Tough Justice: Countdown Box Set Read online

  “What do you mean?” Jennifer asked. “It’s not even in the logs?”

  Christina went to the table and held up Victoria’s phone. She pointed to the text on the screen. “Other than us physically being able to see the message, there is no other proof in the entire world that this text even exists. Let alone that someone even sent it,” she said. “I can’t figure out where this came from any more than I can figure out what Ty was thinking about at seven thirty-eight in the morning five years ago. It’s beyond my scope. Which means—”

  “This guy just became a whole lot more dangerous,” Nick supplied.

  Christina nodded. Now Lara understood the extra agitation. Their tech analyst was good, really good. Usually she could figure out any problem. In the time she’d been with the CMU she’d never admitted to not being able to do something. Especially not with such emphasis. She looked like she was ready to crack. Victoria must have seen it, too.

  “Well then we’ll all keep digging and giving it our best,” she said. “Because, as smart as this guy is, he’s arrogant. And arrogance eventually undoes everyone.”

  Christina let out a sigh that deflated her into a sag. She nodded.

  “I’ll let you know if I find anything else,” Christina said. She gave the team another nod and headed for the door. “Good luck.”

  Victoria waited until she was gone to take her seat at the head of the table. While she hadn’t given the team the detailed version of her case against Oscar, she had told them the basic facts they needed to know. She’d falsified evidence to keep a serial killer and rapist behind bars.

  Lara had watched the expressions of her coworkers with interest.

  While she was already behind what Victoria had done, that didn’t mean the others would be.

  Jennifer, Ty, Xander, and James, who was more collected than he was before, had expressed anger at what Oscar had done but that anger seemed to disappear once Victoria had admitted to planting the ring. Or rather, none of the anger had been aimed at what she’d done. Just at Mackworth and what he’d done.

  Lara bet Dr. Oliviero would have also been behind Victoria’s decision and, she guessed he showed them that he was in his own way. Before Victoria could even admit to what she’d done he quickly left the room. Because, as he said, if they somehow managed to capture and stop the Whisperer before the secret was exposed, then he didn’t want to know what that secret had been in the first place. He couldn’t tell the higher-ups what he didn’t know.

  That left Nick. Which surprised Lara. His expression remained blank throughout the entire time their boss spoke.

  It made Lara wonder if Nick had ever been in a situation where the consequences of following the law were worse than actually breaking it.

  “We need to figure out who could have been the source of the leak,” she said. “We might get lucky and be able to trace the bomber through who else knew.”

  Victoria’s face pulled into a pinch. She didn’t like what she was thinking. That much was clear.

  “Who else knew?” Nick asked. It wasn’t the voice of an agent asking their boss a question. It was the voice of an agent asking a victim one. Which is exactly what Victoria wanted to avoid. Still, she answered quickly.

  “The DA, and the on-scene police officer, Greg Byrne,” she said. “Greg was with me when we found Jocelyn, Margaret and Melanie. He has two daughters.” She didn’t need explain further why Greg had helped falsify evidence. “I know I shouldn’t be asking this, given the situation, but talk to these men directly first. See what they have to say about whether they told anyone. If you think they’re lying, then proceed to their families and associates. But, if it can be helped, talk to them first. My decision shouldn’t have to destroy Greg, or even Ryan Mathers for that matter, too.” She gave them a small smile. “Because I guess I should say it out loud just to assure you all, but I plan to let my secret be exposed. While I will never regret my actions to try and keep that man in prison, I am sad that it could get him exonerated and that I will lose my career over it. But that doesn’t mean I’ll let him detonate a bomb to save myself. My only regret is that every case I’ve ever worked, this task force and each of you will be looked at under a microscope because of me. And for that I am sorry.”

  Lara was surprised at the lump that was forming in her throat. Just the idea of Victoria being forced to leave because she’d lied to keep a rapist and killer behind bars was almost too much to take.

  “We won’t let that happen,” she said, glad to keep the influx of emotions she was feeling out of her words. “We’ll catch this son of a bitch before the deadline.”

  “I’ll second that,” James tagged on. His fists had been balled since he’d come back inside. Whatever Xander had said to him had patched up the dam that was holding back his rage. Lara hoped it continued to hold until everything was put to bed. Victoria was right. They couldn’t afford to have a loose cannon right now. Not when there were very real bombs out there.

  Ty and Jennifer reciprocated the statement in varying words of encouragement. Xander even stood, ready to get the show on the road. Nick remained quiet, contemplative.

  Victoria gave one more smile before she got down to business.

  “Then this will hopefully not be my last order, but if it is, make it count,” she said. “Ty and Jennifer, take the DA but be warned he’s made a career out of playing defense. He’s smug yet extremely cunning. Lara and Nick, you go see Greg. He’s a good man and, if you approach him with respect he’ll treat you with the same. He shouldn’t be a problem as long as he knows his wife and children will be okay. Xander and James, you get the pleasure of meeting Oscar Mackworth. I’ve pulled some strings to get you in to see him, despite it being two in the morning. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again—Be careful with Mackworth. He’s smart and he’ll see this for what it is: his chance to get out of jail. And while that means freedom for most, to him it’s the opportunity to feed his need to rape and kill. Stay on your toes.” Victoria stood, tall and proud. She straightened her shirt and said, in a voice Lara hoped would always lead them, “Dismissed.”

  “I’ll go get Greg’s information,” Nick said as the rest of the team funneled out of the conference room. Lara nodded but hesitated to follow him.

  “We can take your car if you want. I’ll be out in a second.” It was his turn to nod and soon Victoria and Lara were alone again.

  “You know, I told you everything I did because you’re my friend,” Victoria said before Lara could utter a word. “I also needed someone else to know exactly why I did what I did. But what I need now is for my team to stay sharp. Not emotional, or at least not more than they already are.”

  “In other words you didn’t want me near Oscar Mackworth, even though you knew I wanted to talk to him,” Lara said. Victoria cut a grin.

  “I also figured you’d try to hurt him,” she said. “And that was something else we don’t need right now.”

  Lara shrugged and headed for the door. She looked back at her boss, mentor and friend.

  “You weren’t wrong.”

  The roads and sidewalks were empty as Lara and Nick rode through the city, and there was a chill in the air that Lara couldn’t seem to shake. One that followed her inside the car and pressed heavily against her chest. She took in a deep breath and let it out, trying to dislodge the sinking feeling.

  “I don’t want her to get terminated.”

  Lara looked over at Nick, confused. “What?”

  He kept his eyes forward, one hand hung on the steering wheel, the other rested on the arm of the car door. In profile Nick was all hard angles. His jaw, his chin, his nose. Even his brow was easily defined as it pushed together in thought. Very much a man ready to take the job head on.

  Lara wondered if she looked as solid.

  “I saw you in the conference room,” he answered. “You w
ere watching us as Victoria told us about Mackworth. You were trying to read our reactions to see if we were with Victoria or against her.”

  Lara didn’t even try to deny that.

  “I couldn’t read you,” she admitted. It earned a sly smile from the man. Though it was only a flash.

  “Considering how the others were responding, I decided to reserve my feelings.” Lara felt her eyebrow rise. Nick glanced over and then explained. “It’s like mob mentality. If we all go out for blood then that’s all we’ll get.”

  “And we don’t need blood right now,” Lara finished. He nodded.

  “We need to stop a highly intelligent bomber before he tears this city down,” he said. “I didn’t want to add to the collective rage that was building in the conference room.”

  “But you did feel it?” she prodded. “The rage?”

  Lara watched as a muscle jumped in her partner’s jaw. His knuckles turned white as his grip on the steering wheel tightened.

  “Who wouldn’t?” he asked. “I’m not some stonehearted man, Lara. You should know that by now.”

  Before she could stop it a flash of images scorched across her memory. They were mostly of the man next to her, naked and on top of her. Then less heat-filled moments followed. One in particular had happened a year before when Nick had risked his life and jumped into the freezing waters of the East River to help her fight Moretti’s brother. Lara had been so exhausted that she would have drowned had Nick not kept them both afloat before the rest of the team got to them. Despite their push-and-pull, hot-and-cold, lust-and-lust relationship, Lara knew without a doubt that Nick Delano had a heart.

  She just didn’t know where it was all of the time. So she had to ask him the one question she’d been wondering since Victoria had addressed the team.

  “So you agree with what Victoria did?”

  “That’s the point,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if I do or don’t. It’s already been done and all we can do is try to stop a madman with what we have now. If we can help save her career in the process then that’s one hell of a bonus I’ll take. Because, like I said before, whether I agree or not, I don’t want Victoria to get terminated. Okay?”

  Lara nodded. It still wasn’t a direct answer. But, maybe that was an answer in itself.

  “Now,” she said, “let’s talk about how we want to handle Greg Byrne. Because I doubt he’s going be welcoming at nearly three in the morning.”

  “I know for a fact you’re no peach when you first wake up.” He gave her a quick smirk, seemingly proud of his quick comeback. Lara ignored it as best she could, not wanting to feed that particular fire.

  Nick might have been a good guy underneath all of his no-nonsense exterior but he sure as hell knew how to get under her skin. And stay there.

  Chapter Four

  Greg Byrne and his wife lived in a small, brick row house with a little patch of grass and dirt in front and an American flag hanging over the small porch.

  Lara took in these details as the sweep of their headlights lit up the front of the house.

  Quaint.

  Proud.

  Cozy.

  It took Lara and Nick less than a minute to park, get out and make the walk up the sidewalk. Yet the man of the house was just as quick, if not quicker, despite the hour. When Nick knocked on the door, the porch light came on. A beat later the door opened.

  And then they were staring at a man.

  Squat, aged, but solid. He looked like a cop. Retired or not, there were some things that didn’t leave with the job. The inherent suspicion, the quick physical analysis as his eyes flashed over both of them and the gun at his hip that he didn’t bother hiding. Paired with the deep-seated weariness only those who had seen evil in the world could carry, he didn’t need to introduce himself to Lara. They were staring at Greg Byrne, all right.

  “I suggest you introduce yourselves,” he greeted.

  Lara was already pulling up her FBI badge.

  “I’m Special Agent Lara Grant and this is Special Agent Nick Delano,” she introduced. “We’re with the FBI’s Crisis Management Unit.”

  Greg examined each badge until he was satisfied. Or, rather, until he believed they were agents. He clearly wasn’t satisfied.

  “And what does the Crisis Management Unit of the FBI want with a retired cop?” he asked when he was done.

  “We have some questions about one of your old cases,” Nick treaded.

  Lara watched closely to see if any part of Greg exuded guilt or fear, but all she could see was a man annoyed that he’d been disturbed by strangers.

  “Do you realize what time it is?” he asked, further proving his annoyance. He was close to sneering. “Can’t this wait until the morning?”

  Nick put his ID away and stood tall. “I’m afraid not.”

  “We’re working under a good sense of urgency here,” Lara added.

  Greg let out a breath. It spelled out defeat. He opened the front door wide and waved them in. They followed him into a small living room without a word. Greg sat on a chair facing the couch Lara and Nick took. He didn’t look as intimidating pressed against the worn leather. Especially while wearing blue-and-white-striped pajama pants and an old T-shirt from some bar located in the Bronx.

  Lara tried to keep her gaze off his outfit and cast a quick glance around the room. She might have had the flesh-and-blood man in front of her but it was the room around them that spoke to Greg Byrne’s character.

  There was no television in the room. Instead the back wall was lined with a bookcase filled to the brim. The other walls were littered with picture frames upon picture frames, all showing what must have been Greg and his family throughout the years. Several were of just two little girls. At the sight, a familiar ache started to throb within Lara. She kept her eyes on swivel, not giving in to the line of thinking that always followed that damn ache.

  Among the clutter that every household had, made up of family-specific trinkets, heirlooms and sentimental treasures, was a tabletop clock enclosed in glass. It stood on a shallow table closest to Lara’s seat. She spied the engraving. It read, To Daddy and his next adventure.—Your Ladies.

  What did a bunch of books, pictures and an engraved clock mean?

  As far as Lara was concerned it meant that Greg Byrne was an intelligent man who deeply loved his family. He had been, and probably still was, a hard worker. The table the clock sat on looked newer than the rest of the furniture and, if Lara had to guess, handmade. He might have been retired from the force but he definitely wasn’t spending his days in his boxers watching the TV and pounding back beer after beer.

  “So what’s this about now?”

  Greg wasn’t reclining but he wasn’t on edge of his seat, either. Lara hoped it would stay that way. Nick cleared his throat.

  “To get straight to the point, someone has threatened to expose Victoria Russo’s involvement in falsifying evidence against a serial rapist and killer named Oscar Mackworth.” Nick paused. They gave his words time to wash over Greg. He’d kept a straight face until Oscar’s name. Once Nick had let the last of Mackworth leave his lips, he’d begun to pale. His jaw set hard. His hands flexed. But he didn’t outright defend the statement.

  All he said was a hard, “So?”

  “We know about your involvement, Mr. Byrne,” Nick said. “DA Mathers, as well. Denying it would only waste all of our times.”

  Greg might have gone pale but he wasn’t in any way backing down. He was a proud man, who Lara suspected was honorable. She also suspected that helping to put Oscar Mackworth away had been the only time he’d done something considered dishonorable in his law enforcement career. Though she knew she could be wrong. She’d been wrong about people before. People she trusted a hell of a lot more than a man she’d barely just met.

  �
��I remember the case,” Greg said.

  Lara moved to the edge of the couch. It drew the retired cop’s attention to her. She didn’t smile at him. Fake cheer wouldn’t smooth over the conversation. They needed to know who the leak was. As soon as possible.

  “Frankly, we don’t care about what you did,” she started. “In fact, to be just as frank, I probably would have done the same thing but right now the only thing we have to figure out is how that secret got into the extremely wrong hands it’s currently in. So here’s the only question we want the answer to—Who did you tell?”

  * * *

  “Who did I tell? Are you fucking kidding me with this?”

  Ryan Mathers spoke with spit, volume and his hands. Jennifer was glad that she’d decided to stand behind her chair instead of sit in it when they’d first been invited into the man’s home office. Her reasoning at the time, however, had been to make herself taller than the defense attorney. While he’d helped break the law to keep a psycho behind bars, he still seemed like a man who needed reminding that he wasn’t the hotshot in every room.

  Even if it was his own room.

  “We know you were a part of Oscar’s acquittal being dismissed,” Ty said. “We’re just trying to figure out who you told.”

  Mathers held both his hands out, palms facing each other but not touching. Like he was holding an invisible box. Really it was his way of directing their attention to his words and exactly what he wanted them to understand from them.