Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
When her phone buzzed, Gina was already awake—she usually was at that hour.
Fleur’s warm weight was pressed against her legs, Sam was snoring from his dog bed, and Lachlan’s breathing was steady beside her, but Gina had been awake since two, her mind going over all the possible places Mira could have hidden her evidence.
The message on the encrypted messaging app came through on a number Gina rarely gave out.
I know how Voss found Watchdog. I know where Mira Walsh left the evidence. I want to talk but I’ll need protection. I have nowhere else to go.
Fleur watched her as Gina read it twice. Then she slipped out of bed, Fleur at her side as always.
She was at the kitchen table with her phone, laptop, and a cup of coffee when Lach appeared in the doorway in his t-shirt and sweats, squinting at her.
“You have your work face on,” he said.
“Go back to sleep, Soup,” she said fondly.
“Aye, that’ll happen.” He pulled out the chair beside her and sat down. Lach’s dog, Sam, padded in behind him and settled beside Fleur under the table with a sigh. Lach read the message over her shoulder.
“Your take?” he said finally.
“She’s cornered. Voss is cleaning house and she knows she’s next.” Gina wrapped both hands around her mug.
“She?”
“A man wouldn’t phrase seeking protection like that. What’s interesting is that she reached out to me, not Kyle.”
“Because you’re former Agency?”
“Because she’s hoping I sympathize with her position. She’s done some bad things, has regrets, and now she wants forgiveness and protection.”
Lach grinned. “You got all that from…” He looked at the screen again, “one, two, three, four lines?”
Gina grinned. “Still got it.” She took a sip of coffee.
Lach chuckled. “Yes you do, Sunshine.” He brushed his lips across her forehead and she marveled at how that little touch still sent shivers through her. “So, do you sympathize with her?”
“She’s our only lead at the moment, so of course I’ll make the connection.”
Lach raised an eyebrow. “That’s not what I asked, lass.”
Gina put her chin in her hand. “Once upon a time, I was given the chance to make everything right. So, I think other people deserve a chance, too.” The corner of her mouth turned up as she looked at Lach. “But it’s up to Maren to decide if whoever this is deserves forgiveness.”
He nodded, and kissed her again.
“I’ve already been in touch with Elissa to try and track down my secret admirer.” She lifted her chin at the screen. “NCIS. Someone higher up, too.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“Me neither. It makes sense Voss has a mole at NCIS. Considering his pull at Lackland, I’m sure we’ll find a few more before we’re done.”
Lach got up to pour himself a cup of coffee. “Then let’s hear what she has to say.” He came back and sat beside her again.
Gina sent a message back, saying she was willing to hear her out and that she had five minutes to call back.
It took only a second before her phone rang.
“My name is Lynn Carr. Senior Special Agent, NCIS.” She paused. “I’m the one who gave Voss the Watchdog connection.”
Gina studied her voice—steady but fraying at the edges. Lachlan looked at Gina. Her gaze mirrored everything she was thinking.
She’s practiced at composure. But she’s afraid, and there’s something else there, not just fear. Guilt maybe?
“Go on.”
“I’ve been monitoring Ray Castillo since his dismissal.
Not only him. Voss had a standing arrangement with me—any investigation into LRH from anyone, I flagged it and reported back.
Ray’s been fighting his dismissal since Mira Walsh died, and lately, he’s been making headway.
I passed that info along.” Her voice tightened.
“I didn’t know what Voss would do. That’s not an excuse,” she added quickly.
“She’s lying,” Gina mouthed to Lach, who nodded.
“You’re right. It isn’t. What else?”
Lynn took a breath. “I want you to understand something. By the time I understood how far Voss would go, I was in too deep to walk away clean.” The fraying underneath got worse. “I told myself it was just information. Just monitoring. I told myself a lot of things.”
“But?” Gina said.
“But then he sent Dekker.”
“Dekker?”
“Karl Dekker,” Lynn said. “Former DEA, now a cleaner. Early fifties. He’s been Voss’s cleaner for at least four years—I know of three situations where Voss used him and Dekker made problems disappear.
He is not squeamish and he is not cheap, which tells you how seriously Voss is taking this.
” Her voice dropped. “The moment Voss found out about Mira Walsh, he sent Dekker after her. He was the driver in the hit-and-run. I…I didn’t know what Dekker did to her until afterward. ”
Gina kept her voice even. “Does he have eyes on Maren and Juniper Walsh right now?”
“I don’t know. Voss promised me he wouldn’t hurt Maren.
He said he’d approach Maren with a monetary offer.
She’s a single guardian, the father is not in the girl’s life.
She’s doing all right, but everybody can use more money.
Kids are expensive. I didn’t know he’d send Dekker after her.
I don’t want to see an innocent child hurt. ”
Lynn stopped. When she started again her voice had changed.
Her composure was cracking. “I swear, I didn’t know about Ray’s death until his body turned up.
He’d just gone off the radar about a month before.
I’d thrown some more resistance his way and I’d hoped he’d just given up.
Then Voss contacted me, asking if I knew where Ray was.
He said he needed to know what Ray was working on, but his files were encrypted.
I had the key. Ray had accessed Maren Walsh’s address, Juniper Walsh’s guardianship records.
Juniper Walsh has no father listed on her birth certificate.
Maren Walsh is now the sole guardian. She has two brothers in the military but they are out on missions now and are not guardians.
We knew all that, but when I dug deeper, I found that Ray had researched a security company in Lyons called Watchdog.
“I gave the information to Voss. That’s when I discovered Dekker was involved.
He’d followed Maren all the way to Iowa, but he didn’t find them.
That’s why Voss came to me asking about Ray.
By then, Ray was already dead. I knew him personally.
He never would’ve talked. I was Voss’s only chance at finding Maren Walsh.
But if Dekker’s involved, and if Maren Walsh proves uncooperative, that little girl becomes leverage. ”
Both Gina and Lachlan went very still.
“Dekker will do it. He will actually take an innocent little girl to get what he wants. Dekker doesn’t care so long as he gets paid.
” Lynn’s voice finally broke, and she sobbed, then she pulled it back.
“I have a niece. She’s three and a half.
I keep thinking about her, about—” She stopped.
“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be the person who let that happen to a child and kept going. ”
Gina looked Lachlan in the eye, hoping he would understand what she was about to say next.
Lach took Gina’s hand and mouthed, “I love you, Sunshine.”
Gina felt her pulse slow. But of course he understood. He loved her, trusted her, knew what she did to keep the ones she loved safe.
“Then you just killed a little girl, Lynn.”
The woman on the other end gasped. “I didn’t—”
“Maren doesn’t have any information, Lynn.
She had no idea that Mira was involved in anything.
McGuire could turn her over to Voss and Voss could do anything to her, and she won’t talk because there’s nothing to say.
He won’t believe it though, will he? So, he’ll take the girl.
And then you’ll have both Maren and Juniper Walsh’s blood on your hands. ”
“No, no! There’s an attorney,” Lynn said.
“Attorney?” Gina raised an eyebrow at Lachlan.
“I dug deeper into Ray’s encrypted notes.
There’s a lawyer in San Diego, completely separate from Mira’s LRH and NCIS identities.
Mira left a package there, and it can be released only to her in person, with a code word spoken aloud.
Ray’s been paying the yearly storage fee.
” She paused. “And now Voss knows it exists and wants to destroy everything she gathered, but he can’t access it. Neither can I.”
Gina closed her eyes. But her identical twin could.
“And you want us to protect you. Besides what you just told us, what are you offering in return?” Gina asked.
“Everything I have. Documentation of every communication between Voss and me. Dates, content, what I passed and when.” Lynn’s voice steadied slightly—this part she’d clearly rehearsed. “Whatever Mira left behind, I can make sure it reaches the right people and stays there.”
“Whatever Mira left behind. So instead of Voss, you would have us use Maren to get the information, is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. Please, I need protection. Immunity, and if anyone can get it for me, you can, Gina Smith.” She sighed. “And if you can’t—at least let me do this one right thing to make up for all the wrong.”
The line was quiet for a moment.
“We’ll be in touch,” Gina said, and ended the call.
She and Lach sat quietly for a moment, thinking. Fleur shifted under the table and put her head on Gina’s foot. Sam heaved a sigh as only dogs can.
“Maren will say yes,” he said. “You know that.”
“I know, Soup.” Gina opened her email. She’d already started one to Elissa and cc’ed Flint. “That’s why we have to make sure she knows every risk before she does. She’s spending the day at the ranch later. We’ll tell her there, after we get more intel on Dekker, Voss, and Carr.”
Gina plugged her phone into the laptop, opened an app, and attached a recording of the phone call to the email.
She typed a brief list of instructions, but Elissa would already know what to do.
That’s why Lach had left her in charge of LA Watchdog.
Lach stood and took her empty coffee mug while she typed.
He went to the kitchen and poured her another cup.
When he returned, he looked at her for a long moment.
“Sunshine,” he said quietly as he set the mug down. Not the working tone, the other one they’d used in secret for so long.
“I’m all right,” she said. She closed her laptop and stood up.
He put his arms around her. “Just making sure, lass.”
Gina pressed her cheek against his chest. Fleur leaned against both their legs.
“I thought I could leave it all behind.”
“You can’t.”
“I can’t.”
Lach tipped her chin up until she was gazing into the eyes of the man who had proven he’d tear the world apart to save her.
“Then I’ll make sure you’re never doing it alone.”