Big Easy Temptation (36 page)

Morgan had utterly ruined his family over jealousy? “I remember you through most of
my adolescence. You came to the house for dinner. You were my father’s friend. How
could you do this to him? To us? You called the Navy and sent in the fake video.”

His head shook vigorously. “I did not. Like I said, to me the scheme was merely blackmail.
I wanted my cut. I was hidden in your father’s shadow for decades. Most of my life
had been about making his easier. How do you think I felt when I should have been
in a place of power and all your father offered me was the position of a glorified
secretary? He owed me.”

Dax thought seriously about throttling the man, but he was so pathetic Dax simply
sat beside Holland and stared. She took his hand in hers, grounding him. “I don’t
understand how you thought blackmailing my father would teach him a lesson.”

Morgan coughed, a rattling sound in his chest. “I knew the minute Hayes won the election
that Hal would crow to everyone about the fact that he knew the president.”

“Zack is one of my best friends. A
loyal
friend,” Dax shot back.

“Your dad talked about all you boys over the years. It’s one reason Constance Hayes’s
death concerned him.”

Now they were getting somewhere. “He took a trip a few weeks before he died. He said
he was going to a conference.”

Morgan’s head shook. “Yes, but he went to the UK because he thought the president’s
mother had been murdered. After Joy Hayes was killed, he said Constance had told him
years ago that anyone who knew would die.”

“Knew what?” Holland asked.

“I don’t know. I guess that’s why I’m still alive.” He rocked back in his lounger.
“Originally, I assumed he was flying to London to meet one of his sluts and he didn’t
want me to know because he thought I would tell Judith.”

“Would you?” Lara asked.

“No. She already knew,” Morgan replied. “She was too much of a lady to divorce Hal.
We’re not like young people today. We have morals. But I finally saw my opportunity
to ensure he never became one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—his dream job. He was so
close and he knew it. I wish I could have seen the look on his face when he realized
he would never be appointed.”

Holland squeezed Dax’s hand as though she knew he was close to losing control.

Morgan never noticed. He just smiled, his lips curling in a nasty snarl. “God, he
wanted that position. He told me I could come with him to D.C. After holding me back
all these years, he acted as if he was doing me a favor. You don’t know what it’s
like to always be in someone’s shadow, to never get to step into the light.”

Dax thanked god for the friends he had. They would never bow to petty jealousy or
betray him the way this piece of shit had betrayed his father. “Who approached you
about blackmailing my father?”

“I guess there’s no point in concealing the truth now, is there? I can tell you because
I’m already dead. You know the funny thing? I hated Hal and I loved him. I still miss
him. It was never supposed to end this way. I just wanted to win at least once.” Morgan
coughed again.

“Who contacted you?” Dax asked, his words clipped.

“A man. I didn’t really understand who he was until later, and then it was far too
late to back out. The man who initially contacted me was American, but I found out
later he worked for a Russian. Weird name. Kuilly-something.”

Connor went still. “Kuilikov?”

Morgan pointed while fighting off another coughing fit. “That’s it. That’s him. He
was a big, scary fellow.”

This was the closest they’d gotten. “Sergei? Was that his first name? How old was
he?”

“No, his name was Boris. He was an old guy. Probably a couple years older than me.”

Lara leaned over. “Boris Kuilikov is a name we’ve heard before. We don’t know exactly
who he is. Natalia’s brother maybe. We’ve suspected he had something to do with the
Russian mob, but we don’t know how he’s connected to the people who killed Natalia.”

“I didn’t understand right away that Boris was with the Russian mob. I thought he
wanted to make some money, like I did. They called me for help setting up the blackmail
scheme and I agreed. But I didn’t send that tape to the Navy, Dax.” Morgan leaned
forward. “I know I’m a bitter old fuck, but I wouldn’t have done that. I didn’t want
Hal publicly humiliated or dead. He was my friend.”

The man sitting in front of him didn’t know a thing about friendship. “So you agreed
to do what?”

“I agreed to work with the girl they had hired. I snatched your father’s uniform,
set myself up as him, and allowed the cameras at a motel to film what appeared to
be your father walking in with the teen prostitute. Once they’d successfully blackmailed
him, I was just supposed to get a cut of the money. But I knew your father. He would
have paid the money the first time, then turned down the Joint Chiefs position so
he couldn’t be blackmailed again. That’s it. I celebrated that he wouldn’t have been
able to achieve his damn dream and he would finally know how it felt to be like the
rest of us.”

Again, Holland squeezed Dax’s hand as though she knew he needed it, reminding him
that now wasn’t the time or place to lose it. He would deal with Morgan later, after
they had the truth.

“When did you realize they meant to kill him?” Dax demanded.

Morgan fell quiet for a moment. “They called the night before the
story broke. They told me I had sent a letter to the secretary of the Navy, exposing
my boss as a pedophile. They told me if I denied that I’d written the letter, they
would kill my mother. I believed them. That was my first inkling of just how ruthless
they were and their true intentions.”

“That man in the prison parking lot told me they had no intention of killing the admiral,”
Holland said. “He told me Morgan here screwed it up. Why would that man have lied?
Why did they want me to break up with you so badly?”

“To refocus Dax and derail the investigation. They wanted to avoid killing a second
member of the admiral’s family,” Connor explained. “One could be ruled a suicide.
Dax’s death would have been more difficult to explain away. He was close to the president.
His death would have incurred even more media attention than his father’s. They wanted
to stay in the shadows. I would have done the same thing in their shoes.”

So they believed Morgan’s version. After all, a dying man had nothing to lose and
no reason to lie. “Why would Boris Kuilikov kill Natalia, one of his own relatives?
It’s not like the guy found out forty years later that she’d been screwing the ambassador.
He must have known.”

“That’s conjecture,” Lara reminded.

“But it makes sense. Hell, he probably set her up to have a fling with Frank Hayes.
Maybe she was a spy,” Holland mused.

“The Russians seem to avoid killing anyone they don’t have to, so why wait decades
to kill Natalia?” Lara asked, her voice tight. “Connor? Did I hear a car coming up
the road?”

Connor looked out the window. “I can’t tell. If someone’s driving out there, they’ve
killed the lights, because it’s too dark to see anything.”

A minute later, a banging on the door resounded through the room. Everyone stopped,
turning toward the intrusion. No one made a sound.

Connor put up his left hand, pulling his gun out with his right. “Don’t move. Kirk,
get my six.”

Dax stared at his friend. “Are you serious?”

Connor shrugged. “She’s logged way more time on the gun range than you and she wasn’t
recently shot.”

Holland stood, moving in behind Connor. She winked Dax’s way. “I got this, babe.”

Okay, the “babe” part made him feel a tiny bit less emasculated. “I’m going to remember
this the next time I’m called on to play limo driver or to be the dipshit who has
to invade Freddy’s home.”

Lara patted his knee. “It’ll all work out.”

He wished he were as optimistic as Lara.

Connor opened the door and immediately shoved his SIG in the newcomer’s face. Gemma
White was ready, with a stony expression and her gun pointed right at
Connor.

H
olland felt her eyes widen as her partner stood in the doorway, gripping her SIG Sauer
and aiming it at Connor Sparks.

“Stand down, Special Agent,” Connor growled.

Her warrior-queen partner didn’t look like she wanted to comply. Her arms never wavered
as she stared at him. “You stand down, whoever you are. Holland, I need to talk to
you.”

“When you put the fucking gun down, maybe we can chat,” Connor spat back.

“Maybe after we chat, I’ll put the fucking gun down,” Gemma replied.

Holland knew Gemma could argue all day. “What are you doing here?”

Her partner’s intent stare never wavered from Connor. “I’ve been following you and
I’m not the only one. You have incoming. NOLA PD is about to surround the place. I
think you can use an extra gun.”

“Why would you follow me?” Holland moved behind Connor.

“I took this assignment because Augustine Spencer asked me to. I’m Secret Service,
but she wanted someone to watch over you. She told
me if we were ever in this position to tell you something that would prove who I work
for.”

“What’s that?”

“She said to tell you that she doesn’t give up on her friends. Even when her friends
are being call-dodging assholes.”

Connor lowered his gun. “Yeah, that’s Gus.”

“You were the one who shouted out the warning before the shooting started at my apartment.”
It must have been Gemma.

She strode through the door and slammed it shut. “Yes. Since Captain Awesome came
back, I stepped up my surveillance, and you’re lucky I did. Nice job on the balcony
there, Romeo.”

Dax stood up. “My sister sent you?”

“Your sister is smarter than the rest of you. She figured out something was wrong
the minute blondie here decided to turn twelve kinds of bitch.” Gemma moved, looking
out the blinds. “We need to get out of here.”

“So you moved your whole family here because Gus asked you to?” Her brain was still
reeling.

“My husband and kids are actually my brother, my niece, and two nephews. They’re good
cover. Their mom walked out and I stepped up to help. Now let’s go. The NOLA PD is
coming. I think they’ve had this place staked out for weeks.”

Holland frowned. “Why would they come here? We’re out of their jurisdiction.”

And why did her uncle care enough to have Morgan’s cabin watched?

A few items that hadn’t made sense previously slid into place.

Her uncle had called and told her the bullet casing matched another crime. He’d known
within hours when that kind of thing could take days. He’d also known the assassin
was Russian. Again, something that could take much longer to confirm. But he hadn’t
known a name? Bullshit.

“Why were you trying to pull up the police reports on Natalia Kuilikov’s death?” she
asked Connor.

His face went stony. “I wanted to see if they’d found bullet casings at the nursing
home. As far as I remember, there were none.”

Connor Sparks wouldn’t make a mistake like that.

“Holland? Are you all right? You’ve gone white.” Dax was suddenly in her space, his
hands supporting her waist.

“You think my uncle had something to do with this.” Though she felt Dax’s hold, she
couldn’t lean into him.

Connor’s jaw tightened. “How else would he know? Who convinced you to betray Dax?
Was it really the man representing the Russian mob?”

After seeing that man in the prison parking lot, she’d driven straight to her uncle’s
and he’d had the file ready and waiting for her. He’d had those damning photos sitting
right there. Why would he have kept them in his office, right at his fingertips?

She forced herself to think, to shove aside the emotion and look at the evidence.
But all she could surmise was that her uncle had been involved with the initial investigation.

She looked over at Peter Morgan, who had struggled to his feet. “After the call girl
tipped off the police— Wait. That wasn’t planned?”

Morgan shook his head. “No. Suddenly the NOLA PD was involved and simple blackmail
was no longer an option. I started panicking then but played along, identifying Hal
in the video. I wasn’t sure what else to do when the cops showed up at my door and
started asking questions.”

“Who interviewed you when you talked to the civilian police?”

She believed him now. Everything was making sense. After all, he’d be out money if
his blackmail scheme got exposed to authorities and then the press.

Morgan’s eyes had widened. “A big man showed up. Kirk. Are you related?” He took a
step back. “You’re here to kill us all, aren’t you?”

She held up a hand. “I’m not.” Then she turned to the man she’d once loved. “Dax,
I’m so sorry.”

His jaw had tightened. “Your uncle? He killed my father?”

“I don’t know, but I think he was somehow involved. And he’s on
his way.” She reached for her phone and turned the recorder off, handing it to Lara.
“You have to get this out of here. Connor, take your wife and Dax and run. I’ll handle
my uncle.”

Lara clutched the phone. “I don’t know which way to go. Point me in the right direction
and I’ll get this back to the city, but I think Connor should stay and back you up.”

“No one is going anywhere,” Connor said. “Let’s find a place to hide you and Morgan.”

“How long do we have, Special Agent?” Dax asked, his hand on his gun.

Holland tried not to think about the fact that he could barely look at her.

Gemma shook her head. “Not long. The good news is he’s only bringing two squad cars,
but every one of those men will be his. You’ve got another two minutes or less.”

Connor nodded. “Do they know I’m here?”

“If he had someone staking out this place, the most they could have reported were
that two men and two women entered the premises, but it may have been too dark for
that. The windows on your SUV are tinted right? Maybe they couldn’t see anything.”

Holland nodded. So they’d have to take their chances that the NOLA PD didn’t know
who was here and what they were up against.

“Once they arrive, I can guess where they’ll take cover,” Gemma continued. “If that
helps.”

It was the only chance they had.

“Lara should hide,” Holland said. “Connor, can you find a sniper position somewhere?”

They all looked at Morgan.

“Head out the back door,” he said. “You’ll have to follow the path around the swamp.
It will take a few minutes, but you’ll be right behind them. They’ll never see you
coming. If you simply walk out the front, they’ll make you for sure.”

“On it.” Connor gripped the knob of the back door. “Keep the cops
out of the house. I won’t be able to see them in here. Use the dark. My night vision
is excellent. And whatever you do, don’t let them know anyone is here but you and
Dax. You’re not suspicious of him at all.”

Dax nodded. “We got here and Morgan was gone.”

“Right. Take care of Lara.” Connor gave his friend one last look and disappeared.

“She should hide in the closet,” Morgan said, nodding toward the only room with a
door. “It’s back there. I’ll show you the way. I don’t have any weapons. I always
knew if they found me, I would die. I really don’t care anymore except it will hurt
my mother. She’s all I have left. I lost Judith when Hal died. So many friends gone.
That was the horrible part. I found out everything was meaningless without him.”

Morgan might lose his mind before his life.

Holland heard a car pulling up, saw red and blue lights stream in through the thin
curtains.

Her uncle. It hurt more than she could process now, but she couldn’t explain away
the evidence. She should have seen it so much sooner and she could have saved Dax
heartache.

“They’ll see my car. I couldn’t hide it. I didn’t have time once I realized they were
on their way. I’m assisting you in this investigation and trying to cover NCIS’s ass,”
Gemma said. “Your uncle will understand that.”

When a hard knock sounded on the door, Holland realized her time had run out.

“New Orleans PD. Open up.” Her uncle’s voice resonated through the portal.

She certainly wasn’t going to hide. She would talk to him, get him to go away, and
begin to build her case against him.

Holland opened the door before Dax could stop her. “Uncle Beau? I’m surprised to see
you out here. Are you looking for Peter Morgan?”

Her uncle stood there, his big body illuminated in the porch light. Behind him she
could see he’d brought along Chad and three other cops, all familiar.

This was her uncle’s pack, the ones who would know where the bodies were buried because
he’d ordered these men to do the burying. They were mutually complicit, and it made
her sick.

“I was looking for you, Holland,” her uncle replied. “And Dax Spencer. He’s wanted
for questioning down at the station.”

Was that how he intended to play this, all aboveboard so he could separate the two
of them and later inform her of Dax’s untimely but shocking accidental death or some
such nonsense? Her heart sped up because this tactic made everything more dangerous—and
difficult.

Keep the cops out of the house
. That was what Connor had said. Was he close to making his way around the swamp so
he could circle around and position himself behind the cops?

That was when she remembered the camera. Peter Morgan didn’t keep a gun around, but
he had a camera on the front door that her uncle had either not seen or thought he
could handle.

“Questioning about what?” Holland stood her ground, not giving her uncle an inch.

Beau’s eyes narrowed. “I have enough evidence to prove he hired the assassin who tried
to kill you. I’ve seen his bank transactions. Very damning. You know I told you that
boy was trouble. He’s going to use your death to shine a light on his father’s death
and get NCIS to reopen the case. That family is ruthless.”

“He doesn’t have to do that. I’ve already reopened it.” She glanced over to the left,
where Dax had his back to the wall, just out of her uncle’s line of sight.

Connor might have joked about Dax and the gun range, but he handled his sidepiece
like a pro. He might not do this kind of thing every day, but he would be competent.
He wouldn’t waver. Gemma moved behind her.

“Lieutenant,” Gemma said with a nod. “What seems to be the problem? My partner and
I are working a case. We came out here to speak to a witness.”

Her uncle’s head tilted as though he was trying to see inside. “You’re here to talk
to Morgan?”

He must be desperate, because he’d forgotten he wasn’t supposed to know where Morgan
lived. It was time to get him talking.

“He’s not here.” Holland frowned, pretending confusion. “How long have you been working
for the
Bratva
?”

Beside her, Dax closed his eyes. When he opened them she saw how furious he was.

Holland had to keep him talking, had to keep that camera rolling. If she let her uncle
take Dax in, he would very likely be thrown into a cell where some paid asshole waited
to take him out. And her uncle would get to keep his hands completely clean.

She couldn’t let that happen. That meant getting her uncle to talk so when Connor
found a position and made his move, he didn’t get charged with murdering a police
officer.

Because there was no way this wouldn’t get bloody.

“What are you talking about?” Her uncle crossed his arms over his chest and towered
over her. “Holland, everything I’ve done is to protect you. That boy has been dragging
you down for years. Now he’s using you to prove something when he should just have
accepted his father’s crimes. You can’t trust these rich boys. They’ll do whatever
they need to when it comes to protecting their money.”

He didn’t know Dax at all. He wasn’t a typical rich boy. Yes, he’d been wild, but
he’d always been a faithful friend, loyal and kind. He wasn’t shedding light on his
father’s death for money or glory or so he could move up the ranks. All that mattered
to him was the truth and honoring a father he loved, despite his faults.

Dax was the kind of man who loved with his whole heart.

“How did you know this is Peter Morgan’s place? The deed isn’t registered in his name,”
she pointed out. She kept her eyes on the men behind her uncle. One of them was edging
toward the porch.

Chad. Naturally Chad was her uncle’s man. It made her wonder if
Beau had ordered Chad to date and sleep with her so he could keep an eye on her, to
make sure she didn’t uncover anything she shouldn’t.

“Holland, it’s time to stop thinking with your libido,” Chad said. He’d removed his
jacket, showing her the big pistol in his holster. “It’s time for you to pick family
rather than some guy who screwed you over as he fucked you.”

“No,” she disagreed. “It’s time for me to figure out exactly how involved my family
was in taking down Admiral Spencer.”

Gemma moved beside her. “I think we might need to interview your uncle. I’d like to
know where he was the day of Admiral Spencer’s death.”