Best Laid Plans(125)

He shook his head.

“Elise is a sociopath,” Lucy said. “She only cares about herself. You know that, don’t you? How long have you known her? A few weeks?”

“You have no idea who Elise is.”

“Tell me. Tell me how you see her.”

“She’s f*cking smart. She’s not scared of anything.”

“How did you meet?”

“I worked for—” He stopped as Joyce ran back down the stairs.

“They’re gone.”

“What the hell?”

“They’re not where I left them!”

“Did you let them go? I tied them up, I know they were secure.”

“No! I swear—”

“You had a soft spot for the girls. You bitch—”

“I didn’t touch them!”

SWAT must have found a way in through the attic or a second-floor window. She caught Brad’s eye and he gave her a little nod. He thought the same thing. Good. Two safe, one to go.

“They’re going to kill us. They’re going to kill us!” Joyce screamed.

Peter shot Joyce in the head. Lucy jerked involuntarily and almost caused the chair to tip over. Joyce crumpled to the tile floor, blood pooling around her head. Lucy stared at the body. She hadn’t expected him to kill his partner. She shook her head to clear it.

Focus, Lucy. Focus on Peter. Get him to lower his guard. Just for a minute.

The phone rang again.

“Answer it,” Lucy said, “or they’ll swarm in and you’ll be dead.” She glanced at Brad again. He caught Lucy’s eye, then blinked once and refocused his gaze toward the ceiling.

She discreetly looked upstairs. There was the curving staircase, a landing, and then the hall disappeared to the right and left. She saw the tip of a sniper rifle aimed in the direction of Peter. But there was no clear shot from that angle.

“I need to think! How can I think with all that noise?” He pulled the boy up from his seat and held the gun on his neck. The boy sagged, his eyes on the dead body. Peter held him up.

“Don’t look at her,” Lucy told the kid. “Look at me.”

The boy averted his eyes from the body to Lucy. They were glassy with terror and resignation that he was going to die. No child should witness murder.

She wanted to offer a trade, her for the boy, but the way Peter was acting, he would think it was a trick. He wouldn’t do anything she said. Lucy looked at Brad. He’d been hit a couple of times, but the injuries were minor. Fortunately, he’d kept his mouth shut for the most part. Peter definitely had an issue with male authority, which was probably why he responded so strongly to Elise’s powerful female presence.

“You’ll walk in front of us, Agent Kincaid,” Peter said. “Open the doors for me. Stay close. But make no mistake about it, I will shoot this kid if you do anything different from what I say. We’re going to walk out, get into the closest car, and drive.”

“I can’t drive cuffed.”

“You’ll manage.”

He pushed the kid forward. Lucy backed away toward the front door and gauged the angle of the sniper to Peter.

Two more feet. Two more feet.

“Peter, think this through,” she said.

“What do you think I am, stupid? I’m not stupid!” He aimed his gun at Brad. “One down, one to go,” he said.

A shot came from the stairway above, taking off the top of Peter Rabb’s head. He collapsed and the boy fell down, covered in Peter’s blood.

Lucy rushed over to the boy, and even though she was cuffed, she shielded him with her body. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she said over and over. She looked over at Brad. He was unharmed. Peter hadn’t gotten a shot off.

SWAT swarmed in from upstairs, the front, and the back. Someone helped Lucy up and took the boy outside. She felt the cuffs being released from her wrists, and another officer uncuffed Brad.

Sean ran in, followed by Kane. Sean pulled Lucy into his arms and held her. “Elise told him to kill you. I thought he had.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” she repeated.

They stood there for a moment. When Lucy opened her eyes again, Kane was gone.

Maybe he hadn’t even been there.

*



Lucy bolted upright in bed.

The clock said it was 6:10 A.M., but she’d been sound asleep. Something had jolted her awake, and it wasn’t a nightmare.

Sean sat up. “Luce—what’s wrong.”

“I don’t know. I thought I felt something, like an earthquake.”

“There’s not many earthquakes in Texas.” He kissed her, and gently pushed her back down on the bed. “You got my heart racing.” He kissed her again, then he frowned. “You’re shaking. Are you sure you didn’t have a nightmare? Lucy?”

“No, it’s just—”

Sirens rang throughout the city. They were far away, but there were a lot of them. They both got out of bed and quickly dressed in the clothes that were lying around. Sean turned on the television to the local news and Lucy picked up her phone. She was about to call FBI headquarters when her cell phone rang.

“It’s Brad,” she said and put him on speaker. “Brad?”

“You’re okay?”