Page 6 of Final Approach (Lake City Heroes #4)

THREE

Kristine was tired. The day had started early with an adrenaline rush of excitement about the trip and ten days of sun and sand.

Then there’d been the adrenaline spike triggered by taking down a hijacker.

As for the motive behind the attempt, Kristine wasn’t sure.

Yes, Marcus’s motive was crystal clear. But if he was telling the truth about the person who hired him—and she thought he was—then that was murky.

Terrorist plot or weird gang thing or...?

And why the tattoo?

She didn’t know, but they’d figure it out eventually.

She pulled into the detention center once again, parked, and walked inside. Andrew and Nathan were waiting just inside the glass doors.

“What’s the background on this guy?” she asked. “You get that information yet?”

Andrew nodded. “Married, father of three, deacon in his church, volunteers with his wife at the homeless shelter once a month. And more. But absolutely no obvious connection to the hijacker and nothing to indicate he’s involved in this.”

She frowned. “And yet ... this .”

“Yes.”

Nathan shook his head. “Something is very wonky. Nothing about this is adding up.”

“Anything else?”

“Nope. He’s waiting on us. Ready?”

“Ready.” Once again, she followed them back to an interrogation room where Erik Leary sat. He had his hands loosely clasped on the table, but one leg jiggled. His green eyes bounced among the three of them much like Marcus Brown’s had.

“What is this? No one would tell me anything.” He paused and gasped. “Wait a minute. I know you three. You were all on the plane today. What’s going on?”

Andrew took the lead and sat in the chair opposite Mr. Leary. “Do you know a man by the name of Marcus Brown?”

“No.”

No hesitation, no blinking, nothing. Either this man did not know the name Marcus Brown or he was an excellent liar. Kristine had no idea which was true.

Andrew nodded. “He’s the man who hijacked the plane we were on this morning.”

Now the man blinked. “And that was terrifying, but I still don’t understand why I’m here.” His eyes widened and he gaped for a fraction of a second. “Wait. Surely you don’t think I had something to do with that.”

“We’re not sure. You were seated in 29C and the hijacker identified you as an accomplice of the man who hired him.”

“An accomp—what?” Mr. Leary sputtered and finally managed, “Why would he say that? That’s not true!” He shuddered. “I thought we were going to die . I would never ... no.” He shook his head. “Please tell me you don’t believe that,” he whispered.

Nathan sighed. “Look, we’re just in the initial stages of the investigation and you were specifically identified by the hijacker as someone involved.”

“But I wasn’t. At all.”

Kristine found herself believing Mr. Erik Leary even while she cautioned herself to be careful. Some people were excellent liars.

“I don’t understand why he would do that.

” He raked a hand over his head. “I don’t know what to tell you.

If you’re going to arrest me, do it and let me call my lawyer.

Otherwise, I’d like to go home. It’s been a day to say the least and I just want to be with my family.

The family I wasn’t sure I was going to see again this side of heaven. ”

“Was that your original seat? Or was it changed?”

“It was my original seat.”

“Did you make the reservation online? Through a travel agent? Phone call?”

“Um, online.”

“What devices did you have with you?”

The man scratched his nose. “Um, my laptop, my iPad, and my phone.”

Kristine, Nathan, and Andrew exchanged glances, then Andrew nodded. “We have no evidence to hold you so you’re free to go, but if you think of anything, even if it’s so small you think it’s not important, will you get in touch with us?” He slid his card across the table.

Mr. Leary nodded. “Of course.”

Nathan led him out of the room and Andrew looked at her. “We’ll do our due diligence, but my gut says he wasn’t involved.”

“My gut agrees with yours, but I’ve also run into some really good liars. Once we eliminate him based on solid evidence, then I’ll trust my gut.”

“Same.”

Kristine pursed her lips. “If he made that reservation online and chose that seat, how did the person organizing this whole thing decide to choose that particular seat? And why? There’s no way he could have known who would be sitting there. Could he?”

“Not unless he—or she—has access to the booking system.”

Now that was a thought.

Agents were questioning the other passengers one by one, asking if any of them switched from their original seats and why, but no other suspects had come to light. And no software security breaches had been reported.

Andrew sighed and shook his head. “Someone went to a lot of trouble to try and send that plane somewhere else. The question is, why?”

HANK GALLAGHER finally texted him back while he was studying the crime board they’d set up in the office. At the top of the pyramid was Marcus Brown. A dry-erase marker line connected him to Erik Leary. Another line led to the big question mark labeled “mastermind.”

Other agents were delving into Brown’s and Leary’s backgrounds and bank accounts. They questioned friends and family and went through every bit of passengers’ cell phone footage. And more.

For now, Andrew and Nathan would focus on the Serpentine Network. Dread pooled in his belly at the thought of having to revisit those dark days and face the guilt that he managed to dodge except when he slept. Finally, he pulled in a ragged breath and looked at the text once more.

I can FaceTime in 30.

Asking Hank to make contact put the man at risk—and himself as well as he was still persona non grata with the Serpentine Network.

The sting he’d been a part of had left more than one gang member dead.

Including the leader’s son. If they ever found out where he was, he was a dead man.

Not that they knew who he was or would even recognize him if they saw him.

But Andrew didn’t feel like he had a choice.

Not if he was going to do his job like he needed to.

God , I need your help. I thought I’d put the past behind me , but if I ’m this torn up about talking to Hank again , I can see we’ve got some work to do.

Please help me deal with this , keep me from delving into places I don’t need to go.

He paused . Or if I do need to go there , then meet me there.

His throat was tight and tears had pooled without him realizing it.

When his phone rang, he hesitated a fraction of a moment to make sure he could talk and to press the moisture from his eyes.

Then he tapped the screen to pull up Hank’s face.

The forty-five- year-old undercover agent had leathery features, gang tats across his left cheek, and a scar that split that tattoo down the middle to disappear beneath the collar of his black T-shirt. “How are you, man?” Hank asked.

“Doing okay.” Liar , liar , pants on fire. “How ’bout you?”

“Doing all right. But for real. How are you?”

Andrew swallowed, not wanting to visit that time in his past in spite of his prayer for help. “I’m dealing. Trying to move on.”

“Dude, you’re not anywhere near South Carolina, are you?”

“No.”

“Good, ’cause Showbiz is still calling for your head.

” Showbiz. The leader of the Serpentine Network and the father of one killed thanks to Andrew’s information on another bust. The bust that had blown his cover.

The plan had been to pull in Showbiz’s son, Paddy, to question him and turn him against his father.

Unfortunately, the guy had been killed, but not before he’d seen Andrew and gotten off a text to his father that Andrew was a fed.

A four-word text that changed his life. “Warning Drew a fed.” Hank had the flu at the time—the only reason his cover had stayed intact and no one had ever connected him and Hank.

Andrew had gone home, shaved his beard and mustache, cut his long hair, gotten the tat on the side of his neck and down his arm laser removed, and now looked like a completely different person.

“I know,” Andrew said, “but we don’t have time to delve into that. The longer we talk, the riskier it is for you.” He couldn’t fathom yet another death on his conscience.

“Tell me what you need.”

“You heard about the hijacking?”

“Of course. It’s all over the news.”

“The guy has an SN tat on his arm.”

Hank fell silent. “I haven’t heard anything about a plan to hijack a plane. If I had, I would have found a way to warn someone.”

“Yeah, I know, but can you do some digging? See if the SN is involved in any way?”

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t really think they are?”

“I don’t know, Hank. Call it a gut feeling. The tat was new. He was told to get it two weeks ago. His family was threatened, and he fully believed the person who paid him would kill them if he backed out. Everything he says rings true, but I gotta cover all my bases. If the SN is involved...”

“Right. I’ll sniff around, see what I can find out.”

Andrew paused. “Be careful, man. Please.”

“Absolutely.” A pause. “I miss you, dude. It’s not the same here without knowing you’re nearby.”

“I know you got another good partner.”

“Not as good as you. Gotta go.”

Hank hung up and Andrew looked up to see Nathan studying the board. “Thoughts?” Andrew asked.

Nathan rubbed his chin, his brow furrowed. “I agree with you. Something’s off.”

“But what?”

“No idea. Hopefully something will break soon.”

“Anyone sitting on Leary’s house?”

“Of course. Just for the next twenty-four hours. He went straight home and hugged his wife and kids.” Andrew raised a brow and Nathan shrugged. “The agent said the blinds were up. Had a good look at the reunion and said it was all he could do not to cry at how touching it was.”

Andrew sighed. “Okay, then what about—”

“Hey, guys,” Kristine said, walking over to their area.

Andrew sat a little straighter, and Nathan dropped his chin to cover a smirk that Andrew caught. He ignored his partner. “Hey, what’s up?”

“I just finished going over everything once more and making sure my report wasn’t missing anything. I’ve done all I can do, so I’m going to go home, unpack, and grab some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

Understatement of the year.

“You learn anything new?” Kristine asked.

“Not a thing,” Nathan said.

“Then I’m out of here.”

Andrew started to offer to walk her out, but his phone buzzed with an incoming call from his mother. He couldn’t put her off any longer. To Kristine, he said, “See you tomorrow?”

“Bright and early.”

She gave a mini-salute that included Nathan, did a one-eighty, and headed for the exit while Andrew tapped the screen to answer the call. “Hey there. What’s up?”

“Thank you for texting that you were okay.”

“Of course. I knew you’d see it on the news and know it was my plane.” His family had all the itinerary details.

“I know you’re busy so I won’t keep you, but...” A sigh.

Andrew frowned. “What is it?”

“Your cousin, Corey.”

His shoulders tensed. “What about him?”

“He’s ... here.”

“Here where? Already?”

“Yes. He stopped in the store this morning.”

“Look, Mom, I mean, I’m all for taking care of family, you know that, but Corey can’t be trusted.”

“I know, hon, but someone has to try and help him.”

It didn’t sound like she was trying to guilt him into volunteering, but he still hesitated. “All right, what can I do?” he finally said.

He’d already taken a lot of vacation days to meet real estate agents, look at properties, and help them find the perfect spot for the bookstore. He even put in time to run it while they ran errands necessary for setting up a life in a new town and a few doctor appointments. But that was months ago.

“Do you have time for dinner next Friday?” she asked. “That’s when I’ll have his room ready, and I thought it would be nice for all of us to sit down as a family and discuss ... things.”

“Things?”

“Expectations. Boundaries.”

“Ah.” Andrew ran a hand over his chin. “All right. Let me check my calendar and get back with you. I think I can.”

“Thanks, Son. We appreciate it.”

“Sure thing. Talk to you later.”

He hung up and walked to the window. Kristine was long gone, but he couldn’t help wishing his phone hadn’t rung right at the moment she was leaving. Wishing they were in the Keys where they should be. But no...

Nathan walked over to nudge him with his shoulder. “Do you remember what you told me about Jesslyn when I was acting like a lovesick puppy?”

He remembered. “Nope, not at all.”

Nathan chuckled. “I believe the words you used were something like, ‘Ask her out, man.’”

They were. “Zip it.”

Nathan laughed.