No Good Deed (26 page)
For the first time since her escape, for the first time in a long time, Nicole thought everything was going to work out just fine.
Joseph kissed her. “I won’t be long, but remember what I said if our perimeter is breached. Keep your eye on the security cameras; any change, power outage, glitch, strange sounds—head to Rock Springs. Understood?”
She nodded. “But come back soon. I don’t want to live without you.”
The night before Nicole left for the DEA training facility at Quantico, they had a family dinner.
Uncle Jimmy stood at the head of the table at his house in Topanga Canyon. Nicole had moved from the family house as soon as she began college five years ago in order to build her cover. And she’d succeeded, in spades.
Uncle Jimmy raised a glass. It was Scotch, his preferred drink, and this time he’d opened one of his special bottles, Glenlivet 21 Year Old Archive. Everyone had a glass, even those who didn’t like Scotch. And while this was a family dinner, there were other people at the table. Friends, who were like family. A crime family, Nicole thought with both derision and excitement.
Because today she was the shining star. Today she’d proved that intelligence and hard work paid off.
Joseph squeezed her knee under the table. Nicole would never have been able to do this without him. In fact, she’d probably be dead.
“Nicole, you have made me proud,” Jimmy said. “Your daddy and I came up with this plan years ago, but he thought your brother would be the leader. I knew, though, as soon as you walked through my door that it was you, not Chris. It was you who had the brains to see this through. Today begins a new era for the Hunt family. For years we’ve been relegated to working for others; today, we begin working for ourselves. In less than five years, the others will fall or work for us. What Nicole accomplished is going to make all the difference.”
Uncle Jimmy raised his glass. “To Nicole.”
“Nicole!” a chorus shouted from around the table. Some more enthusiastic than others.
Across from her, next to Uncle Jimmy at the head of the table, Nicole’s mother slowly got to her feet. Her big stomach nearly knocked over her wineglass. Nicole kept her face blank, but she hated her mother and the baby she carried in her womb. She snuck a glance to the other end of the table, where Aunt Maggie sat smiling. Probably high as a kite. How she was willing to share her husband with her sister … and then not bat an eye when Tami got pregnant? She was a forty-five-year-old flake. Uncle Jimmy was a sex addict nearing fifty. And they thought they could be parents? The kid was going to grow up a douchebag. If it grew up at all—with Jimmy’s life, the kid would probably end up dead. Especially if Aunt Maggie didn’t keep her happy pills locked up.
But that smile on Aunt Maggie’s face wasn’t all bliss. Uncle Jimmy was the face of the operation, but everyone knew—even Jimmy himself—who was the brains. Nicole supposed she’d pop a few pills if she had to share her husband with another woman.
Nicole was never getting married.
Joseph took her hand. They’d talked about this, of course. She shared everything with her lover. It had been seven years. Seven years where she’d finally had someone who was hers, all hers.
She never wanted it to end. But she didn’t need a marriage certificate to prove that Joseph was hers.
“I’m so proud of you, honey,” her mother said. “Your daddy would be proud of you. He died because of those people…” Then the tears. A flake and a wimp. Who was that baby? Her half sibling, half cousin? Just warped. Fucking warped.
Jimmy took Tami’s hand. “We all know why we’re here today. We all know what we need to do. For too long the Mexicans and the Koreans and the skinheads and the blacks have controlled the market. It’s time for us, a real family, to be in charge. They won’t know what hit them. Patience has served us well.”
After dinner, Jimmy called Nicole into his office. Joseph of course came with her—she wasn’t 100 percent sure she trusted Jimmy, and on the eve of her trip east to Quantico and the DEA training program, she couldn’t fuck this up.
“You may have noticed Tobias wasn’t at dinner tonight.”
Her chest fell. “Uncle Jimmy, you have to do something about him. He’s going to screw everything up!”
“I’m taking him to Mexico for a while. For his own good. I know I’ve failed in a small way … I should have found a solution for his sexual proclivities.”
“You should have killed him,” Joseph said.
Jimmy growled. Actually
growled
at Joseph. “Remember your place, boy.”
Joseph wasn’t scared of Jimmy. That worried Nicole. But Joseph wasn’t stupid. He knew how to stroke her uncle’s ego. “Your plan to infiltrate the DEA is fucking brilliant, but Tobias has put everyone at risk.”
“He is my son,” Jimmy said. “My flesh and blood. Which is far more than you.”
Nicole would die if Jimmy hurt Joseph. “Uncle Jimmy, Joseph just doesn’t want me or anyone else to be found out. We’ve painstakingly planned this, I got into the DEA! This is a long game, remember? Remember what you always taught me? That those who can see the future will win the game? Each move is a key part of the strategy, and I can’t keep cleaning up Toby’s messes.”
At first she thought Uncle Jimmy was going to slap her, but he surprised her. “You’re right, Nicole. You can’t be responsible for Toby anymore. He is my son, and I will fix this. I’m taking him to my house in Mexico. Teach him control. With you in the DEA, and Joseph here to run the operation, I can take the time I couldn’t before.” He looked at Joseph. “I can trust you.” It was a statement, but his eyes questioned.
“You know where my loyalties lie.”
Jimmy looked at Nicole. “Yes, I do.”
“Is there a mess to clean up?”
Jimmy nodded.
“Then I will do it. I will not risk Nicole.”
“You are a good man, Joseph,” Jimmy said. “And I know, while Nicole is gone, that you’ll be an example to Tobias.”
Tobias would never be Joseph. He didn’t have it in him. But it was clear, from Jimmy’s unspoken words, that Joseph was now Tobias’s keeper.
“You can’t let my mom raise the kid,” Nicole said, almost surprising herself.
“I won’t be gone long. I’m looking forward to having a little girl around.”
“It’s a girl?”
“Yes.”
“Keep Tobias away from her.”
“He doesn’t like little girls, Nicole. He’s not a fucking pedophile.”
Maybe not, but he was still a sick bastard.
“Actually,” Jimmy said, “I think the baby will be good for Tobias. I can leverage her to keep him in line. He’s very excited about being a big brother.”
Big brother with a twenty-six-year age difference. Sick.
Jimmy handed Joseph an address. “Fortunately, he’s gotten smarter. He picked up a prostitute this time, took her out of town.”
Joseph pocketed the paper. He turned to Nicole and said, “I’ll be back before you leave.” He kissed her and walked out, without giving Jimmy a second look.
“You trust him,” Jimmy said.
“With my life,” Nicole replied.
Thirty minutes later, Nicole was cleaning up in the kitchen, worried about Joseph, anxious about reporting to Quantico tomorrow. The entire application process felt surreal. She thought for sure that someone would uncover her connection to Jimmy Hunt. But he was her aunt’s husband, and she simply left her aunt off the paperwork. Small details were changed, and they had someone in the DEA to smooth things over.
So far, it had worked.
Aunt Maggie followed Nicole into the kitchen. “We’re so proud of you Nicole,” she said, her voice mocking.
Nicole turned to face her, keeping her expression blank. She was more scared of Maggie than Jimmy. She couldn’t wait until she had the power. Then
they
would fear her.
“Remember, Nicole—family first. It’s your job to protect Tobias. To protect all of us—including your new sister.”
“Half sister,” she said without thinking. She straightened her spine. She was twenty-three years old. She was about to train in the DEA. She was about to gain all the power in the family; why was she scared of this petite middle-aged woman who might weight a hundred pounds wet?
“Aunt Mags, how could you be okay with this?”
“Our plans?”
“No—with Uncle Jimmy and my mom. The baby. It’s—” She bit her tongue.
“You can say it.”
“It’s sick.”
Maggie walked over to the cabinet and took out a bottle of tequila. “I’ve always hated Scotch,” she said. She poured a shot glass for both her and Nicole. Nicole wasn’t a big drinker, but you simply did not refuse a drink from Maggie.
Maggie held up the glass, waited for Nicole to do the same. Then she said, “Family.”
“Family,” Nicole said and they both drained the tequila.
“Men are pliable,” Aunt Mags said and put down her glass. “Make them think they have the power, make them believe it, and you can do anything you want. I like Joseph; he’s a good man and he’s now family. But you are the brains of your generation, just as I am the brains of mine. Together, Nicole, we’ll control the entire operation. If I didn’t allow Jimmy to have his fun and games, I wouldn’t have the freedom to do what needs to be done.”
Nicole didn’t understand what she was saying. Her expression must have conveyed that to Maggie, because her aunt continued. “It was my idea for Jimmy to take Tobias to Mexico. That gives me control over Tami and the kid. That kid is mine, not hers. I will raise her, I will train her, and she’ll take after you. You’ll have twenty-five years, you’ll set up our organization and take it to the top. That girl will continue the legacy. We need to. It’s our responsibility. Once you establish the network—I don’t know how long it’ll take, but this isn’t a quick score. We’re in this for the long haul. Once you have the network in place, you and Joseph will have your paradise, whatever it happens to be. By the time you’re my age, you can retire and oversee the operation. Build the family. Build our empire. And watch it blossom.”
“I know what to do.” Yet Nicole couldn’t imagine her aunt retiring. She liked control. It had been a while since Nicole had seen Maggie popping pills, and the woman was sharper—smarter—now. Not only were things changing, but people were changing.
“I thought for a minute that you weren’t ready.”
It was a veiled threat. The tone more than the words.
Nicole said, “I’ve been preparing for this since my dad was killed by those bastards. I am not going to fail.”
“I have ten minutes, sir,” Chris Rollins said over the Skype connection they’d established with him through Nate’s contact at Fort Hood. Rollins was in Afghanistan and it was the middle of the night there, but he’d just gotten off duty. “Our connection isn’t stable.”
“Thank you for agreeing to speak with us,” Hans said. Lucy and Hans were sitting in a small communications room. Zach had joined them to establish and monitor the secure Skype connection. They had good equipment on this end, but overseas it was sketchy. “I’m Assistant Director Hans Vigo with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is Special Agent Lucy Kincaid. Are you aware that your sister, former DEA Agent Nicole Rollins, escaped from a prison transport yesterday?”
“That’s what my commanding officer told me, sir. She hasn’t contacted me, and she won’t.”
“Did you speak with ASAC Samantha Archer three months ago, shortly after the arrest of your sister?”
“Yes, sir,” Rollins replied.
“And you told her you hadn’t spoken to your sister in years.”
“Correct. I haven’t spoken to or seen Nicole since I enlisted in the army through the ROTC. I was eighteen, she was sixteen. We were not close growing up, and we do not speak now.”
Lucy glanced at her notes. “According to Nicole’s files, she asked for a transfer to Houston DEA three years ago in order to be closer to family. Specifically, you and her ailing mother.”
“Agent Kincaid, my mother lives in Los Angeles. We moved to LA after my father left the service. He became an LAPD officer and was killed in the line of duty the year before I enlisted. My mother stayed because that’s where her family is. Where she was born and raised.”
The way he said
family
had Lucy’s instincts twitching.
“And your mother didn’t move to Austin when you were stationed at Fort Hood three years ago?”
“No,” he said, incredulous. “I rarely speak to my mom. We don’t get along.”
“Is your mother dead or alive?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“Two years ago, Nicole took three weeks off to take care of her mother’s estate and funeral. It was the only vacation she had taken since transferring to San Antonio.”
“Agent Kincaid, I haven’t seen or spoken to my mother in four or five years. If she died, no one told me.”
Chris Rollins had no reason to lie, but Lucy couldn’t reconcile all these falsehoods in Nicole’s personnel file. “Chris, was Nicole a habitual liar while you were growing up?”
“Liar? Yeah, you could say that.”
There was a lot of hostility in his voice.
“It seems we have a lot of misinformation in our file,” Lucy said. “It would greatly help us if you could clear up a few things, particularly how your father’s death impacted you and Nicole.”
Christ stared at them, a slight delay in the video feed freezing his disgusted expression. “Your file is a mess. I can’t believe anyone let her into the DEA in the first place. I assumed all federal law enforcement agencies did extensive background checks. No one talked to me about Nicole, because I would have told them she was fucked up. Excuse me, ma’am, but it’s the truth.”