Stolen. Part 34
Senator Paxton's career was over. His freedom was gone. And as he watched the tape, he knew it, too.
It was just Noah and the senator. Rick Stockton and the SAC of the New York City field office were on the other side of the gla.s.s. The FBI director had already been briefed in D.C. But Rick let Noah interrogate Paxton. It was Noah's operation that had yielded the prize. This was what he had been working toward for the past ten months.
But it didn't feel like a victory when he had a dead agent, a dead hacker, and Sean and Duke missing.
Noah had to give the senator credit for maintaining a poker face.
"Rogan," Paxton said with both disgust and a hint of admiration.
"You attempted to get Rogan off of Colton's team because you thought he would look at the tape."
"I was right, wasn't I?" Paxton shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore."
Noah didn't know if Paxton was playing the defeatist senator in an attempt to gain sympathy, to delay, or to plot out an escape plan. He had the money and contacts to flee, but he was well known. It would be hard for him to leave the country and set up somewhere undetected.
In the back of Noah's mind he realized that Paxton would never go to prison. He'd been a prosecutor, an attorney general, and now a U.S. senator. He'd never be housed with a violent prison population. There were some facilities where he might be safe, but Paxton must have an out plan. A plan that kept him free, even if he was forced to resign.
But Noah couldn't think about how Paxton was going to maneuver out of this mess. Noah needed answers.
"We have plenty to talk about, but right now I need to know what happened at PBM. You hired Colton Thayer to retrieve this tape. We also know that you told Thayer that you had proof that PBM falsified their drug testing related to the experimental drugs that Thayer believes killed his brother."
Paxton started to laugh. Noah stared at him, his jaw tight, not for the first time thinking about taking a fist to Paxton's jaw. Noah wasn't a violent man. He was methodical. Disciplined. Paxton brought out the worst in Noah, and now he finally understood how Sean felt last summer when Paxton manipulated him.
Noah waited Paxton out. He wasn't going to take the bait.
"You have all the answers."
"I'm asking you."
"What's truly funny is that you and Rogan were working together. You don't even like each other. You're both in love with Lucy. Rogan plays in the dirt and gets very dirty, yet you are the shining knight, the former decorated Air Force lieutenant who believes in the system. I missed it. You're not susceptible to Sean Rogan's manipulative charm. That means-this was all you."
Noah wasn't certain what Paxton was trying to do.
Paxton said, "When did you open an investigation on me?"
Noah didn't trust Paxton, but he hadn't asked for a lawyer and he had been read his rights. When he got an attorney, the information would be available.
"I became suspicious in January after interviewing Buckley and the others involved in the WFC vigilante group. They didn't say anything to give you away. But Buckley wasn't smart enough to pull off the widespread vigilante project, and your protege, Mick Mallory, was too ruthless to be so disciplined. You're both smart and disciplined. But you also had a vendetta. There was one gun not recovered in Mallory's house. I think you were the one to put a bullet in the head of the last man still alive who'd hurt your daughter. The last man who hurt Lucy."
Paxton stared at Noah. There was no more humor in his icy expression. "What you think and what you can prove are far different."
"Agent Gannon has already given a statement. He doesn't know Kurt LeGrand. Do you? Did you set Sean up?"
"I wish I had," Paxton said. "He's been a problem. But I don't know Kurt LeGrand, and I don't know why he'd want Sean, unless Sean p.i.s.sed him off like he seems to anger everyone he meets. He's an arrogant, condescending smart-a.s.s."
Noah gave Paxton a half smile. "I don't disagree with you there. He's also intelligent, loyal, and courageous. He knew he was walking into a dangerous situation, but he did it anyway."
"He did it to get the goods on me. Don't label him as n.o.ble. He cares about himself, and that's it. I had evidence of a crime he committed, and I bet you pushed him to help so he gets a clean slate." Paxton smiled. "You have a good poker face, but I see that I'm right."
Paxton gestured to the video that was now paused. "If Sean Rogan had walked into that room and saw a woman he cared about being attacked, he would have done the same thing I did. He and I are no different. Never forget that."
"What happened between you and Joyce Bonner that you felt you had to steal this tape?"
Paxton leaned forward. "It's personal."
"What do you know about the bio-toxin that PBM was developing?"
"I'm done here, Agent Armstrong," Paxton said. "I will have my attorney now."
"We believe that Kurt LeGrand was working with two people in Colton Thayer's group and that they stole a bio-toxin from the lab. Joyce Bonner is being picked up by two agents at her house. I will find out what is going on."
"I believe I asked for my attorney, and I still have const.i.tutional rights, Agent Armstrong."
Noah stepped out before his temper finally exploded. Rick Stockton was in the adjoining room on the phone. His face was red, and a vein throbbed in his neck. Noah had never seen Rick so agitated.
"Find out what happened. Now!"
Rick hung up but got back on the phone without saying anything to Noah.
Suzanne stepped into the room with a dark-haired, tan-skinned, forty-something man who immediately drew attention to himself simply by his foreboding presence. He had on a visitor badge and an expression that told Noah he'd seen everything, and worse.
Rick hung up his phone in the middle of his conversation. "Jack."
"Where's Lucy?"
Noah looked from Jack to Rick. He was definitely caught off-guard.
"We have every D.C. cop, every federal agent in D.C. and New York tracking her. We found the van they used abandoned, and evidence that they picked up another vehicle."
Rick turned to Noah and seemed to gather his confidence and command back. "Noah, while you were interrogating the senator, I got word from D.C. that Lucy was abducted from Sean's house. I don't have a full report, but it appears there were four men who broke in, two in front, two in back. There's a lot of video footage on the attack because of the security system. As soon as she pressed the panic b.u.t.ton, all cameras in the house were activated. She locked herself in the bathroom, shot two attackers, was tranquilized and disarmed. She was carried out of the house less than two minutes before the police arrived.
"We IDed the man killed in the bathroom. He's Billy Potts, from Queens, a hired gun a.s.sociated with the man Corbett you found dead in the warehouse. Lucy shot him twice in the chest, but his partner killed him because he was in no condition to run. We have blood from another victim-she shot one of the other men in the arm. If he's in the system, we'll have a DNA match in hours. I called in everyone at the lab to process the scene."
Jack said, "LeGrand. Where does he live?"
"We've been to his apartment; he hasn't been there in a long time," Suzanne said.
"Other property?"
"We're working on it," Rick said.
Jack looked at Paxton through the one-way mirror. He brushed past Noah and went into the room. Noah followed immediately. "Jack-"
Jack Kincaid didn't acknowledge Noah. He walked around to where Paxton sat and slammed his palm on the table. "Did you order Lucy's abduction?"
The shock and confusion on Paxton's face told Noah that he didn't know anything about it.
"What happened to Lucy?"
"I'm Jack Kincaid. Lucy is my sister. And you're involved in this."
"I love Lucy like she's my own daughter. I've always protected her."
Jack looked as if he would deck Paxton. Paxton must have sensed the same thing, because he flinched and leaned away from Jack.
"What do you know about Kurt LeGrand?"
"Nothing."
"How did you find out about Martin Holdings?"
Paxton blinked. "I-"
"Don't lie to me. If those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds touch her, if they hurt her, I will hurt you ten times worse."
"After I hired Colton Thayer to retrieve electronic files for me last spring, his partner Skye Jansen delivered the chip. She told me that Thayer wanted to bring Sean into the plan, but Sean wasn't doing it. She gave me the information, implying that they would leverage the information to gain Sean's cooperation. I still didn't want him involved, but she seemed to think he was some sort of security G.o.d, the only one who could do what we needed. Once he was in New York I had second thoughts. That's it. I swear, I don't know Kurt LeGrand, never heard of him until Agent Armstrong mentioned his name. Jack, believe me, I'll do anything to protect my daughter!"
Jack leaned forward and, only inches from Paxton's face, whispered, "Lucy. Is not. Your daughter."
He turned and walked out. Noah followed.
"LeGrand needs a remote or private place to keep Duke and Lucy," Noah said. "There's no property under his name or Skye Jansen's or Evan Weller's."
"We're running Obsidian Trust right now," Rick said. "Lucy and Dorothy uncovered the connection between Obsidian, Martin, and LeGrand."
Jack said, "Show me the message Lucy sent last night."
Rick handed him his phone. "We think they need Sean to break into an FBI warehouse in Brooklyn. RCK upgraded the security on all storage facilities last year."
"Why now?" Suzanne asked.
Rick said, "Now that the plea agreement with the Averys is final the evidence will be sent to a remote storage facility."
Jack glared at first Noah, then Rick. "You should have brought RCK into this operation before putting Sean undercover."
Rick straightened his spine. "That was my call, Jack. RCK has a lot of lat.i.tude, lat.i.tude I helped put in place, but Sean's defection needed to be real. I stand by my decision."
In a low voice Jack said, "Then I will hold you personally responsible if anything happens to my sister." He walked out.
Noah let out a breath. "s.h.i.t."
"He's right. I didn't see this coming."
"Sir," Noah said, "no one did. They set Sean up. They had this planned for a long time. If Lucy is right, Kurt LeGrand has been plotting revenge for nearly a decade."
"I-um, better make sure Kincaid doesn't go AWOL," Suzanne mumbled, and left.
"So that's Lucy's other brother," Noah said. "He's nothing like Patrick or Dillon."
"No, he's certainly not."
"He's a lot more like Sean." Without the charm.
CHAPTER THIRTY.
Sean remained silent on the short walk from the barn to the house. He surveyed the land but saw no familiar landmarks and no other houses. He had no idea how long they'd flown-they'd left PBM after 11:30 last night, and it was about 6:30 a.m. now. As they were in the country, with no sound of traffic, they would be at least thirty minutes from the city. Or they could be three hours away. More.
Sean was brought into the house through the front door, uncuffed. It took all his control not to fight Skye, but that would do Duke no good and Sean thought he might have a concussion from when Evan hit him with the gun. Or his queasiness was the tranquilizer working through his system. He wasn't 100 percent; that was certain. Not being at his prime in addition to not knowing the layout of the property or the type of security he faced meant any escape attempt would be foolhardy.
As soon as he stepped into the well-appointed house, he heard the tick of a grandfather clock. He glanced over and saw it was nearly seven thirty in the morning. He'd been an hour off on the time. He glanced out the door to gauge the sun, so he could keep track.
Evan stood inside the door and scowled. He slammed the door shut, and Skye smiled widely at Sean. "Welcome," she said.
Sean returned her grin. "b.i.t.c.h."
Evan punched him in the small of his back. Sean ground his teeth to fight the pain.
Kurt LeGrand entered the foyer holding a bottle of champagne. "Evan, please." LeGrand spoke as if addressing a child.
Sean sized LeGrand up. He wasn't a large man, trim and five eight, nine tops. Fair coloring, well dressed in pressed khakis and white polo shirt. His cold blue eyes were calculating, and Sean knew immediately that LeGrand should not be underestimated.
LeGrand extended his hand to Sean. Sean didn't take it. His captor didn't seem to care and smiled. "I would say thank you for coming, but you didn't have a choice. Sit."
LeGrand motioned through double doors that led to a dining room that was set for four. That's when Sean recognized the smells coming from the kitchen-sausage, bacon, maple syrup. "Sit," LeGrand repeated.
"I'm not hungry."
His captor nodded to Evan and the other male in the room, who grabbed Sean and sat him at one end of the table. LeGrand sat at the opposite end and said "Eric, please bring in breakfast."
Skye and Evan sat at the table and LeGrand said to Sean, "I understand you want to be difficult in an attempt to show you're in charge, or not yield to my authority, so let me explain. Don't p.i.s.s me off. Don't be an a.s.shole. I will have your brother killed; then I will go through the other people you care about. Your former partner Patrick Kincaid and your girlfriend, Lucy Kincaid. That's pretty much it, right? You're not all that close to many people. Well, now that your best friend is dead."
It was all Sean could do not to leap across the table and put his hands around Kurt LeGrand's neck.
He simply stared, his jaw clenched shut.
LeGrand smiled. "You understand."
LeGrand poured champagne in four cla.s.ses, then added what looked like fresh-squeezed orange juice. "It's early," he said, "but we have much to celebrate."
LeGrand was near forty, though his manners and demeanor were a generation more mature than those of Sean's peers. To Sean it seemed like an act. Like the house and table was all a stage and Kurt LeGrand with his careful speech was the star. All eyes on him. Everyone took his lead.
Except- Sean glanced at Skye. She had an odd, smug smirk on her face, as if she had a secret no one else knew. She'd taken the time to shower and change since they were at PBM. The care that LeGrand took in presenting this meal was the same care Skye took in presenting herself.