“Kieran!”
She wasn’t sure why Craig sounded as rough as he did; she’d answered her phone on the first ring.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“And everything is fine?”
“Yep. Harding and Chopra are in reception. They’ve got their eyes—and their guns—on anyone who walks in. So...what’s wrong?”
“I’m at the safe house. We have techs poring over the place, trying like hell to figure out how this was possible. Someone broke into the safe house. Riley and Tanya are gone.”
“It’s surrounded—that would take an army!”
“We’re figuring that whoever is responsible got their hands on the architectural plans, and that they got in and out through the airshafts. They came while the women were supposedly sleeping. It’s bugging the hell out of me, though, I got to say. Even with the plans, unless...”
“Unless what?”
“Not sure yet. I’m working on an idea.”
“What about the kids? Jimmy and Lily Baron’s kids.”
“Kids are fine. Just the two women are gone.”
“Thank God about the children, at least!” she breathed.
“Yes, but I want to get back to the hospital. The key player in all this now is Jimmy Baron—for everyone’s sake, we’ve got to keep him alive. I want to see our situation there firsthand—we’ll be doubling up guards and keeping it within the FBI. I’m worried that we’re going to find corpses somewhere soon. Kieran, I want you here. Egan and some of our best and brightest are going to be at the hospital. Mike and I have to get out there, find witnesses, find the women—” He paused. “Dead or alive. So I’d like to get you over here. Not sure how and exactly when yet. I’ll let you know when I’m on the way or when I have someone coming for you.”
“Okay. What about Drs. Fuller and Miro? Are they going to be all right here, Craig?”
“We’ll leave them with a few agents on detail. They weren’t targeted the way that you were. We’ll make sure that you leave the building with a full escort that is clearly seen. We’ll bring Harding and Chopra with us, and leave the doctors covered, as well.”
“Okay. I’m ready to go wherever you want me to be.” She hesitated. “I just had Besa Goga in here.”
“Who?”
“Besa Goga. I know that I’ve talked to you about her—there was no client privilege since it hit the back burner in the news. She’s the one who bit the cable man.”
“Oh, yeah, right.”
She could tell that he was being polite, but wondering why she was worried about one of her relatively ordinary clients when people seemed to be dropping like flies with a murderer on the loose.
“She was horribly used and abused when she first came to this country, Craig. She said that even then there was a king and a queen, and that it’s kind of like the saying, ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss.’ She also strongly suggested that some kind of cop or law enforcement officer was involved. We never want to think that, but—”
“We have thought it. You’re good with Chopra and Harding. Marty stripped down their credentials, their lives...stripped them bare.”
“See you soon,” she promised him. “Go to work. I have to read a half-dozen character references regarding custody in a divorce case.”
“See you soon,” Craig said solemnly.
Then he was gone.
She did have reports to read; she had to try to understand people through the written word before meeting with them. This area of what she did was her least favorite. Divorce was always sad—divorce with children involved was worse. Leaving children in a household where everything was a fight was equally as bad.
She needed to concentrate.
There was no way in hell she was going to be able to focus—not right away, not after her last conversation with Craig. People were dropping like flies.
That thought scared her.
It suddenly occurred to Kieran that she had first come across the young women because of Mary Kathleen and her work at the soup kitchen.
That could put Mary Kathleen—and Finnegan’s and everyone in it—in danger.
She reached for the phone again. Declan, Mary Kathleen, Chef and the cooks would be at Finnegan’s.
Declan answered. Then she had to hold it a few inches from her ear; he had apparently called her yesterday. She had not called back. He’d been forced to call Craig to make sure that she was all right, and he’d been ready to call Egan.
She winced, listening to her older brother yell. She apologized and asked anxiously about Mary Kathleen.
A second later, Mary Kathleen was on the phone with her.
Kieran explained what had happened—the best she could, anyway.
“The safe house, you say? That just doesn’t sound possible, except with a team of navy SEALs!” Mary Kathleen said.
“It seems they got in through the inner workings of the building. Took the girls and got out in the middle of the night. I guess they were late sleepers, and the officers just discovered them missing about an hour or so ago.”
Mary Kathleen was suddenly gone and Declan was back on the phone. “We’re fine here, Kieran. This is a pub. Our precinct is still filled with good old Irish cops. And other cops who just love a good old Irish pub. I’m calling Craig. He needs to get his FBI ass over to get you—now!”
And suddenly, she was holding a phone connected to empty air. Declan was gone.
She sighed and set the phone down on her desk. Her fault. She should have been paying attention to her family!
As she set the phone down, she realized that the office seemed very quiet.
The office was often quiet.
Not this quiet. People came and went.
She glanced at the calendar on her wall. Well, for one, Dr. Fuller was over at NYU, giving a speech. Dr. Miro had probably gone to lunch. She had told Kieran she was on a “petite person’s” diet, and that meant very regular meals. But even if the doctors were both out, Jake, in reception, wouldn’t have left without telling her. Although, come to think of it, he might have told Harding and Chopra. While Harding and Chopra were great at reading and occupying themselves, even they had to stretch their legs or use the facilities sometimes.
She didn’t know if she would have felt quite so nervous if it hadn’t been for Craig’s call.
These people had even gotten inside a safe house in order to kidnap Riley and Tanya.
She rose, very quietly and very carefully.
There were two cops with Jake out in reception.
Except that they weren’t.
Kieran tiptoed from her office and down the hall, and peeked out, and all around.
And there was no one there; no one at all.
She heard a soft groan. She ran around behind Jake’s desk. Jake wasn’t there, but Harding was, down on the ground, a streak of blood running from his temple.
She almost screamed; she caught the sound.
Because as she’d run to the desk, she realized she’d passed someone searching around in Dr. Miro’s office.
She rose, ready to streak for the door.
Instead, she raced back into the offices, back to the little kitchenette at the far end of the space. Because the front door was opening.
* * *
Craig had been through every inch of space at the safe house when they’d initially set it up.
Now he went through it all again.
There was no question that whoever had gotten to the women had used extraordinary measures. The grate was still out of the airshaft through which the women had been dragged or forced to crawl. The officers, agents and marshals were, to say the least, completely humiliated. They were passionate in their certainty that no way in hell had anyone gotten past them.
Craig was in the midst of his discussions with the US Marshals—Smyth and LeBlanc—when his phone rang. Declan Finnegan was on the other end. He was trying hard not to be governed by anger or fear as he spoke, Craig could tell. He was angry, though. Craig and Kieran had not been keeping in touch with the rest of the family under these circumstances. Yes, it had only been a day or so, but nevertheless. And he was worried sick about his sister at that moment, and to make matters worse, Mary Kathleen wanted to take off to find Riley and Tanya, and Declan was doing just about everything he could to keep her at the pub.
Craig promised him that he’d shortly be with Kieran and that he’d send help to the pub. Declan assured him that the pub would be just fine, that he just had to see to Kieran.
Craig noticed that Egan was watching him as he spoke, and he couldn’t help but wonder if his superior wasn’t thinking that he allowed his personal life to interfere with his work.
He was wrong.
Egan walked over to him. “Kieran Finnegan is key in this case. Our involvement in a massive pile of ants began with that poor woman, Alexandra Callas, shoving the baby into Kieran’s arms. I’d say it all rests with her, and with Jimmy Baron. While they’re working here, I’m going to suggest you head back to the hospital, and hang tight next to Baron, with Kieran. I’ll be there soon myself.”
Craig nodded and looked around.
“I can’t figure it,” Hank LeBlanc said.
“Not at all,” Madison Smyth said, and she flushed, glancing at Craig. “We didn’t hear anything—anything at all. You’d have thought...”
“We should have been in that bedroom.”
“Oh, come on, Hank!” Madison protested. “We can’t take a leak with everyone! No one would accept witness protection at all if we literally stared at their every move.”
“There were a dozen people here,” Craig reminded them. He didn’t say that they weren’t at fault; someone was at fault, or, at the least, someone would be made to be at fault. That was the way the system worked—someone was going to have to take the fall.
And he knew that every officer and agent there felt responsible, and was frightened.
They had all liked Riley and Tanya.
They could all imagine them dead.
He turned to head out, but something pulled him back. He looked around the living area, the kitchen and the passage out.
He walked into the bedroom and saw where the grating to the shaft lay.
And it hit him.
He walked over to Egan, ready to explain what he feared just might be the truth.
* * *
The office had been so quiet; now it seemed to be filled with noise.
She could hear every little whisper of movement, she was so attuned.
And there were people in the office; she wasn’t sure who they were at first, but she could hear talking—heated, angry whispers—coming from Dr. Miro’s office.
“You said that she was here. You said that she hadn’t left the building. You were supposed to be watching her!”
“I was watching her—she didn’t leave the building. And I got rid of the one cop and took the other down. I did what I was supposed to do!” The second voice wasn’t angry.
The second voice was scared.
Hunched down behind the little Formica work counter, Kieran tried desperately to figure out a way to get back down the hallway to the exit.
But someone had also come in through the office entry.
Who the hell was it?
She hadn’t shut the door. She suddenly saw that someone was coming back out into the hallway. She nearly gasped aloud, she was so startled.
Ralph Miller!
He had been downstairs, day after day, watching her, watching the cops, watching all of them, every time they came and left the building. Of course, Alexandra Callas had slipped by him with the baby. Had he let her? How long had he been working for these guys?
Kieran needed her cell phone.
Which she had left on her desk.
“Stop!”
The sudden command came from the reception area. Kieran flattened herself to the floor, trying to see who had arrived.
Jacob Wolff.
She wanted to cry out in warning, to let him know that Ralph wasn’t the only one in the offices.
But, too quickly, she heard the sound of a bullet whizzing by.
Ralph was suddenly down on the floor. He let out only a grunt of sound.
Was he dead?
Had Wolff fired? Had someone else fired at Wolff? Whoever was in the office had been the one who had been threatening Ralph Miller, but now she wasn’t sure who was in charge.
From her vantage point, she could see down the hall, past the offices—her office, Dr. Miro’s office, Dr. Fuller’s office and the storage room. She could almost see the front door.
“This place is going to crawl with FBI in about five minutes!” Wolff cried out. “Cops, agents, deputies...you name it! Time to get out!”
Was that a warning that the killers were about to get caught?
Or a warning that they needed to get out before they were caught?
“Wolff, stand down. I’ve got this,” a male voice called from Miro’s office. And then, as Kieran watched, Detective David Beard stepped into view.
David Beard! Yes, of course, the head cop on the case five years ago.
And all these years, he had been using people.
Abusing them.
And killing them.
“I’ve got this, Wolff,” Beard repeated.
“Where’s Kieran?” Wolff asked. “Where the hell...?”
“They’re out. They’re all out at lunch. Ralph said that Kieran didn’t get by—”
“What do you mean, they’re all at lunch?” Wolff demanded. “What about Officers Harding and Chopra? They would have been with Kieran. They did—or they didn’t—get out of here with her?”
Why had she left her damned cell on her desk?
David Beard stood in the hallway, staring at Wolff. She had to warn Wolff. Had to let him know that Beard was dirty.
Before she could scream, the office door burst open behind Wolff.
It was Tanya Petrofskya. She threw herself into Wolff’s arms, screaming. “Help!”
Kieran heard the explosive sound of a gun going off once again.
And then she saw Wolff fall to the floor, his body protecting that of the young Russian émigré.
* * *
Craig was on his way to get Kieran, certain that he knew at least part of what was going on, and more determined than ever that both Jimmy Baron and Kieran had to be protected.
Back at the safe house, he’d pulled Egan aside. “Sir, you know that I’ve had Marty searching and researching.”
“Yes, what?”
“David Beard. He’s dirty. We’ve had a dirty cop on this, and it’s Beard.”
Egan was silent for a minute. “What makes you so certain? I’ve talked to Marty, too. His record is clean.”
“Elimination. I know who it can’t be—and who was around when, and who it could be. Sir, you can keep a clean record and still be dirty. He made a point of never being seen by Tanya and Riley. He was there, involved, when it all started. He’s claimed to be doing all kinds of things, but Holmes—his partner—hasn’t really known where he is half the time.”
“So you think that Beard is dirty—How the hell, without Holmes knowing?”
“Because Holmes is junior in their duo. He does what Beard tells him. Beard must laugh his ass off—Holmes is so passionate.”
“And you’re sure that Holmes is no part of it?”
“No, but that’s my gut feeling on Holmes.” He hesitated. “I think that Beard isn’t just in on it—I think he’s the King.” Egan stared at him, and Craig went on, “There’s a lot of money in what he’s doing. He might well be saving up and ready to fly to an island or country with no extradition agreement with the States.”
“How has he left no paper trail?”
“I don’t know. Accounts out of the country, for one. Assumed names, business fronts.”
Egan swore softly. “There goes the credibility of every cop in the city. All right—we’ll get the word out that he has to be found and brought in. Go get Kieran, and I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
* * *
Now Craig was making his way through midday traffic, trying to get to the offices of Fuller and Miro. Craig’s phone rang. He thought that it was Egan calling.
It wasn’t.
It was Randy Holmes.
Craig listened to him.
He was only a few short blocks away from the doctors’ offices.
Traffic was bad.
He pulled the car over, jumped out and started to run.
* * *
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
It was David Beard, calling to her.
At that moment, Kieran had absolutely no idea if Wolff was still alive. If he was dead, if Tanya was dead...
And if Tanya had been alone, or if she was with Riley.
Or with whoever it was who had broken them out. Who had removed them from the safe house?
Her mind raced. David Beard. He was here. He’d been using Ralph Miller. Besa had been here. She had warned Kieran about law enforcement. And yes, it had been something that had surely occurred to everyone, because too much was known by the killers that shouldn’t have been known. Every time law enforcement took a step closer to what was going on.
Beard had been there from the start.
Was he calling all the shots? Alone?
“Kieran, come out, come out from wherever you are!”
He was out in the hallway then, stepping over the body of Ralph Miller. Kieran stayed where she was, watching as he moved down the hall, opening the door to the storage room, then Dr. Fuller’s office.
He was coming closer and closer.
He started into the little kitchenette.
She looked to her side. The trash can was the only thing there.
It was plastic. It would not do much good as a weapon.
It would have to do.
Beard stepped into the kitchen. He was careful, but he was going to come around the little prep island.
In just a few more steps... She was ready.
She threw like a girl. Yeah, a damned good-at-throwing girl who had grown up with three brothers. She hit him dead center in the head, and he staggered back and fell.
All she had to do was reach the entrance, get the door open, get out and get help!
She raced down the hallway and reached the reception area. Both Wolff and Tanya were there, on the floor, Wolff still lying in a protective curl around Tanya’s body. But, there was blood on his forehead, trickling along his temple. And Tanya wasn’t moving...
The door to the outer hallway opened.
Riley appeared in the doorway.
“Kieran!” she cried, throwing her arms around her.
There was no getting out of the front door; David Beard fired a warning shot over their heads. They dropped into crouches.
“Come out, come out...” he said. “Oh, look, you are out.” He stepped by Kieran, dragging Riley into his arms. “Now, you will listen to me, or she’ll die first. Nice and slowly. At the moment, I think I just might need you. You are my only ticket out if they’ve begun to suspect me. That ass of a good-boy partner of mine is getting itchy, and they’re saying Jimmy might just make it, and if he does, well...”
He set the muzzle of his gun against Riley’s head.
He smiled at Kieran.
“Help me!” Riley sobbed softly.
And then they all spun around, because the door opened again.
“Fucking Grand Central Station!” Beard cried out. With his free hand, he reached out for Kieran and dragged her hard against him.
Craig was there. He was ready—he’d known. Somehow, he’d known. He had his Glock out, aimed at Beard.
But Beard moved the muzzle of his gun against Kieran’s temple.
“Who do I shoot first?” Beard asked Craig.
* * *
Craig couldn’t allow so much as a flicker of emotion to show as he stared down Beard.
The man had killed or ordered the deaths of dozens of people, who knew how many more through the years. He had inflicted misery unknown or unsuspected by most sane and decent people.
He would kill without blinking.
“Let Riley go,” Kieran said flatly. “You have me. Let her go.”
Let Riley go. Yes, Kieran would say that.
“Ah, yes, good point. No good having two young women squirming around. How valiant, Miss Finnegan. What honor and courage—why, you are the real deal, huh?” Beard said.
He shoved Riley toward Craig. Craig managed to step back and catch her without losing his dead-eye aim on Beard.
Riley.
If he was right about what he’d suspected at the safe house, Riley and Tanya had broken out themselves. One of them might have still been innocent, forced into action by the other. But which one?
Even as he held Riley and Beard held Kieran and they glared at one another, the door burst open again.
“Kieran! Oh!”
It was Besa Goga. She stared at them all, and then stepped back.
“Well...the new King!” she said softly, staring at Beard.
Craig backed away.
Could the Queen be this woman? Did he need to have his gun trained on her and David Beard?
He decided to go with logic first.
“Beard, come on, now. Killers like you don’t usually want to die yourselves. You can get out of this alive. You shouldn’t. But I will let you walk out of here. There’s really no other way out—except with you dead. Obviously, if you shoot one of these women, I will shoot and kill you.”
Beard smiled.
“I’m not alone, Special Agent Frasier!” he said.
Craig knew. One of the women was on Beard’s side. Besa Goga, or Riley McDonnough.
Tanya lay on the floor. Dead? Alive? Knocked out?
Craig was startled when Kieran suddenly spoke softly.
“Beidh tú ag íoc,” she said. She repeated the words, staring at Riley. “Beidh tú ag íoc!”
Riley stared back at her, tensing against Craig.
Kieran shouted, “It’s her! It’s not Besa, it’s her—it’s Riley. She is the Queen!”
Craig thrust Riley back hard—so hard that she slammed into David Beard. At the same time, Besa Goga flew forward, as well.
David Beard screamed. His gun went flying.
Craig stepped forward, shoving Riley farther into the room and stepping over Beard, who had fallen to the floor.
“Don’t move,” he warned. “Really, don’t move. I’d give a whole lot to have a legitimate reason to shoot you.”
Kieran retrieved Beard’s gun and turned it on Riley McDonnough.
Craig almost smiled, realizing just how hard Beard had really gone down.
There were teeth marks clearly visible on his hand.
Besa Goga had bitten the bastard.