Tough Justice: Burned

Jenna stuck out her hand, glancing at Lara’s jeans. “You’re Agent Grant?”

“Yes.” Lara shook her hand and tipped her head toward Nick, approaching the table with a cup of coffee in each hand. “This is Agent Delano.”

Lara introduced Nick to the girls, whose eyes lit up at the sight of him. She didn’t blame them—hot older man, intense, dark eyes and a killer smile. He had them in the palm of his hand at hello.

As the girls sat at the table, a young man on a bike joined them. “Are you the FBI agents looking for Anna Russo?”

Nick asked, “Who are you?”

“Teddy McNamara.”

Lara made the rest of the introductions. “Do you want to pull up a chair, Teddy?”

“I’m okay on my bike.”

“So, the three of you were in Anna’s philosophy class and saw her leave with a woman.” Lara took a sip of coffee, watching the three students over the lid of her cup. “Can you tell us what this woman looked like?”

Farah tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “She had dark hair, about shoulder length, very thick with bangs. I’m not sure how tall she was because I was sitting down, and I think she had heels on, probably average height.”

Nick had been writing this down in a notebook and looked up. “About how old?”

“Maybe in her thirties, maybe younger. She was wearing a suit, so that may have made her look older. Oh, and she was wearing sunglasses—inside—so it was hard to tell her age.”

“Naw, she was younger than that. If she was thirty, she wasn’t much older...and she had a tattoo.”

Lara’s heart slammed against her rib cage. “A tattoo? Of what? Where?”

“I couldn’t make it out, maybe a bird or something like that on her ankle, on the outside.” He shrugged as the two women stared at him. “She had nice legs.”

“Did you hear what she said to Anna?” Nick tapped his pencil against his coffee cup.

“I was sitting the closest to Anna, but the woman sort of leaned over and whispered. I didn’t hear anything she said.” Farah rolled her eyes. “And I didn’t notice any tattoo.”

Crossing his arms, Teddy leaned back on his bike. “That’s because you were looking at her face. I couldn’t tell you what hair color she had or if she even had hair.”

Nick quirked his eyebrows at Lara, and her lips twitched.

Farah huffed. “Anyway, she whispered something to Anna, Anna got her stuff, and they left the room.”

Teddy spun one of his pedals around with his foot. “The car was a black SUV, but I didn’t see a license plate or anything. I wasn’t looking for that.”

Nick dropped his pencil. “You saw Anna get into a car?”

“I was by the window, looking out on Broadway. I lock up my bike down there when I have that class. Honestly?” Teddy adjusted his backpack. “I wasn’t looking out the window to follow Anna. I was just checking on my bike. Even if a bike is locked up, people around here will strip it clean if they can.”

“So, the woman and Anna walked to a black SUV parked on Broadway? Did Anna look like she was in distress?”

“I don’t think so, but there was a guy with them, too.” His gaze scanned Nick’s casual attire. “He was wearing a suit.”

Lara turned to the women. “Did you two see anything? Did you see the man?”

Jenna shook her head. “I wasn’t looking out the window.”

“Me, either.” Farah hugged a book to her chest. “Is Anna in trouble? Is she in danger? I knew her mom was some kind of federal agent, so I didn’t think anything of it when that woman came into the classroom. She must’ve had some ID, because she showed it to Professor Hutter.”

“We’re not sure yet what’s going on.” Lara told the soothing lie without blinking an eye. No need to upset the coeds. Moretti wouldn’t be coming after them—she glanced up at the windows of a few buildings—at least she hoped not.

Nick nudged the front wheel of Teddy’s bike with the toe of his boot. “Black SUV, woman from class and a man escorting her, no struggle and no license plate. Is that about right?”

“Yeah, and I didn’t get a good look at the man, either. Looked like a typical suit to me. He may have had a beard, and he was wearing sunglasses, too.”

“Did you notice the make of the SUV?”

“One of those big-ass gas guzzlers, tinted windows, the whole nine yards.” Teddy held up one hand. “If I thought Anna was being forced into the car, I would’ve called campus police or something. There was nothing like that going on. Tattoo lady walked her down, and the suit must’ve been waiting for them downstairs because he was walking on the other side of Anna toward the SUV. The three of them went into the car, and I didn’t even notice them driving away.”

Holding up his notepad, filled with his black scrawl, Nick said, “Ladies? Anything to add?”

“Yeah, do we have anything to worry about?” Jenna wrapped her long, brown hair around one hand.

“Nothing.” Nick rapped his knuckles on the table. “This is related to Anna’s mother, but if I can get back here tomorrow with a sketch artist, can you help us out?”

They all agreed to help with a sketch.

She and Nick handed their cards to each of the students and thanked them for their cooperation.

The girls wandered into the bookstore, their heads together, and Teddy hopped on his bike and pedaled away.

Lara checked the messages on her phone. “Interesting, but not all that helpful. And those descriptions? Thick hair with bangs? Sunglasses? Facial hair? Obviously, the kidnappers had on disguises. Now, if Teddy had bothered to check the license plate of tattoo lady’s big-ass SUV, we might have something.”

“Any updates from anyone?” He tilted his notebook her way before stashing it in the inside pocket of his jacket.

“Mei and Ty are done with Professor Hutter, and Victoria and Xander just wrapped up with Anna’s friends.”

“Speak of the devils.” His gaze shifted over her shoulder.

They pulled out the chairs Farah and Jenna had just vacated, and Mei dug her elbows into the table and propped her chin in her hands. “Nothing, nada, zip. Professor Hutter had his mind firmly on Hume, Camus and Russell, not fake FBI agents.”

“Zip it.” Ty drew a line across the seam of his lips with the tip of his finger. “Here comes the boss.”

Nick pushed back his chair and stood. “Have a seat, Victoria.”

Her eyes darted from face to face. “I can tell you didn’t have any better luck than we did.”

Lara reached across the table and curled her fingers around Victoria’s hand. The woman had been there for her more times than she could count. “Anna’s friends couldn’t tell you anything?”

“No.”

“We got a little something from her classmates.” Nick related what the students had told them about the woman, and what Teddy had revealed about the man and the black SUV. “So, we have another black SUV on the scene, like the one that pulled over for Dunst.”

“Another black SUV in a sea of black SUVs.” Victoria squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Xander, standing next to Nick, shoved his hands in his pockets. “Hang tough, boss. If Moretti wanted Anna dead, his people would’ve killed her already, stamped her and dumped her someplace public.”

Lara kicked Xander’s foot under the table. Leave it to him to lay it all out there. She held her breath as Mr. Sensitive opened his mouth again, and Nick looked ready to strangle him.

“Look, they drove off with her in some comfy SUV. Make no mistake. Moretti wants something. He called her a special target, remember?”

Lara watched Victoria’s face, waiting for her to crack at the thought of her daughter murdered and stamped, as Xander so delicately put it.

Instead, Victoria nodded, her mouth tight. “Makes sense.”

Encouraged, Xander continued. “Of course, it does. They want something in return for her—money, information—and we’re going to give it to them. Whatever it takes, boss.”

“Thanks for that, Xander. You’re right. Moretti wants something in exchange for Anna...and I’m going to move heaven and earth to get it for him.”

A feather of fear brushed the back of Lara’s neck as she and Victoria locked eyes across the table. Would Victoria really provide Moretti with anything he wanted?

Chapter Three

Lara’s invitation to dinner surprised him. Must be a pity invitation since he got shot this morning. He’d take it. Maybe she’d open up more about her visit to Moretti today.

She snapped on her seat belt and faced him in the car. “Chinatown? Mei told me about a great place—Han Ting.”

“I know it.”

On the drive over, they talked about Anna’s kidnapping and the witnesses’ statements. Lara was back to all business, and that’s the way he wanted it—as long as that business included a discussion of Moretti and her time on the inside of his organization.

They grabbed a table by the window, and Lara dropped into her chair. “What a day.”

“You’re telling me.” Nick shrugged out of his jacket and winced at the twinge in his arm. “Getting shot must increase your appetite because I’m starving. Order whatever you want, but I gotta have the kung pao chicken.”

She ran her finger down the plastic menu. “How’s your arm? Don’t think I didn’t notice the way your face twitched when you removed your jacket.”

“It’s fine. Nothing a little kung pao can’t cure.”

“You probably need a beer. I know I do. I’m so wound up about Anna’s disappearance.” She held up the teapot. “Unless you’re on some antibiotics that you’re not supposed to mix with alcohol.”

He studied the list of beers on the menu. “I think the doc actually prescribed beer.”

“All right, then.”

Nick gestured to the waiter, and they ordered their beers and the food.

Once the waiter delivered their drinks, Lara raised her beer to him, and they clinked necks. “Here’s to getting Anna back safe and sound.”

Nick took a swig of beer. “I think Xander was right. If they were going to kill Anna, they would’ve done so already. These people don’t mess around.”

“Although I cringed when he said it, or rather at the way he said it, I think Victoria appreciated his bluntness. Anna’s a bargaining chip, or she’s going to be used in some way. She’s too important to just kill off.”

“I’m sure that’s some comfort to Victoria, even though her daughter is still in the hands of some cold characters.”

Lara swept up her cell phone and tapped the display. “Do you think it made the news?”

“Victoria was very specifically keeping it off the radar, even though she had a team papering the city with Anna’s likeness. I don’t think any news organizations got even a whiff. Lots of girls go missing in this city every day.”

“That’s probably for the best that her kidnapping isn’t all over the news. Bad enough the media got wind of Nadia.” She still tapped her phone, probably checking news sources.

He tilted his bottle toward her. “Anything come up?”

“No.” She placed the phone at the edge of the table and folded her hands. “I’m actually glad that sniper is so good at his job.”

“Maybe he was trying to kill me, and he’s just a bad shot.” He patted his arm.

“Somehow, I don’t think so.” She scratched at the moist label on the bottle with her fingernail, her eyebrows creating a V over her nose. “I was so pissed off when I went to the prison. I wish I’d come in with a little more control. It’s so much more effective with prisoners.”

Prisoners or that prisoner?

“Yeah, I hear ya, but at least Moretti gave you a heads-up about Anna.”

“Just wish he’d given us more.” She took another swig of beer and another.

That visit really had rattled her. Of course, Moretti had a score to settle with her. What else? Why did Lara always leave her visits with Moretti so shaken up? Shaken up and secretive. She never wanted to discuss her meetings with him or even how she’d managed to take him down during the undercover sting.

By the time the waiter delivered their food, his stomach was grumbling.

Lara held up a pair of chopsticks. “Fork or chopsticks?”

“I’m too hungry to screw around with chopsticks.” He glanced at the empty plate on the table. “I may be too hungry to screw around with plates.”

“Settle down there, hungry man.” She picked up an egg roll with her chopsticks and dropped it on his plate.

As his teeth crunched into the greasy goodness, he closed his eyes. “Awesome.”

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