mom?â
âHa. In my dreams, but I guess I look like her more than Dad. And she still looks like my older sister.â
âAnd then thereâs your younger brother, Timmy, who also lives here in New York. You said heâs a wannabe actor, right?â
Where were all these coming from? To distract her, Mike realized. He was good, she had to admit it. âTimmyâwell, heâs another matter entirely.â And she shut it down, as he had before.
Nicholas saw that she was relaxing, that she was rebooting, getting back her balance. âAnd then you went to the FBI Academy and blew everyone away. Yes, I read your dossier. You made the New York CID office at twenty-six, one of the youngest agents to fill such a position. From personal experience I can add that youâre pretty hot stuff, Agent Caine.â
Hot stuff?
Sheâd rather be fierce. âHow in the world did you get ahold of my personnel file?â She smacked his arm, his bare arm, which was as black as his face. âYou and your hacker talent. Donât whine, you deserved the punch.â
âWell, that, plus your instructors in Quantico loved to talk about you. I think you might have broken a couple of hearts. Believe me, I grilled them, since no way I wanted to be partnered with a slacker. They said you were pretty good, Agent Caine. Actually, Mr. Filbert, the shooting range supervisor, said Iâd have to bust my butt to keep up with you.â
âThose instructors, Mr. Filbert especially, theyâre jokers, experts at spotting gullible marks, plus youâre the freaking Brit who rescued the Koh-i-Noor diamond. They figured you had to be full of yourself and wanted to cut you down to size. Trust me, they wereputting you on. Now, talk about making his bones at the Academy, you walked away with an award or two yourself.â
âOnly one.â That got him a smile. At last.
But the laughter died a quick death when Mike looked out the window yet again to see the orange plume of flame still reaching into the sky.
He said quietly, âWeâre going to stop them, Mike. They donât stand a chance against the two of us.â
He reached over and took her hand, gave it a squeeze.
He rocked with surprise when she said, in the most vicious voice heâd ever heard, âIf Reeves isnât dead when we find him, Iâm going to slam his ass up against the wall, maybe knee him a couple of times to show him how serious I am, and heâs going to split right open and tell us everything in that pea brain of his.â
Thatâs my girl.
âRemind me not to get on your bad side. See, like I told youâfierce.â
Five minutes later, Nicholas pulled in front of Richard Hodgesâs house. It was quiet. No lights were on. No draperies twitched, no shadows moved into defensive positions because of an unscheduled visitor. Even the air had stilled. The silence was eerie.
Both of them went on red alert. Mike already had her Glock in her hand, and fear in her belly.
She whispered, âDo you think maybe they already moved him to a safe house?â
He didnât answer, he was calling it in, speaking low. He hung up, shook his head. They stepped quietly to the red front door. Nicholas tried the knob. The door opened easily. Not good. He mouthed,
One, two, three,
and they went in.
11
QUEEN TO B3
On the road to Brooklyn
M atthew drove like a Sunday grandmother, always on the alert for cops.
Vanessa turned in the seat to face him. âMatthew, talk to me. Do you think Darius died in the fire?â
He shook his head. âDonât worry about Darius.â
Everything inside her sharpened to pinpoint focus. The way heâd said those words. âWhy?â
He shrugged. âYou might as well know. Darius is alive and well and moving into position for our next step. Heâs done everything I asked tonight.â
Or you did everything Darius asked?
She felt pounding rage; she
Gary Pullin Liisa Ladouceur
The Broken Wheel (v3.1)[htm]