A Touch of Deceit (Nick Bracco Series #1) (51 page)

“They can do all that?”

Nick grinned. “Sal, if the CIA wants to, they can always find a way to gain jurisdiction. Once they have jurisdiction, they control everything. And I mean everything.”

Sal seemed satisfied with that.

Nick thought about something Kharrazi told him just before he bled out. “The United States has been forced to play by the rules when it came to terrorism, yet the terrorists don’t have those restrictions. Up until now it hasn’t been a fair fight.” Nick pointed to the document in Sal’s hand. “We’ve just evened up the odds.”

Sal lifted a plain brown cigar from his jacket pocket and played with it. “I don’t know.” He pointed the cigar at Nick, “How do you figure in all of this?”

“I’m simply the liaison for the State Department. Just an ex-FBI agent making decisions on my own. There’ll be no footprints to follow back to the White House.” Nick hunched over and looked up at the crew as if he were a quarterback in the middle of a huddle. “Everyone in this car is an American. It’s time we show these assholes how to play the game. We’ve always had the technology, now we have the muscle to back it.”

Nick could feel the testosterone level elevate around him as he spoke. He pressed down a bandage that was coming loose from his sweating forehead. He spoke, not as an ex-FBI agent, or Tommy Bracco’s cousin, but as a salesman trying to close the deal. He’d spent too many sleepless nights worried about the things he couldn’t do because of the law, or because of his moral obligation to follow the Constitution. Nick had turned the corner and he wasn’t ever going back.

He noticed Sal absently finger his cigar as he concentrated fully on Nick.

Nick said, “It's time we go after the leaders of these groups. We sort of take all the fun out of being the boss. It disrupts their plans and lowers the quality of leader they choose. After a while, they’re doing more fighting among themselves, than anything else.”

Sal stopped playing with the cigar. He put it back in his jacket pocket, leaned over and rubbed his hands together. “What kind of protection we get?”

“The best,” Nick said. He looked straight at Sal and said. “Look at me, Sal. What do you see?”

Sal appeared leery of the question and didn’t say anything.

“I’ll tell you what you see,” Nick said. “You see a man who’s just lost a close friend, and who isn’t about to take unnecessary chances with any more of his friends. You also see a man of Sicilian heritage who’s proud to be an American and who’s not afraid to make right some injustices that have been inflicted upon us. Now, does that remind you of anyone else in this car?”

It started slowly, but the corners of Sal’s lips quivered upward and kept going until it was a full-grown smile. This, of course, became contagious and a few moments later every man in the limo was smiling. Sal began to chuckle and the background chucklers filled in behind him. Now the whole car was a symphony of laughter, with Sal gently slapping Nick’s cheek. “You’re good, Nicky. You are really good.”

Nick slid into the limo next to Julie and across from Matt and Steele. The four of them rode in silence as the vehicle pulled away from the gravesite. Nick glanced at Matt and gave him an imperceptible nod.

Steele had a tissue up against her nose as she gazed out the window. Julie focused on the ball of tissues in her hands. Nick couldn’t remove the smile from his face. Matt ignored it, but Steele sat cross-legged in a knee length black dress and took notice of Nick’s behavior.

“Something funny?” Steele said.

Julie turned and saw a straight-faced Nick say, “What?”

Matt covered for him as he always would. He looked out at the opening in the overcast sky, “Looks like it might be clearing up out there.”

Julie must have seen the contentment return to Nick’s expression. She touched his face. “You okay?” she whispered.

Nick nuzzled her ear. “I’m fine.” He turned her chin to face him, their foreheads pressed together. “We’re fine.”

Julie smiled, then dug her face into Nick’s shoulder and let it all come out until Nick could feel the moisture make it through his jacket to his shirt. From the corner of his eye he saw Matt put his arm around Steele and watched Steele fall perfectly into Matt’s hold like two pieces of a puzzle reuniting for the first time since leaving the box.

Nick met Matt’s eyes. A partnership that needed no words.

Nick’s smile lingered. He looked out the window. “It does look like it’s clearing up, doesn’t it?”

A couple of puffy white clouds looked lonely crossing the expansive Arizona sky. Beneath them, a spring breeze tickled the tops of the ponderosa pines that surrounded a small fishing lake. At the east end of the lake, Nick and Julie gently rocked on the porch swing. From their wooden deck they could take in the entire scene. Nick was reading the Sunday edition of the Arizona Republic while Julie worked a pair of knitting needles around a spread of yarn on her lap.

“Here come the neighbors,” Julie said.

Nick looked up from the paper and had to squint from the reflection of sunlight glaring off the lake. He saw two figures emerge from a path in the woods just north of the lake. Matt McColm and Jennifer Steele furiously pumped the pedals of their lightweight bicycles toward the Bracco’s A-frame. Their momentum guided them up the slope of grass that separated the Bracco’s home from the lake itself. They stopped in front of the porch, straddled their bikes, and took long swigs from their bottled water. They both wore shorts and tee shirts, which were marked with small patches of sweat. Matt slid his water bottle into the carrier below his seat and peered over the wooden railing that surrounded the deck, “Howdy, Sheriff.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “You’d be Sheriff too if the President flew into Payson to campaign for you a week before the election.”

Matt shook his head and smiled. “Sheriff Bracco.”

“He never gets tired of saying that,” Steele said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

“I never do,” Matt agreed.

“Well, I love it,” Julie said. “It sure beats, ‘We were shot at today, Jule, but don’t worry they missed us again.’”

Steele laughed. Nick and Matt shrugged, as if they hadn’t a clue what she was talking about.

“You guys staying for coffee?” Nick said.

“Naw,” Matt said. “I’ve got to get back and shower. I’m on call today.”

“On call?” Nick scoffed. “Exactly what does on call mean to a resident agent in Payson—on a Sunday? You waiting for someone to pull a gun on an ATM machine?”

“Very funny, Sheriff.” Matt pointed to a couple of teenagers in an aluminum rowboat fishing the far end of the lake. “I suppose you’re spying on the Chandler boys, waiting for them to exceed their limit. That would be a big catch for you, wouldn’t it?”

“Listen to you two,” Steele said. “Both of you bellyaching over the lack of stress in your jobs. Do you really miss the action that much?”

“A little machismo never hurt anyone,” Matt said.

Now it was Julie’s turn to roll her eyes. She looked at Steele who was still breathing heavy. “How far did you go?”

“Forty miles.” She gestured to Julie, “You should come with us sometime.”

Julie smiled. “I think I will.”

Matt pointed to the newspaper in Nick’s lap. “Too bad about Mustafa, huh.”

Julie gave Nick a suspicious glance. “Mustafa?”

Nick handed a section of the paper to Julie and tapped a particular article listed under ‘World Events.’ Julie scanned the story. “Small caliber shot to the back of the head,” she said. “Almost sounds like a Mafia hit.”

Nick and Matt were quiet.

Steele cocked her head. “What do you two characters know about it?”

“Just what I read in the paper,” Matt said.

“Ditto,” Nick said, opening the comics. “There’s too much violence in the world.”

While still reading the article, Julie added, “It says that Mustafa was the fifth member of the FBI’s top ten list to be murdered in the past five months.”

Matt leaned over and felt the pressure in his tires.

Nick held up the comics and laughed. “That Dilbert just kills me.”

Julie finished the story and put the paper down. She looked over at Nick who was pretending to be fascinated with the entire section of animated cartoons. She shook her head. “You can take the boy out of the FBI, but you can’t take the FBI out of the boy.”

“Amen,” Steele said, watching Matt hop on his bike seat and begin pedaling down the hill.

“We’ll see you guys later,” he said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Nick said, sardonically.

Steele glanced over her shoulder as she pulled away. “Was he always this helpful when he was your partner?”

“Worse,” Nick said, waving her off.

As they watched the two resident agents ride away, Julie said, “I like her.”

“So do I.”

Julie picked up Nick’s coffee mug and headed inside. “Another cup?”

“Why not.”

A few minutes later Julie returned and placed Nick’s coffee mug on the railing. She sat down next to him, picked up her knitting needles and regained a familiar rhythm. Nick reached over and grabbed the business section of the paper.

Julie gazed at the majestic setting before them and sighed. “It’s so pretty up here, isn’t it?”

“It sure is.”

“A beautiful place to raise children.”

“You bet.”

“Do you remember telling me that you would build a swing set in the yard when we had kids?”

“I do,” Nick said, turning a page.

“How long does it take for you to build something like that?”

Nick snapped the paper shut and turned to see Julie working her knitting needles with a sly grin.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because,” she reached into her pocket and held up a square white cuvette. In the center of the cuvette was the universal plus sign for positive. “You’ve got approximately seven months to finish the job.”

Nick’s smile was instant and genuine. He pulled Julie into a warm hug and the two of them melted into each other’s arms. Their dreams mingled together like the sheets and blanket of an infant’s crib.

Nick took in a deep breath as they rocked back and forth. All those years of silence built up inside of him. He whispered, “I lov—”

“I know,” Julie said, clutching Nick with all of her might. “I’ve always known.”

Gary Ponzo's sequel to
A Touch of Deceit
is now available. Read a sample of
A Touch of Revenge
on the next page.

The bullet left the sniper’s rifle at 3,000 feet per second. Unfortunately, Nick Bracco didn’t hear the shot until it was too late. He was sitting on his back porch staring at a pregnancy test his wife had just handed him. It was positive. After eight long years their dream of raising a child was about to come true.

Those plans were made long before the sniper’s bullet made it halfway across the small, calm lake sitting in their backyard. It was the same lake that lured them into buying the mature cabin. After years of city living they’d decided to move to northern Arizona and breathe the mountain air.

As the bullet cleared the lake, Nick was focusing on the positive line of the pregnancy test and imagining what it would be like to be a father. Until recently he’d never allowed himself the luxury of relishing the concept. As the head of the FBI’s terrorist task force he wasn’t sure he’d even survive long enough. Now, though, he beamed with pride. Nick had complied with his wife’s desires to get out of harm's way. He left the Bureau to become a small town sheriff and raise a family. The happy couple had reached the pinnacle of their dreams.

That’s when the bullet hit him in the chest.

* * *

FBI Agent Matt McColm heard the gunshot from a mile away. Before his new partner and girlfriend, Jennifer Steele, knew which direction it came from, Matt knew it was a Remington 700 sniper rifle. He also knew the target.

“Hunters?” Steele asked.

“That’s no hunter,” Matt said. They were heading down a dirt path on mountain bikes. He twisted his bike around and hustled down the narrow trail toward the source of the shot.

“How do you know?” Steele pumped her legs hard to keep up.

Matt wanted to say, “Because I’ve been dreading this day.” Instead, he pointed to an opening to the right while he veered left. “Go back to the Bracco’s cabin,” he said. “And call for an ambulance.”

Her tires spewed dirt as she sped away.

Matt pulled up on the handlebars and forced his torso down into a rhythm with the stride of his long legs. As he passed the lake to his right, Julie Bracco’s wail carried over the water like a wounded animal. There were no trees to buffer the helplessness of her howl. Matt knew Steele was qualified to handle the situation at the cabin. Nick Bracco was probably dead and the thought made him pump even harder. His job now was pure revenge.