightened her arm slowly, feeling a little pull in the newly healed skin, but not the pain she’d had right after it happened. “Much better, thanks.”
“We missed having you around here,” Rey said, joining them in the hallway as they made their way toward the bull pen.
“Dana, welcome back!” Kier called from across the room.
“You guys, I was only out for a couple of weeks.”
Sherwood popped his head out of his office. “Turlucci fucked with one of our own.”
Maybe she was still exhausted, or maybe it was the effects of the painkillers, but Dana felt a tears threaten. She blinked and took a deep breath. “Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.”
“Anka Pierovich is here to see you,” Sherwood said. “She’s on her way up.”
“Why isn’t she in a safe house?” Dana demanded.
“She just got out of the hospital. She’s on her way to a safe house as soon as she leaves here. Don’t worry, the marshals are with her.” He passed a thick file folder to Dana. “There’s some information for her in here. You can deliver it, if you like.”
Anka came in, flanked by two burly men who looked like they ate metal for breakfast and spit out bullets. Anka moved slowly, but she looked a thousand times better than the last time Dana had seen her.
“I just wanted to say…
hvala
,” she said. “You saved my life.”
Dana smiled. “I helped. You saved mine too, you know.” She motioned Anka toward the war room. “Have a seat. How are you feeling?”
“Good. I have…how do you say…surgery to fix scars. They’re not perfect, but look much better.”
Dana sat across from her and opened the file Sherwood had given her, skimming the top page, unable to suppress the smile that crossed her face, or the tears that threatened even harder.
“Oh boy. Do I ever have a surprise for you,” she said, feeling choked up at how happy she was about to make the other woman.
“Surprise?”
She turned around and nodded at Sherwood, who nodded to someone outside of Dana’s view. A few seconds later, Emilie came in, holding a little girl. “Mamma!”
Dana would remember the look in Anka’s eyes for the rest of her life. “Oh, Katja! Oh, baby!” Anka immediately started crying and held out her arms until Emilie dropped the little girl into her lap.
Anka sobbed as she held her daughter close and rocked back and forth. She looked up over a tiny shoulder. “
Hvala
! I can never thank you enough.”
“There’s more,” Dana said. “There are special provisions for non-residents and illegal aliens to get permanent resident status based on testifying in a federal criminal case. My boss has started the paperwork for that. By the time the Turlucci case is over, you’ll be able to stay permanently.”
“What if he…” She switched to Croatian when she couldn’t find the right words. “What if he’s not found guilty? Or what if his family comes after us? I heard they were part of the mob.”
“He’s trying for an insanity defense, but trust me when I say no one’s concerned that he’ll get away with it. As for his family…” Dana trailed off. That was indeed a concern. Arturo Turlucci wasn’t known for his kindness.
“You have the option of going into the Witness Protection Program. You’ll be set up with a whole new identity. New name, new job, new house, new car. Everything.”
“Thank you, Dana. You’ve done more for me than anyone I know.”
“I’m just happy you’re safe.”
Anka pulled her daughter in more tightly to her and breathed in the smell of her hair. Katja jabbered at her mother, causing Anka to laugh.
Dana flipped the file folder shut. “You ready to go and get settled? The marshals will take you and Katja to the safe house. You’ll be able to stay there until the trial.”
Anka smiled and clambered to her feet, her daughter clinging to her neck.
From the doorway to his office, Andrew watched Dana usher Anka, her daughter and her two marshals out, feeling pleased for his part in her happy ending.
In front of him, his latest assistant had her desk phone pressed to her hear. “Okay. Yeah. The fax is beeping now.” She stretched as far as the phone cord would let her toward the fax machine to gather the pages coming in.
“Got it. Thanks.”
She hung up the phone and turned to Andrew, and he knew by the look on her face he wasn’t going to like whatever news she had to share.
“What is it?” he asked.
She sighed. “John Giordano just committed suicide in lockup.”
“Oh Christ,” Andrew said, backing into his office. “How could this have happened?” He was the strongest element in their case against Turlucci.
“He was pretty committed,” she said. “He cut his undershirt in half, tied the pieces together, and wrapped it around his neck tight enough that he suffocated.”
Not a good way to go. Assuming there was a good way to go.
She held out the stack of papers from the fax machine to him.
“He left a note. He said he couldn’t put his own family at risk from what the Turluccis would do to him. At least he gave us an info dump on how Turlucci’s operation runs before he did it. He’s claiming they’re responsible for the human-trafficking ring as well as a pipeline of cocaine and heroin coming directly from Mexico.”
Andrew took the pages from her and shut the door behind her.
He read through John Giordano’s suicide note. While this information wouldn’t in and of itself nail Turlucci, Sr., it definitely offered a few places to start.
He picked up his phone and buzzed Rodriguez.
“Pack your bags. You and Falcon are going on a cruise.”
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