Justice and Lies Page 2

  That also means I need to get him out of here without his people spotting him. Makes it all a little bit harder.

  “This is less about needs and more about wants,” I say. I lean over to take another sip of my wine, realizing I’m getting closer to the end of the second glass of wine. Don’t go for another one, I tell myself.

  “Wants, needs, when it comes to these things, they’re all the same. You have things I want, and I’m willing to make an agreement for them.”

  The way he refers to them as “things” is just…. really fucking disturbing.

  “What kind of agreement did you have in mind?” I ask.

  Even without asking, just knowing, I just want to go home and shower, scrub this conversation away.

  This time, he reaches for his wine, to mirror me from earlier, before he leans into me. Or more specifically, he’s leaning in so he can get a better look at my cleavage.

  I just pray that he doesn’t see the microphone. It’s tucked on the bottom, so I don’t think he will, but men are weird. “You have the girls?” he asks as he leans over. Perfect for the microphone to catch all his words.

  “I do, what are you willing to do for them? How will I benefit?” I ask.

  “What do you want? Power? Sex? Money? Name your price.”

  “How? Why would I believe you, someone on the Internet, can provide the price I’m looking for?” I ask.

  “My day job provides me plenty of resources, especially the monetary kind.”

  That app he sold off and the law degree he earned. His clients turn their eyes to the rumors because he’s good at his job in helping them.

  “I want power. More than what I have now. Nothing’s more exciting to me than power, being able to have power over a man. It’s wonderful.”

  “Wouldn’t the power be mine to give to you?” Hayes asks.

  “No, I would be taking it from you. Maybe some day, if someone is lucky, I’ll give you something else in return. Think of it as a reward for being a good boy.”

  Jesus, I want to bleach my tongue right now.

  “Keep going, Cassie,” Rachel says.

  I push through, because with the way he’s looking downstairs, I’m moments away from getting the invitation to go to his apartment and we’ll make a stop at the FBI HQ.

  “Another drink?” Hayes asks.

  Or, instead of waiting for the invitation, why not give it to myself? “Why don’t we do another round at your place?” I ask, taking one last swig of my drink.

  “We can do that,” he says. He waves to the bartender to get the check and signs it quickly. “Let me get my team to to bring my car to the front and we can get started in the backseat.”

  Jesus, why. I’ve been shot in the ass and stabbed in the leg, and I’d almost take either one of those over pretending to be interested in this fucker.

  I stand up from my chair and smooth out my clothes. Taking a look at the bar, I take in some of my surroundings, including Isaiah. He’s moved to the front of the lobby, out free from the barroom.

  “Are you ready to go?” Hayes asks.

  I nod because yes I am. I am so ready to get out of here and go.

  Hayes takes my hand, holding it like we’re a couple ready to leave for the night. As we walk out of the bar, Isaiah and I lock eyes for just a moment.

  No acknowledgement that we know each other, but I know that as soon as Hayes and I walk out of the hotel, Isaiah will follow us.

  He’ll keep his distance, especially because it sounds like Hayes has security. If they’re really there, Isaiah will distract them.

  There are two of them and one of Isaiah, but I think he’ll manage just fine.

  Even if he doesn’t, he just needs to manage long enough to get Hayes arrested. Once Hayes is arrested and in the car we have waiting, that’s it. His guards will mean nothing at that point, but we have to get there.

  Isaiah has a hard wall to read through, and I’ve never seemed to crack through it. I’m not sure that anyone on our team has done so, but we all know that he will show up to back us up if need. This is what matters in an operation like this, that we can know our teammates have our backs.

  Hayes and I walk out of the lobby and into the cold, winter air.

  As we do come outside, Hayes turns around and looks at the two men following us and nods. “Can you go find the car?” Hayes asks them.

  The two finally disappear, leaving us to walk to the edge of the street. Any moment now, the car should show up to finally arrest him and be done with that.

  “Maybe it’s the wine speaking, but I’m feeling a little romantic tonight,” Hayes says. He leans in like he’s going to kiss me.

  “You should stop what you’re doing, you FBI bitch, and stay away from the trial this week.”

  “FBI?” Hayes asks, before he shoves me aside.

  FBI? Who made me?

  A van has pulled up in front of us and looks like an FBI van, but none of them have Irish accents or would call me a bitch. The mention of the trial is what immediately takes me to the accents.

  When Hayes tries to throw me aside, I grab onto his jacket to try and slow him down, but, the two men in the van poke their heads out and throw something at me. It lands with a thud in front of my feet and my hand slips from Hayes jacket.

  So he runs.

  There’s only one word to describe this ticking thing in front of me: bomb.

  “Get out of the way,” I say, trying to follow Hayes. I’m not fast enough, though, and he manages to escape into the night without me.

  chapter three

  The words play over and over in my mind. FBI. FBI. FBI. FBI.

  There are several possibilities as to who was in that van, threatening me and ruining this moment, but in my gut, I know there is only one group responsible for this moment.

  For now, though, I need to stuff my thoughts about who it could be and listen to the bomb squad team.

  Once the box landed at my feet, there was a mad rush to make sure no one was close. But then it didn’t go off.

  Then the squad showed up and confirmed that there isn’t a bomb, it’s just an old-fashioned clock ticking in a box.

  Given that I’ve dealt with bombs before, I’m more than delighted that it’s just a freaking clock. Kevin, now in charge of the bomb team, is working with his team to go over what happened.

  I stay back, not wanting to interrupt him yet, but knowing I need to share my thoughts with someone who will understand why.

  The rest of my current team is scanning the area looking for Daniel Hayes, but at this point, he’s probably booking a private flight to a country we don’t have extradition agreements with.

  We’ve already arrested the security guards and they’re on their way to HQ , but Hayes will already have an attorney for them.

  While my team is looking for him, and Kevin’s team is busy with the evidence, at the moment, I don’t feel like I belong to either.

  “Cassie,” Kevin says from his spot on the sidewalk. He waves me over, ready to talk about what happened here.

  “What’s up?”

  “Let’s go talk over there,” he says.

  I follow him around the corner of the street so we can talk in private.

  “What’s up?” I ask again as he stops.

  “I wanted to get your theory. I’ve got my own, but you were the one here so I figured it would be better to ask you first.”

  I nod because I’m pretty positive what his theory is. We spent a lot of time together, working on this case before the FBI broke us and Jess up. He probably has the same idea as me, but I’ll need to wait and see.

  “I think it was the mob, the one that Rossett was involved with,” I say. Even after almost five years, we’ve never been able to figure out how he got involved, what his role was, or if the mob was responsible for breaking him out of jail. We can assume they were, but assumptions mean shit in law.

  The biggest problem is that we’re missing about twenty years' worth of information
while he was in prison. However it happened, Rossett knew the people involved with the mob and hooked up with them shortly after he got out of prison, like he never missed a beat.

  Still don’t know how he managed that, and he’s been back in prison for the last five years. He won’t talk to anyone who visits and I gave up on trying to get answers from him a long time ago.

  Whatever happened, it doesn’t matter now. There is plenty of evidence to throw him back in jail for the rest of his life, and he won’t go anywhere this time. I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure he stays put, especially since he has a history of being a flight risk now.

  “Why do you think that? I agree, but what’s leading you to that?” Kevin asks.

  “Three things - one, they mentioned the trial and that I shouldn’t be there. Two - they had Irish accents and we know this mob has ties to Ireland. Did someone bring in new blood to try and scare me? Three, we know that Rossett was responsible for the bomb at the Metro Station, so it wouldn’t be beyond reason to assume they’ll use that as a scare tactic.”

  “When Juan called and said they sounded Irish, I had to wonder, too,” Kevin says. “I called Jess, so her team should be here in any moment.”

  While Kevin and I are no longer on the case with the mob, Jessica is. She leads a new team that doesn’t have the personal connections to the mob, not like I do, but they’re still decent agents. I know they’re smart, and I know that the FBI doesn’t like agents to be personally involved with their cases. It makes sense, but in an investigation like this, it seems like a waste. No one has lived and breathed the Assassin’s story like I have.

  Now, Jessica has a team of people who are investigating the mob in a much quieter sense. They aren’t making noise, running into the mob, or showing up on national TV (both of which I am guilty of doing).

  Funny to think that probably in two days, Daniel Hayes is going to know who I really am.

  “Can’t say I’m fans of them. Damian always gives me some weird vibes,” I say.

  Kevin rolls his eyes. “You better like them, especially if they start making arrests.”

  “You think they’re close?” I ask.

  “No, Jessica is frustrated because she feels like they keep hitting dead walls.”

  “Huh. Maybe they need me as the distraction. Hopefully something happens this week when the trial gets started.”

  “Are you ready for that?” Kevin asks.

  “No. Maybe yes? I’m ready for it to be over, but I don’t know if I’m ready for it to actually happen. I want to move past it and be done. For good.”

  “I am, too. For you. This investigation took a toll on all three of us, but you got the worst of it all. Who would have thought it would been your dad we met?”

  “Not me,” I say. Honest truth, too. At that point in my life, I had accepted I would never know anything about my parents, besides the fact that my father killed my mother.

  “You two always hanging out in dark corners would make any other woman nervous before her wedding.” Kevin and I both turn to see Jessica walk up to us.

  “You never need to worry,” Kevin says, taking a personal moment to pull Jess, his fiancé and my best friend, into a hug and kiss her forehead. “Cassie’s too annoying to date.”

  “Well, thanks,” I say, knowing it’s all in jest. “At least we know the feeling is mutual,” I say with a quick wink.

  “What’s going on with this bomb-not-bomb?” Jess asks, taking a step away from Kevin in an attempt to be “professional.”

  “Well, it’s an old-fashioned alarm clock,” Kevin says.

  “We think it’s the Irish mob. The one involved with Rossett. Or at least that’s our unofficial theory, mine and Kevin’s,” I say. I give her a moment to let the idea settle in her mind.

  “That would be the biggest break we’ve had in over a year. They’ve been laying low lately.”

  “They want me, I’m a magnet for disaster when it comes to this case.”

  “You’re a magnet for progress, too,” Jess says. “Have you told anyone on your team about your plan to testify?”

  I shake my head. “I’m trying to keep that a secret. Y’all are the only ones who know, and the Director. No one else in the agency knows yet, or my team didn’t until these guys showed up.”

  “So there’s a good chance these men are gambling about knowing that you were testifying. It was something they had to take a chance on, but they didn’t know for sure that it was going to happen.”

  “That’s gonna suck for them when you show up anyway,” Kevin says.

  I nod. “I’m not going to let them stop me. Why try and just scare me? If they really wanted to get rid of me, throw a real bomb at me and be done with it.”

  A car drives by, unaware that they’re about to have to turn around. We’ve closed down the street by the hotel for evidence, but it’s also three in the morning. Not that it’s illegal to go out at three in the morning, it’s just unexpected.

  “Hey, Jessica.” My least favorite agent on her team, Damien, walks over. “What do you want us to do with the box, now that we know it won’t blow up?”

  “We need to get it to dust it for prints and see if we can get anything. Prints, DNA, anything we can find. I want to know who these people are,” Jess says.

  “Sounds good,” Damien says, walking away.

  I shake my head, not happy that we’re doing this again. I suspected someone from the mob would appear at the trial when they announced it. I thought maybe they’d try to make a move on me when the trial was announced, to seal the deal that I wouldn’t be around for it.

  When they didn’t, I got a little complacent, I suppose. Not anymore though. I’ll be checking my shoulder to see who is behind me when I walk down the street until this thing is over.

  Having lived in D.C. for over five years now, I know many different ways to move around town. I know how to lose a tail, as long as I can spot them first.

  “How did they even know I was here tonight?” I ask out loud. “Do you think someone is following me and I didn’t even realize it?”

  “If they are, they’re doing it digitally, not physically,” Kevin says. “You’d notice someone following you.”

  That’s a valid point, they could be tracking my phone without me knowing it but I’m pretty good at spotting tails, both on myself and on others.

  “I suppose I need to go tell my team what happened, besides what they heard.”

  “You think you’ll find your man tonight?” Kevin asks.

  I shake my head. “Bet he’s in the wind, going somewhere we can’t touch him.” Now I’ll have to deal with the news coverage of the trial this week, plus the coverage that the FBI failed to arrest a billionaire. All I can hope for is that no one realizes I’m involved with both cases.

  Had we waited just a few moments, even just five minutes, might we have missed them?

  No, they had to have been waiting for me. That wasn’t a move that you did on the fly, they were preparing for me to walk out of that hotel and to give me my little gift.

  I know that I’m not getting sleep tonight, because I’ll be tossing and turning with the different questions running back and forth in my head. How did they know I was here? Did they really know that I was testifying or did they just take an educated guess?

  My obsessive thoughts are already dragging.

  “Cassie,” Jess says.

  “What?”

  “You’re pacing. It’s okay, taking a deep breath. This isn’t your fault,” she says, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We will figure this out, how they found you. This isn’t over with them, I promise you. My team will work to find them, though I might have to request they put you back on my team.”

  “I’m the ‘lucky’ charm for this investigation,” I say.

  Jess nods. “In a way, but we will hold them responsible.”

  “Honestly, after tonight, I’d rather help you with this than try and find Daniel Hayes again.”

&nbs
p; “We’ll find him, too. There’s always a possibility that something could go wrong trying to arrest someone in public, but no one would have guessed this would be what went wrong.”

  “Definitely not,” I say. “I just want the mob to leave me alone. They have for the past few years, but now this again.”

  I take a step away, like I’m about to pace again but catch myself. Instead, I spin on my heel and shake my fist.

  “Cass, how much wine did you have in there?” Jess asks.

  “Three glasses, maybe. Why?” I ask.

  “You are starting to sway in those high heels.” She grabs my arm to hold me steady and I realize she’s right. I am swaying.

  “Usually, three glasses does not get me like that,” I say.

  “The wine came straight from the bartender?” Jess asks.

  I nod. “Don’t think he laced my drink; I don’t feel like I’m going to black out. I just feel silly all of the sudden.”

  “Oh God help us all,” Jess ays. “Let’s get you back to your team to go over some options and get you home. Did you walk to HQ?”

  I nod.

  “Yeah, we’re going to get you a cab or an Uber. You aren’t walking back tonight; you won’t make it in these heels.”

  “You’re being kind of bossy, you know that?” I ask.

  “Don’t forget it.”

  The two of us could go back and forth all night long if we wanted to. “Oh, look who it is. Hi, Mason.”

  “Hi, Jessica.”

  Jess is very aware about the awkward flirting that Mason attempts with me on a regular basis. Unlike my current team, who are in the dark about my love life before I joined them, Jess knows all about my lack of romance.

  She knows all about the rogue agent that I probably would have dated if he was still in the FBI. However, that was never going to work, and after that, I ended up dating a DEA agent, Seth.

  That was a disaster, and since that ended and I made it out with my life, I’ve been a little hesitant to just start dating again.

  Even if I do, I don’t think it would be Mason that I’d date.