Not So Innocent (Shattered Glass #2)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The zip tie came loose enough to ensure that a strong tug would break it. Cai turned his efforts to holding onto a scalpel barely bigger than a needle. He carefully scooted the blade to the outside of his palm under his little finger and then linked his index fingers together to keep from pulling the plastic ties apart. If one of the men got close enough, he’d let go to break the ties, and then swipe in one movement to slit their throat.

The radio on Colonel Rivers belt transmitted, “Bravo Four. This is Bravo Two. Message. Over.”

Bravo Two? Another bad guy. That made four. Julian had said five.

Where’s the fifth one?

“Bravo Four. Send. Over.”

“Sighted Firebird making a pass around the front. Black Hawk flew into Centennial. Over.”

“Bravo Four. Roger. Out.” Rivers glanced at Cai, eyes sweeping him from head to foot.

“I thought you searched him?” Xander asked. He looked more disappointed than angry. Like this was an inconvenience.

“I didn’t shove my hand up his ass, but yeah, I searched him. He’s wearing jeans and sneakers.”

“Strip him and find it,” Xander said.

Cai’s entire body tensed. His lungs refused to work. He couldn’t allow a search. They’d get the blade. “It’s stuffed into the inside topline of my shoe.”

“That’s the fastest you’ve given up information. Strip him.”

No! He looked at Julian, shaking his head.

“He’s been raped, you fucking psychotic bell end!” Julian yelled. “He gave it up because he’s afraid of being molested by a giant fucking wanker like you. Do ya get it, now?”

“Take the shoes.” Xander walked toward Julian. “Time’s up. No more games.”

Julian whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Stop!” Cai sat up, fear straightening his spine and tightening his fist. The blade sliced his fingers, but he gripped it hard. He opened his mouth to say he’d take them to the drive, so he could get Xander close enough to use the knife. Then the gun barrel pointed at Walter Cole’s temple.

Oh. Carry on.

“Xander, please,” Cole started to stand.

“We’ll need him, if we’re moving ahead with the exit plan,” Rivers said. He holstered his Glock to pull several grenades, and two rectangular black bundles from the duffel bag. “Still a go?”

Xander made a face that Cai read as frustration and lowered the gun. “Yeah, exit is a go. With some adjustments.”

“They’ll set up a perimeter on the ground and block the air space,” Rivers said. He attached the grenades to his belt and set the shiny black bricks on the ground.

Pierce knelt to get Cai’s shoes while Rivers bent to cut the black packages in half. With both men so close to each other, if Cai went for one, the other would overpower him before he could get the gun. Couldn’t take on two at once. Had to be soon though. They couldn’t kill him because, as far as they knew, only he could take them to the drive. That would buy him a little time. But he had to make a move before they found out the FBI already had it. Because even though he couldn’t die, Rachel and Julian could.

While Pierce ripped his shoes off, Cai read the sides of the packages.

Charge Demolition M112

1-1/4 lbs. comp c-4

Looked like Rivers was going somewhere with four detonators and bricks of C-4. Probably to blow the lower staircases. Once Rivers left, if Cai could get one of them close, he could kill that one, take his gun and shoot the other one. Then when Rivers came back, he would walk right into a bullet to the head.

Xander moved to the desk and tapped the keyboard while scrutinizing the monitor. “No SWAT yet. We wait until they arrive.” He looked at his watch. “Twenty local LEO on the ground. Eleven max FBI on that bird.”

“Put Cole back in the bathroom?” Pierce asked.

“Yeah, and bring the other one in here. I have an idea.” After Pierce dragged out Senator Cole, Xander turned to Rivers. “They won’t attempt a breach before nightfall on their own. Have Eavers wait with the Thumper for ground crews, if we need to buy time. Soon as SWAT arrives and they send a bird up, Carson takes it out. That will force the breach from the lobby.” He picked up a second gun and then added grenades to his belt, too. “They’ll cut the main power. We need to take out the first floor before they go for the backup generators.”

What’s a thumper?

“No matter. They shoot helicopter to keep roof free,” Papa said.

Yes. That’s how they’ll escape. If they take us with them, Riley will never find us. I have to make a move before that.

“Julian. Hey!” Julian’s eyes laser focused on Rachel. “Julian! Julian, look at me,” Cai whispered. When he got the barest glance, it held no recognition, just tears. “Riley is here. The FBI is here. Do you hear me, Julian? Hang on.”

* * *

“Wait for backup,” Kitts ordered.

“Just getting my vest from the trunk,” Riley said, one foot out the door. “There’s a spare back there. You have one?”

“Yup.” Kitts patted his chest. “Still waiting for backup.”

“Me too, don’t worry.”

As Riley stepped out of the car, a cold wind eddied along the pavement and wrapped around him. Shivers followed, skittering up his spine like a troop of insects. He popped the trunk and then unbuttoned his shirt, watching the sun setting at the tip of the mountains. The universe was telling him to hurry.

Protégelo, por favor, protégelo.

Are you listening, God? Please keep him safe.

By the time he’d buttoned his shirt over his vest, a stream of Denver police vehicles descended onto the scene.

Riley retrieved two more magazines and his FBI windbreaker, then closed the trunk.

Two SUVs exited off the airport road and then parked adjacent to his Firebird. A dozen agents got out and started unloading equipment. Kelly split from them to meet up with Riley and Kitts. “HRT are on their way,” she yelled above the wind and comms chatter as she approached. “CIRG is coordinating with local police, HRT, and SWAT.”

The Critical Incident Response Group would expedite things, but Cai didn’t have much time. Riley checked if he’d chambered a bullet, and then snapped his gun back into his holster. He almost reached to do it again. How many times was that?

“Who’s negotiating?” Kitts asked, frowning up at the building. “Do we have any reconnaissance?”

“Briefly checked the floors as we flew in,” Kelly answered. “The windows are all mirrored glass. McCleary emailed me blueprints and leasing info. The building should be empty. But there are leased offices on five different floors. We need to verify civilian safety foremost. By the way, bird on the helipad at the top has an FSI logo.”

“Evacuate and detain?” Kitts suggested.

Kelly’s face pinched with uncertainty. She handed a tablet to Kitts. “My priority is containment right now. Once Denver SWAT arrives, we’ll discuss a breach strategy. That might include evacuation first. As for negotiation, Noah Smart is on his way.”

“They aren’t going to negotiate,” Riley countered.

“Can we worry about shit we already know before we speculate? Criminy.” Kelly waved them both off.

Kitts laid the tablet on the hood of Riley’s car and scrolled around the blueprints on it. Behind them, other agents built an awning over a growing electronics section.

“SWAT less than fifteen minutes out. Here’s what we need to know. Which floor? Kitts, get eyes in the sky with a thermal camera.” Kelly tapped the screen. “How many perps? What kind of weapons? How much ammo? How many hostages?”

Riley looked up and squinted as the sun blinded him for a second. “They are on one of the top floors to get to that helipad asap, I guarantee it. If they take off with Cai…”

“This is how it’s going to be,” Kelly said. “You are itching to get up there, but only one of us is the SSA on scene here. Spoiler alert: It’s me.” She put her hand up to stop him from interrupting. “Look, if that was Lena or Dev in there? I’d be barreling up the stairs with an arsenal. I know you won’t listen if I order you to stand down. That is the only reason you’re here and I’m allowing you up in my face. Got it? I thought about having you removed, but I have never doubted your professionalism until this week. Knowing that I have only his, and everyone else’s, safety at heart, I want your word, Riles, that this situation will be handled with the Cordova obedience I’m used to. Your allegiance is with the FBI and not him until this is resolved.” Kelly looked toward another Blackhawk helicopter as it flew over them. Grimness reached her mouth and pulled it flat. “Do I have that?”

“You have it.”

By the time she looked back at him, her face held no emotion, and her voice was strong and matter of fact. “Listen very carefully and think about what I’m about to say. Cai might be dead.”

The ground shook under Riley’s feet. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t respond. He closed his eyes for an instant, replaying the memory of Cai’s warm skin against his lips, the smile over his shoulder. The dog and cat sneaking under the covers. Paint on the sofa. Paint on his pure white mugs. A cornucopia of colors splashed across his house. The life he could’ve had.

“If he’s alive,” Kelly continued, driving the air from Riley’s lungs with every word, “they’ll have tortured him for that drive. They’ve been to his place. They know he’s an artist. He has two eyes. Ten fingers. These are men who know torture.” When Riley finally drew a rapid, desperate breath, it hurt his chest. Then she punched that out, too. “Take thirty more seconds, close your eyes and imagine that’s not the worst of possibilities. They might have assaulted him again. And that’s especially likely if they know how deeply it affected him.”

Nausea twisted Riley’s stomach. “Stop,” he said. “I get it.”

“If he’s alive, you don’t know the state he’s in. When you have the worst thoughts in your head, tell me you can be objective. That you won’t reach for your gun unless there’s a direct threat. If you can’t obey me, do me a favor and stay here, because there are hundreds of men and women with families and lives that you risk with impulse and anger. And I won’t hesitate to arrest you.”

The pit in Riley’s stomach grew deeper with fear. He couldn’t summon the dispassion she needed through his haze of fear and fury. He grasped for any rational emotion.

Johanson. Williams.

The reminder steadied him. And he hoped to God that this feeling—that Cai was alive—wasn’t his heart trying to cope with the devastation her words had on him. Cai was alive because he had to be.

With those thoughts, Riley knew he couldn’t be objective, but he could promise her one thing. “I will follow orders.”

“Don’t make the men and women here a casualty of your impulsive, emotional decisions,” she repeated. “You good? No crazy planned?”

“No crazy planned.” Considering this was his last hurrah as an FBI agent, Riley was as good as he could be. “It’s been great working with you.”

She reached up and adjusted the collar of his windbreaker. “Stupid asshole. Ruined a perfect career record in one week. Hope he’s worth it, OCD, because I will get him out of there to wreak some more havoc in your life.”

He’s worth it.

The SWAT truck rolled up nearly ten minutes early.

“Plan?” Kitts asked.

She scanned the building from the top. “Find me what floor they’re on. Cordova thinks seven or eight. Sounds about right. Get the bird up there. SWAT will do recon. We handle negotiation till Smart gets here.”

Riley let her know about the texts and drive. “If they know we have the drive, Cai’s useless,” he said.

“Think he told them?”

“After the scenarios you described, yeah, he probably told them. Or will soon.”

“Okay, but we lead with negotiation. SWAT needs time to recon. My guess is they’ll move in two units, one from the roof down, one from the stairs up to box them in. Get on the comms and start dialing,” Kelly ordered, and then walked off to speak with the other commanders on scene.

* * *

Thomas Cole stumbled out of the bathroom, sobbing as Pierce yanked him across the room.

Xander flipped the armchair around toward Cai. “Now let’s see if you respond to carrots or sticks.” The phone at the desk rang. “Wait five minutes, then hang up,” Xander said.

Rivers said something back, but Cai’s heartbeat thumped too loudly in his ears to hear it. Time stopped. Only Tommy mattered. Their gazes met. Tommy lowered his eyes to stare at the floor.

Xander rested the gun on Tommy’s shoulder as he squatted down next to him. He snapped his fingers in front of Cai’s nose until he had his attention. “Carrot, meet Nikolaj. Nikolaj, carrot.” Xander pulled out a large hunting knife, rotating it in the light. “We’re out of time. I’m offering to let you and your friends live. This human garbage is yours. I’ll truss him up, ready to strangle or stab, whatever method of death pleases you.” He stood up, knife and gun on either side of Tommy’s head. “The other option is, I let him go and take pieces of your friends until I get my drive. Rest assured, we have a few hours. I can take a lot of things. Toes, fingers, eyes, ears. Then there’s you. I can take your appendages, too.”

“Besa.” A hammer materialized in his father’s fist.

Cai loosened the clasp of his fingers ever so slightly while riveted to the rapid, erratic pulse in Tommy’s throat.

“Carrot,” Xander said, patting Tommy’s head. He walked over, grabbed Julian’s hand, flattened it against his thigh and drove the knife through both. “Stick,” he said. The screams that followed made Rachel whimper beside him. They abruptly cut off as Julian passed out. Xander pulled out the knife and then walked over to wipe it clean on Cai’s jeans. “The next stick is Tommy there. I’m going to give him incentive to rape you again.” He got close to Cai’s ears. “She really did tell us everything.”

A chorus, loud and massive, screaming, chanting in Cai’s head, “Besa. Besa. Besa.”

His father’s whisper reached over the cacophony. “Wait for it, Arush.”

Cai no longer heard Xander. He used his pinky to slide the blade up further.

I will kill you all.