Stolen (43 page)

“Go ahead. I’m not working for you.”

“I killed your brother; I killed your girlfriend; I will kill everyone you’ve ever known.”

Sean had a moment of hesitation. He knew Duke was alive, but what if LeGrand had already killed Lucy?

While LeGrand ranted, Sean pulled a small bobby pin from the pocket seam in his jeans and picked the lock on the handcuffs.

“I want my money!” LeGrand hit Sean again, and he dropped the pin after one side sprang open.

He swung his arm around and the free end of the handcuffs hit LeGrand square in the face. LeGrand fell to his knees. Sean ran to the other side of the deck, but Evan came down from the wheel house and hit him with a metal pole, then pointed his gun at Sean’s head.

“Stupid fuck,” Evan said.

Sean was on his knees. His chest burned, and he was certain he’d cracked or broken a rib. He couldn’t move if he wanted. He took a couple deep breaths and didn’t think his lung had been pierced.

LeGrand came up behind him and kicked him to the deck.

“We’ll get the money,” LeGrand told Evan, “without him.”

Sean rolled over onto his back and looked at the gun in LeGrand’s hand. Then Sean looked up, at the top of the yacht, and saw Jack. Jack nodded once.

Sean said to LeGrand, “Don’t look up.”

LeGrand didn’t take the bait, but Evan did.

Sean kicked Evan’s legs out from under him. Through the pain in Sean’s ribs, he fought Evan for the gun. A bullet flew by Sean; then the shadow that was Jack Kincaid jumped down a full story and tackled Kurt LeGrand to the ground.

Sean disarmed Evan and held the gun on him. “Don’t move or I will kill you.”

Evan lunged for Sean and Sean fired twice.

Evan collapsed.

Sean crawled over to where Jack was holding LeGrand and hitting him in the face.

“Jack,” Sean said. “Stop.”

Jack hit LeGrand once more, then dropped him. He was barely conscious.

Floodlights lit up the docks and through a loudspeaker came Noah’s voice.

“This is the FBI. You are surrounded. Put down your weapons.”

Sean looked at Jack and started laughing.

*   *   *

Sean had no idea what happened at the docks after the FBI showed up. He’d been transported by ambulance to a hospital, Lucy by his side. He got X-rays and the doctor said two ribs were cracked, but not broken. Didn’t matter, they hurt like hell. He was taped up and ordered not to do anything strenuous. The doctor had wanted to keep him overnight because of his concussion, but Sean refused. It was already six in the morning, he didn’t want to stay an additional day. Still, they were running more tests and Sean had to wait in a bed, like an invalid.

At least they let Lucy in.

“Did you see your brother?” Sean asked.

She nodded. “You don’t remember him helping you walk to the ambulance?”

“Vaguely.” Once the adrenaline from the fight wore off, his brain had turned fuzzy.

“Maybe you should stay overnight—”

“No,” he said. “We’ll get a hotel. I need you, Lucy.”

He leaned up to kiss her, wincing as his ribs protested.

Lucy gently pushed him back down, sat on the edge of the bed, and kissed him. “Don’t move.”

“Are you okay?”

“You asked me that a dozen times already.”

“Tell me again.”

“I’m fine. Some bruises, nothing broken. I promise.”

He sighed in relief. “I didn’t know if LeGrand had made good on his threat.”

“He didn’t, he’s in prison, he will not be getting out.”

“Evan?”

“He’s dead. And you know about Skye?”

Sean nodded. “I was in the car.”

“I’m so sorry.” Lucy squeezed his hands.

“She killed Hunter, or sent Evan to do it. She didn’t admit to killing him, but she didn’t deny it, either. And Colton—”

“Noah said he’s out of surgery and in ICU. It’s touch and go, but the doctors think he’s going to make it.”

“What am I supposed to tell him?” Sean wasn’t looking forward to explaining to Colton that he’d been working for the FBI.

“The truth.”

“It’s going to be hard. Colton was my best friend. I betrayed him.”

“He will understand,” Lucy said. “You’ll make him understand.”

“Unless he goes to prison.”

“Do you think Rick will do that?”

“He might not have a choice.”

“Rick will be fair.”

Noah walked into Sean’s semi-private room. “Rick will be fair about what?”

Sean didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to talk about Colton with Noah, not now when he was raw and sore and still processing everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

Lucy said, “Are you going to prosecute Colton?”

“I don’t know, I’m not the U.S. attorney.”

“Noah, please—just tell us what’s going on.”

Noah sat at the foot of Sean’s bed. “We’ll talk to him. And depending on what he says and if he helps fill in some holes, he’ll probably not do any time.”

Sean breathed easier.

Noah continued, “You could help with that, Sean. Talk to him.”

“He may not want to talk to me.”

“I think you’re wrong about that. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but it’s worth it.”

Sean agreed. “When he’s out of the woods, I’ll see him.” He changed the subject. “I’m still a little fuzzy on some details.”

“Probably the concussion,” Noah joked. “Maybe you should wait a day or two. We’re still processing a lot of evidence and information.”

“Then just this—why did LeGrand have Deanna Brighton killed?”

“To frame you.”

“She was the mole?”

“Steve Gannon was Paxton’s mole. Paxton feared you’d do what you did—review the tape he’d hired Colton to steal. So he had Gannon, whom he’s known for some time, partner with Brighton and feed her obsession with you. And she was obsessed—she had her home office dedicated to you.”

“But—that doesn’t make sense,” Sean said. “Was Gannon also working for LeGrand?”

“No. Gannon said Deanna had an informant close to Colton. Through phone records, we figured out it was Evan Weller. He called her twenty minutes before she was killed in your apartment.”

“He sent her there to be murdered?”

“She walked right into it. She didn’t call her partner, she wasn’t thinking like a cop. They planned to frame you for it. We have Duke’s statement—”

“You also have a tape,” Sean said.

“Excuse me?”

“I have a camera in my apartment. It’s hidden in the kitchen cabinet and covers the door and most of the room. It sends the data to a cloud server. I’ll give you the account information so you can see exactly what happened.”

Noah stared at him and Sean couldn’t read his expression. “I saw holes in the walls.”

“Patched holes,” Sean corrected.

Noah smiled. “You’re a bright guy.”

“LeGrand said that they took my gun and were going to kill someone with it.”

Noah shook his head. “Evan Weller had your gun on him. Maybe they were planning something, but it didn’t happen.”

Lucy asked, “Did the Coast Guard apprehend the ship LeGrand was going to meet?”

“Yes. I don’t know what’s going to come of it, unless we can find evidence that they planned on buying the bio-toxin. That part of the investigation has been completely taken over by Homeland, and I’m glad. It’ll be a headache I don’t need.”

“And does Paxton walk away from this?” Sean asked.

“No. Rick is working with him on his resignation. Prison—I’m not sure.”

“But—” Lucy began before Noah cut her off.

“We have evidence that Paxton and Joyce Bonner planned to taint prisoner vaccines with the mycotoxin, but when Sean stole the chip from Paxton, Bonner refused to help. She planned to destroyed the toxin, but made the mistake of threatening Paxton. That’s when he realized she had the tape of her husband’s murder.”

“And you can’t put him in prison for murder?” Lucy said.

“I think we can, but he’d go on trial for killing a man who abused his wife. Bonner has medical records from the time of her marriage showing repeated beatings and broken bones. Justified? Maybe. The vaccine scheme is more damaging to Paxton, but it hadn’t even been implemented.”

“So that bastard is going to walk,” Sean said with a long sigh. “This was all for nothing.”

“No,” Noah said. “He will not walk away free. He’s agreed to resign from office. He’s facing serious charges. Whether the U.S. attorney works out a plea deal, I don’t know. That’s out of my hands. But he’s not going to be able to manipulate the system again.”

“Well, Noah, it’s been fun,” Sean said, “but our Starsky and Hutch days are over.”

“For the record, even though you drove me crazy half the time, I was glad you were with me. I never acknowledged how difficult going undercover was for you. I asked a lot, and you delivered, at great personal and professional risk. I’ll never forget it, Sean.”

“I appreciate that,” Sean said sincerely. Then he smiled and said to Lucy, “See? I
told
you he was starting to like me.”

Noah shook his head, but smiled. “Take care of him, Lucy. I might need his help again some day.”

That was the best compliment the fed could have given Sean. He nodded to Noah, and watched him leave.

“He’s a good man,” Sean said.

“I agree. He has a lot of respect for you. You earned it.”

“Do I have stories…” He smiled. “We’re alone at last. Too bad I’m in no shape to celebrate.”

Lucy put her head on his shoulder, and he stroked her hair, surprised that his hand was shaking.

“Sean?” Lucy sat up. “What is it?”

“I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t.”

“I don’t know what to say to Duke. He came by earlier when I was kind of out of it—they gave me a shot of painkillers when they taped up my ribs. It made me kind of loopy.”

“Sean—you’ll do what is right for you.”

“Duke wants me back at RCK.”

“You don’t want to go back?”

“Would that bother you?”

She stared at him, her eyebrows arched in surprise. “Why would it bother me?”

“Patrick and Jack are both with RCK. It gives me semblance of normalcy. Validation for everything I do.”

“Sean, all I care about is that you are happy. For so long you have done everything you can to please everyone else. Not just Duke, but Patrick, and Noah, and even me.”

“I want to make you happy.”

“Sweetheart, I know. And you do, always. If you stay with RCK, you need to do it because it’s where you belong. If you don’t think you belong there anymore, don’t stay for me, or Patrick, and especially not Duke. I never realized how much your choices in life came directly out of your relationship with your brother. So don’t let Duke factor into your decision.”

“You’re right, I know—but you will always factor into my decisions. Because I love you.”

“Then let me tell you this: I will support your decision no matter what. Whether you go back to RCK or not, I will be here. That will never change.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

 
Two days later

Each footfall down the stairs made Sean’s cracked ribs sing in pain. He knew he shouldn’t have gone downstairs. But what Lucy had said at the hospital hung heavily around his heart. She was right. He had to make this decision for himself.

Duke stood with his hand on the doorknob. He didn’t have any luggage because he had come to New York only with a backpack, which had disappeared along the way. And now he was leaving Sean’s town house the same way.

Duke said, “I didn’t want to wake you.”

Sean shook his head. “No more lies, Duke. No more platitudes. No more hedging.”

Sean needed to sit down, but he was afraid if he turned his back on his brother, Duke would leave and they’d never be brothers again.

Sean didn’t want that.

“I love you, Duke.”

Damn, it was hard to say. Maybe because they were guys, they were
brothers,
they couldn’t just let their emotions leak all over the place. But after all this time of trying to be what Duke wanted, Sean realized he’d failed. Not because he couldn’t, but because he shouldn’t have tried.

“You’re coming back to RCK.”

Sean shook his head.

“Sean, when I said I was sorry, I meant it.”

“I know.”

“What more do you want? I can’t even tell you how bad I feel.”

“Duke—” Sean winced and held his side. “Can we sit down?”

“I should go.”

“Don’t. Not yet. Give me ten minutes.” Why was Sean pleading with his brother? It wasn’t going to change Sean’s decision. He needed his brother back. Not a boss, not even a partner, but his brother.