Walker (Bowen Boys) (20 page)

“You said that Small is working for
someone in Afghanistan? Do you know who?”

Nestor nodded and grinned. “He’s a captain
in the United States Marine Corps. His name is Jackson. I don’t know if I ever
heard his first name, but I know what he looks like. He calls too. Would you
like his cell phone number?”

Numbly, he pushed the pad at him again
and watched as he wrote this number down too. There were a total of ten names
on the first sheet alone, as well as last known address and phone numbers. Warren
nodded at Marshall. He would take the name they’d just been given and search
for him in their database. He glanced at Reed Bowen, who was helping them with
the searches.

“They’ve been working together for
nearly ten years, well before he decided to be in politics. But Jackson
insisted that they could make more money if there was someone on the inside
that could get the information to them firsthand.” Nestor laughed. “They were
cutting out the middle man, you see.”

“And how did you get involved?” Reed had
done that three times now, asking questions without consulting anyone first. But
instead of telling him to shut up and do his job like he’d been asked to do,
Warren was beginning to like where the kid’s head was.

“Oh that was easy. I was in the right
place at the right time, you might say. I knew that he’d wanted his family
killed and had helped him get them all together. He said that they knew things
about him that, if questioned, he wouldn’t be able to have a library card much
less run for any kind of office. I knew things as well, but I told him that
they were somewhere safe and that if he didn’t take me along, or something
unknown happened to me, then I’d make sure he was buried right along with me. It’s
sometimes nice to have a little dirt on the person you’re working for. It makes
things so much easier when you have to tell them no.”

Warren didn’t have a clue what he was
talking about, but nodded all the same.

He looked down at the file Marshall had
gone to get when Nestor had been arrested trying to leave the country. Nestor
had sang like a bird as soon as he’d been approached, starting with telling
Marshall that he had enough evidence on Small that what Caitlynne had would
look like child’s play. Warren was beginning to believe him. He’d told them
where to find this information as well as a whole lot of other things.

“Jeffery Jackson, last known address is
in Washington. He has a house in Florida and one in France. He has eight
thousand dollars in his bank account and the last deposit was just over two
weeks ago for seven hundred twelve dollars and four cents.” Reed glanced at him
then at Nestor. “Do you know if he has an offshore account?”

“Oh my, yes. We all do. I don’t have
Jackson’s number, but I do have the information on mine and Jerry’s.” He didn’t
even ask this time, but took the pad back and wrote down all the information on
both accounts. “I’m also putting the account information on two other accounts
you may want to look into. One of them is Conrad’s, God rest his soul, and the
other belongs to Norris Freeman. I don’t believe you have him in custody as of
yet.”

“No. No we don’t.” Warren slid the
information over to Reed and watched him tap on the keys of his laptop for
several seconds before he looked at Nestor again. “What is his involvement in
all of this? I mean, his name has never come up be—”

Marshall cleared his throat before
speaking. “He’s on the FBI’s most wanted. He’s attached to several murders of
key people all over the world. He’s been known to work with a partner on
occasion, but who—”

“Oh, that would be Seth Clarke. He’s a
terrible man and I’ve no use for him, but he did seem to get the job done.” Nestor
looked at Reed. “You may want to see if there are any unsolved murders of
prostitutes in the area lately. If they are blond and tall, that would be his
work. He had a fetish for murdering them then having sex with them. As I said,
a terrible man.”

Reed looked at him for the first time. He
could see the horror in his eyes and waited for him to bolt. He was just a kid,
probably only in his early to mid-twenties, but he seemed to know his computer
stuff. When he looked back at Nestor he thought the boy was going to tell him
he was lying or, at the very least, tell him that he was wrong about him being
only terrible.

“If you could give me some time frames
that he’s been in the city, I could see what I could find. Or if you know them,
giving me some places he might have been might help a few precincts solve some
of their murders. I believe that would help the president too when this goes to
trial.”

Warren decided that as soon as this was
over he was going to see if this kid would come and work for him. He had a good
head on his shoulders, as well as a talent not to lose his cool when things
looked bad. He looked over at Marshall when his phone rang. While Nestor told
Reed dates and places that he knew where Clarke had been, Warren thought about
all the information they had to take Small down.

Marshall didn’t look happy when he shut
off his phone. “There’s been an accident. They got Khan out, but our operative
has been…hurt.”

“How bad?”

Marshall shook his head.

“Can you take over here? I have to get
to them. She has to live.”

“If you mean Caitlynne McCray then I
wouldn’t worry about her living. As soon as Jerry is president she’s as good as
dead anyway.” Nestor smiled at them. “He has never liked her and when she told
him she was going to personally see him standing before a firing squad and
would be a part of it if she could, he took exception to that. I don’t know why
she thought she’d win in this. She has none of the information that I have. None.
He said that she would more than likely kill her own parents than to listen to
what she’s being told to do. I never met her myself.”

Warren sat back down hard. The man
thought that his boss was going to walk away and also become President of the
United States? He glanced over at Reed, who looked as if he’d come to the same
conclusion. Nestor Carvey was insane. He might know a great deal about a great
many people, but he was completely insane.

“You do know that this is going to get
out, right? You know that as soon as people get wind of what you’ve told us,
there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell for him to get elected.” Reed looked at
Marshall before he looked back at Nestor and continued. “He’s had people
killed. Murdered for greed and money. Hell, he sold guns to the other side and
our own troops were killed with them. No one will vote for him for that reason
alone.”

Nestor looked confused and shook his
head. “That wouldn’t be fair to hold it against a man who was only trying to
make a living, now would it? I mean what if no one voted for you because you’re
young and stupid? Is it your fault that you’re not out there trying to do the
same thing that Jerry is doing? Well, I suppose that is, but you’ll see. Once
he kills this man…” Nestor pointed at Warren. “You’ll see that he’ll be a shoe
in for the White House and things will get back to normal.”

“Take him to his cell.” Warren hadn’t
realized he’d spoken out loud until Marshall moved to uncuff him and help him
stand. He and Reed sat there for several minutes without speaking. He needed to
go and check on Caitlynne, but was so overwhelmed by Nestor and his ideas about
Jerry that he couldn’t move. When Reed spoke he realized that he’d been working
the entire time.

“There is just over eighty million in
Garrett’s account and almost half that in Nestor’s. Freeman has just under a
hundred million, and Small’s is nearly triple that amount.” He looked up from
the screen. “I found Jackson’s account. All the other accounts were in sequence
so I…I found it.”

Warren had to clear his throat three
times before he could speak. “How much is in his? Or do I even want to know?”

“He has one point five billion.”

Chapter Sixteen

Walker didn’t look up from her face when
he heard someone come into the room. He wasn’t surprised by another visitor;
they’d been coming in and out of the room since yesterday. When Khan sat down
in the chair across from him on the other side of the bed, he didn’t bother
speaking to him. He didn’t want anything to do with his brother right now,
maybe not ever again.

“She kissed me.”

Walker shifted on his chair and didn’t
look at Khan as he continued.

“She slipped something into my mouth and
told me it was for me. I forgot about it until this morning.”

Walker rubbed his thumb over Caitlynne’s
wrist and didn’t speak. Khan apparently thought he had something to say he
wanted to hear. When he reached out and stroked his finger over her arm, he put
a small thumb drive on the bed between them.

“Roseann had taken pictures of us,
remember? She’d also taken some video of us when we were shifting. When she
left me that day she said she was going to expose us for what we were. She said
that there would be nowhere for us to hide.” Walker looked up at him. “She
never published the article. I looked for it daily, but she never did. Do you
want to know why?”

“Caitlynne told her not to.”

Khan shook his head.

“I don’t really care, Khan. Get to the
point and leave me alone with her. In the event you didn’t notice, she’s not waking
up since she saved your life.”

“She stole it from her.”

Walker looked up sharply.

“Lynne stole it all from her. There was
a long video from Lynne telling me that I needed to get my act together and
forget about the fucking bitch. Then she went on to tell me that she’d been
watching Roseann and had discovered something about her. Something that only by
chance did she find the reports about us.”

“What had she been doing?”

Walker looked at Caitlynne when she took
his hand. She looked at him with a huge smile, then at Khan. “She’d been
working with someone high on the food chain for months getting arms to our
enemy overseas. The vice president would give her information on where the arms
could be picked up and she’d relay the information to the buyer. She was the
courier as well. When the deal was over she’d take a large cut and he and she
would…celebrate in bed with the money spread under them like a blanket.” Caitlynne
picked up the thumb drive. “The papers are destroyed. Everything, including the
videos she made. I made copies of everything in case I had to show the president
when the time came. But it never came up again.”

“So you knew about us before you came
here.”

She shook her head at him.

“Then how did you know to give this to
Khan?”

“Your mom. She mentioned Roseann’s name
one day when I asked her about the poker up your ass about me. She didn’t tell
me a lot, but just mentioning the name made me remember the stuff I’d found.” She
handed the drive back to Khan. “You ready to know the rest, or are you going to
sit in a corner and be a big baby still?”

“You’re not terribly nice, are you?” Khan
frowned at her as he continued. “Tell me what you know about her. Is she dead?”

“Not that I know of, but that’s going to
change as soon as I find her. Right after Small was arrested she disappeared. I’ve
heard that she was in Iraq, but not sure. She had made some pretty good friends
while working against her government. I’ve been looking for her for some time,
but not with much success. What happened to the president?”

“He’s downstairs with my parents. He is
enjoying himself, he said, for the first time in years. Did you know that he
and Marshall were lovers?” Caitlynne nodded. “I figured you did. Is there
anything that you don’t know?”

She nodded then looked over at Khan. “You
didn’t trust me. Even after I told you to sit tight and not move, you didn’t
trust that I would keep you safe. Why?”

Khan tried to stand, but she reached out
and grabbed his hand. Walker watched his brother struggle, but didn’t say
anything. When Khan finally spoke Walker could hear the pain in his voice.

“I had lost myself with Roseann. Not
just myself, but my heart. And it wasn’t because she was human…no, that’s not
right. It was because of her that I decided that no human was to be trusted
again, because I couldn’t trust myself. Especially with you.”

Caitlynne laughed. “Why me, pray tell? I
never did anything to you but make you pissed most of the time. I never once
set out to harm any of you. In fact, if you remember correctly, you’ll know
that I told you all numerous times that I was going to leave and, when that
didn’t work, I tried to get you all to leave. You people are as stubborn as
anyone I know.”

“I doubt anyone is as stubborn as you
are. And I know about you wanting no part of us.” Khan looked at her with a sad
face as he finished. “And truthfully, I hated you because you were everything I
wanted to be. Strong, honest, and said just what you wanted. I found myself
wanting to like you more than hate you. Even though you were a human.”

She shook her head and let go of his
hand. “You do know that your own mate is going to be a human, don’t you? The
fates couldn’t be nice enough to find you a nice pretty kitten to love. And
she’ll have her own set of claws too. But you’ll not be able to turn her away.
And you know what, Khan? I’m going to be right there beside you telling you
with every breath I have that I told you so. And cheering her on as well.”