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?”
“Yes, what happened?”
“I know why they left the drugs at the shooting. There was a bomb inside. Tobias just blew up the DEA evidence locker. I don’t know how many guards were inside. At least two, but it’s shift change. Not to mention the desk sergeant. Do you know how many cases are still pending? It’s a total clusterfuck.”
“How’d you know? It just happened.”
“I’m in the office—as soon as I heard the explosion, I knew. I had to make sure you and Sean were okay. It’s my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Brad.”
“There was a specific reason for them to plant the bomb,” Sean said. “It couldn’t have been just to cause havoc.”
“Why not?” Lucy said. “Tobias seems to live to cause problems for the DEA. Wait—I thought SAPD had the case.”
“They did, until ATF took it over. We share office space with ATF’s field office, and—”
“And an evidence locker,” Sean said. “Maybe SAPD was the target.”
“No. It was us—most drug cases fall under the DEA. With that much heroin on scene we would have normally been the lead. And even if we weren’t, we work closely with SAPD on all major drug busts.”
“I’m sorry, Brad. Don’t blame yourself,” Lucy said. “You couldn’t have known.”
Brad didn’t seem to hear her. “I have to go,” he said. “Sam’s talking to Juan now, they’re going to sweep all evidence lockers, police stations, the FBI office, you name it. It was a fucking Trojan horse. There could be more.”
“Call us later,” Sean said.
“Tell your brother. He needs to be extra careful.” Brad hung up.
Lucy said, “I need to talk to Elise.”
Sean looked pained. “No.”
“Sean, I can do this.”
“But that girl—”
“I know exactly what she is. I’ll be okay.” She kissed him. “I have you to come home to.”
*
Elise was in solitary and it took Lucy two hours of waiting before they brought her to the interview room. Without her makeup, she looked younger than her sixteen years. But her eyes were old. Old and calculating.
Elise hadn’t talked, and they knew nothing about her that they hadn’t already known. Elise had called Tobias her “big brother” but Lucy was skeptical. Tobias was at least forty. Elise was sixteen. More likely that he was her father—if they were related at all.
“I knew you’d come and see me,” Elise said.
“Tell me why your brother set a bomb in the DEA evidence locker.”