Taken by the Con (4 page)

“We can’t use anything we overheard as evidence,” she said.

“Doesn’t matter. We have something more to go on,” Cash said. “Hammer knows something but he’s being instructed to shut his mouth. Someone is dangling the woman he loves, Kinsley, in front of him like a prize if he does.”

It shouldn’t be hard to find out more about Kinsley from employment records at Holmes and White. Getting a warrant for those records could prove challenging, given that Lucia couldn’t explain how and why they wanted Kinsley’s records. “Do you think that he would lie about what he knows for a woman? He’s taking all the heat.”

“Haven’t you ever been in love?” Cash asked.

She’d once thought she was and had been terribly wrong. “No.”

Cash frowned. “Then as a man who has, I’ll tell you. When a woman wins a man’s heart, deserved or not, he will do anything to be with her and to make her happy.”

How would it feel to be on the receiving end of Cash’s devotion? Exploring those thoughts felt too intimate and were, at best, inappropriate. She brushed them away. She’d been a fool for love before and it had ended badly. “We have to build a strong case. Not prop it up with flimsy evidence and theories.”

Cash leaned closer. “I’m not asking you to do it my way. But don’t ask me to do it yours. I never did learn how to color inside the lines.”

* * *

Cash walked a step behind Lucia, giving her space to think. Even though it hadn’t been Cash’s call to work with Lucia, she’d been annoyed to be assigned the Young and Hammer interviews with him and hadn’t hidden it.

Cash’s plan to win her over at the first opportunity wasn’t going well. She was prickly, standoffish and immune to his charm. When he thought he’d made headway, she backed off and shut down.

His one remaining ray of hope was in her words. Lucia had said clearly she
wouldn’t
help him, not that she
couldn’t
. If he could convince Lucia he had good intentions and planned to serve his time, but that being close to Adrian was crucial, perhaps she would change her mind and pull the strings he knew she held.

“Hey, man.”

It was a voice from the past that Cash recognized immediately. He considered pretending it was a case of mistaken identity, but he had to face his new reality. Hiding and lying were habits he’d left in prison. In this life, if he wanted to live with Adrian as a family, he had to be completely honest. One sniff of a lie, and Lucia would never trust him. Trust was the key to winning her over.

“Hey,” Cash said, turning around, extending his arm and clasping his former associate’s hand.

“I heard you got sprung,” Boots said. Boots was a petty criminal with more brawn than brains. But he had good connections and knew how to keep his mouth shut.

“I’m a free man,” Cash said. It was the story the FBI had told him to use if he encountered anyone from his criminal past. If the FBI had any chance of using him to locate Clifton Anderson, he couldn’t broadcast he was working for the Feds to every member of the criminal underworld. He’d be shunned and mark himself for a hit.

“Who’s your lady?” Boots asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

“This is my friend Lucy.”

“Are you working?” Boots asked, looking between the two of them.

Lucia’s eyes widened slightly, perhaps wondering if they’d had a breach in their cover. Cash knew Boots was referring to them working a con.

“Not at the moment,” Cash said, darting his eyes over his shoulder at Lucia and subtly shaking his head at Boots. Let Boots think Lucia was a woman he was dating. He didn’t want Boots propositioning him with a job offer, especially in front of Lucia.

“Where you staying?” Boots asked, taking a cigarette from one pocket and putting it between his lips while drawing a lighter from another pocket.

“The Hideaway.”

Boots winced and lit the end of his cigarette. “How the mighty have fallen. I’ll be in touch. I have some work that might interest you and help you get some nicer digs.”

“Appreciate it, man.” They nodded and went their separate ways. Boots continued down the street at a slow lope as he smoked his cigarette and flicked the ashes on the ground.

“That was close,” Lucia said, once they were in the car, a company sedan with its boring, fabric interior and no luxuries.

“Would it have mattered if he’d pegged you for a Fed?” Cash asked.

“Of course it would. I don’t want your cover blown. We’ve just started,” Lucia said.

He took it a step further. “If my cover is blown, then I’m no use to you and I’d go back to prison.”

Lucia turned and looked at him, keeping her hands gripped on the steering wheel. He was pressing her emotionally without much effort. “I don’t want you back in prison.”

That was an improvement from the initial hostility he’d encountered. “Then take the anger down a notch,” Cash said. “You’re making me nervous.”

Lucia blew out her breath. “You have nothing to be nervous about. You’re working with me on this case. When it’s over, we’ll part ways as former colleagues.”

“We’ll be working in the same building for the three years I’ve been given in this program. Tell me how to pretend there is nothing between us. I’ve already slipped once. I kissed you.”

Could he use their physical attraction to convince her to use her influence to transfer him closer to his son? She couldn’t deny the powerful chemistry between them forever and she may prefer he work farther away from her to avoid any temptation.

Lucia stared at him, panic registering on her face as if she hadn’t considered how long they would be trapped together with that kiss haunting them. “I won’t ask for a transfer. I’ve been with white collar for a few months and I plan on staying much longer.”

He’d wait for her to realize that transferring
him
at the end of this case was the better option. He sensed something she wasn’t saying about her short time with white collar. “I don’t want you to walk away from your job. Maybe they’ll move me to another office,” Cash said, planting the idea.

Lucia stared ahead at the road. “If you’re as good as Benjamin seems to believe, you’ll crack the case, bring in Clifton Anderson and we’ll recover some of the money. We’ll wrap the case up in a few months. Benjamin will get his promotion and you can spend the rest of your time filing paperwork at headquarters.”

Cash hated paperwork and office work, which were about the same to his way of thinking. Being stuck at headquarters away from Adrian doing both was near the worst-case scenario. “Sounds abysmal.” But not as bad as jail. Not nearly as good as being closer to Adrian. A commutable distance. Maybe he could get special privileges to drive to see his son, nights and weekends. As long as he showed up to work on time and did what he needed to do, what boss would begrudge him time with his son?

But any allowances required trust and worthiness. He needed to find Clifton Anderson and the money he’d stolen first.

“Aren’t you looking for anything out of the deal?” Cash asked.

“The money returned to the people who need it,” Lucia said, stating it like it was obviously her goal.

“No promotion?”

Lucia tensed. “I’ve already been given a promotion.”

She sounded defensive.

“Do you want me to drop you at the Hideaway?” Lucia asked.

He’d rather go anywhere but there. “No, thanks. Even when I take a shower there I feel dirtier. I’ll head back to the office.” Which was where he had taken a number of showers. Their onsite gym facilities were clean and free of pests—unlike the bathroom at the motel.

Lucia pulled into traffic. “That’s where I’m headed. I have paperwork to do.”

“How’d you get stuck with that job?”

“I wasn’t stuck with it. Benjamin wanted me to handle that part of the job.”

The administrative part? Benjamin had mentioned to him that Lucia was in charge of filing reports and documents for the team. Why would Benjamin waste a good field agent’s time with that? “You can pass the torch to me, I guess, when this is over.”

The idea seemed to cheer her up a little. “The time will be over before you know it. Then you can be with your son.”

Which was exactly what he didn’t want. For the time to pass and Adrian to grow while Cash never had the opportunity to have a relationship with him. It was a small measure of comfort that Lucia hadn’t forgotten about Adrian. “The four years in prison went by at a crawl.”

Prison had robbed him of time with his son, but it had also been difficult, challenging and stressful to constantly watch his back, be on guard and anticipate someone trying to harm or kill him. Six men had died on his cell block while he had been incarcerated. Cash considered himself lucky that he’d survived relatively untouched. At least physically. Thinking about his cell and the rules and restrictions and food made him sick to his stomach. Jail was emotionally and psychologically draining. It was no wonder some repeat offenders were hardened beyond reach.

The car felt cramped, and a rush of frustration and anxiety bubbled up in him. He needed space and air. “I’ve changed my mind. Drop me off here.”

Lucia looked at him, her brows knit together. “Here? In the middle of the street?” She stopped for a red light and he climbed out of the car. “See you, Luc.” He shut the door behind him. He needed to walk and breathe fresh air.

So little stood between him and that cage. Disgust and anxiety clawed at him. Prison. He could go back if he made a mistake. The FBI would only keep him out as long as they could use him to bring in Clifton Anderson. What if Cash couldn’t lead them to him? What if something went wrong and Clifton Anderson was picked up by another agency? Would the FBI return him to jail? He could lose his chance of a reunion with his son.

Lucia called after him and he ignored her. Embarrassed about his behavior and unwilling to explain it, he stuck his hands in his pockets and kept his head down. He didn’t want to risk being recognized again by anyone from his former life. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He wanted to disappear, but with the GPS tracker monitoring him, he couldn’t do that. He was trapped in the confines of the city under the careful watch of the FBI. It was hard to feel truly free. He was still imprisoned, just in a different way.

The pounding of footsteps and Lucia calling his name had him glancing over his shoulder. The persistent woman didn’t know when to give up. She caught up to him, out of breath. Strands of her brown hair had broken free of the ponytail she had it tied in. He had the urge to pull the elastic from it and let it loose around her face. He kept his hands pressed to his sides.

“I need space,” he said, feeling a combination of weak and whiny. He hated weak and whiny.

Concern touched her face. “Tell me what that was about because normal people don’t jump out of a car,” she said.

“I didn’t jump out of the car. I stepped out,” Cash said.

“Going from being locked in a cell to walking around on the street is a big change. But it’s a good change.”

He realized she knew where his thoughts had gone. He added intuitive and considerate to his list of her good attributes. He’d liked Lucia from day one, even if she was strung a little tight, but the more time he spent with her the more he saw her best qualities were buried beneath her icy facade. “I’m not free and not much has changed. I’m monitored around the clock. I live in a dump. I eat crappy food.” Benjamin had made it clear he wanted to know if Cash was in touch with anyone from his past. Cash half expected him to demand Cash keep a log of everyone he spoke to.

“Living in a motel isn’t ideal and I know your budget is tight.” She pressed her lips together. She was uncomfortable talking about money.

Was it because she had financial problems, too? The place where she lived was at least three thousand square feet and she had a number of decorative items he’d price high on the open market. She was either living above her means, on the take or the FBI was paying better than he’d thought.

“I’m grateful to Benjamin for what he did for me.” Even if the other man had a lot to gain by capturing Clifton Anderson, like a huge promotion and a raise, he’d put himself out to help Cash.

“You don’t sound ungrateful, but you sound like you’re coming unhinged. I’m supposed to keep an eye on you while we’re together,” Lucia said.

That’s what he needed to dissolve the anxiety, someone else watching him. “I have the tracker. You don’t have to worry about me skipping town.”

“I’m not worried about you skipping town. At the moment, I’m just worried about you.”

Compassion and an olive branch. Cash hadn’t realized how isolated he’d felt until she spoke the words. He had the urge to reach back, to connect with someone in a real way. Not to manipulate her or get on her good side for any other reason than needing a friend. “I can’t go back there.”

Empathy touched the corners of her eyes. “I know,” she whispered. “We’ll get this guy, and as long as you keep your head down and work hard, prison stays off the table. Now, please come back to the car. We’ll head to the office and sit on the rooftop and review our case notes, okay? And then you have the team’s happy hour.”

“Aren’t you going?” he asked.

“I have paperwork to finish up,” she said.

He let her lead him to the car. Lucia was looking left and right.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, sensing her unease.

“I have the strangest feeling we’re being watched.”

Not one to ignore instincts, Cash looked around. He didn’t notice anyone watching. They were surrounded by tall buildings. Anyone could be watching from those windows. Someone on the street? Another driver? He’d made a scene. He could have drawn the curiosity of a passerby or a people watcher with nothing better to do.

Or someone from his past had already caught up to him.

* * *

As people brushed past on the busy sidewalk, Lucia reached for her gun, unsnapping her holster. The atmosphere had tensed and shifted. If someone approached her or Cash, she would defend them.

Before her transfer to Benjamin’s white-collar crime team, Lucia had worked in the violent-crime division on a complex murder-for-hire case. Her contributions to breaking up a ring of Egyptian nationals selling their services as assassins had led to fifteen arrests and fourteen convictions. Unfortunately, several of the well-known assassins who were part of the ring remained out of reach.