Found Wanting Page 26

  As if the slap had broken loose an avalanche of violent rage, Addison surged forward, her fingers like claws hooking into the front of Alaina's shirt. Before Alaina could do anything more than recoil, Mitch lunged between them. Hauling Addison off, he backed her against the wall and held her there by the arms. "Don't you ever touch her like that again," he said in a low, menacing voice. "She's too civil to make you regret it, but I'm not."

  Alaina watched in shock, her hand pressed to her burning cheek. He was terrifying, she thought. Absolutely terrifying.

  Addison gaped up at him, her face a livid red. She tried to break his restraint to no avail. "Who the hell are you?"

  He held her calmly, almost gently. "Someone you really don't want to mess with," he said. "Do we have an understanding?"

  Again, she yanked against his grasp. "Let me go."

  "Not until we have an understanding."

  "Fine."

  He released her, then turned to Alaina, and the fury burning in his coffee-colored eyes died away. Calmly, as if he hadn't just threatened her sister, he stroked his knuckles down her arm. "You okay?"

  She nodded, her stomach flipping as it sank in that what Addison had said hadn't fazed him in the least. He had defended her without hesitation. And, oh, how he had defended her. If Addison had been a man, Alaina was certain her sister would be flat on her back with her eyes rolled back in her head. Alaina took a moment to savor this new and unfamiliar sensation.

  Until Addison, her back still against the wall, began to sneer. "You can hide behind your hero all you want, but you can't ignore me, Alaina. There's a blood test."

  Alaina shifted her gaze over Mitch's shoulder to her sister. This was also something new. "What are you talking about?"

  Addison gave her a nasty smile, pushing away from the wall but bringing herself up short when Mitch angled his body as if to intercept her if she made a threatening move toward her sister. Skirting Mitch, Addison said, "Layton took Jonah for a blood test. They're not a match. Plus, Layton told me he had a vasectomy before we were married."

  Alaina put a hand on Mitch's arm. "Maybe you should wait with Chuck."

  He didn't budge. "Are you sure?"

  She nodded. He kissed her before he left the room, a casual gesture that might have been automatic for him but caught Alaina by surprise. Showing affection was so easy for him, so natural. Just knowing he cared, that he believed in her, made her feel stronger than she ever had.

  But then he was gone, and she was alone with her sister, who didn't bother to hide her contempt.

  "What's the matter?" Addison asked. "Don't want him to find out what a liar you are?"

  Alaina leveled a cool stare at her. "Actually, I wanted to spare him the sight of you making an ass of yourself again."

  Addison quivered, and her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "Do you have any idea what my life has been like? Always wondering, always worrying about what really happened that night?"

  A years-old rage began to writhe to life in the pit of Alaina's stomach, but she drew the reins of control taut before the fury could leap away from her. "I told you what happened, Addison. You didn't have to wonder."

  "Didn't you hear what I just said? Jonah isn't his kid."

  "Have you seen Jonah?"

  Addison blinked, her brows knitting in bafflement. "Of course."

  "He has his father's eyes," Alaina said. "Their blood may be incompatible in some way, but it's not because they're not father and son."

  "But the vasectomy --"

  "Obviously, he had it after he attacked me, if he had one at all and isn't just adding to his already impressive pile of lies." She paused. "You keep trying to make it fit. You keep making excuses for him, for yourself. He's not who you thought he was, Addison. He never has been."

  Addison glared at her, emotions warring on her face. "You'll say anything to --" She broke off, seemed to hunt for words.

  "To what?" Alaina asked. "Try to turn you against him? I thought hearing him tell someone to kill me had already done that."

  Addison stiffened, as if the words were painful blows against her chest. Then, shoulders sagging as if the weight of the world -- or the weight of comprehension -- had just crashed down on her, she lowered herself to the green sofa. "My entire life has been a lie," she said.

  The pathos in her voice did nothing to soothe the anger simmering inside Alaina. Her sister had indeed lived a lie. A lie that she had helped perpetuate at Alaina's expense. Alaina kept silent, certain that if she responded, she would lose the slippery grip she had on control.

  Addison dragged a wine-colored decorative pillow onto her lap and clutched it to her chest. Her chin began to wobble, and she buried her face in the pillow. A muffled sob escaped. "He's leaving me," she said. "I'm going to be alone. That should make you happy."

  There was only one thing that would make Alaina happy, only one thing she wanted from her sister. "I want my son back."

  Addison raised her head, and her eyes were red and streaming. "You don't even care."

  "You made a choice fifteen years ago, Addison. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, but it's not my problem."

  "How can you be so cold?"

  The reins on Alaina's fury snapped tight and held. "Where is Jonah now? Is he at your house?"

  Addison's gray eyes narrowed. "Why don't you say it?"

  "Say what?"

  "What you're thinking, what you're feeling. You hate me."

  Control slipped another dangerous notch. "Yes, my entire life has revolved around how I feel about you. Now tell me where my son is."

  Tears began to flow again. "There's nothing I can do to change any of it," Addison said. "Don't you think I would if I could?"

  Alaina concentrated on taking a deep, calming breath. "What do you want me to say, Addison? What is it you want so desperately to hear?"

  "I know I screwed up, Ali. I know what I did cost you. But you did okay, didn't you? You've had a good life."

  "Is that what would appease you? Hearing how hunky-dory my life has been?" Rage boiled over, and Alaina struggled to turn down the heat. But it was too late. She'd held it in for too long. "I suppose it has been pretty hunky-dory, when you really look at it. I mean, being eighteen and the mother of a newborn and working my ass off as a waitress was pretty similar to what I had planned for my life." She held up one hand, as if weighing something in her palm. "Waitress." Then held up the other. "Concert violinist in the Boston Pops. Hell, they're practically one and the same."

  The color washed out of Addison's cheeks.

  "And letting people I didn't know watch Jonah wasn't so bad," Alaina went on. "Even losing my fourth job because the day care center wouldn't take him when he was sick and there was no one I could leave him with ... that was okay. I had plenty of money, after all. Enough to feed him, buy him medicine. Oh, wait, there was rent. And utility bills. And food. We had to have food. Well, Jonah did anyway. I didn't need that much. Once, I went three days without eating. Have you ever done that?" She plunged ahead without waiting for a response. "I don't recommend it. I ended up passing out on the street."

  When Addison's mouth went slack with horror, Alaina whirled away, pacing behind a chair, her body trembling, her lungs constricting so tight she couldn't breathe. "And that wasn't even the best of it." She gripped the back of the chair, her fingers curling into the soft cushion. "The best of it was when one of your husband's thugs tracked me down. Things were going pretty well by then. This kind, generous woman had taken Jonah and me in. She showed me what it was like to be loved unconditionally. She got me thinking that things would finally be okay, that the worst of it was over. And then your husband's hired hand cornered me in her kitchen, and right after I slid a knife between his ribs, she --" Her voice choked off, and she clamped a hand over her mouth before a broken sob could escape.

  Letting go had been a mistake. She fought for control, but her breath was coming too hard, too fast. She hadn't meant to let it go so far, hadn't meant to
say so much. And now grief joined the anger, grief she had never dared allow herself to feel. It was as crushing, as blinding, as she'd feared it would be. Her knees felt weak, and she held onto the chair, suddenly terrified her legs wouldn't continue to support her.

  "What did she do?" Addison asked quietly.

  Alaina forced herself to say it, forced herself to acknowledge out loud what had haunted her since Emma had fallen to the floor and expelled her last breath. "She saw what I did to that man, and it gave her a heart attack." She swallowed hard against the unbearable tightness in her throat. "I killed her."

  "My God."

  Addison's stricken words jolted Alaina, and she looked at her sister, saw that her gray eyes were sober and that sorrow had etched lines into her forehead. Alaina's vision blurred with tears, and she focused on the one thing that had always gotten her through. "Where is Jonah?"

  Addison closed her eyes, swallowed. When she opened them again, tears swam in them. "He's at the house with Layton."

  Releasing the chair, Alaina slid into it as the shakes took hold. She willed them away, struggled to form a plan. "What's the nearest mall accessible by Metro?"

  "Pentagon City. Why?"

  "Would Layton let you take Jonah to buy new clothes?"

  "Maybe. I don't know."

  "I want you to bring him to me at the Metro stop at Pentagon City." Stronger now, determined, Alaina grabbed Addison's wrist and glanced at her watch. It was just after one p.m. Assuming Washington's rush hour was as crazy as Chicago's, she figured the crowds of commuters on the Metro would make it difficult for Layton to make a move if he found them.

  "Bring him at six."

  Chapter 32

  "She's losing it," Chuck said.

  Mitch was only half-listening, his attention focused on the voices on the other side of the adjoining room door. He'd heard Alaina's outburst, and his chest still burned from the hammer-like impact of what she'd said. Everything that she had been through. How had she endured it? But he knew. She was strong, determined. A survivor. It was one of the many reasons he had fallen in love with her so swiftly.

  But now the women had begun speaking in lowered voices, and no matter how hard he strained, he couldn't make out one word.

  "Did you hear what I said?" Chuck asked. "We're losing our chief witness."

  Mitch faced him, annoyed. "Your chief witness isn't my concern."

  "She should be. It's because of her that the Bureau is protecting Alaina."

  "The Bureau isn't protecting Alaina. I am. Which raises the question of why you dragged us out of hiding. You said it was urgent."

  Chuck rubbed at the middle of his forehead as if he had a headache. "Keller has made arrangements to take Jonah to Belize with him. And he's moved up the date. Their plane tickets are for the day after tomorrow."

  "Damn." Mitch glanced back at the adjoining door, imagining what it would do to Alaina if Keller succeeded. Would it be the final blow? He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat, looked at Chuck. "You could have told me this over the phone."

  "Addison demanded to see Alaina. She's coming unglued, Mitch, and she's all we've got. If we lose her, we've got nothing, and I mean nothing, on Keller."

  "How can that be?"

  Chuck looked like he hadn't slept in days. Even the usually perfect creases in his dark suit had wilted. "He knew about the bugs."

  "Knew?"

  "The listening devices -- every one of them -- have been disabled in the past twenty-four hours."

  "Then Addison could be at risk."

  "Her role as a witness has been classified information."

  "Don't you think Keller's wondering how the bugs got planted?" Mitch asked.

  "Our guys seem to think that if he knew it was her, he would have done something about it by now."

  "What do you think?"

  "I think the investigation's been tainted from the beginning."

  "By whoever Keller's got in the Bureau."

  Chuck nodded. "We're thinking now that it might be someone in A.D. Potter's office, if not Potter himself. I've got agents checking out him and all his people, but it's a moot point now." Turning away, he massaged the back of his neck. "Something has to break in the next two days or the window of opportunity slams shut."

  "What kind of break are you looking for?"

  "Dammit, Mitch --"

  "Just tell me, Chuck, and then you can kill me. Maybe I can help."

  Shoulders sagging, Chuck leaned back against the desk and sighed. He didn't speak for a moment, and Mitch knew from his own experience that he was weighing the fallout of telling a civilian federal secrets. Then, as if he decided that Mitch could be trusted, he cleared his throat. "The Justice Department got a tip about six months ago that a high-tech security firm had successfully hacked PCware's most popular accounting software -- it's used by probably ten percent of businesses across the nation, and the number is growing every day. The firm notified PCware about the glitch, and PCware put out a press release and a patch.

  "Couple months later, the high-tech security firm took another whack at the same software, and bingo, they get in through a glitch that appears to have been created by the patch. Except the security firm staffers notice that the bug looks deliberate. No software engineer in his right mind would have written the code that way. At least, not anyone wanting secure software. The firm tipped off Justice, Justice got the Bureau involved, and we launched an investigation."

  "What are you looking for?"

  "We've been looking for evidence that someone has been exploiting the glitch."

  "To do what?"

  "The opportunities with this type of security flaw are immense. Essentially, there's a technological back door into any company that uses the software. Anything on the company's network would be accessible to anybody who knows how to get in."

  "And Keller's using the glitch to do what?"

  "We don't know. Maybe nothing yet. But two months ago, Keller met with a known D.C. mob boss."

  "I'd imagine payment for access to such a glitch would be hefty."

  "Oh, yeah," Chuck said. "The money-laundering capabilities alone would be worth millions. Add in the access to sensitive information, possible blackmail material, financial information. The list goes on."

  "But the scam gets exposed, PCware and Keller go down hard. Why would he risk everything when he's already got money coming out his ears?"

  "Hell if I know. He's been wanting to sell PCware and can't."

  Mitch nodded. "Because of Paul Chancellor's will."

  "He takes the payoff from the mob and skates on out of the country. By the time anyone's on to the scam, he's long gone and couldn't care less what happens to PCware."

  "But he's taking Jonah with him. Why would he do that?"

  "That's another mystery. It doesn't figure from any angle, unless he plans to off the kid in Belize, where it might not get as much attention from the cops as it would here."

  The thought of it sent jitters through Mitch's stomach. "In that scenario, he'd need Alaina dead so she can't raise a fuss about it over here and get something done."

  "Right."

  "How much evidence have you got to back all this up?" he asked.

  "We've got the security firm that uncovered the glitches and Keller's meeting with the mob guy."

  "That's it?"

  "These guys know they're being watched, Mitch. By the time we realized the Bureau had a leak, it was too late."

  Mitch turned his attention to the silence on the other side of the adjoining door. What was going on over there? "Have you tried to get his wife to plant a bug on him? He's got to talk to somebody at some point about what's going down."

  Chuck sighed. "She won't do it. She's terrified he's onto her. We haven't even been able to get her to give us access to his computer at home. And, honestly, I can't say I trust her anymore. She's obviously got a growing problem with alcohol."

  Mitch glanced at him. "Maybe I can do it."

  C
huck's eyebrows shot up. "You've still got an in with him?"

  "Last time we chatted, he seemed to write me off as a loose cannon. But I might be able to push the right buttons to get a meeting if he's desperate to take care of Alaina before he leaves the country." He drew out his cellphone. "Let me give it a shot."

  Chapter 33

  Alaina dried her hands on the fluffy, white towel and studied her face in the mirror. She looked like hell. Dark circles of stress underscored her eyes. The control she had on her emotions was shaky at best.

  She tried to focus on Jonah. If all went as planned, she would have him with her again in only a few hours. She imagined what it would be like to put her arms around him and hug him close. Safe. He would be safe. He would be hers.

  But before that happened, she would have to betray the man she had fallen in love with.

  Bracing her hands on the vanity, she closed her eyes as her stomach churned violently. Oh, how her betrayal would hurt him. And he'd already been hurt so much.

  Yet no matter how much she cared for Mitch, her duty as a mother was to seize the first chance she had to whisk her child to safety. Once she did that, there was no other choice but to run. If she told Mitch her plan, she would place him and everyone he cared about squarely in the sights of Layton's hired guns.

  She would rather betray him than get him killed.

  * * *

  Mitch stood on the other side of the bathroom door of the hotel room he and Alaina had checked into after the meeting with Chuck and Addison, debating whether he should disturb her. But she had been in there so long, and he was beginning to worry that perhaps she was ill. He rapped his knuckles against the door. "You okay?"

  A moment of silence, then she swung open the door, a smile pasted on. "I'm fine."

  He narrowed his eyes as he studied her face. She didn't look fine. She looked wan and stressed, her eyes shadowed. The showdown with Addison had taken its toll. Which was why he had yet to tell her that he had scheduled a meeting with Layton Keller that evening -- to deliver her. Except that the Alaina he showed up with would be an FBI decoy agent who would be carefully shielded from Keller while Mitch, wearing a wire, tried to get him to spill his guts.