Not So Innocent (Shattered Glass #2)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Cai aimed a perturbed bleary eye at the bathroom door where Riley sang a garbled “Sweeeeeeet”, followed by a growled, also offkey, “Emoooottioonnn”. Yikes. He cringed and then looked down at where he was. Riley’s bed. The cringe became a grin. It’s a start, a new beginning. A Disney film...with whips. His quick glance at the clock told him it was long past the time to take his pills. A bipolar hero with sociopathic tendencies. They sure didn’t put that into Disney films. Also, the sun isn’t shining. What a weird way to start a cartoon.

He hopped out of bed and into a pair of jeans. On his way to the kitchen, he found Begone sulking on the back of the recliner, atop his coat and mittens. “Morning, girl,” he whispered. She jumped up and then scampered ahead of him. “You’d make one messed up Disney creature.”

His cell bleeped a text message from the pocket of his coat. He sighed at it. Did you forget the protocol, Julian? Cai eyed the bathroom and listened for singing before he pulled out the phone. His heart beat triple time.

Seventeen text messages? What the heck? He unlocked and scrolled through the same messages repeated for the past forty minutes.

Unknown: Text back. No feds

The timestamp on the last message was two minutes ago.

Feds? The phrasing bothered him even as he texted back. A frustrated “Dangit!” escaped him as he made mistake after mistake. It took almost a minute to type out his reply.

Cai: FBI outside. R in shower. U ok? Meet?

Dangit, Julian, I told you no text messages! And if you’re texting, you might as well call. Cai double checked. No missed calls.

Maybe he can’t risk being overheard?

“Ugh!” Cai huffed, blowing his bangs away from his eyes.

Then he furrowed his brows and tilted his head.

Feds..? Not a word Julian would use.

Rachel? Cai scrolled again, double checking the numbers from each text message. Only Julian’s burner number showed up. Huh. Had she lost her phone? When had she texted last? Two days ago? Three? The night she went dumpster diving for passwords. She was with Dare, but she would have messaged somehow when he didn’t come back. Cai’s frown deepened.

Why didn’t I think about that?

Too busy with Riley and Tommy.

Focus.

Begone howled, hungry and demanding. Cai growled his frustration at the phone and then jogged into the kitchen. He repeatedly checked the screen. Answer!

After propping up the phone against the coffee maker, he grabbed a can of dog food. By the time Cai’d twisted the opener halfway, both animals were whining and howling so loudly, he nearly missed the phone vibrating. It plunked down flat against the Formica. Cai scooted the phone closer so he could read the message while dealing with the can of food.

Unknown: No Feds. Go onto the patio. Face the alley

He stared at the text, foreboding creeping up his neck and raising the hairs on his scalp. That was not Julian. Was he dead? Was he a hostage?

One thing’s for certain, he hasn’t told them about the site or they wouldn’t be here.

They need me to get to the hard drive.

If I don’t go out there?

They’ll kill Julian.

Maybe he’s already dead?

Maybe he isn’t.

Would they kill their leverage?

Too many maybes. Ugh.

If there’s a chance he’s alive, I gotta go out there.

How will Riley find me?

Cai lifted his necklace and rolled it around with his thumb.

Need a battery.

Begone and Fuzz circled his legs, whining and whimpering. He absently set the can of food on the counter.

Fuzz’s laser pointer would have the right size batteries.

Cai unclasped the necklace. The phone vibrated, this time with the rhythm of an incoming call. They wanted an answer now. He turned the volume low before putting it on speaker.

“Are you alone?” Julian asked, defeat laced in his tone.

Relieved, Cai took a breath. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you alone?” Not just defeat, fear. And he was hoarse, like he’d been screaming.

Cai closed his eyes and steeled his jaw until it trembled. “Give them the phone, Julian.” The breathing changed from shaky to barely audible. “I’m alone,” Cai said.

“Check your messages.” The voice was no one he recognized. It had no intonation. Not evil like it should be.

The phone beeped and a picture popped up on screen. “No,” he whispered. No no no. Fuzz knocked the can from the counter. It rolled off somewhere.

A wave of nausea ripped through Cai’s gut. What do I do? Rage pushed tears out of his eyes. He wanted to scream, wanted to tear the house apart, pull the fridge down, slam his fists into the cabinets until they were bloody, and the wood splintered into pieces. He stood helplessly, unable to do anything that would alert Riley and the FBI. What to do? He took a step back because that was at least an action. His foot squashed something soft and wet, and only the fear of it being one of the animals made him tear his eyes off Rachel’s bloodied and battered face. Brown clumps of dog food squished up between his toes. Begone lapped the slop up, catching the edge of his foot with her tongue. He didn’t feel anything. He watched, dazed, as Fuzz stuffed his muzzle inside the can and pushed it around. Adrenalin buzzed out the noise. He took his phone to the living room, turning off the speaker. Cradling it against his ear, he got Fuzz’s laser pointer out from the end table drawer and slowly unscrewed the top. “Do you know who I am?” he asked into the phone. He imagined smashing a hammer into the man’s skull.

“Where is the hard drive, Nikolaj?”

With an inner calm and steady fingers, Cai slid the battery in the necklace’s tiny block clasp. After wrapping it around his ankle, he snapped the clasp closed to complete the circuit. Then he stuffed the beads into the edge of his sneaker. He stood up, pushing the rage down. “I don’t have it.”

“Then your friends will die.”

This won’t work. Has to look like part of the sneakers. He sprinted to the toolbox near the unfinished floorboards. A box knife sat in the top tier drawer. “It’s not here.” He sliced open the seam on the inside of his sneaker and stuffed the necklace in, attaching it under the tongue. Now to lead them away. “Max Porter died screaming,” he enunciated every word. “And so will you.”

“Come out to the patio. You have ten seconds before I pluck out your friend’s eye.”

“The FBI is out in the alley.” Cai raced over to tear down the sculpture. Riley would find it when he walked out. He checked around. Looked at the broken pieces of glass and the laser pointer. Will he get it?

“Eight.”

“Seven.”

“Six.”

He’ll get it. Cai stepped out onto the patio. “I’m here.”

“I see you. Walk down the path.”

“The FBI.” But even as he said the words, he could make out the outline of Agent Johanson’s head lolling against the SUV’s window. A thin trail of blood had dried from his mouth to his chin and his blue eyes stared at nothing.

Whispers rose up in Cai’s head, a hurricane of noise trying to break into his thoughts.

Too much going on.

Focus. Focus. Make a plan.

He glared into the SUV, narrowing his eyes at the fake holes in the windshield.

He’s playing dead to lure you out there! He watched, waiting for Johanson to blink. It’s a trick. Cole paid them and now they’re waiting. The FBI had the phone. Of course. Of course it’s a trick to get me to tell them where the drive is!

Cai turned around and stared inside the house.

“Run! Go back in!”

A mass of voices roared at him. He spun in a circle looking for the one voice that whispered in his ear. “Wait! Quiet! Just... just wait a minute.” He looked around and smiled. “Papa?”

An arm wrapped around his neck as he was dragged down the path.

The world went dark.

* * *

Riley’s phone rang as he stepped out of the shower. Why was Kelly calling at six in the morning? Yanking the towel off the rack he tied it around his waist and jogged into the bedroom. He reached the nightstand just in time for the ringing to stop. Before he could return the call, the distant scrape of a can came from the kitchen. He pulled on a pair of loose sweats and headed toward the noise. Kelly’s ringtone played again.

“Cordova,” he answered, nearly stepping on broken glass from the sculpture shattered in front of the bedroom door.

“Morning,” Kelly said. “I have—”

“What the..? Hang on, Kelly.” He stepped back into the bedroom to slip on some sneakers. “Cai?” he called out.

No answer.

“Cordova—” Kelly said with a note of impatience.

“I have to call you back.” Riley clicked the phone off and stepped carefully around the glass.

“Cai?” The patio door was wide open, and the laser pointer lay in pieces both inside his floor and outside on the bricks. Metal banged against the wall in the kitchen. A bit of yesterday’s panic surged into his chest. “Cai? Where—” The phone rang again as he found Fuzz nose-deep in a can of dog food while Begone lapped up the scraps. “Kelly,” he answered the phone. “Cai’s missing and my house is trashed. Get the teams in here.”

“Missing or ran off?” she asked.

That captured half of his attention. “Why would he run off?”

“Cole changed his mind.”

“What? When did that happen? How the hell did that happen?”

“Late last night, another lawyer showed up,” Kelly said. “This morning Cole notified the DA that he was backing out of the deal and pleading not guilty. The DA may have notified Cai that he’ll have to testify.”

Riley ignored the dog and looked out the patio door. “Gimme a sec. I’ll ask Johanson if Cai came out earlier.”

Could anyone have gotten into the house past two agents and out with Cai? Unlikely. But Cai could have easily snuck out.

He wouldn’t have left the door open for the animals to escape.

Riley eyed the laser pointer pieces. No batteries? Another search nearby confirmed they weren’t around. He moved toward the SUV. “Christ! Johanson is down. Williams down.” Riley nearly fell on his ass as he backed up and pivoted toward the house. “Team One is down!”

A muffled alarm sounded from the phones inside the SUV just as Riley sprinted back to the living room. The alarm was meant to alert both teams to search the house.

Cai, where the fuck are you?

“Pull up the tracer on Cai’s cell!” He hung up on Kelly and dialed Cai’s number. Images flew through his head of Cai rolling the beads around in his fingers. He looked at the laser pointer again.

The front door burst open. Riley ducked behind the armchair. Agents Becker and Kitts rushed in with guns drawn. Cai’s voicemail answered the call. “The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Press one to leave a message or hang up and try your call again.”