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“Sure there is. It’s all taken care of. You just play your little part when Judge Boutte calls and asks to see the evidence.”
“I don’t have the evidence. It’s at the courthouse in the evidence room.”
“I’ve got that under control. Can you handle your part of the deal?”
“You don’t leave me a lot of choice.”
“Glad you see it my way. Now I’ve got to run. Tell your wife and kids hello for me.”
Sebastion watched him walk away, hating him, hating himself, too, for being stuck in a situation that could only get worse. Most of all, he hated that there was no way out.
IT WAS one of the rare times when all the New Orleans Confidential agents were gathered in one room, and, as usual when that happened, Conrad Burke was not smiling.
He shuffled some papers while the group poured themselves cups of the dark chicory coffee from the pot on the back counter and found chairs around the round table. Just like the knights of old, only they were out to slay scorpions instead of dragons. And there wasn’t a white horse in sight.
Alexander McMullin was second in command to Burke. Young, cocky, a risk taker who’d grown tired of the rules that went along with being a cop. He was perfect for the Confidential team. Seth Lewis was even younger, only twenty-nine. He was a homeboy who had joined the army to see what the world looked like outside the ghetto. Now he was fighting a different kind of war.
Tanner was the old man of the group. Forty-three. He’d seen enough to know that he liked his cars fast, his jazz cool, and his women hot—and temporary.
He also knew this was the first job he’d had in a long time that he could sink his teeth into, the kind of no-rules operation he’d been looking for all his life.
“It’s been a long, hot summer.”
Tanner refocused on the meeting as Burke got down to business.
“I’ve got a feeling it’s about to get even hotter, but before I hit you with that, I have some good news. Wiley Longbottom is making great progress. He’s being released from the hospital but is staying in town a couple of weeks longer so that his cardiologist can keep a check on him.”
They broke into applause. Everybody loved the retired director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety, and had been worried sick about him.
“Wiley got us off to a great start in New Orleans,” Burke continued. “He became one of the drug overdose victims of Category Five and launched us into war against the mafia drug trade and ring of underage prostitutes. We’ve had some successes there, though not enough, but we haven’t made any headway with the original assignment. We still don’t know why the Nilia rebels who support the overthrow of their democratic government are in New Orleans.”
“Are we sure Scorpion Poison hasn’t left the area?” one of the agents asked. “We haven’t spotted any of the members in almost a week.”
“Not only are they still here,” Burke answered, “but the Coast Guard and CIA think illegal substances were smuggled into New Orleans yesterday on a cargo ship that was docked in Miami at the same time a ship from Nilia was in that port. Something big is up. We need to find out what that something is.”
“Any ideas what we should try next?” Mason asked.
“I’m standing in front of the best idea and action bunch I know. Now it’s up to you guys. Do what you have to do, but get this job done. I expect a hundred percent of your efforts, and unless you’re eating or sleeping I expect a hundred percent of your time. Just remember, if the game goes sour, there’s no such agency as the Confidential. You are on your own.”
The room grew quiet, not because that bit of news came as any surprise. They’d all been made aware of the rules of engagement up-front. The silence was more a reflection of their moods. So far they’d found out nothing about the rebel presence in the city, and failure in any form was not acceptable to the men in this room. Everyone except Tanner would give the assignment a hundred and ten percent.
Their daughters weren’t missing.
“I’ll be meeting with each of you one-on-one over the next few days,” Burke said. “In the meantime, I’d like you to give serious thought to your next plan of action.”
There were a few more questions, but the meeting was basically over. Burke was a family man. He and his wife had twins only eight months old, but he never asked his agents to do anything he wouldn’t tackle himself. He’d be out there in the fray with them, putting his life on the line in the same way he expected them to be.
There wasn’t a man in the room Tanner wouldn’t trust with his life—except one—and he was walking toward Tanner right now.
“Party time,” Mason said, smiling broadly. “I say we go out and kick some Nilia rebel ass, partner.”
“First we have to find them.”
Tanner’s cell phone vibrated. He took it from the clip at his waist and stepped out of the room to take the call.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Tanner.”
He recognized the strident voice with the heavy British accent immediately. His ex. Talk about making his day.
“Hello, Juliana. I was going to call you later.”
“Don’t lie to me, Tanner. You weren’t going to call. And I just want one thing from you. Have you found my daughter?”
“Our daughter. I haven’t found her.”
“You thought you were such a bloody good CIA agent, so why can’t you find your own flesh and blood?”
“I’m trying.”
“You better be. This is all your fault. If you’d been a halfway decent father, you’d know where your daughter is.”
All his fault, but then what hadn’t been? “I’m doing everything I can to find her, Juliana. It’s just a matter of time.” He doubted she believed him, wasn’t sure he believed it himself any longer.
She spouted more accusations, and his grip tightened around the phone. There was no reasoning with Juliana when she was like this. There would be less reasoning if she knew that their daughter had been working as a prostitute.
She started a new round of accusations, and he held the phone away from his ear. It had been ten years since he’d lived with her, yet that screeching voice could still set every nerve in his body on edge.
“I’ll call you later. And I won’t rest until I find Lily. I promise you that.”
Juliana broke into tears, then hung up the phone without saying goodbye. He probably hadn’t said the right things today any more than he’d ever managed to say the right things two times in a row when they were married.
A rotten husband. A lousy father. Par for the course.
The door to the conference room opened and the guys started filing out, all fired up and ready to go out on the streets and do their job. He could see it in their eyes and the way they walked, shoulders back oozing confidence. Only one thing on their minds, the way it had to be if you were a Confidential agent. It was the promise they’d given, the one he’d given, too. But that was before his world had been turned upside down.
He waited until Burke walked out, then joined him. “I’d like to talk to you if you’ve got a minute.”
“Sure thing, Harrison. Let’s go to my office.”
Tanner nodded, and kept walking, feeling sick inside, as if he were about to walk off the edge of a cliff with nothing to break his fall but jagged rock.
There was no cliff, but he was about to do the second hardest thing he’d ever done in all his life. And once again, there would be no going back.
Chapter Three
“Is this about Lily?” Burke asked as he closed the door.
“Am I that transparent?”
“You are now that I know what it’s like to be a father. Hope this doesn’t mean you got bad news.”
“No news. I comb the Quarter every night, ask questions, search the crack houses and dark alleyways. There’s no sign of her, and if anyone knows where she is, they’re not talking.”
“I won’t even claim to know how hard this must be on you, Tanner. If there’s anything I can do…”
“I don’t know what it would be. I’m not even certain she’s in the area anymore.”
“You want to sit down?” Burke asked.
Tanner shook his head. “I’d rather just say what I have to say and go.”
“Why do I have the feeling this isn’t something I’m going to like hearing?”
Tanner exhaled slowly, tempted to walk away and let things ride, but it wasn’t fair to anyone, most of all Conrad Burke. “You said you expect a hundred percent from all of us. I’ve got no quarrel with that. It’s the pledge I made when I signed on with you. But I can’t give it. I spend at least half my time searching for Lily. That’s just the way it is right now. I don’t think I can change that.”
“You wouldn’t be the kind of guy I’d choose for my team if you could.”
Tanner stuffed his hands in his pockets. This was tough, but putting it off wouldn’t make it any easier. “You need every man pulling his weight. I’m not pulling mine. I don’t know what else to do but resign from New Orleans Confidential.”
“Is this what you want to do?”
“No. Hell, no! I want to be out there. I want to be in the thick of the action. I want to get Senegal and Gaspard so bad I can taste it. And I want to be on the front line when we take down those scorpion-tattooed gorillas.”
Burke drew his lips into a straight, taut line and nodded slowly. Tanner felt the finality of his association with Burke and the Confidential team burn in his gut.
“It’s my loss,” Tanner admitted, “but finding my daughter has to come first.”
“We need you on the team, Tanner. I specifically picked you for what you have to offer. You’re tough and tenacious and loyal to the core.”
“I could come back when this is over, when I know Lily is safe.”
Conrad shook his head. “No. This isn’t the kind of situation a man can drop in and out of. You’re one of us or you’re not.”
“I understand.”
“I don’t think you do, Tanner. I’ll lose a good man if I have to, but not like this, especially when I don’t see your searching for Lily as a problem. While you’re out in the streets and crack houses and dark alleys looking for a lead on Lily, just keep your eyes and ears open for information on the Nilia rebels. I know you’re already doing that.”
“You’re sure?” Tanner asked, not wanting a reprieve now only to have to deal with this later.
“I’m sure.”
“The other guys may have a problem with it.”
“I doubt it, but if they do, they can take it up with me.”
“What about Bartley?” Tanner asked.
“What about him?”
“I’m not going to be able to keep an eye on him all the time if I’m out searching for Lily.”
“I didn’t pair Mason Bartley with you for you to keep an eye on him.”
“Didn’t you?”
“No. I hired him because I believe he’s the man for the job.”
“A leopard doesn’t change his spots.”
“That’s true of leopards, but men can and do change.”
Burke threw his arm around Tanner’s shoulder. “Do what you have to. In the end, that’s the measure of a man.”
“Thanks.” Tanner’s fears for Lily were just as strong as he walked over and opened the door, but the clenching in his stomach had eased. He was still a Confidential agent. He was still a member of the team.
LILY HARRISON leaned against the trunk of a cypress tree, so weak she could barely stand. She was hot and tired and so very hungry. She’d kill right now for fish and chips the way Bertoli’s on Edgeware Road made them. All crispy and golden. And water, clean, cold water that was fit to drink and not this murky mess she was standing in.
She closed her eyes and pretended she was back home in her own bed where the sheets always smelled of lemon and the down duvet was soft as a cloud.
Something swished in the ankle-deep water and she forgot the dream and took off running again. It was more difficult now. Her legs ached and her lungs burned as if someone were holding them to a torch, but she couldn’t stop, couldn’t let the two monsters catch her. Dying in the swamp, even being eaten by alligators, would be far better than the way they’d kill her.
She’d give anything to have never hopped on that bloody plane to New Orleans. To have never gotten caught up in the underage prostitution ring that had led to her witnessing that grisly double murder in the back alley of the bordello. Now Lily was fleeing for her life from two mob hit men, and she feared it was only a matter of time before they caught up with her again.
Something sharp dug into the heel of her right foot. The pain went all through like some kind of electrical charge. Tears burned and slid down her cheeks, but she managed to hold in the scream that tore at her throat.
All she’d wanted to do was come to the States and get to know her father. But Mum had been right. America was a frightening place. And her father didn’t want her in his life. That hurt a hundred times more than the pain and fear that was driving her over the edge.
And still she ran, fighting to stay a step ahead of death at the hands of madmen.
GEORGETTE SAT UP in bed and clutched her chest. She couldn’t see anything in the blackness of the room, but she could hear sucking noises behind her, footsteps in the swamp, coming closer and closer.
She kicked at the sheets, and all but fell out of bed before reality checked in enough that she could regain her equilibrium. She reached for the lamp and flicked it on, knocking over a glass of water she’d left on the bedside table.
She grabbed a handful of tissues and soaked up the water, though her mind was drifting back to the nightmare she’d been caught in minutes ago.
The same young woman who’d been haunting her while she was awake had now taken over her mind while she slept. Georgette had dealt with these crazy psychic experiences all her life, but never had they come at her with this frequency or intensity.
She wondered if this was what it was like for her mother and grandmother. Had they once fought it the way she did, only to finally give up and accept this as part of their lives?
No. Her grandmother maybe, but not her mother. Isabella Delacroix embraced the gift like a lover. It was Isabella’s life. It would never be Georgette’s. Yet Georgette couldn’t shake the fear as she walked to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of milk. She’d walked away from the gift every time before, but something was different this time.
Her mother would probably know why. But asking her mother would mean going back to the house she hated and admitting that the curse was claiming control over at least part of her life.
She took her milk to the balcony. Her condominium was on the top floor of a converted warehouse just a few blocks off the Mississippi River. The view from the balcony was magnificent, but all Georgette could see tonight was a swamp and a young blond woman running for her life.
Damn the gift and damn Tanner Harrison for forcing this on her. If he was involved with this young woman in any way, she’d find out and she’d make him pay. She’d find out at any cost.
