Chapter 46
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Jane walked into the living room and paused, hands up, while Junior removed her gun, magazines, and knife. Sullivan took a seat on the couch while Junior gave Jane a pat-down. It was a little more intimate than professional but not too gropey.
A part of her wondered hysterically in Raine’s voice, Too gropey? You’re a moron.
“On the couch, Agent Cannon.” Junior smirked at her while his goons held their guns close, ready to shoot.
She joined Sullivan on the couch and waited for the fun to begin.
To her surprise, Junior stepped aside, giving Williams the floor.
“Thanks, guys. You’re sure he’s tied up in the back?”
One of the goons nodded. “Still out cold, too.”
“Good.” Williams shot Sullivan a cold smile. “Loverboy wouldn’t have lasted even if he wasn’t soon going to burn up in an unfortunate fire.”
“Fire? What…?” Sullivan gaped. “Rob, you can’t!” She started to get up, but Rob slapped her hard. Her head snapped back, and she sank onto the couch.
“Shut up. You ruined everything.” He glared with hatred.
Behind him, the Mazzucas laughed.
Junior slapped him on the back. “You’re all right, man. We’re going to doublecheck that all the rooms are doused in gasoline. I think Bucky’s still doing the greenhouse.”
The taller goon nodded. “Yeah. I ran out. I’ll go get more and flood it.”
“Then, whoosh,” the other goon added with a grin. “Flame on.”
They left, and Junior paused before saying, “You did a half-decent job, Jane. You too, Jenn. But sloppy work leads to sloppy outcomes.” He smirked at her.
“It’s okay. You couldn’t have foreseen this.
And it doesn’t matter anyway. Even if they stop that mindless idiot, Keiser.
You know why? Because you’ll never stop what’s coming.
There’s too much at stake.” He winked, turned on his heel, and left.
It was just Sullivan, Williams, and her. And Jane’s many questions.
“What the hell, Williams? I thought we were friends,” Jane bit out.
“So did I, Jane. But Jenn wouldn’t play nice.” He turned to Sullivan. “I tried to keep you out of it, you know.”
“How?” Sullivan snapped. “By selling out to the Mazzucas? How could you? You’re a great agent, Rob. Why ruin your life like this? For money?”
“Of course, for money.” He sneered. “And that’s ironic, coming from you. You spread your legs for your CEO boyfriend, and that’s okay. But a few harmless dates with your best friend are impossible since I don’t have the cash.”
Jane prayed Raine was out there either listening in or preparing to take out Junior and his guys. Jane could handle Williams so long as she didn’t have to worry about the others.
“This is because you’re jealous of Sullivan’s boyfriend?” A stupid question, but Jane wanted to see his reaction.
He glared and took a step in her direction.
Then stopped and smiled. “Not bad. Make me angry and I’ll get close enough so you can take me down the way you took down our guy at the gas station.
That idiot was only supposed to scare you.
He got greedy because Junior offered him more if he’d kill you, but only to see if the loser would go through with it.
I mean, none of us thought he’d succeed. ”
“Thanks.” Jane crossed her arms over her chest and settled onto the couch. Williams wanted to talk. She’d let him. “So explain all this. Money? Really? You’re smarter than that. You’ve got an ulterior motive.”
“You think he’s smart?” Sullivan snorted.
Shut up. You’re going to make him unbalanced and unpredictable.
But Sullivan wouldn’t look at Jane to read her warning. Instead, she glared up at Williams. “You know why I wouldn’t go out with you? Because we’re not supposed to fraternize, that’s why. It had nothing to do with your personality, which I used to love.” She sniffed.
Jane didn’t know if Sullivan meant to or not, but she thought it was a nice touch. At least she’d been smart enough to compliment Williams and not aggravate him.
He seemed to soften. “Jenn. You should have tried harder. We could have made us work.”
“But we’d never have worked if I knew you worked for the Mazzucas.”
“He doesn’t. Not really,” I said.
Williams’s slow smile said more than words would have. “So smart, aren’t you, Jane? You worked it out.”
“What?” Sullivan looked from him to Jane and back. “Tell me.”
“It all leads back to the Harvesters,” Jane said, watching Williams.
“No, it all leads back to a fight over territory in Camden.”
“New Jersey?” Sullivan asked.
Williams nodded. They all heard a door slam, a vehicle start, and then the sounds of vehicles crunching away down the drive.
“Good. We’re finally alone. Yes, Camden, New Jersey.
One of the roughest places in Mid-Atlantic.
The Mazzucas were only an idea when they ran up against the start of the Kaminski organization.
And yes, they are a full-fledged syndicate. But they’re smart.”
“I knew it.” Jane felt vindicated, a brief bonding with her friends when they both nodded.
Until she saw William’s pistol.
“You caught on faster than we liked. Just like Jon Haversham did.”
“Did you join the FBI and then turn? Or were you always one of them?” Sullivan asked, her voice small.
He sighed and crouched down to look at her at eye level, yet far enough away so they couldn’t rush him without getting shot. “I’m sorry, Jenn. I genuinely like you. Always have. But I was groomed to do this, to plant myself where I can do the most good for the family.”
“Which side?” Jane asked.
“Leo Mazzuca’s brother knocked up my mother before he died. I’ve always been a part of them.”
Sullivan shook her head. “The FBI would have known. The background checks…”
“Were legit. I never had any connection to the family on paper. Heck, my aunt still thinks my mom was raped. But the Mazzucas were there for me. Helped with money, with things we needed. All they asked for was a little help to keep them in the clear. And here we are. The Mazzucas got into organ theft a few years back.”
“Not the Kaminskis?” Jane asked.
“Not…exactly. My family got a little reckless. But I was in Vegas to help. I put a stop to any investigation that pulled the family into it. We blamed some crackpots instead, made it seem like it was all about money and not about the power that came from our buyers.”
“August Kaminski,” Jane said. “Tell me about him.”
“Aw, Jane. That’s above your paygrade.”
“I know he works with your family. That he’s quiet and stealthy and invades like a hidden parasite, sucking up all the riches until there’s nothing left.
Then he kills the host and moves on to the next one.
” She paused, watching Williams but not seeing a reaction.
“He told Phillip Keiser who to kill, didn’t he?
So that we’d be distracted while he hid your family from us and destroyed any evidence to nail them on RICO charges. ”
“I don’t know what you think you know.” He winked. “But wow, that’d be pretty clever if it happened.”
“One thing that’s bugging me though. How did Phillip pick his targets? That’s been driving me nuts.”
“Oh right. You’re stuck on the Code Blue Killer case.” He snorted. “We’ve been keeping track of that since the task force started. You could almost say it was our idea.” He laughed.
“The victims?” she prodded.
“Well, one of them, Stevens, used to help us when we had medical needs. He was one of the EMTs who bit it. Turned out he was a snitch. So he got what was coming. The others pissed off Leo in one way or another. I’m not sure on the details, but we used the Keiser wacko to take out the trash. No loss there.”
“And the rest of them? They’re also on your list?”
“What rest?” He frowned. “He did the job. He’s on his own now. I think aliens are telling him who to kill. The guy’s looney.”
“You were never my friend, were you?” Sullivan sounded broken up.
Jane studied her, worried about her state of mind.
“I’m sorry. Maybe if we’d slept together, if you’d taken a chance on me, you might have seen what we could have had. But you threw me over for wonderboy in the back.” Williams didn’t seem too upset about it.
“Your friends nearly killed her on the pier. Why should she want you?” Jane asked.
He shook his head. “No. That was all a mistake, and your fault.” He aimed his gun at Jane.
“They were there for you. You kept looking into things, checking into Las Vegas and the Harvester case. That was old news. You became a problem.” He turned to Sullivan.
“I am sorry about that.” He glanced down at her injured leg. “I wish—”
Sullivan launched herself at him before Jane could react.
The gun went off. Sullivan sagged to the ground. Blood seeped under her.
“And that’s why women don’t make good FBI agents, Jane,” Williams said as he stood. “They’re too emotional.”