Sanctuary 02 - The Only Easy Day (CMS) (MM) (3 page)

Cautiously Dale began to pick his way through the people and slowly but surely ended up at Robert's side.

"Coffee?" he said firmly. Robert spun on his heel, and Dale winced inwardly at the fright in Robert's eyes.

Robert's behavior wasn't exactly that of someone confident in what he was doing.

"Are you—"

"This way," Dale interrupted quickly, and with a guiding hand, he encouraged Robert to the nearest Starbucks. Ordering coffee with Robert at his side, nearly bristling with tension, was an exercise in keeping his mouth shut. What he wanted to say was the more Robert danced from foot to foot the more suspicious he appeared. It was only when his gaze met Robert's and he saw real fear in the younger man's deep brown eyes that a small spark of compassion built inside him. Robert Bullen might well be the newest generation to be groomed for their role in the Bullen family, but that didn't mean he didn't deserve to at least be heard. 

"Did you make contact?" Nik's voice startled him.

For a moment he had forgotten the team of two that had his back.

"I have him," he said in reply. "Starbucks."

"Who are you talking to?" Robert seemed skittish, as well he should be.

"Control. Keeping an eye on you and anyone who may have followed you."

"Who? No one followed me. I made sure." Robert's voice held utter conviction.

"Are you really that naive?" Dale snapped back just as quick. He didn't mean to sound sharp, but what the hell did the kid think he was getting involved with? "Your dad is head of the Bullen family and your uncle is a New York senator. Both of those put you at risk of surveillance." Fear flooded Robert's expression in an instant, and Dale felt a twinge of remorse. His people skills sucked.

"I've got to go—" Robert made to stand, but Dale gripped his hand tight and stopped him.

"Sit the fuck down," he instructed through gritted teeth.

"If they find out—"

"Who, Robert? Who's got you scared? Your uncle or your father?" 

"Dad. If he finds out I'm talking to you—"

"What? He'll stop your allowance?" Jeez, what made him say that? The kid didn't deserve the sarcasm.

"Fuck you," Robert snapped with fury in his voice.

"He's my biological dad, but that doesn't mean I'm oblivious to what he does or who he is."

"Look I'm sorry—"

"I don't take a freaking thing from him."

"Okay. But you do live with him," Dale commented evenly. Not for the first time, Dale identified vulnerability in Robert's eyes, and his hardened heart cracked a little. He might be coming across all hard, tough kid, but Dale knew more about Robert than the young man could ever imagine.

He knew Robert's mother was dead, killed in a car accident when Robert was four. For all intents and purposes, Gregory Bullen had lost his wife and his child in that crash.

How Robert had survived and what had happened next was something Sanctuary was working on investigating. It might become an important part of this whole case. Robert had only reconnected with his father when he turned twenty-one and came into possession of information that the people he called mom and dad were, in fact, not his biological parents. Dale knew the young man had lived with his dad, Gregory Bullen, at the family mansion in the Catskills for the last six months. Hell, he even knew what Robert had studied at college. He just didn't know what it was that Robert wanted to share or why he had made contact with Sanctuary.

"I have my reasons why I stay." Robert shook his head as if the thoughts inside made no sense to him. "But they're my reasons."

"So what the hell am I waiting to be told?" Robert looked momentarily surprised at the heat in Dale's tone, but he covered it up by dipping his gaze.

"Didn't the DA tell you? I contacted a… umm…"

He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "Lissa MacIntyre. She gave me this number."

"Fuck, kid." Dale snatched the paper from Robert's hands. "You don't go around with the law's details in your pocket." His sister's details.

"I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you approach the FBI directly?"

Robert's expression hardened, and suddenly, he looked a lot older than twenty-one.

"They didn't help me when I approached them. I had information for them about the accident, about my mom. It might only have been suspicions and a brief letter she left me, but they dismissed it out of hand." 

Dale doubted they had dismissed the boy entirely.

The FBI weren't stupid and probably had the kid under as much surveillance as the Bullens did. Any link to the Bullens would be something the feds used. He knew for a fact the Feds were hell bent on finding a way to bring the Bullen family down and to find out where the leak in their office came from. It was only the attempt on Morgan Drake's life as a witness to a murder that convinced the FBI they had internal issues. The same Morgan Drake that now sat in the surveillance van listening to all of this with his lover Nikolai Valentinov.

Robert stopped talking as if what he had said explained why going to an ADA was better than the FBI organized crime unit. For a second Dale considered pushing for more information, but he knew time was running out. Sanctuary Ops had linked Nik into surveillance, and Robert had definitely been followed. Dale hoped that melting into the crowd and into the back of a Starbucks would give them enough time to talk.

"I don't know if any of this will help," Robert said. I shouldn't be doing this. It compromises everything, and I still have things I am trying to do."

"Look, kid—" 

"Please just listen. There was this girl, woman. She worked for my uncle, and she was my friend. She used to come to the house, and we would talk. Her name was Elisabeth, and she was nice. She was my—" Robert paused, and his lips twisted in a parody of a smile, "—my girlfriend I guess." Dale pushed down the instant rush of adrenaline that flooded him at Elisabeth's name. Instead he focused on the fact Robert wasn't using words Dale associated with passion or anywhere near. There was affection in Robert's voice, but nothing more. So maybe the gangster's son and Elisabeth were an item, but there was something else there.

"Girlfriend?"
That's a surprise.

"She kept my secrets from my uncle and my dad—
shit." He pulled himself up on those words and lifted his gaze to meet Dale's. "All that matters is I contacted the ADA who dealt with the case, and she wanted me to come in to see her. I couldn't… I can't; it's too soon. But, she gave me a number, and I spoke to this guy and th-that's it really."

Nik had taken the call, and it was Nik who was listening in on what Robert was saying, which if they faced it, wasn't much.

"Cut to the chase, Dale. There's activity out here."

Nik's voice held more than a tone of concern, and Dale sat taller in his chair. He needed to be moving this along.

"So why did you contact the DA's office, Robert? Do you actually have any concrete proof concerning Elisabeth's death?" Dale summarized with an inserted note of impatience. Flustered, Robert looked back down at the table.

"Look…" He changed the subject. "If I can help—"

"Help how?"

"She was murdered, right?" Robert lifted his gaze, and there was passion in his eyes. "Elisabeth was murdered, and I think… I know… that my dad, my uncle, had something to do with it." Dale sat back in his chair. This was possibly
, definitely
, better that anything he and Nik had contemplated the kid would tell them. He hid his reaction as well as he could.

Let's get back to gathering intel.
"What proof do you have?"

"Give me three days and I can get you proof."

"What proof?" Dale asked again. Robert looked around, and there was that frightened rabbit look again.

"My
dad
—" Robert almost spat the word out, "—is in business meetings in the city from the day after tomorrow. I'll get it then. Financials. An audit trail. Video. I know where it all is. I can get you enough to destroy them all. But I need something from you."

"What?" Dale sighed inwardly. He imagined he already knew the answer. The kid probably wanted money.

"When I hand over the evidence, on the brothers and on Elisabeth, then I hand over myself as well, and the DA keeps me safe until trial."

Not money then? Just protection? "You're that convinced your evidence would take Greg Bullen to trial?"

"It will bring the whole house of cards down."

Robert sounded so confident, adamant that what he could give the DA would be enough to bring his father and the whole Bullen family to justice.

"I'll put it to the ADA," he replied to Robert. Or Sanctuary, he thought privately. He also needed to check into this FBI situation. What had Robert meant by the FBI not helping him with his mother? Greg's ex-wife had died a long time ago; maybe the FBI couldn't see the value in the intel. Just maybe though, there
had
been something else to add to the network of lies that spun a web around the Bullens.

"Dale," Nik warned in his ear. "Closing in on the entrance. I'm out and following. You need to lose the kid."

"I need to go. You need to go," Dale said brusquely.

"What?" Robert was blinking at him in surprise at the quick words.

"Whoever is following you has caught up. Walk away from here, and if anyone asks…" Dale searched for something to say. "Okay, tell them I am a PI looking into tracking down an old college friend." His cover story as a PI was firmly in place should people search on Dale.

Robert blanched, and the fear returned to his eyes.

"What college friend?" he asked panicked. Dale ignored the question as Nik counted down in his ear.

Whoever had followed Robert was right outside Starbucks.

He stood and passed a card with Nik's and his secure cell numbers and a simple "call us". He melted into the crowds and without a single glance behind him he was gone.

* * * *

Climbing into Morgan's SUV, he slumped into the back seat.

"Dale? Did it go okay? Where's Nik?" Morgan looked worried and glanced past Dale, clearly searching for Nik.

"He'll be here." As if to emphasize the words, Nik climbed into the car and turned in the seat.

"You think Robert's bullshitting us about the evidence?" Nik asked without pleasantries. He looked thoughtful. Dale went with his instincts when he answered.

"I don't think so. I get the feeling he knows stuff he shouldn't."

"He's willing to turn on his father?" Morgan only said what Dale was thinking. Dale shrugged.

"He says he can get us evidence."

"This could be some kind of trap." Nik grasped Morgan's hand. He was still hyper vigilant where his lover was concerned. The price on Morgan's life might not exist anymore, but there was no way Nik was losing Morgan.

"I don't think so," Dale offered on a murmur. "He looked scared, angry, but still utterly determined. But, however determined, I'm not exactly filled with confidence that he won't give himself away beforehand."

"He's been in that house for six months. Somehow he's made it this far." Morgan sounded defensive, and Nik leaned over to steal a kiss.

"Not everyone is as brave as you, Morgan," he said as he pulled back. "What did I miss?" This was very pointedly aimed at Dale who was being asked to summarize the situation in as few words as possible. God, that was hard. The investigator in him wanted to believe Robert was strong and could indeed give them enough information to find out what had happened to Elisabeth.

Being Morgan's friend he wanted that as well.

Morgan had this intense need to find out why the girl he'd seen killed had been shot in the alley, and Dale liked Nik's boyfriend. But the Sanctuary operative he had become saw a young man in Robert who was determined but vulnerable, with a whole side helping of scared. Nik and Morgan didn't need to hear that just yet. Instinct guided him in what to say.

"He says he can get evidence to prove Greg Bullen arranged to have Elisabeth killed. I believe him."

Morgan nodded at the reassurance, but all Nik did was quirk an eyebrow. Dale refused to acknowledge the question on his friend's face. They should have faith that Robert could pull this off.

Faith was all they had. 

Joseph's hotel room, small and clean, had a view over a football field, and if there had been a side window, he might have been able to see the alleyway where his stepsister had been murdered. SEALs didn't fuck about in theater; they moved to the center of the action to better control the outcomes. This was no different. When he had researched, he was determined to visit the alley and get a feel for the ghosts that lived there.

He had his laptop. The guy in the showroom where he'd bought it had set up what was needed to connect to the Internet, and back at the hotel with the fast Wi-Fi, the new laptop connected without too much effort. Simply typing in Elisabeth's name produced pages of hits, and one by one, he followed the links. Headlines jumped out at him, and with every article he read, he felt sicker.

Young women killed in alleyway murder named
Aide to Senator Thomas Bullen murdered

Drug link for alley murder?

Prostitution claim for alleyway victim

Senator Bullen attends victim's funeral

Cop charged in alleyway killing

Gareth Headley sentenced to ten years 

It went on and on, and in disbelief, Joseph read every single word of what was written until finally he was on information overload and had to stop. What started out as the story of a victim had turned into accusations implying Elisabeth somehow deserved to die and she was using drugs or she had passed on sensitive information from Senator Thomas Bullen's office.

No.

None of this was true. Not a single word of it. Two years younger than he was, she was a political science major who had brains and the wherewithal to use them. She was a beautiful woman, and she had been safe at college when he was away. He didn't know much about this new position or this Bullen guy, or what the hell had happened, but he knew one thing about what was written in the reports.