Page 42 of Kane (Ghost Ops #4)

Chapter Thirty

Diana Corbin could have been a professional poker player for all the emotion she showed when Alex yielded the floor to Daphne and let her tell her story yet again. After spending so many months saying nothing at all, her soul seemed to grow lighter every time she told the tale.

Didn’t make up for what’d been done by her family over the years, but it felt good to stop hiding and start talking. Maybe, despite Diana’s poker face, something good would come of the memory card and all the files.

Provided her father didn’t manage to pay somebody off first.

Daphne didn’t clutch her hands together while she spoke, though she wanted to. She faced Diana squarely across the polished table and explained what she had and why. When she was done, Diana turned to Alex.

“You’ve looked at this information?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

Alex shot Daphne a look, smiled reassuringly.

Daphne was still reeling from the existence of the room with the polished table and all the sophisticated electronics that she’d thought was a secure store room until a few minutes ago.

She’d thought they were meeting in the break room, but then Alex led the way here and she’d been gawking since.

“It’s everything she says it is. Before we hand it over, need to know what you plan to do.”

Diana blinked, then sat back in the chair and looked shockingly at ease for once.

She picked up the pen on the table in front of her and turned it over a few times.

“I can’t say too much, but John O’Malley is a person of interest for many reasons.

This information could be incredibly helpful to our case. ”

“So you’ll arrest him?” Daphne asked, her heart thrumming.

“Not yet, but yes. I expect the arrests to be wide ranging across the O’Malley enterprise. We won’t act until we’re certain we can make it stick.”

“I want you to arrest me, too.”

Kane stirred beside her. “Daphne?—”

She turned and put a finger over his mouth, silencing him. He looked angry and frustrated—and scared? Her heart skipped, her stomach clenching tight. “Listen, please. Can you do that?”

He nodded and she knew it cost him to give her that control.

But he did it, and she turned back to Diana.

“Maybe you plan to arrest me anyway, in which case I’m wasting my breath, but if you aren’t, then I need it put out there that you’ve arrested all of us.

Not just my father and Jackson, but me too.

I need people to think I’m going down with them.

Josie, I mean. If Josie isn’t mentioned in connection with any of this, then people will suspect it was me.

Some people will know anyway, but if I can throw off suspicion at all…

. Well, betraying the family and living to tell about it isn’t the way it usually works.

I’d like a shot at staying above ground for a few years. ”

Diana nodded. “I can’t say what’ll happen when the files reach my superiors, but giving us this information works in your favor, especially if we can take down the O’Malley businesses with it.

You may have to testify, but I don’t know that yet either.

It’s too early to say. But assuming you don’t, and assuming there’s no reason to bring charges against you, it won’t be a problem to leak the information that Josephine O’Malley has been taken into custody when the time comes. ”

Daphne couldn’t stop trembling. She’d said her piece, but her body wouldn’t give up the flight or fight response. Kane wrapped an arm around her and tugged her against his side. Nobody said anything about it, though Alex heaved one of those sighs of his.

“Thank you,” Daphne managed. “I appreciate your help. I really, really hope you can make the charges stick. My father has a way of slipping through even the most tightly woven net.”

Diana smiled. It was a cool smile, controlled. As if the woman never let go and allowed herself to be messy and emotional. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way,” Alex said, slapping his hands on the table to get everyone’s attention, “need you to know that you aren’t arresting Daphne in connection with her father’s crimes.

She’s not testifying either, because you’ve got everything you need in the files she’s giving you.

I don’t care what you have to do to make it happen, but make it happen.

Call up those connections and do what you gotta do.

Or you won’t get another moment of cooperation out of us on any aspect of your investigation into Viktor Dashevsky. ”

Diana’s face was a mask. Daphne had to give it to her, the woman didn’t crack.

Her own heart raced a million miles an hour and her eyes pricked with tears.

She’d called Alex a caveman asshole, but right now she was glad for his bossiness.

Glad for him. For these men who were her friends despite the fact she’d been lying to them for months.

She didn’t know who Viktor Dashevsky was, but he was clearly important to Diana if the way she took her time answering was any indication.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Better than that, ma’am. Because you need us for this rogue investigation of yours and you know it.”

Diana’s mask slipped. She glared daggers at Alex. “You’re an arrogant son of a bitch, Colonel. But I assume you know that.”

Daphne glanced at Kane. He squeezed her shoulder but didn’t look at her.

So Alex was a colonel. That was a bit of information she hadn’t known.

Explained a lot about how effortlessly he seemed to be in command.

And why he had a room like this tucked away behind a steel blast door.

Not for the first time since she’d learned they were on a mission, she wondered what they could be doing in Sutton’s Creek that was so important.

If she never found out, so be it. The important thing was that they were here and they were on her side.

“Heard it a time or two,” Alex said. “I’m sweet as a kitten when you treat me right, though. So be sure you do.”

“With incentive like that, how can I say no?”

“My thoughts exactly.” He took a memory stick from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of him. “A copy of Daphne’s files.”

Diana looked expectant but didn’t speak. Daphne’s gaze darted around the faces gathered and she knew Alex was angling for something else, which was why he didn’t slide it over.

“Might as well tell me what you want,” Diana said.

“Information. What does John O’Malley have to do with The Dashevsky Group?”

Diana darted a glance at Daphne, but Alex spoke again.

“She’s giving you his books, both sets, and she’s identified the diamond stamp as originating with her father. Think you can tell her what’s going on.”

Diana’s eyebrows lifted. Daphne hadn’t shared the diamond information because Alex had asked her not to. Clearly, he’d had his own plan for doing so.

Diana cleared her throat. “That’s helpful. Thank you.”

Alex snorted. “You suspected it already. You wanted to see if we could confirm it for you.”

“Okay, yes, I had my suspicions, though I certainly didn’t anticipate you’d have O’Malley’s daughter on your staff.

” She cleared her throat delicately. “John O’Malley is ruthless and mercenary.

He acts in his own self-interest, nobody else’s.

He would have supplied those weapons to The Dashevsky Group for cold, hard cash and no other reason. But Jackson O’Malley…”

Daphne’s heart slammed her ribs.

“He’s a hothead, susceptible to influence.

Viktor Dashevsky is very good at manipulating people for his own ends.

I think he’s been grooming Jackson, whispering to him about taking over the O’Malley empire.

About joining him in his new world order.

” She turned to Daphne. “Did your brother ever mention Viktor Dashevsky to you?”

“No, but then we aren’t exactly close.”

“Hmm.” Diana looked disappointed, but nothing Daphne could do about it.

“I’m sure you’re right about Jackson, though,” she added.

“He would slit my father’s throat in a heartbeat if he thought he could get away with it.

I would too, if I’m honest. But not so I could take over the business.

And I’ll tell you this—Jackson taking over would be a disaster.

There’d be war in the underworld and it wouldn’t be pretty. ”

As if anything in the criminal underworld ever was.

Diana nodded. “We know Jackson is in communication with Viktor, because Viktor supplies the trafficking victims.”

Daphne hated Viktor Dashevsky on principle.

“It’s his operation,” Diana continued. “It’s one small part of how he recruits men for his movement.

He plies them with easy targets for their desires, fuels their paranoia and sense of grandeur.

It’s not the only way, because some people think of themselves as patriots fighting against government corruption, but Viktor’s not above using any tool it takes. ”

“Will bringing down my father and brother stop him from trafficking people?”

“It’ll slow him down. My goal is to stop him entirely, but this kind of thing is like a mythological hydra. Cut off one head and several more sprout up.”

“Anything else?” Alex asked. “Tell me now because if I find out later that you withheld something, I won’t be nice about it.”

The corners of Diana’s mouth tightened. “I presume you know Jackson’s in town?”

“We do. But we don’t know where he’s staying. Do you?”

“Not yet.” She hesitated. “I think he’s here to broker a deal for a missing shipment of black market Stinger missiles. Among other things, obviously,” she said, glancing at Daphne.

Alex frowned. “How do you know?”

“I have an informant who works with the O’Malleys.”

“Wouldn’t be Nathan Fader, would it?”

“Not divulging my sources, Colonel.”

“He didn’t tell you about Daphne though. Maybe he doesn’t entirely trust you?”

Diana didn’t react. She was back to normal then. “My informant doesn’t know where Jackson’s staying, and doesn’t know the time or location of the meeting yet. I’m waiting to hear. If we can catch Jackson in the middle of a deal, we’ll have even more evidence against him than what’s in those files.”

“You have a team ready for intercepting?”

“Yes.”

Alex slid the memory stick toward her. “If you need help, call us.”

“I don’t think I will, but thanks.”

She reached for the stick and their fingers brushed.

They both stiffened as if contaminated. Daphne would have laughed if she wasn’t sick with fury right now.

Both at this Viktor Dashevsky asswipe and at her brother for allowing Dashevsky to traffic humans into her club.

Not to mention the whole missile thing. What the hell was Jackson thinking?

Her father always said guns were easy money but missiles drew too much attention.

And he was right, apparently. She hoped her brother’s ass got swept up in an FBI raid. It was the least of what he deserved.

“Thank you.” Diana slipped the stick into her handbag. “I’ll get to work on this immediately. I may need to speak with you again,” she said to Daphne.

“You know where to find me.”

Diana’s gaze slid around the room before resting on her once more. “Indeed. You are very fortunate in your choice of protectors, Miss Bryant.”

Daphne awarded points for using her chosen name instead of her legal one. “I’m a lucky girl to have found the kind of friends who watch out for me.”

Kane nudged her leg beneath the table. She nudged back.

They were friends. Always.

But she wanted them to be more.