Now they were striding toward the Vine, and Percy was just standing there, looking lost. No doubt, he was feeling lost, too.
She cleared her throat. The idea of striding after those guys was tempting, but she’d just started her career with the FBI. Walking away now? Not so much an option for her.
But doing the right thing? That was what they should all do. “Sir,” Lauren began carefully as she climbed out of the van and moved toward him, “we have Tom’s confession. The longer that we leave Zoe Peters with him, the more volatile the situation will become.”
He whirled toward her. “You think I need some rookie telling me how to do my job?”
Her chin notched up. “Right now, yes, sir, I do.” Try another tactic. “Unless you want Agent Monroe getting all of the credit for the takedown. I mean, if you are providing tactical support, the operation is still technically under your supervision. But if you let him go in there, without any of your team…well, you’re essentially turning everything over to him.”
His jaw hardened. “You were a fucking psych major in college, weren’t you?”
“Yes, sir.” She actually had a Master’s in psychology.
“You think I don’t know when I’m being played?”
“I think you don’t know how to be human.” There. She was probably going to get some really shitty assignments in the future, but she’d spoken the truth. “Didn’t you see the way Victor looked when he talked about Zoe? He loves her. And you were asking him to just keep risking her life. That wasn’t going to happen.”
“Victor Monroe doesn’t love anyone.”
She bit her lower lip. Maybe the assistant director needed to take a few psych classes.
“He doesn’t,” Percy said stubbornly.
“Then why did he just quit the FBI so that he could rush into the Vine and get Zoe Peters back to safety?”
“The cop needs us!”
On that, she agreed. “Then the FBI should be pulling out all the stops. We save Michelle Lane and Zoe. We storm that place and we don’t let anyone get in our way.” Each word came out more heated than the last. “I didn’t join the Bureau to sit on the sidelines. With respect, sir, I joined to kick some ass.”
He was silent a moment.
Her hand nervously tapped against her holster. Every moment that passed was a moment that everything could be going to hell inside of the Vine. Every moment…
“Agent Ward,” Percy barked. “Get the tactical team moving.”
“Right away!” A wide grin split her face. She rushed to follow his order.
“And Agent Ward…”
She looked back.
“I think I like you.” He nodded. “You’ll go far at the FBI.”
“Good…because that’s just what I want.”
Chapter Sixteen
“So what’s the plan?” Jasmine demanded as soon as they headed toward the casino.
The plan? Get Zoe. Keep her safe always. Throw Tom Winters in a cell and never let him see the light of day again.
He took the gun that Russell offered to him and tucked it in his waistband. “The plan is for me to distract Tom Winters.” A simple, basic plan. “I’ll get all the attention focused on me. While I do that, Jasmine and Drake, you two find a way to access the Vine’s security files.” Jasmine had always been gifted with computers. “You get on the network. Get access to every secret you can find.”
Russell gave a low whistle. “You think you can find Michelle Lane by hacking the place?”
“It’s sure as shit worth a try. Get control of the system,” Victor ordered them. Drake and Jasmine both had plenty of talents—many of which weren’t exactly legal. “I want you to take control of all the security cameras. Turn off the feeds.” Now his gaze zeroed in on Russell. “As soon as they have control, you get up to the penthouse because I will be needing your backup.” He had no idea how many guards would come running once he attacked. “We arrest Winters while we still have our FBI badges and we get Zoe the hell out of there.” He glanced at the team, trying to make sure everyone was in agreement with his spur-of-the-moment plan. It’s better than nothing.
Drake nodded. “Sounds good to me…provided you don’t get yourself killed while you’re fighting to get the guy’s attention.”
Jasmine grabbed Victor’s arm. “He won’t.” The threat was in her eyes. “He’d better not.”
“Don’t worry, Jazz. I’ve got too much to live for now. Dying isn’t on my agenda.”
Her brow furrowed. “Vic?”
“I need her. I can be happy…with her.” I am happy with her. As long as I can get Zoe to forgive me. As long as I haven’t screwed things up too badly. As long as I have a chance.
Jasmine’s face softened. “Then let’s get her the hell out of that building.”
Damn straight.
***
“I need proof that Michelle is alive.” Zoe licked her lips. They’d gone desert dry. Her wrist still throbbed and nausea churned in her belly. “Before I do anything else, I need proof.”
Tom tilted his head to the side, seeming to consider the matter.
“Proof of life,” Zoe whispered. “I have to get it or there is no deal that will ever happen.”
“Fine.” He marched back to his laptop. Typed on a few keys. Then he spun the laptop around to face her. “Here you go.”
She inched closer to the desk so that she could see the laptop screen. Video footage was playing. Footage that showed a woman—bound hand and foot and gagged—as she lay on a lush, four-poster bed.
“I gave her a nice suite,” Tom said. “Pity she can’t really appreciate it.”
Michelle is in the hotel.
“Now…” He snapped the laptop closed. “Do we have a deal?”
“I can’t kill Luther Bates.”
He sighed. “Fine.” Tom pulled out his phone, dialed quickly, then put the phone to his ear. “The guest in room 2804 is checking out. Make sure there isn’t a mess when she leaves.”
The guest…
“No!” Zoe screamed because she knew exactly what the bastard was doing.
“No?” Tom’s brows climbed. “Why not? Michelle is of no use to me if you won’t make the deal for her. Better to just kill her now.”
“No, don’t!”
“Then do we have a deal?” he asked silkily. “Say it, Zoe. I need the words. I need to hear you say that you’ll kill your father.”
“Why?” Zoe paced away from him, hurrying toward the windows that overlooked the city. She’d gotten his confession. When Victor had spoken those last words to her in the lobby, she’d realized what her job was. She’d done the job. Now shouldn’t the FBI be storming in to save the day? Tom had just said where Michelle was. She’d seen her…alive. It was time for the good guys to swoop in and stop this nightmare.
Only…no one was swooping. Her shoulders hunched as she stared at the street below. There was no sign of swarming cop cars. No men and women in bullet proof vests rushing toward the building. “Why do you need me to say the words?” Zoe asked, trying to buy some more time. “So you can record me…the way you recorded Victor’s little attack on you? Then you’ll take my words and show them to Luther. Show him that I could never really be trusted. That you’re the only one who had his back all this time.” She was just bullshitting but even as she said the words, they did make a twisted kind of sense. Frowning now, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Why do you want me to say the words?”
His eyes gleamed. “You’ve always protected him.”
No, she hadn’t.
“Luther told me that you were the one who would never turn on him, no matter what. That blood was thicker than anything else.”
Zoe shivered. “And he wasn’t going to promote you in the organization because you weren’t family.” Not unless you married me.
“Screw that old family mob nonsense. I have the brains. I know this operation inside and out.”
You don’t know me.
“I want to
hear the words because it will make me fucking happy to hear them. Consider it my final payback against him. He was always so sure you’d keep choosing him. That you’d never do anything against him.” Tom laughed. “Even when you were screwing the FBI agent, Luther was adamant that you could be trusted. That you wouldn’t reveal anything that would hurt him. And the damn thing is…you haven’t. You were in FBI custody for months and you still didn’t talk. No new charges came against Luther, and every day, he just got cockier and cockier.”
There was still no one storming the penthouse. There was only silence, all around her.
“You’ve got so many damn weird daddy issues,” Tom spat at her.
And she had to laugh. “Yes, I do.” A cold smile curved her lips. “But you want to know why I never talked? Why I didn’t go to the FBI?” She lifted her hand to her right ear. Pressed on that little earring. To him, it would probably just look like another nervous gesture. To her…
I’m turning off the feed.
She thrust back her shoulders. “I didn’t talk because I’m not some innocent girl. I never have been.”
He was watching her with curiosity gleaming in his eyes.
“I saw him kill my mother, but that wasn’t the only time I saw who Luther truly was. He made it his mission for me to see everything. To know everything.” All of the pain she’d held in check bubbled out now. “He planned for me to take over his operation, you see. So he forced me to watch the blood and the pain and the hell he wrecked. I didn’t get sent to boarding school right away. I stayed with him. He made sure of it. And sometimes…” Her voice grew raspy. “He made me help him.”
Tom’s eyes had widened.
“One day, he brought in a drug dealer who’d tried to betray him. Luther wanted me to take care of the guy. Me. A teenager. When I told him that he was crazy, Luther put a gun in my hand.” She was shaking as she remembered this. “He put a gun in my hand and then…then he put his gun to my head.” She lifted her left hand, made it into a pretend gun, and put it right next to her temple.
Shock covered Tom’s face. I guess Luther didn’t tell you this secret.
“Luther said either I would kill that guy or I would be the one dying.”
Tom took a few fast steps toward her. “You killed the dealer. That’s why Luther was so certain of you. He had that man’s death on you. So if you betrayed him, then he’d turn you over to the cops—”
“I didn’t kill him.”
He stilled.
“The guy was crying, begging in front of me. Saying he’d made a mistake. That he’d never do it again. Luther was yelling for me to shoot. And I—I yanked the gun up. I turned it on Luther and I shot.”
Tom blinked. “You…shot Luther?”
“And he shot me.” Her breath sawed out. She moved her hand, brushed back the heavy mane of her hair, and showed him the faint white scar on the side of her head. She worked to constantly hide that scar. Even Victor had never seen it. “Because I’d moved, the bullet…it didn’t do much damage to me. Just grazed me. My bullet tore into Luther’s stomach, but he had doctors at his beck and call. They fixed him right up.”
“What happened to the drug dealer?”
Her gaze lowered to the floor. “When Luther was better, he brought me to see the man again. And he made me watch while the guy was slowly tortured. It took five days before he died. By that point, I wanted to kill the guy just to stop his pain.”
“Luther has always been good at getting what he wants.” There was admiration in his tone.
There was only hate in her voice as she said, “When it was over, Luther told me that it was all my fault. Every cry. Every scream. Because things could have ended quickly for the guy. But they didn’t. Because I did that. I made him hurt more. And Luther told me that if I ever tried to stop him again, he would make sure everyone I cared about went through that same hell.” She let her hair fall. “Once you see someone die that way…while you are helpless to stop their pain…it changes you.”
He came toward her. Lifted her hair again and traced that faint scar. His touch revolted her, but she didn’t move as he said, “Luther shot his own daughter.”
That was the part that she thought Luther might have regretted. Because when their guns had exploded that faithful day, and blood had poured down the side of her head, Luther had screamed. Not with fury. Not with pain.
With fear.
And he’d screamed her name.
Tom was silent a moment, then he shrugged as he dropped his hand. “I still want to hear you say that you’ll kill Luther Bates.”
“Fine.” She bit off the word. “I will kill Luther Bates. Are you happy now?”
“I’m—”
The doors to the penthouse flew open. No, they’d been kicked open. Chunks of wood flew through the air. Victor stood there, chest heaving, a gun in his hand and fury on his face. “Guess what, asshole?” he shouted at Tom. “I decided I didn’t fucking like your deal.” He reached into his pocket and yanked out the keycard he’d used in the elevator earlier. He tossed it onto the floor at Tom’s feet. “So I’m making a new deal. One that involves me, walking out of here with Zoe. And you—you spending the rest of your life behind bars.”
Tom rushed toward his desk. He yanked open his laptop and started tapping on the keys. “You shouldn’t be up here! My guards should never have let you—”
“The guards I encountered on my way up are…indisposed, so to speak.” Victor flashed his shark’s smile. Definitely killer.
“The video feed isn’t coming up!” Tom yelled. Spittle flew from his mouth. “What in the hell?”
“Oh, must be a technical glitch,” Victor said, sounding not even a little surprised. “That shit happens.”
Tom’s hand dropped away from the laptop.
“Zoe…” Victor said her name softly. Carefully. “Zoe, why are you holding your wrist that way?”
And she realized she was cradling her right wrist against her stomach. “It’s broken.”
Victor’s face…changed. His eyes seemed to burn brighter, but his expression became so dark, so menacing that, for a moment, she almost felt as if she were staring at a stranger.
“Come here, Zoe,” Victor said softly. He still had his gun aimed at Tom. “Come to me.”
Right. This was it. The good guy swooping in. Only she wasn’t convinced Victor was the good guy, not any longer.
I hate secrets. I’m so sick of them. Sick to death of them. She started walking toward Victor. At least this particular nightmare was over.
“Stop, Zoe.” Tom’s voice was mild. “Take another step, and the guard in Michelle’s room will blow her brains out.”
Her gaze jerked to him. His fingers were poised over his phone.
“One click, and I send the order to kill. Maybe my security system is glitching, but I can still use my phone and text just fine. The guard in the room will kill her, and Michelle’s blood will be on you. Just like your father said…everyone you care about, right? It goes back to you. To your fucking choices.”
She stilled.
“Come to me, Zoe,” Tom said.
“Zoe…” Victor growled.
“To me or she dies.” His finger was so close to the phone’s screen.
Zoe looked at Victor. “Tell me that the FBI heard which room she’s in. Tell me that a team already has her and that he’s bullshitting me. Please, please…tell me that.”
A muscle flexed in Victor’s jaw. His gaze was still locked on Tom. “Drop the phone or I will shoot your ass right now.”
That is Victor’s answer. He wants Tom to drop the phone because Michelle isn’t safe yet. The FBI doesn’t have her. But Tom’s finger was too close. If Victor fired, Tom could still carry out his dark order. He could hit send on the text—
She rushed toward Tom. “Don’t.”
With his left hand, Tom grabbed her, yanked her close and used her as a human shield. “You have got to stop caring so much about other people. Serious weakness, swee
theart.”
She didn’t think so. Caring about other people—that was what stopped her from becoming a monster. From being just like Luther.
He’d wanted her to stop caring. He’d wanted to alienate her. To make her see that people couldn’t be trusted. That your friends turned on you. That your lovers betrayed you.
Only blood matters.
She stared across the room and into Victor’s eyes. He still had his weapon up and aimed. Only right then, it was aimed at her because in order to shoot Tom, Victor would have to shoot her, too.
“How the fuck do you really think this will end?” Victor asked as he eased closer. His grip on that gun never wavered. “Here’s a newsflash for you, Tom. Zoe was wired. The FBI heard every single word you said up here with her. That jammer on your desk—you turned that shit off when I left, remember? Only you forgot to turn it back on. We’ve got you. You are done.”
“No!” Tom’s hold on Zoe tightened. “No, I won’t go down like this! I won’t!” And she knew he was going to send that text. She couldn’t let it happen. Zoe threw her entire body back against Tom and they fell to the floor in a heap.
***
“I’ve got her,” Jasmine said as she looked up from the computer monitor. The techs who’d been working in that room were unconscious at Drake’s feet. “The cop is being held in room 2804.” Her gaze darted over to the wall of monitors on the right. The security footage still showed on that wall, but the feed wasn’t going to Tom Winters, not any longer. She’d fixed that jackass.
“Looks like the rest of the cavalry is coming in,” Drake said as he, too, looked at the monitors.
The FBI was swarming through the building’s front doors.
Jasmine leapt to her feet. “Let’s get to Michelle before someone panics.” She’d seen that happen before. With the authorities bursting in, people would get desperate. And a desperate person could become trigger happy at the wrong time.
But…
She looked at the top monitor. A monitor that showed the penthouse. The penthouse…Victor was up there. And she knew he was not going to leave that place without Zoe.