Until It's You, page 20
Here went nothing.
Landon led the way out of the living room and toward the back of the house. They came to the basement stairs, and the pair of them descended. Kristina followed several steps behind, not wanting to brush up too close. This was delicate.
At the bottom of the stairs he turned and waited for her. Soon she came to the bottom herself and walked around him to survey the scene.
The basement was like the others setups she'd seen from Kevin. A narrow hallway with doors on either side. A lone fluorescent light at the ceiling, about halfway down. Vents for aeros above every door. Could probably handle four separate rooms comfortably, plus the aero control room and a half bath. Very functional. Very isolated.
She turned back to Landon, whose dark eyes were watching her with a simmering intensity.
"This is where he...messed with you?"
"Yes,” he said shortly. "Shall we?"
She swallowed a lump in her throat. That was as much as he wanted to talk about that.
“First, what’s going on with him?” she asked. “What did Kevin have to find out?”
That hard look remained. Whatever she'd feared about him acting inappropriately, it was proving unfounded.
“Roy’s decided to help us.”
"How'd you manage that?"
Landon looked down the hall, then back to her face. "Threatened him with Phobos."
Her eyes opened wide. "Really?"
"Yes. Won't have to use it, though. We have a meeting set up at a motel. That's what Kevin is checking out. We should get the call to leave any minute now."
She looked at him skeptically. "I didn't realize you had any of that stuff actually made. At least not past that shipment that got delayed."
The comm in Landon's pocket buzzed. He whipped it out, read it, then motioned down the hall. "We have to go."
She grabbed his arm, her jaw clenched. "Wait. I thought you said you didn't want to actually use the Phobos stuff. What changed?"
To her surprise, he smiled wryly. "I was bluffing. Come on."
It was strange, then, but she felt a palpable relief. Her shoulders relaxed as she followed him down the hall. This was progress, right? Back to normal?
Driving a criminal who had stalked her to a safe house over to a meet he had set up mysteriously through a message exchange with an unknown ID.
Back to normal.
Right.
This was her life.
***
Tom stayed behind. Getting him to do much of anything but sit with his tab would be a pain, so neither of them tried.
It took them a while to transport Roy into the car without any threat he would make a run for it. He was very heavy, and didn't seem in a hurry to help them out. Even with Landon bearing most of the weight, it had been a struggle.
Finally, they got him into the car. They decided she should drive while Landon sat in the back with a gun trained on Roy.
Even with handcuffs, he hadn’t wanted to take any chances that Roy could overtake Kristina. Never mind that she had more experience with a gun. He was taking the lead here and that was that.
She didn't think Roy would try anything anyway, so she let Landon feel like he won this battle and took the wheel.
Wary of anything fishy happening with this mysterious meet, she decided to take the drive manual rather than letting the computer auto-navigate. They started off heading toward Foster. She turned onto Foster and headed for the address Kevin had given her. Traffic was steady, which gave her time to think.
Should she message Carter? It seemed like the kind of thing the agent would want to know, but they were already in a gray area with how Kevin had held Roy earlier so they needed to approach law enforcement carefully. Landon had convinced her to wait until they talked it over with Kevin. She agreed that was the prudent option, but she didn’t love it.
After fifteen minutes of uneventful driving during which Roy didn't make a peep—and neither did Landon—they arrived at the motel Kevin had directed her to. Kevin's muscular form was waiting outside, just steps from what she guessed was the door to the front desk. The building looked like a Chinese, pre-fab situation. Drab, synthetic wood-grain walls. Tiny windows, with a different color plastic flower at the top of every frame. New and ugly.
Unsurprisingly, the parking lot was almost empty. She parked the car in a spot without a car within three spaces of either side of her. After a quick look at Landon, she got out. Kevin approached, his boots crunching on the lot's loose gravel.
“Still all clear,” he said.
She took a deep breath and took a look around. The lot had two entrances, being on a corner. How could such a huge dump possibly be profitable? Even with super low costs, it just seemed impossible they would have much of any revenue.
“What’s the plan?” she asked.
Kevin's jaw set hard. “We take him into the room and wait for a message to come in from his boss. Once he gives the all-clear, we have the ambush set up. I have some guys just down the road who will be coming in on foot."
“You’re planning to have a shootout?”
“No," he said with a shake of his head. "You have that contact with the FBI, right?”
Her heart rose. “I was going to ask you about that,” she said hopefully.
“Call her. Don’t give her more details than you need to give, but fill her in and let her know what’s happening. If this comes off right she’ll be too grateful to ask about what happened with Roy.”
“Now, or after we get him out of the car?”
Kevin's eyes snapped over to the car, where Landon was sitting with the gun trained on Roy. “Let’s get him out.”
He opened the car door, where Landon sat with Roy to his right. Landon got out of the car with a strange expression on his face. His eyes were lost, the corners narrowed like he had just heard something that had quietly shocked him.
Roy was next. Kevin tugged him out of the car and a pale blue merino wool sweater over his hands so the cuffs weren’t visible. It looked like he was just carrying it.
Where had Kevin gotten that sweater? It had just been sitting there draped over a chair in the kitchen. Tom was no help when she asked whose it was, so she took it and used it for this.
Her eyes went back to Landon. He was mouthing something silently, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She'd never been good at that . . .
Tires squealed, then the crunch of tires on gravel approached rapidly. She snapped her head around to locate the source of the sound and found a pair of pure black cars with tinted windows.
She knew that make. Chevrolet Royal S. That was a government car.
Four uniformed men came out of the car and rushed toward them. They wore windbreakers with FBI plastered across the chest in bright yellow letter and big, wraparound sunglasses.
Kristina’s face heated up as rage coursed through her. What the hell was this? Was Carter having her tracked?
“Freeze!” the agent in front shouted. “FBI!”
Four guns were trained on them. Three handguns and an assault rifle. Berettas, all standard government issue. Kristina counted them again in her head, mentally. She turned to Kevin, who had a look of blank rage. His eyes were burning, but he looked straight ahead.
Then she turned to Landon. He looked lethargic, almost lost in thought, as he raised his hands.
The FBI agent who had yelled initially rushed around the car and put his hand on Roy’s shoulders. The other three agents fanned out, all guns still trained on them.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Kevin barked. The agent pulling Roy away looked over at him.
“This man is wanted for conspiracy to commit a terrorist act!” he snapped.
“Do you have a warrant for that?”
But the man said nothing and rushed Roy into the car.
Kristina tensed up as she watched her brother. Her eyes went back to the guns trained on them. The agents were all grim-faced and had their fingers on the trigger. They were definitely ready to shoot.
Her heart went to her throat. She turned back to Kevin. She could sense the same thing she knew Kevin sensed. Something was very wrong.
Back to the agents. She watched Roy disappear into the back door. The agents followed. Kevin went for his gun as they pulled away.
Landon stirred into action and grabbed Kevin's arm. “Stop,” he said.
“Those are not fucking FBI,” Kevin spat, his eyes wild. “I know it.”
He spun away and put his hands on his head. Kristina turned to Landon.
"Fuck!" Kevin screamed behind her.
She stepped back from him and looked up into Landon's face, her heart pounding. The blankness there scared her more than Kevin's anger.
"You're sure this isn't Carter?" Kevin asked.
She pulled her comm out of her pocket. “I can check right now,” she said, her chest tight.
Landon shook his head beside her. “Wait,” he said quietly.
Kristina’s eyes narrowed, but she did as he asked, her comm screen on in her hand. “What?”
"Moonlight . . . it was a setup."
She stared at him for a second, then her eyes went to the sign on the building and she groaned. The same freaking name as the dealership. How dense were they?!
“He told me something in the car. Just now.”
She shook her head, still angry with herself. How had she not seen the sign coming in?
“What did he say?" she snapped.
If he noticed her tone, he didn't show it. “Just before you opened the door. He said to look at Bruman.”
Her eyes narrowed. She turned to Kevin, who seemed equally skeptical. “What do you mean? What did he say exactly?”
“We were sitting there while you and Kevin were talking. He hadn’t said anything the whole ride, as you know. Then he turned to me and said ‘you might look at the assistant. Bruman.’ That was it. A few seconds later the door opened and then the cars came in.”
Kristina shook her head. That was strange, but it didn't seem totally mind-shattering. Was this what was haunting him?
“So?" she asked. "He knew her name, big deal.”
Landon licked his lips, his eyes off in the distance. It seemed he couldn't even look at her.
“Have the FBI agent take her in,” he said, still not bringing his eyes to hers.
“To interrogation?”
His jaw flexed as he turned to her. “Yes.”
“Just based on this asshole’s tip? He's fucked us once already.”
“Yes." It was like he'd changed entirely in the last few minutes. Professional, intense Landon was back. "If it’s bogus, I’ll deal with it. Tell the agent I’ll talk to her too. Once she has Bruman.”
Kristina nodded and looked over at Kevin. He had gone dead still, watching the two of them.
"This some kind of betrayal situation?" he asked.
Landon took a deep breath, but said nothing.
Kevin shrugged. “Do it," he said. "And put it on speaker so we can hear.”
Still confused, she went into her previous calls and initiated a call to Agent Carter.
Carter answered quickly. “Kristina,” she said, sounding bright but harried in the way the forced cheerfulness of stimulant aeros provided. “Tell me you have something good.”
“Maybe," Kristina said, trying to keep her voice light. "Tatum is willing to talk. But only if you bring in his assistant. Jenna Bruman.”
Footsteps came over the speaker from Carter's end. Kristina imagined her rushing to her desk. “Bruman," Carter said. "That’s B-R-U-M-A-N, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Got it. Why her? Something good?”
Kristina looked at Landon, who shook his head. “Just a hunch for now," she said. "Tatum will explain more in-person.”
“I’ll need a warrant.”
She looked up at Tatum. He nodded, a grim look still on his face.
“So I need probable cause, Kristina." She sounded exasperated. "You know how this works.”
Landon stepped forward. “I will transmit a statement,” he said. His voice was strong. So strong, Kristina thought, that she realized he had to be really forcing it to stay that way.
A pause. “Is this Tatum?”
“You will receive a transmission of a sworn statement from my official account. The electronic signature will be verified. I am sure that should suffice.”
There was another silence on the other line. “Certainly,” Carter said finally. “Now can I get you in to have a chat? We have a few questions to ask.”
“Get Ms. Bruman in and I’ll answer anything you want.”
“Excellent. Is there anything else, Kristina?”
“One thing,” Kristina said. She was pretty sure she knew the answer to what she was about to ask, but it didn’t hurt anyway. “Are you having me followed?”
A pause on the other end. Kristina held her breath.
"No," Carter said, but her voice had gained an edge. "What happened?”
“So if I told you I just had some trouble with some guys saying they were FBI agents, that wouldn’t mean anything to you?”
“What kind of trouble?” Carter asked. "Same as the deal you told me about on Lakeshore Drive?"
“I don't know. Maybe.”
“Do you have any identification for the agents?”
Kevin nodded and pointed to the license plate of Landon’s car.
“A plate number for the vehicle they came in,” Kristina said tentatively. Kevin nodded. “I’ll message it over.”
She could practically hear the alarm bells ringing in Carter’s head. “Is this something I should be concerned about Kristina?”
Kristina bit her lip. “No,” she said honestly. “I doubt you’ll ever hear about it again, honestly. After the plate transmission, I mean.”
“We'll see about that. Now is that all?"
“That’s it,” Kristina said.
“Okay. I’ll get a request in for this warrant and have her in tonight. See you soon, Mr. Tatum.”
The call ended. Kristina looked between Landon and her brother. Kevin shook his head.
“We got fucked,” he said. “Plain and simple."
"I agree," Kristina said.
Kevin shook his head. "That message was bullshit. My fault."
She watched his eyes and saw he was looking at Landon, but Landon seemed totally disengaged in the conversation. She thought it was best she not explain to Kevin that she and Landon should have seen the setup a mile away too.
Kevin seemed to notice nothing more was forthcoming from Landon and shook his head. "Let’s get out of here," he said. He took out his comm. "Kristina, I’ll message the plate number to you so you can forward it along. Don't want her having my ID. Don't want her knowing I was here, actually. Let me know when you go in to talk.”
“Will do,” Kristina said.
“Good.” He took a look around. "I need to get Tom out of that safehouse. I doubt the bastard would go back for him after escaping, but you never know."
Kristina's heart sank. She'd forgotten about Tom again.
"Good call," she said lamely.
Kevin nodded, then turned and walked off, eventually getting into a silver car she hadn’t seen before.
As he got in, she turned Landon. “What next?” she asked, still kicking herself for forgetting about Tom again.
He blinked and his face softened slightly. “I don’t know investigator, you tell me.”
“Well, we have to wait for the warrant," she said, putting her thoughts about Tom aside. "That could take hours. And you look like you could use a drink. Can you think of a place?”
His brows shot up. That, at least, had gotten something out of him. “I have something in mind,” he said, warming up. “Let me transmit this statement, then we go. I’m driving.”
CHAPTER 22
He drove them east at first, across the city and toward the lake. Kristina sat in the passenger seat and looked out the window as everything flew by.
The business with Carter had been taken care of quickly and efficiently. From there he had wanted to get moving without wasting another minute. She followed his lead, sensitive to what he must be feeling.
By the sounds of it, this was like Anna betraying her. Trying to have her killed, maybe.
So she kept her mouth shut and gave him his space. The world melded into a thing without hard edges, its color swirls passing through her like the city air she breathed. She was there, but she stopped being there and drifted off into her own half-thinking, not quite a day dream and yet not quite fully awake either.
She didn't know where they were going, and she didn't ask. Landon seemed lost in thought again, so it probably wouldn't have done much good. It was nothing she particularly recognized, anyway.
This made it a surprise when she found they had come into the city, along the lake on Lakeshore Drive. The towering high-rises that looked out over Lake Michigan zipped by as they drove along the water's curve until she found them approaching the huge pile of buildings and humanity that was Chicago’s downtown. Cars zipping around with the tell-tale precise movements of auto-driver were all around them, darting between lanes. Then they turned off, back onto surface roads.
A few minutes later, Landon had pulled the car up to the valet of a building Kristina had never visited. It was inside Lincoln Park, sandwiched between a pond and a harbor in a well-kept up brown brick building from the previous century. Maybe even early the previous century.
The pair of them got out of the car. Landon waited for her as they came around the car, then led the way into the restaurant.
It was a classic spot, with old brick walls and weathered, but still well-maintained cedar floors. Clearly going for a vibe like an abandoned small-town train station that had been converted into a restaurant decades ago. The bones were still there, but everything had been cozied up a bit.
A hostess who did not ask them for their comms seated them quickly, outside and slightly to the north of the building. This gave them a view of both the pond and the harbor, with the lake beyond that. It wasn’t until they had their menus in hand and waters poured that Landon finally spoke.
"I think I'm going to clean it up," he said, his face a carved stone.
