6. Admiral
6
ADMIRAL
T omorrow, said the response I’d received from Alice late last night.
Hoping that meant she planned to return to the coffee shop this morning, I had Atticus and Kodiak stake it out.
“Hey, boss. We’ve got company,” Kodiak said when I answered his call. “Looks like Castellano is tailing Cheshire too.”
Fuck. This meant we needed backup and a lot of it. If anything happened to her because we didn’t provide adequate protection, I’d never forgive myself. “I’ll get in touch with Grit and find out who’s available. You see if Tank and Blackjack can come back out.”
“They’re already here, sir, watching her place.”
“Excellent.” I ended the call and checked my phone like I had every few minutes, but there still wasn’t another message from Alice.
Grit immediately responded to my request for support, asking how many people I wanted assigned. I requested five. That gave us ten, including me. Just as I’d grabbed my jacket, I received a message from Tank.
Uploaded surveillance footage from yesterday.
I didn’t want to take the time to watch it now. Anything urgent? I asked.
Negative.
Good. On my way.
I checked myself in the mirror one last time before walking out the door. I’d given more thought than I should’ve to what I had on. While my standard suit and tie wouldn’t have been an option regardless, everything else I had to choose from certainly wouldn’t match anything someone Alice might find attractive would wear. My hair alone probably screamed law enforcement or military, both of which were most likely the antithesis of the kind of men she was interested in.
I stepped out of the elevator, through the building’s main door, and onto the sidewalk, but stopped short in the middle of the crowd, apologizing to the people who skirted around me. After making my way off to the side, I looked up at what little blue sky showed through the mix of skyscrapers and clouds. Men she’d be interested in? As if that would ever be me. Why was I even thinking about it? Because she had the most beautiful green eyes I’d ever seen? Or because I longed to run my fingers through her silky red hair with what I now thought of as her signature pink streaks? I remembered exactly how her slim, white T-shirt had hugged her curves, narrowing at the waist before disappearing where she’d tucked it into her jeans. I even found the brown leather belt she wore sexy as fuck. I shook my head, not that it made the mental picture I had of her go away.
It was a fifteen-minute walk from my building to Alice’s. Admittedly, hers appeared much nicer than mine. Then again, I hadn’t been earning a six-figure income since I was a teenager.
“Which floor is she on?” I asked Tank through the comms that I’d turned on when I was still a few blocks away.
“Fifteenth,” he responded.
I shielded my eyes from the sun and looked up, willing her to respond to me again, saying she was ready to meet. “Castellano’s crew still here?”
“Affirmative. We picked up on two earlier. That’s grown to six confirmed.”
Fuck, I thought rather than said out loud like I had earlier. I opened the secure app Alice and I were communicating through and prepared to send another message. While what I wrote was too lengthy, I feared shortening it wouldn’t convey the urgency, so I recorded a voice memo.
“Alice, my name is Pershing Kane, and I’m with the FBI. However, I’m not here as a federal agent right now. The Castellano crime family is tailing you. It is not safe for you to leave your apartment. I’m here. Let me help you.” I uploaded the recording and hit send, staring at the screen, willing her to respond. After more than a minute, I stuffed the phone in my pocket.
I shielded my eyes again and looked up, counting the floors as I did. When I saw movement near a window on her floor, I raised my opposite hand shoulder-height, but lowered it when I felt my cell vibrate.
Meet me in the alley on the left side of the building, read the message. Come alone.
Need backup to relocate you safely, I responded.
Come alone.
Okay. I didn’t like it, but I had a feeling if I didn’t do as she asked, I’d never get this chance again. “Cover me as far as the alley on the west side of the building. No one else enters the alleyway,” I said to Tank.
“Copy that, boss,” he responded.
I’d expected an argument from him and was happy not to have gotten one. I waited until there was a gap in traffic and crossed the street, blending with the sidewalk crowd again once I had. I went beyond the place where I should’ve turned, then circled back, falling in with the crowd going in the opposite direction. This time, I ducked between the buildings, making sure none of my guys or Castellano’s followed.
Alice was waiting for me a few feet away, holding a gun aimed in my direction. I raised both hands as I approached the dark area where I’d bet she didn’t think I’d see her.
“I won’t hurt you, Alice. I’m here to help.”
“Keep your hands where I can see them,” Alice commanded, keeping her firearm trained on me. “Remove your jacket and drop it on the ground.”
I complied, moving slowly and deliberately. The jacket hit the pavement with a soft thud.
“Now turn around, hands behind your head, fingers interlocked.”
Her movements were nearly silent as I felt her approach.
“I’m going to check for weapons,” she said. “Move, and this ends badly.”
Her free hand patted me down, retrieving my sidearm from my shoulder holster and a backup piece from my ankle. She stepped back, keeping both her gun and one of mine trained on me.
“Turn around slowly.”
I faced her again. In the dim light of the alley, her green eyes were sharp and calculating. She’d clearly had training of some kind. Most likely private security.
“There’s a service entrance twenty feet behind me,” she said. “We’re going to walk to it together. You’ll stay three steps ahead of me. Your hands stay on your head. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“If you have a team watching, now’s the time to tell them to stand down. Do it so I can hear you.”
I spoke into my comms. “Maintain perimeter positions. Do not approach the alley. I repeat, keep your distance.”
Alice grabbed my jacket from where I’d dropped it, then gestured with one of the guns. “Keep moving.”
We made our way to a heavy metal door, where Alice produced a key fob from her pocket and swiped it against a reader. The lock clicked.
“Push it open with your elbow, then step inside.”
The service corridor was dimly lit and smelled of cleaning supplies. A security camera hung from the ceiling—disabled, I noted, its red light dark.
“The elevator at the end of this hall is for maintenance staff,” Alice said. “It bypasses the main system. We’re taking it to fifteen.”
As we walked, I couldn’t help but admire her thoroughness. She’d chosen a route that avoided cameras and civilians, maintaining complete control while minimizing exposure. Whatever her story was, she was no amateur.
The elevator doors opened with a soft ding. Alice directed me inside first, then followed, keeping herself positioned in the corner where she could see both me and the way out.
“I see why you’ve managed to stay ahead of Castellano’s people,” I said quietly.
“No talking,” Alice replied, but there was a slight shift in her tone—less hostile, more evaluating.
I watched as the elevator quickly climbed. At floor ten, Alice shifted her stance. “When we reach fifteen, you’re going to exit and turn right. Third door. Stand to the side while I unlock it.”
I nodded, keeping my hands linked behind my head. The elevator slowed, then stopped with a gentle shudder. The doors opened to reveal another utilitarian hallway, this one lined with pipes along the ceiling.
Following her instructions, I moved to the third door and positioned myself against the wall beside it. Alice produced another key fob, different from the first one. She swiped it across a reader hidden behind what looked like an electrical panel.
The door opened with a pneumatic hiss, revealing not a maintenance room but what appeared to be a secure entryway. A reinforced door stood at the far end, with a sophisticated keypad beside it.
“Inside,” she directed when that entryway opened. “Stop in the middle of the room.”
Once I’d done as she instructed, the outer door sealed automatically. We were in what appeared to be a high-end panic room with an air-filtration system, an independent power supply, and what I strongly suspected was a weapons cache behind one of the wall panels.
“You’ve got quite a setup here,” I said carefully. “Military background?”
“You don’t get to ask the questions,” she said, moving to a keypad, where she entered a code. “But you’re going to answer plenty of them. Starting with how you found me and what you know about my sister.”
The inner door clicked open, and my pulse quickened when I walked into her apartment. I hadn’t pictured it, yet what I saw seemed to fit her.
The space was modern but lived-in, with floor-to-ceiling windows offering a panoramic view of the city. Tech equipment was arranged in a semicircle, with multiple monitors and specialized hardware I didn’t recognize. A tablet on the coffee table displayed security-camera feeds. There was also what looked like a meditation area set up in a corner.
“Sit,” Alice commanded, gesturing with one of the guns to a chair. “Hands on the armrests, where I can see them.” The positioning of it wasn’t lost on me. My back was to the door through which we’d come in, allowing Alice to watch both me and the entry point. Nothing in this apartment was accidental.
I lowered myself into the seat, my stomach tightening with the weight of what she expected me to tell her.
“We’re investigating your sister’s death,” I said carefully. “But there are details I can’t share yet.” I couldn’t tell her about Bobby, about Sarah’s work with the FBI, about any of it.
Alice’s expression hardened, her grip on the weapons unwavering. “Then, why are you here?”
“Castellano is tailing you,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “That’s why we got involved.”
Alice shook her head. “Try again. Tell me the truth this time. What do you know about Sarah’s death?” Her voice cracked when she said her sister’s name. “She dies, and suddenly, I have mobsters following me. Explain why.”
I chose my next words carefully. “Law enforcement is still investigating the cause of death.”
Her eyes scrunched. “You didn’t answer my questions, G-man.”
I grinned at her use of the bygone slang for someone in my profession. “You already know the answers, Alice.”
“They said it was an overdose,” she snapped, then began pacing, though her aim never wavered. “Sarah never touched drugs. Never. Someone murdered her.” She stopped abruptly, blinking hard. The rawness of her loss was apparent in every step she took, her every expression.
Before I could respond, my earpiece crackled to life. I clicked my comms on.
“Boss,” Tank’s voice was urgent. “We’ve got movement inside. Security cameras show multiple hostiles coming up through the maintenance tunnels. They’re bypassing the lobby.”
“How many?”
“At least six that we can see. They’re moving in pairs. Professional setup.”
Alice had gone still, both guns still trained on me, but her head cocked slightly. I wondered how good her security system was, if she was getting the same feed my team was. Regardless, I reiterated Tank’s message.
“Your team has the building surrounded,” she said, not really a question.
“Yes, but if they’re coming up through maintenance tunnels?—”
“They’ll bypass most of your security.” She moved to one of the monitors, keeping a gun pointed at me while typing one-handed on a keyboard. Security videos flickered across her monitors. “There’s only one access point from B3 to this floor that isn’t alarmed. They’ll use that.”
My training kicked in. “Let me help. My team can?—”
“The same team that didn’t notice the tunnels until now?” Her fingers flew across the keys. “I have my own security measures.”
A red light began flashing silently in the corner of the room. Alice’s expression hardened as she leaned in to get a better look at the camera feed.
“They’re carrying heavy firepower,” she said. “Military grade.” She glanced at me.
Tank’s voice came through again. “Boss, they’re moving faster than we expected. Four minutes to your position, max.”
I met Alice’s eyes. “We can sort out who’s lying to whom later. Right now, we need to move. Those men aren’t here to ask questions.”
She studied me for a long moment, calculation clear in her green eyes. Finally, she ejected the clip from my gun and tossed it back to me. “Two rounds,” she said, keeping her own weapon ready. “Don’t make me regret this.”
I caught it with practiced ease. “You have an exit strategy?”
A half smile played at the corner of her mouth. “I always have an exit strategy.” She pressed something under the desk, and a panel in the wall slid open. “But first, I need to get something from my safe.”
She moved to what looked like a regular closet door and placed her hand flat against it. A hidden scanner hummed to life, and a green light washed over her palm.
“Three minutes,” Tank warned in my ear.
The door clicked open, revealing not clothes but a reinforced steel room. Alice stepped inside, still keeping me in her peripheral vision.
“Sarah gave me something,” she said, entering a complex code into a wall safe. “Said if anything happened to her…”
Her voice trailed off, and my pulse quickened. Her sister must have left contingencies, maybe even proof of her FBI work. “Alice?—”
“Save it.” The safe door swung open. She reached inside and withdrew a sealed envelope. “Two minutes to grab what we need and?—”
A dull thud reverberated through the floor, and the lights flickered once.
“They’re using the elevator shaft,” I said into my comms. “Tank, I need?—”
The power cut out completely, plunging us into darkness. Emergency lights kicked in, bathing everything in a dim red glow.
“Right on schedule,” Alice muttered, shoving the envelope into a small backpack. She pulled out what looked like NVGs—night-vision goggles—and tossed them to me. “Your team going to get in our way?”
Another thud, closer this time.
“If we’re moving, we move now,” I said, clicking my comms. “Tank, full defensive positions, but do not—repeat, do not—engage any friendlies leaving the building.”
Alice shouldered her pack, then moved to another wall panel, this one near the floor. “Hope you’re not afraid of heights, Agent Kane.”