Tough Justice: Betrayed
Tyler Anne Snell
Justice is worth every sacrifice.Part 7 of 8 in the chilling, high-octane FBI thriller TOUGH JUSTICE from NYT bestselling author Carla Cassidy and Tyler Anne Snell, Carol Ericson and Gail Barrett.Keep your friends close. Your enemies closer. And your colleagues?Trust has never been easy for Special Agent Lara Grant. Life taught her a hard lesson as a child, one she’s never forgotten. But now, when the betrayal is so close to home, Lara is pushed to the very limit.As the players finally move into position it’s time to go all in, or go home. It doesn’t matter that fear is shaking her very core, it doesn’t matter that everything she has – her team, her new family – is on the line.What does matter is that there is and always has been one truth about Lara Grant; when her back’s against the wall, she comes out guns blazing. And finally her target is in her sights…Tough Justice: Exposed (Part 1 of 8) by Carla CassidyTough Justice: Watched (Part 2 of 8) by Tyler Anne SnellTough Justice: Burned (Part 3 of 8) by Carol EricsonTough Justice: Trapped (Part 4 of 8) by Gail BarrettTough Justice: Twisted (Part 5 of 8) by Gail BarrettTough Justice: Ambushed (Part 6 of 8) by Carol EricsonTough Justice: Betrayed (Part 7 of 8) by Tyler Anne SnellTough Justice: Hunted (Part 8 of 8) by Carla Cassidy
TOUGH JUSTICE: Justice is worth every sacrifice.
Episode Seven: Betrayed
Lara Grant has just discovered Cass has been visiting her dad’s house. Why? There must be an innocent explanation. Now Lara has to wage two wars—one on the home front, while still playing those deadly cat-and-mouse games with Moretti. But they should both know something about Lara. When pushed to her limits, she never goes down without a fight. Especially when her target is in her sights...
(#ulink_7af9a549-88ce-55bb-8758-22b5a8a94937)
Justice is worth every sacrifice.
A brand-new 8-part reading experience starting January 12, 2016!
FBI agent Lara Grant has finally put her life as an undercover operative behind her and started a new assignment in New York City. But her past and present collide and become ever more twisted as a spate of murders sends a message that is cruelly, chillingly personal...
Tough Justice: Exposed (Part 1 of 8) by New York Times bestselling author Carla Cassidy
Tough Justice: Watched (Part 2 of 8) by Tyler Anne Snell
Tough Justice: Burned (Part 3 of 8) by Carol Ericson
Tough Justice: Trapped (Part 4 of 8) by Gail Barrett
Tough Justice: Twisted (Part 5 of 8) by Gail Barrett
Tough Justice: Ambushed (Part 6 of 8) by Carol Ericson
Tough Justice: Betrayed (Part 7 of 8) by Tyler Anne Snell
Tough Justice: Hunted (Part 8 of 8) by New York Times bestselling author Carla Cassidy
TYLER ANNE SNELL writes and reads a little bit of everything but has a soft spot for thrillers, mysteries and sexual tension. When she isn’t writing or reading, she’s rewatching her favorite TV series or playing video games. The first book she finished in one sitting was a Mills & Boon Intrigue. It taught her to appreciate the power of a good book.
Tyler lives in Florida with her same-named husband and their mini lions.
Visit her: www.tylerannesnell.com (http://www.tylerannesnell.com).
Tough Justice: Betrayed (Part 7 Of 8)
Tyler Anne Snell
For Jen Fitzgerald, Janie Crouch and Elizabeth Heiter. Without the constant support from you I don’t know if I would have had the focus to write all of the words. Absolutely wonderful companions to travel through Deadline Land with! Thank you for everything.
Contents
Cover (#uf7d1029c-b75b-51cf-a11f-a1970e3dd811)
Back Cover Text (#u99bfa99f-2acc-5c0b-b674-bb9cd4014c5f)
About Tough Justice (#u7d24fc09-29fd-5a50-a3af-447fd8f31485)
About the Author (#u5aaf5be4-12db-5af5-a149-41954f4fadc1)
Title Page (#u0d7f97d1-79d5-5be7-85a0-178b693dddb2)
Dedication (#u07a3a1f7-4536-5770-a3c5-7ad941e4067b)
Chapter One (#u8e7ee315-d9a1-5468-b375-c85cc2de2709)
Chapter Two (#udb4a8cde-9a28-5aeb-b92f-57f534e91ada)
Chapter Three (#u5843c488-6176-5e8c-a45b-f1bb6d369abd)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#ulink_b615a77f-d982-5ff0-bf90-dc91c81abf73)
Why?
Lara stared at the spot on the ceiling with a good dose of detachment and yet intense interest.
Why had Cass been going into her father’s house?
The question hadn’t gone away since it had first cropped up. Like a tumor you knew no doctor would be able to cure. She couldn’t shake it, forget it or move past it. She also didn’t want to. The investigative side of her life, honed by her training and career, was being prodded by the stanch need to seek out the truth.
Which brought her back to the same blaring question.
Why?
“You look how I feel.” Lara tilted her gaze from the ceiling down to Xander. Behind him a scowling Ty was talking to Nick. Xander had circles ringing below each eye. She wondered if she was faring any better.
“And how’s that?”
“Frustrated.” His voice dipped low, menacing. “Angry.”
“That happens when you have more questions than answers.”
“And when you’re partnered with Mr. Chatterbox.” He cut his eyes back to Ty and Nick.
“That bad?” Lara asked, lowering her voice to match.
“Let’s just say we weren’t all smiles and cheer,” he deadpanned. “I mean, I feel for the guy, losing a partner...” He paused. A dark look shadowed his face before he seemingly rethought his words. When he spoke again, she could hear the difference in tone. He’d gone a different route than when he’d started talking. “I’ll just be happy when this is all over.” Lara nodded. She definitely agreed with that. “This probably won’t help our general confusion, but, then again, it might give us a good, solid lead to follow for once.” He produced a CD from his jacket pocket and grabbed a chair from Nick’s cubicle. “Do you mind?” He motioned to her computer.
“If it gives us a lead, no I do not.” Lara took the CD just as Nick and Ty made their way over. She loaded it into the computer. “What am I looking for?”
“It’s footage from our video surveillance from yesterday,” Ty explained. “We collected this after we chased and lost him. We looked through every business in the neighborhood searching for video of Mason Moretti the hours prior to us spotting him.”
“That’s a lot of footage, let me tell you,” Xander added. Ty noticeably paused his story with a look of annoyance. The two men working as temporary partners obviously had not enjoyed their time together. Lara imagined Xander had grown used to not having a permanent work companion, as Ty had gotten used to Mei’s company. Lara refrained from following that thought any further. She may not have known her for years like the others, but she felt the loss nonetheless. Mei had been a part of their team. That, in a way, made her family, too.
“As I was saying,” Ty said, rallying, “we finally spotted our very own twin cowboy.”
He moved around Lara and sped up the footage to a strip of sidewalk outside of a bookstore. They watched in silence after he hit Play, waiting until Mason Moretti and a woman walked into the corner of the frame.
“That’s definitely him,” Nick commented.
Mason had ditched the cowboy hat and was smiling at the woman beside him. Her head turned away, but they held hands. He said something that made her laugh before lunging forward and kissing her. What might have been a timid kiss, shying away from PDA on the somewhat busy sidewalk, turned into a scene of two lovers doing everything but taking their clothes off and having sex right there next to the street. Something Lara was sure would make it on to the cameraphones of several New York onlookers.
“That escalated quickly,” Nick said. “I think it’s safe to assume this woman is definitely familiar with Mr. Moretti.”
They watched as the couple continued to move against one another, only parting to breathe twice, before the two cooled down completely. Mason turned and began to walk away, pulling the woman along with him. His momentum spun her around, showing a clear view of her face.
Lara’s blood ran cold.
Katya Auerman.
The men continued to talk, taking guesses at the woman’s identity. Xander even moved Lara aside to pause the frame of the couple and print a copy out. Lara’s eyes stuck to the woman’s face. Sure as she was tired, she knew it was Katya. The former Moretti trafficking victim. The woman who Lara had seen talking to Cass in Battery Park. Cass and Katya had seemed more than familiar that day. Chummy even, embracing each other before parting ways.
Now Katya and Mason were paired up? What the hell was going on?
Her mind hopscotched to the Cape Cod she’d grown up in. Then Lola’s voice.
“No, you passed her—the last photo. That’s her.”
Cass.
“Excuse me for a moment,” Lara said, interrupting whatever conversation the guys had fallen into. She muttered something about the bathroom and quickly moved down the hall. Once she was inside she checked the two stalls to be sure they were empty. Not knowing why exactly, but after everything she’d been through so far—being followed, being watched—she felt better knowing her thoughts were even more secure. She rubbed her hand down her face before sidling up to the sink. Now, completely alone, she let her mind pick apart the main thoughts that had begun to rush in. Small, unsettling memories involving Cass prodded her, begging to be reviewed.
So, averting her gaze from the reflection in the mirror, Lara decided to meet them head-on.
Cass had almost unlimited access as well as technological know-how to easily gain information about each and every one of them. That didn’t preclude their individual pasts. Lara’s father, her mother, Meghan... Not to mention the professional side of her life.
How did Bartholomew’s house figure into it all? What had she been looking for?
“How could you have even kissed him?”
The anger, pure and unfiltered, had been there. Even if for a moment. And, wasn’t that all it took? One moment of raw anger could change the world. Why couldn’t it also make Cass do something out of character? Was she trying to knock Lara off balance as some sort of revenge?
Katya. What was her role in all of this?
Katya had been involved well before yesterday. If she and the FBI agent were indeed working together, then that meant Cass must have found out the full truth about Lara and Moretti.
Cass said she only overheard about the kiss. Was she lying? Lara moved her eyes back up to the mirror. She looked younger than she felt.
But so what if Cass knew about Lara and Moretti? Why would she go to all the trouble to slowly destroy Lara’s peace of mind? Lara’s stomach dropped. Could she have had a hand in Mei’s death?
“No way,” Lara said to the empty bathroom. Cass wouldn’t kill an innocent woman just to make a point. Not Mei. Plus, Cass didn’t stab herself with the knife, didn’t attach that note to her own leg. Forensics had already proven it was done by another. “Maybe I’m wrong.” Maybe Lola was, too. Maybe she hadn’t seen Cass but someone who looked similar. Maybe Lara was jumping to conclusions because there was nowhere else to jump.
Or maybe...
Moretti had used his brother to get to Cass. They used the young woman’s rage and anguish over her sister’s fate and used it to their advantage. Taken her ever-simmering bitterness and used it to manipulate her. Created a well-connected, well-resourced pawn. A puppet to be played with and strung along.
Lara’s reflection showed a hardened woman, an expression of silent anger staring back. It softened for a moment, but the moment didn’t last long at all. She glanced at the reflection of the bathroom door leading back out to their everyday offices.
Despite her motives—her tragic, heart-wrenching past with her sister—Cass was out there. The Bureau was her playground. One she knew how to play with. One that made her privy to everything in their investigation.
Lara let out a shaky exhale. She turned the water on high and splashed her face. It cooled the heat of frustration.
How had the case of a jumper snowballed so phenomenally out of control?
A knock sounded on the door. Lara turned the water off and grabbed a handful of paper towels.
“Yeah?” she called. The door wasn’t locked.
“It’s Nick,” her partner answered.
In that moment Lara made a decision she normally would have shied away from. She dried her face off and exited the bathroom. Nick’s brow was knitted together, concerned.
“Sorry, but you looked a little spooked,” he explained, voice low. “I wanted to make sure you were good.”
Lara nodded but didn’t meet his eyes. She was looking over his shoulder down the hall. They were alone. Lara switched her gaze towards Cass’s office.
But were they really?
“Are you okay?” he prodded.
Lara snapped back to attention. “Me? Oh, yeah, just hungry,” she hedged. “Hey, want to go grab something to eat?”
“Um, sure.” His brow rose. Nick was too good. He knew she wasn’t telling him something. “Let me grab my jacket and see if Ty and Xander want to come with. They don’t seem to be getting along too well.” Nick turned and began to walk back to the cubicles, but Lara grabbed his arm, stopping him. He looked down at her hand and its too-tight grip. She met his questioning stare as he inclined his head back up.
“I was thinking it could be just a me-and-you thing,” she said with a shrug. “Maybe grab something and go back to your place?”
If he hadn’t already looked as if he was questioning her actions, she was sure this request would have been a glaring red flag for him. Though her voice hadn’t suggested anything beyond eating, she thought she saw the notion of them repeating their earlier romp cross his expression. But, as he waited to respond, she watched as his eyes took her in. She prided herself on the walls she’d built to protect her innermost thoughts and the drama that came with them, but at that moment Lara believed Nick saw exactly what she needed him to see.
Lara needed to trust someone.
And she was choosing him to be that person.
Chapter Two (#ulink_974f66b5-28da-5a8d-b19c-d16d60bbecd1)
“Nick,” Lara started, “as you know, trust isn’t easy for me. I could give you excuse after excuse as to why I’m like this but, well...” She paused, not wanting, while simultaneously needing, to continue. The smell of their fresh coffee filled her senses, as if it was trying to egg her on with a jolt of caffeine. Though, as she fought to figure out her next words, it didn’t seem to be helping. Nick picked up on her hesitation.
“Lara, what’s this about?”
“You and I. We’re partners,” she stated.
“Yes, we are, but what does that have to do with this?” He motioned to her obvious discomfort. Lara shuffled her weight from one foot to the other. She was taking a huge risk, but she didn’t know who else to trust. Nick’s eyes roamed across her face. His concern egging her on.
Bite the bullet, Lara.
“Cass,” she said, hesitating at the relief that pooled at the simple fact of saying the name aloud. “She’s been going into my father’s house. Twice now that I know of.”
“Okay...”
“Without my knowledge or permission,” she added. “And without any reason why she should.” That changed his tone.
“Wait, our Cass? As in Cassandra McDonner?” Lara nodded. “Why?”
“I don’t know, but I’d really like to,” she admitted.
“You haven’t asked her about it?”
“No,” she replied, firm. Nick’s eyebrow rose in one perfect movement. It made her think about the night they’d shared a passionate moment. Right before she’d fled. It led to the idea of other memories they could make together. Ones with no clothes and certainly more contact. Lara rolled her shoulders back, trying to refocus. Nick unknowingly had a way of distracting her when she least expected it.
“Why wouldn’t you ask her? Is that why you wanted us to leave the office?” Lara heard the sigh before she felt it leave her lips. “Lara, what’s going on? You have to give me more to go on here.”
“I didn’t want to talk about it there because I didn’t know who I could trust. I think Cass is involved, in some part, in this case.”
“Connected? Again, you’re going to have to give me more to go on than that.” Nick was starting to get frustrated. Join the party, she thought.
“A few days ago I saw Cass at Battery Park. She was talking to a woman, definitely intently. There was no doubt that they more than knew each other. Before they left, they even hugged. The entire exchange seemed intimate, familiar. A friend for sure.”
“Okay.”
“I recognized the woman but couldn’t remember where from until later. Her name is Katya Auerman.” She paused, seeing if the name carried any weight for the man. His expression didn’t change. Lara hadn’t expected him to know all of the faces surrounding the Moretti crime syndicate and its lengthy run. “Katya was held by the Moretti organization for six years as a trafficking victim, brought in when she was seventeen.” Nick’s face hardened. “I had read up on her—her dossier—and she seems to have adjusted well to life post-syndicate. No criminal record, works as a hostess at an upscale restaurant. Seems as okay as you can be, given all that she’s been through. I assumed Cass sought out a former victim for information or some kind of closure for what happened to her sister Allie.”
“But now you don’t think so,” Nick guessed.
“The security footage we saw today, the woman that Mason Moretti was all over...” She didn’t finish. His eyes widened a fraction.
“That was Katya.”
Lara nodded.
“I think Cass has been playing some dangerous games with me as some kind of payback over Allie’s death and the Moretti case.”
“Why?” he asked, clearly confused. “You brought down her sister’s murderer. Something no one else was close to doing any time soon. Isn’t that one of the reasons she transferred over to the task force? You’re her hero. Why would she want to fuck with you?”
Because she might know everything.
Lara didn’t respond aloud. If she answered him in any way she’d be betraying a secret she’d wanted to keep buried.
She needed to keep buried.
Nick picked up on the pregnant silence. “Ah, this is the ‘more’ you haven’t been willing to tell me.”
Lara hated the way his tone had gone cold. It truly bothered him she wouldn’t wholly confide in him. I can’t, Nick. Not yet, she thought, hoping he’d understand without her having to explain.
Then again, wouldn’t she be upset if he wouldn’t have enough courage to trust in her? Hadn’t she already felt that when she’d found out that he and Mei had briefly been together?
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, barely able to keep eye contact as Nick stood and walked close.
“When you’re ready to trust me—really trust me—with what’s in there, Lara—” he placed his hand against her chest, over her heart “—I’ll be here for you.” The gesture both surprised and touched her, but she couldn’t find the words to apologize again. For a moment all she could do was feel the warmth of his hand seeping through her shirt. She was almost sad when he took a step back. “But, until then, I’m just your partner.” He took another step back, emphasizing the distance he was putting between them. “So, what do we need to do with Cass?”
Relief and appreciation created a cocktail of emotion Lara was more than happy to drink. Another pro on the Nick checklist? He could compartmentalize. That was a trait she’d used tenfold while undercover. It was one she valued in their line of work but hadn’t often seen.
“I don’t know what we should do, really,” she answered, body already loosening. “What I do know is that confronting Cass could go sideways on us quick.”
Nick agreed. “If she’s mixed up in any way to either Moretti or whoever is pulling the serious strings, then having our personal tech guru know we’re on to her could make us the vulnerable ones.” He shook his head. “Cass is a serious asset to our team. I don’t want to have her against us. At least, not with the notion she has nothing else to lose.” A new thought occurred to the agent. “You don’t think she had a hand in Mei’s death?”
Lara shook her head adamantly. “No, Cass wouldn’t kill someone. She may instigate and help perpetuate mind games, but killing someone in cold blood? I don’t think she’d do that.”
Nick agreed again, though she could have sworn she saw a glimmer of doubt behind his eyes.
“She was stabbed and seemed genuinely scared because of it,” he added. “She might have bitten off more than she could chew. Maybe the puppeteer became the marionette.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” Lara’s phone vibrated in her pocket. It didn’t vibrate again. “Whatever hand she’s had in this case so far doesn’t seem like it’s a means to an end but more of a way to throw us—me, really—off-kilter.”
Nick ran a hand through his hair. A deep exhale in the motion’s wake. “Joining this task force I knew I’d most likely get into some difficult cases, but this one...” He let out a low whistle. “It has more twists and turns than a corn maze.”
Lara paused from opening her new text to look at the man. She raised an eyebrow. “A corn maze?” she asked, before letting out a small laugh.
“Hey, I saw a movie where a cop said that once. I thought I’d give it a spin.”
She smiled and returned to the screen of her phone while Nick expanded on whatever movie had taught him the Southernism. Its origin didn’t intrigue her quite as much as the incoming text.
It was from Lola and set Lara on high alert.
I caught that redheaded chick trying to get into your dad’s house again. I told her you know and will be changing the locks. You should have seen her face. She ran off.
Lara read it again before closing her eyes. Why hadn’t she told Lola to not approach Cass if she saw her again?
“Dammit!”
“What?”
“Cass knows,” she answered, fingers already flying across the phone’s keyboard.
Thanks, Lola. But now you need to disappear for a while. There’s some dangerous things going down and that woman was linked to it. Please lay low for a while and be extra cautious. Call me immediately at the sign of any trouble.
Once the text was sent, Lara relayed the original message back.
“So now Cass knows that I know,” she said.
“That’s not good.”
“No, it’s not,” Lara agreed. She moved off of the counter and began to pace. If she’d only told Lola not to approach Cass sooner...
“She’ll have to make the next move now,” Nick said, voice low, unhappy.
“I know, but what do you think it’ll be? And when?”
Trying to picture what a woman like Cass McDonner could do versus would do was making Lara’s stomach knot. If she did indeed know the entire truth behind the Moretti case, then she could do a lot more damage than even Nick realized. How had everything gotten out of hand so fast?
“We’ve completely lost whatever upper hand we had,” she said. Hearing the words out loud made their situation seem even more shitty. “I definitely feel like this is a corn maze we’ve been dropped into.”
“Now that the surprise offense is out of the question, we’ll need to attack first,” he said after a quick smile. “We need a game plan before she can come up—” Lara’s phone vibrated again, stopping the man mid-sentence. Lara quickly read it, the knots in her stomach only twisting further.
“It’s Cass, isn’t it?” Nick asked.
Lara nodded. “And she’s faster than us.”
Nick came back over, taking the phone from her hand. Over his shoulder she reread the text message. When he was done he looked Lara full in the face.
“No,” he said. “Don’t even think about it.”
“I don’t think we have much of a choice, Nick. You said it yourself, she’s one enemy we don’t want to force into a corner.”
If she was even an enemy at all, Lara reminded herself.
Loss made people do things they normally wouldn’t dream of doing. Cass could be in just as much danger as they were. Jumping to conclusions could do them more harm than good.
“She’s not this stupid though.” Nick motioned to the text on the phone. “She has to know I—we—wouldn’t let this happen.”
Lara shrugged. She wasn’t going to argue because, whether or not Nick already knew it, Lara was going to do it regardless of the danger. She wanted, needed, and would fight for, answers.
And, apparently, Cassandra McDonner had at least a few.
Lara’s eyes roamed back over the text once more. As if reading it three times would give her more clues.
Meet me at South Street Seaport, Pier 17 at 8. Just you.
“It’s a trap.” Nick had his arms crossed over his chest, his face pinched in only a way that deep skepticism could make a face pinch.
They were back in the conference room at the Bureau and not alone. Nick had rallied their team for a debriefing on their current situation. Lara had left out the truths she couldn’t bring herself to tell the team about her past. Victoria, the only one who knew them, took the information in silence. The others hadn’t.
Especially Nick.
“It’s a trap and we all know it,” he reiterated. “You aren’t going alone to meet her.”
“No, I’m not. But I also don’t think Cass expects me to either,” Lara said. “Given what we know about her, there’s no way she hasn’t figured out that I’m bringing company.”
“She’s too smart for that,” Xander piped in. “Too clever.”
“But we still should make it appear you’re alone,” Nick said. “Do you think she’d really talk if we all strolled up to her with smiles on and guns drawn?” Lara shook her head. “If she knows you aren’t going alone, then that makes her more dangerous. She’ll most likely be well armed.”
Xander nodded, then added, “And a solid escape route planned. Not to mention some kind of action in case things go wrong. We need to make sure we go in just as—if not more—prepared.”
“Are we really talking about this right now?” Everyone turned to Ty, who had, for the most part, remained quiet. His earlier sour mood at working with Xander hadn’t dissipated. In fact, he seemed more agitated than before. Not that Lara could blame the man. She bet she didn’t look so cheerful either. When he realized all eyes were on him, he continued. “This is Cass we’re talking about here. We know her, and now we’re trying to say she’s some big criminal mastermind? She may have done some crazy shit, but she isn’t responsible for all the deaths, Mei’s included.” His whole demeanor seemed to slam down on that point. Absolute belief in his words. “No way, I don’t believe that for a second.”
Lara was about to agree with that sentiment when Victoria spoke up. The rings beneath her eyes told a very clear story of no sleep and unending hard work. A part of her team had been killed. No matter how much she believed in the healing powers of resting, she wasn’t having any of it herself.
“I agree with you to a point,” she started. “But the sad fact of the matter is, if you snap, you snap.” The room quieted as she let her words sink in. Not even Ty defended against their blunt truth. “And if Cass has snapped, then that isn’t good for her and especially not good for us. We don’t know what she’s capable of, but I have my suspicions, as well as I’m sure you all do, that a woman with her intelligence and skills could do some damage if she wanted. So, Lara, you will go meet her at the location she provided, while the rest of us will set up around the perimeter as backup. We’ll even pull in some more bodies to help. We will take every precaution available to us. You will wear a wire, and at the first sign of any trouble, team member or not, we will take her down. Is that understood?” The question wasn’t just aimed at Lara. It blanketed the room.
One by one they all agreed.
“Good. Now let’s get us some fucking answers for once.”
Chapter Three (#ulink_ca6e1c47-19a2-5853-aa45-4fea6d12e215)
The building at the end of the pier was supposed to be a diamond in the rough between the two that sandwiched Pier 17. At one point it had been heralded as a clean slate with loads of potential. However, construction had stalled after a series of bad luck befell the builders, chief among them being investors pulling out last minute. Their abandonment had created a two-year unfinished building, seemingly frozen in a continuous state of one giant work-in-progress.
Three stories, narrow, half of the third floor an open tangle of exposed beams that branched out and almost over the dark water surrounding it. It was, for lack of a better word, a shell of a building. Though each floor had walls and windows, it was clear this progress hadn’t extended to the third floor. Lara could almost picture what the original plan had been right down to the walk-out balconies, showing off the waterfront view for the target audience of tourists. A restaurant maybe, plus some kind of shopping space. A gift shop that sold NYC trinkets and the Statue of Liberty key chains.
Lara shrank deeper into her jacket. The gun, holstered between her side and arm beneath, moved slightly.
From a strictly tactical standpoint, the abandoned construction site wasn’t the smartest place to carry out dirty dealings. Since it was effectively an island with only one way to escape on foot without getting wet, if Cass planned on implementing an escape plan, she would be hard-pressed. Even if she did plan on going for a swim, there was nowhere to go in the cold, dark water. Not before at least twenty warm bodies were out with spotlights, waiting to scoop her back up.
Lara shifted her weight from foot to foot. She was nervous, it was true, but it was more of an anxiousness at finally finding out something that could help them stop whoever was at the top of this maddening game of cat and mouse they’d been playing. Lara knew that even if she hadn’t had the backup of her team, a distance away for fear of spooking their teammate, she would have still marched up to the dimly lit, neglected building with determination.
Lara’s footsteps echoed off of the splintered wood beams. Eyes jumping from each lamp as she passed. She paused as she glanced to her right at the pier across the water from her, yards away. Nick was there, two over, hidden in his own shadows. Ready to have her back if needed. Ty was to her left along the next pier, holding down the fort while Xander and Victoria were across the street behind her, attempting to blend into the night, eyes peeled for anything suspicious. A few NYPD beat cops, dressed down, milled around with the agents with specific instructions to only move when Victoria gave Junior Agent James Walsh, their liaison, the signal. Everyone was waiting. Everyone was ready. It was enough to put a little pep into Lara’s step knowing that, even though she would have come alone if she’d had to, she wasn’t alone.
“It’s showtime,” she whispered, covering her mouth with her hand as she moved a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. The wire adhered firmly to the skin between her breasts would no doubt pick up her words with ease. Whatever Cass was about to say was going to bounce back to the ears of every team member in the field. That fact alone had almost stopped her feet from moving forward. If, in the process of getting answers, the truth of her past with Moretti came out, then there was no way to hide it from the team anymore. No way for Nick not to hear it and finally understand how personal the case was to her.
Lara willed her feet to keep going, almost shaking her head to free herself of the dark thoughts looming.
If Cass really did talk—if she did reveal the part of the past that Lara wished would remain untouched—then so be it. The team needed answers. The truth about her relationship with Moretti was a cost she was simply ready to pay.
Lara walked up to what looked like one of two workable doors on the outside of the building. Plans to create an outdoor seating area beneath the shade of the next floor had been stopped, leaving unstained concrete on either side of the double doors. Glass from some of the windows also littered the area around her. Uncertain for a moment, Lara just stared at the weathered wood wondering what truth was on the other side, before she finally grasped the handle and pushed.
Her body went on high alert and her training kicked in. She became hyperaware of her handgun beneath her jacket. She didn’t figure Cass would be stupid enough to try anything, especially when she had probably already figured out the team was nearby, waiting to storm the building, guns blazing if need be. However, that didn’t mean she was about to go in unprepared. Plus, the redhead hadn’t advised against it.
“Cass?” she called, voice not entirely aggressive but still warning the woman she meant business. The door opened with ease, and she stepped just inside. Lara paused, not about to go all the way inside until she could confirm where the woman was.
“Over here.”
Lara made out the red hair first before collecting details about the rest of the woman. She was farther back in the corner of the open room, body angled in a way that suggested she’d been looking out through one of the windows at the water. Again, Lara hoped Cass wouldn’t try to swim her way out of the situation.
Light from lamps outside streamed through the large windows that weren’t boarded up. While it gave the open space—which Lara guessed had been planned as the main dining room for a restaurant—enough of a glow so she could see that no one else was inside, Lara pulled a small Maglite flashlight from her jacket and clicked it on. Its beam was small but powerful. Before she moved any closer to Cass, she swept the light to her left. An open set of stairs led to the next floor, splitting and turning out of sight, while two rooms she assumed were bathrooms were tucked in the opposite corner. To her right and across from Cass was another room, doors already attached at two different points. The kitchen if she had to guess. The rest of the open space was oddly barren. Only a few odds and ends and trash littered the floor. Lara walked around the random pieces, noting some of the walls had been tagged with graffiti.
Cass had her eyes averted to the floor. She was perched atop a broken sawhorse left over from the builders.
“You picked one hell of a spot to meet,” Lara finally said, eyeing a plastic bucket in the corner. She grabbed it and placed it across from Cass. She took a seat, mindful to keep her sight line to the front door open. The back door that led to an unfinished outdoor dining area was boarded up.
“I wanted it to be quiet while we talked...” Cass let her words trail off. She finally met Lara’s gaze. It showed her more than she had thought she’d see. Cass looked stricken, miserable even. Her eyes were glazed over and rimmed red. She’d either been crying or was about to start. Lara didn’t know if she felt comfort or trepidation at the obvious guilt. Nick’s words of not wanting Cass to feel as if she had nothing to lose popped into her head. If that was the case, then she was in trouble. “You know, don’t you?” Cass said before Lara could wrangle in what she wanted to say. She decided not to play coy.
“I now know a lot of things. I don’t know why I didn’t put it together earlier. You engineered my running into my long-lost half sister,” Lara continued. “You staged my kitchen to look like my mother’s murder scene. The most horrific event in my life!”
“No! That wasn’t me,” Cass interrupted. “Please, believe me. I did get those files, but it was Katya and her boyfriend who did that. I thought Katya was my friend, but that went too far. I trusted her...” Tears rolled down Cass’s face.
“And I trusted you. But you dug up my past, and you served it to me on a silver platter and then pretended to be as surprised as the rest of us. You.” Lara pointed at the woman for emphasis in a jab that clearly showed aggression. Just because she could control her tone didn’t mean her body language had gotten the memo to quiet down.
Even from the flashlight beam radiating up from the floor, Lara could see Cass’s eyes starting to glass over even more.
She nodded. “Yes, I did,” she admitted, voice dropping in volume. Lara leaned in closer.
“Why, Cass? Why go through all of that trouble? Because I know it must have been a lot of work. Meghan and I have had no contact since I was a teenager and she changed her last name. Sneaking into my father’s house?” Lara’s voice was starting to betray her. It started to slide, riding building waves of anger as she recounted the obstacles of the past several days. Ones that had not only affected the case but had also shaken Lara right to her core. “Why go through all of that trouble? I don’t understand what makes any of that worth it, not to mention how it even fit into whatever plan you wanted to execute by going through all of those motions. Why?” Lara realized her heartbeat had sped up a bit. She wondered if her team could hear it through the mic attached to her.
Cass dropped her chin down a fraction, making her long loose hair cascade over her shoulder. Her glasses slipped across the bridge of her nose, but she didn’t set them right.
“When you first brought down the Moretti organization you came into Victoria’s office and told her about kissing Moretti,” she started, eyes traveling down to her hands intertwined on her lap. “I couldn’t leave it alone. I wanted so badly to understand everything I could about what had happened on the inside. I wanted to know how you’d bested Moretti. I wanted to know for certain that he was really caught this time. That he was really going to pay for everything he’d done. I wanted to know that he was going to pay for what he’d done to Allie.” She gave a weak shrug. “I waited until you were fully debriefed, and I accessed the classified files.” Her gaze went from her hands to Lara’s eyes. “I learned everything.”
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