His Captivating Confidante (Secret Sentinels) (17 page)

“It wasn’t much of a stretch. When Frank started probing around in my business a couple of years ago, naturally I looked into him. I discovered he worked for the CIA. I was aware he’d moved on from there to Sentinels, so it wasn’t hard to connect the dots and deduce you were working with them as well.

“Because of my association with Henderson, Frank’s investigation was bound to lead to me eventually. Frank didn’t find any improper dealings when he came poking around my organization because there are none. I’ve been running a legitimate business while leading Henderson to believe I’m laundering his money.”

“But you have been building a seedy reputation.”

“Yes. Deception quite often goes along with the territory working undercover. You understand, I know, that we have to paint the picture people expect to see.”

“Frank thinks you can lead him to the man who’s responsible for his partner’s death. Is it Henderson?”

“No. Henderson is just the middleman.”

“It sounds like you know who the ringleader is,” she ventured.

“I do.”

“Who is it?” she demanded.

“It’s the same man you’ve been searching for—the man your boss assigned you to try and track down through me—Lawrence Mendacci. And believe me, if I could point you to him, I would in a heartbeat. We want him, too. Mendacci has been on the radar of every major law enforcement agency in the country for years for his reputed connection to the Greek Mafia, but no one has been able to pin anything on him and make it stick. Mendacci is a hundred times more influential than Henderson, which makes him all the more dangerous.”

“The man’s a ghost,” Stephanie blurted in frustration.

“Yes, but I have a hunch Henderson might be the key to making him visible. When we bring him in, we’ll focus on extracting information from him as to Mendacci’s whereabouts.”

“You seem pretty confident you can pull this off. What makes you think you can succeed where everyone else has failed?”

“The reason Henderson has proven so difficult to ensnare is that, like Lawrence Mendacci, he trusts no one. Not even those who have proven their loyalty to him time and time again. Vanessa and I are the exception. We’ve gotten close. Close enough to have gathered enough evidence against him to put him behind bars for life.

“Even uglier than his drug ring, Henderson reigns over a human trafficking operation. Vanessa and I have sacrificed two years of our lives infiltrating his operation, and we have a plan in motion to capture him. We’re determined to put an end to his illicit dealings.

“I have a proposition for you. You help us get the poison he’s peddling off the streets, and we’ll help you with your search for Mendacci. What do you say?”

She’d had ample opportunity to study human nature as a researcher for Sentinels, and when it came to accessing character, she was confident her radar was in full working order. Damon wasn’t setting off her weasel alarm. He seemed sincere, and her instincts told her he was telling the truth. The angry leap of the pulse at his jaw when he spoke of the atrocities Henderson had committed couldn’t be faked.

She’d bet her favorite pair of Louboutins that Damon was one of the good guys.

“Deal,” she agreed.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Frank wasn’t sure what he’d find when he went in search of Stephanie, but seeing her exiting Damon’s bedroom hadn’t featured in any of the scenarios he’d imagined.

When Damon had excused himself to take a phone call shortly after Stephanie left the dinner table, he’d realized something was up and he’d gone to warn her. Frustratingly, one of Damon’s guests stopped him as he was leaving the dining room, delaying him. Once waylaid, he couldn’t get away from the man without calling attention to himself.

Stephanie turned in his direction as he was charging down the hallway toward her, locking gazes with him. He saw a dozen different emotions flash across her face. Surprise. Relief.

Regret.

“Frank!” she exclaimed.

His eyes narrowed, his stomach tightening in anger.

If Landers laid one finger on her, I’ll rip the bastard’s heart from his chest.

“What happened?” he ground out.

“It’s not what you think,” she rushed to assure him.

“Then care to explain what you were doing in Landers’s bedroom?”

“He took me there to hide me from his security team. He’s on
our
side, Frank. He’s not the enemy.”

The angry stampede of his pulse slowed as he absorbed her words.

“Landers is actually one of the good guys.” She rushed on. “Vanessa is working with him. They’re both DEA. They’ve inserted themselves into the organization of a mobster, Ivan Henderson. Henderson is an associate of Lawrence Mendacci. Damon says Mendacci is behind everything.”

“And you believe him? This could all be an elaborate story he’s spun to gain your trust.”

“Holy cow! You and your conspiracy theories.”

“I’m simply listening to the voice of reason. It’s going to take a lot more than some story Landers has concocted to convince me he is what he says he is. I’m not sure what he’s up to, but I’m putting a stop to this. Right now.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to have a chat with Landers,” he replied, anger rolling off him in waves.

Stephanie was hot on his heels as he stormed into the man’s room.

“I’m sorry, Damon,” she blurted. “I tried to explain, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“It’s okay, he should hear it from me,” he told her matter-of-factly before turning his attention to Frank.

“Ireland,” he said, nodding at Frank. “I’ll answer any questions you have because, whether you choose to believe it or not, I really am on your side here.”

“That’s what Steph said,” Frank ground out, balling his hands into fists at his sides.

“She’s a smart woman. You should listen to her. We’ll talk, but not here. There are too many eyes and ears kicking around the mansion. I can’t risk someone overhearing us and reporting back to Henderson. Steph, could you go and grab the copy of
Treasure Island
I just purchased and bring it to us? We’ll be in the stables.”

“You can go,” Frank told her when she hesitated, apparently not convinced he wouldn’t tear Damon limb from limb as soon as she turned her back. “I won’t hurt him. At least not until I’ve heard what he has to say.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

When they arrived at the stables, Frank gave Damon the floor.

“Go ahead. Talk. Tell me why I should believe your story.”

“Vanessa and I are working undercover for the DEA. We’ve gathered enough evidence against our target, Ivan Henderson, to prove he’s behind a huge chunk of the drugs streaming into New York. In the course of our investigation, we’ve also discovered Henderson is behind the disappearance of hundreds of young girls who were assumed to be runaways. Those teens haven’t been disappearing of their own volition. They’re being kidnapped and forced into sex slavery. We’re going to bring him down for that.”

Frank’s jaw clenched at the thought of the ugliness behind such a gruesome trade. “Do you have a plan for how you’re going to make that happen?”

“Henderson is just as elusive as Lawrence Mendacci. Vanessa and I are among his most trusted associates, but even we don’t know where he hangs his hat. What we do know is that he has a weakness. He has a thing for Impressionist artwork. He’s told Vanessa about his latest acquisition, a painting his mistress will be inspecting and picking up on his behalf tonight from a gallery in Manhattan. We’ve arranged for a tracking device to be placed in the painting’s frame that will lead us to him.”

“I want in on the operation,” Frank insisted, raw emotion flashing in his eyes.

Damon shook his head emphatically. “No way. You’re already way too prominent on Henderson’s radar. He knew you were coming to the island. You’re just lucky he bought my story that you’re here because I hired Stephanie to set up my library, and you’re her plus one. I’m supposed to keep tabs on you and report back to him if you start nosing around. I have orders to ‘take care of you’ if it looks like you’re a threat.”

Frank wasn’t used to taking no for an answer. “I don’t care. I’m going to play a part in taking that bastard down. He’s responsible for the death of my partner.”

“Henderson isn’t your man. Lawrence Mendacci is . . . and your partner isn’t dead, Frank.”

Waves of anger began to roll to the surface again. “That’s ludicrous. How is Mendacci involved in this? And there’s no way Pamela could possibly have survived the attack at the warehouse. She was shot at point-blank range, right in front of my eyes. Our captors torched the warehouse they were holding us in before they fled the scene. It burned to the ground, but the remains of her body were recovered after the blaze.”

“The gun they used was loaded with blanks, and the body they found wasn’t hers. Your captors left a corpse in her place to make you think she was dead.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Think about it. The body that was recovered was burned beyond recognition, making it simple to pass along someone else’s remains as hers. Pamela wasn’t who you thought she was. She was Henderson’s lover—a double agent. He planted her inside the CIA so she could inform him anytime his organization came under scrutiny.”

Haven’t you ever wondered how Henderson always manages to stay one step ahead of the authorities? And Pamela isn’t the only mole he placed inside the CIA. Your former boss, Alan, is working with him, too.”

As Frank contemplated the man’s story, the pieces began to fall into place. All of a sudden Pam’s frequent private phone calls and her behind-closed-doors meetings with their boss took on an entirely different connotation.

“That’s why Alan pressured me to back off the investigation into Pamela’s death,” Frank murmured.

“Yes. He knew you’d turn over stones he didn’t want disturbed. He learned, through Pamela, that you had gotten to what he wanted first—the hard drives. You asked how Mendacci plays into all of this. He’s Henderson’s boss. Henderson isn’t happy with the status quo, and he’s planning to overthrow Mendacci.
He
had the computers your informant pointed you to stolen from Mendacci’s operation. He planned on retrieving data from them to use in his takeover bid. Only someone beat him to it.”

“The drives were toast when I got there.”

“Yes. Someone else was onto Henderson’s plan, and that someone works for us. Our DEA agent got to the computers first and transferred the files from the stolen systems onto a jump drive before he demolished the computers. Only Henderson thinks it was you.”

“That’s what the men holding us at the warehouse were after. They thought I’d downloaded the information and then destroyed the computers.”

“Exactly.”

“If what you’re saying is true, why don’t we grab Pamela when she shows up at the gallery to pick up the painting and leverage her to nab Henderson? Why waste time with a tracking device?”

“Because while Henderson might enjoy having your ex-partner warm his bed, he’d sacrifice her in a heartbeat rather than risk getting caught. The best course of action is to let her lead us to him.”

He paused, regarding Frank thoughtfully before continuing.

“There’s something else you need to be aware of. Henderson isn’t planning his coup alone.”

“Who is he working with?”

Damon’s green eyes filled with compassion. “Your father.”

“My
father
?” Frank’s voice shook, and the expression on his face turned glacial. “I suspected he might be involved in some shady dealings, but I never thought he’d go to these lengths. So that’s why they didn’t kill me at the warehouse. My father’s connection to Henderson saved me.”

Damon nodded. “The blood flowing through your veins bought you a get-out-of-jail-free card. Your father convinced Henderson you were telling the truth, which of course you were. As far as we can tell, your father is only bankrolling the operation to benefit from the profits. He’s kept his hands out of the dirty side of the business. If he agrees to testify against Henderson, we’ll grant him some leniency.”

Even as he brainstormed alternative scenarios, Frank’s gut told him Landers was telling him the truth. One thing he’d learned early on in his career was to trust his instincts. Damn, though, if those instincts weren’t telling him his initial impression of Landers—the one he’d allowed to negatively color all his dealings with the man—was wrong. He was not the sinister criminal mastermind Frank had thought him to be.

No, that title belonged to his ex-partner. And his father.

“There’s something else on your mind,” Damon said, frowning. “Spit it out.”

“My interest in this case has always gone deeper than getting justice for Pamela. There’s another reason I refused to drop it. I believe that Stephanie’s father wasn’t the criminal he was made out to be, but a hero. I want to prove it, and clear his name.”

Damon nodded. “Your theory is right. Aaron Knight was painted as a villain, and he died dishonored as a result. That’s a huge injustice, and it’s one I fully intend to rectify.”

“How?”

“Stephanie’s father worked alongside me on my team. It’s always been my intention to set the record straight, but I can’t do it if my cover is blown. Telling the real story about Aaron’s involvement would mean I’d lose my place in Henderson’s organization before the case against him is solid enough for him to be convicted in court. You know as well as I do that Aaron wouldn’t want Henderson to walk. But you have my word that, as soon as Henderson is behind bars, I’ll make sure Stephanie’s father’s name is cleared.”

“I take it Henderson learned Aaron was a DEA agent?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Aaron was working inside the organization, just like Vanessa and I. We didn’t realize Aaron had been made as an agent until it was too late. By then, someone had already tipped Henderson off that he was DEA. Aaron thought he was going to the gas station to pick up a drug shipment, but Henderson’s men had set him up, arranging for his death to look like a robbery gone bad. Have you told Stephanie what you’re looking into in regards to her father?”

“No. I wanted to be sure what I suspected was true first.”

“Now that you know, you need to fill her in. Just caution her not to breathe a word of any of this yet, so she doesn’t inadvertently compromise the mission. She deserves the truth, and she should hear it from you.”