Best Laid Plans(123)

“I’ll shut down, then bring everything back up.”

Jay grabbed Everett by the collar and hauled him out of the seat. “Who did you tell? Did you call the police?”

“No! No, I swear, don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt my family.”

“Too late for that.”

Jay pressed a button on his phone. A text message? A sign to Elise? Or Tobias?

“We’re going,” Jay said.

“Just don’t hurt my—”

Jay hit him on the head.

“Shut. Up.”

Sean sent Proctor a message saying that Jay was on the move with Everett.



He’s holding a .45 and has another weapon under his jacket.



Almost immediately, Proctor responded:



We’re in place. Stay where you are.



Sean complied because there was no way he wanted to get killed today.

Jay left the office and then there was silence. For a long, long minute, total silence.

Suddenly, bright lights flooded the building from outside. A bullhorn bellowed, “FBI! Freeze! Drop the weapon or we will shoot.”

There was movement outside, but Sean couldn’t see anything through the closed blinds.

A single rifle shot echoed, then there was commotion.

But it was only the one shot. They’d taken out Jay, who was their only link to Tobias.

Sean looked at his phone and saw that Elise was in a vehicle, her signal moving too fast to be on foot.

Jay wasn’t their only link.

“Rogan!” a voice called out.

Sean opened the door to the office where he was hiding. Leo Proctor, in full SWAT gear, came down the wide office corridor, flanked by a team of six. He told the men to fan out and search the building.

“He’s dead. He refused to comply, and we couldn’t let him leave with the hostage.”

“You get no complaints from me.”

“Casilla wants a full report.”

“He’s going to have to wait. This isn’t over. They have Lucy.”

“Casilla knows that Lucy and Donnelly are hostages. We have a team there. Our top hostage negotiator is already on scene.”

“I’m not going to the house,” Sean said, though that’s exactly what he wanted to do. “Elise Hansen is on the move. I’m tracking her.”

“Shit, Rogan, you can’t—”

“And how long until you get someone in place to track her?”

Proctor spoke into his mic. “Dunning, Quiroz, meet me at base stat.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. You’re going to turn everything over to Quiroz. It’s up to him if you get a ride-a-long.”

Two minutes later, Sean was showing Ryan and Nate how the GPS tracker worked, and where Elise was. He made up a bunch of technical jargon to make it sound far more complicated than it actually was. Ryan said, “Just come with us, but don’t do anything stupid.”

“No, sir,” Sean said with a straight face.

Nate sighed, but only Sean heard him. He caught Nate’s eye and stared. Nate understood. He didn’t say a word.

Ryan grabbed one of the FBI SUVs and Sean navigated from the passenger seat.

Elise was only a few miles away, but she was going in a familiar direction.

“I know where she’s going,” Sean said. “She’s going to Mona Hill’s place.”

“Who’s Mona Hill?” Nate asked.

“She runs a prostitution ring, but she’s also one of the people Elise hooked up with when she arrived in San Antonio. She doesn’t know the area well, so it stands to reason she’ll go to the one place where she’s comfortable.”

“You’d think she’d be running,” Ryan said.

“Maybe she’s picking up something. Like money.” Or killing Mona Hill, another loose end.

“How certain are you?” Nate asked.

“Ninety percent.”

“I know a faster way. I think we can beat her there,” Nate said.

“Give it to me,” Ryan said.

Nate navigated and Sean considered what he was going to do if Mona Hill ratted him out.

He would have to cross that bridge if and when he came to it. He still had the trump card about her sister, and he would use it.

“Kane learned that Mona Hill has a connection to Tobias,” Sean added. “A connection that isn’t solely through Elise. I just want you both to be prepared.”

“Your brother has been around a lot lately,” Ryan said.

“Your point?”

“What’s really going on?”

“You know as much as I do,” Sean said. Almost.

“Somehow I doubt that.”

“Kane doesn’t tell me everything.” Which was true.

“Turn left, then a quick right into the alley,” Nate said from the back. “This brings us right across from her property.”

Ryan did as Nate directed, then cut off the lights.

The apartments were all dark.

“Where is Elise?” Ryan asked.

“Less than a mile.”

“Let’s go in and wait. Rogan, stay. I’m not joking.” Ryan handed him an earpiece. “You be our eyes, let us know what she does when she gets here.”