Alone in the Dark

Thursday 6 August, 12.10 A.M.

‘Water.’ Diesel shoved a bottle in Scarlett’s hand and one in Marcus’s as they approached him at the front of the property where they’d left their vehicle. The paramedics had arrived and one team had already taken care of Gayle. The other team was with Agent Davenport and Kate. ‘Is Sweeney dead?’

‘Very much so,’ Marcus said. He and Scarlett drained the bottles in very thirsty gulps. ‘Damn, I needed that.’

Diesel was ready with more. ‘Refill your tear wells,’ he told Marcus, giving a pointed look to his eyes, red from crying.

‘Fuck off,’ Marcus said affectionately. He wasn’t ashamed of his tears. It had been cathartic to cry, especially once he’d plugged that final bullet in Sweeney’s heart.

Scarlett shook her head. ‘Where’s Gayle?’

‘The ambulance took her to County,’ Diesel said. ‘They’re monitoring her heart. I wanted to go with her, but she insisted I stay to take care of you two. Who’s Mr Surfer USA?’ he asked, pointing at Decker and Kate, who had just arrived from the back property and were talking to Deacon, their expressions dark and angry.

‘I think he’s the FBI’s undercover agent,’ Marcus said.

‘None of them look too happy at the moment,’ Diesel observed.

‘They don’t, do they?’ Scarlett murmured. ‘They went to fetch Sweeney’s son, who was injured. Since Sweeney’s dead, I think we were hoping Sean could provide details. But from the looks of things, I don’t think he made it.’

Diesel gave the Feds a wary look. ‘No offense, Scarlett, but there’s suddenly too much law enforcement around here.’

Scarlett bit back a smile. ‘None taken. I’ll give your regrets.’

‘I can honestly tell Gayle that I’ve seen you two with my own eyes, alive and kicking. I’m going back to the hospital to check in on her and Stone.’ Backing away from the growing group of federal agents and SWAT team members, he got into his car and drove away.

‘Considering he’s terrified of hospitals, that just said a lot,’ Marcus said mildly, then sobered abruptly when Deacon, Kate and Agent Davenport approached them. ‘What’s happened?’

‘First things first,’ Kate said, pointing at each of them as she introduced them to Davenport.

‘You were the man deep under,’ Marcus said.

‘I was,’ Davenport said. ‘They knew me as Gene Decker. I’d say my cover’s pretty well blown at this point.’

Deacon gave Marcus a look that was half-wince. ‘But if the Bureau returns Davenport to undercover status, this might be the biggest story of your life that you can never write.’

‘But it’s over,’ Marcus said, then stilled, apprehension settling over his shoulders. ‘Why can’t we tell the story? It is over, right?’

Davenport shook his head. ‘Not yet. At least two of the guys got away – Dave Burton, Sweeney’s acting head of security, and Sean Cantrell, who was the IT guy – and Sweeney’s son. These guys trafficked all kinds of things. Drugs, porn, people.’ His mouth twisted. ‘Children.’

‘We’ve started a sweep of the property, but they could have slipped away when we were dealing with Sweeney,’ Kate said with a scowl. ‘We put out a BOLO.’

‘Was Woody McCord one of their customers?’ Marcus asked.

Davenport’s brows raised. ‘Yes. You knew him?’

‘We exposed him,’ Marcus murmured, ‘through the Ledger, but we didn’t go deep enough. Sweeney was afraid we’d keep digging, so he targeted us.’

‘He hated you,’ Davenport said. ‘They all did. But now they’re all dead, in prison or stashed.’ His shoulders sagged wearily. ‘Except for five – the two that got away, Joel Whipple, who did the books, and the new guy in security, whose name is Trevino.’

‘There’s a fifth guy stashed under a bed in one of the upstairs rooms. Name’s Rod Kinsey. He got shot yesterday morning. I gave him some high-power sedatives and he’s been asleep ever since. I doubt he’ll know anything. He’s a low-level flunky.’

‘That’s only four,’ Marcus said.

‘Where are Joel and Trevino?’ Scarlett asked. ‘And how did the first two get away?’

‘We don’t know yet,’ Kate said grimly. ‘Burton and Sean were no longer in the shed when we got there. Someone had cut their bonds and slashed Stephanie Anders’s throat. She’s dead.’

‘Good,’ Marcus bit out. ‘That the Anders woman is dead, I mean. Not that the others are gone.’

Scarlett laid a hand on his arm, a reminder to calm his temper. ‘Let’s take it from the begi

‘All right,’ Davenport said. ‘Sweeney, Demetrius, Joel and Reuben were the owners of this criminal enterprise. Sweeney and Demetrius started out moving drugs up from Florida back in the eighties. Their legit cover was toys, and still is. They moved a lot of teddy bears stuffed with pills. But then Florida tightened its pill laws. That’s when they expanded into trafficking – adults and children, for labor and sex. Sweeney was the CEO and arranged for the sales, Demetrius managed the supply base. As far as I could tell, they were tricking immigrants into coming into the country on a temporary visa. They targeted highly educated individuals because they could get more money for them. They got lower-level laborers too. And they forced people into the sex trade from all over – other countries and this country too. Like I said, Reuben was Security and Joel managed Accounting.’

‘What was your role?’ Scarlett asked.

‘I was hired in as a bodyguard for Sweeney, but I wasn’t able to get at any of the good information. My handler arranged a little accident – I got shot and couldn’t be a bodyguard any longer. I have a math degree and convinced them I could be an accountant, thinking I could get to the books. But I was only working the legit businesses. I wanted to get back into Security but into tactical, not personal, bodyguard services. I figured with a tactical security job I’d be able to access all kinds of information, but they kept me stuck in Accounting and time was passing and I wasn’t gathering the intel I was supposed to.’

‘So you created a hole and then filled it?’ Kate asked.

‘Basically. Reuben was the security chief and Dave Burton’s boss. Both of them had been cops together in Te