talked to Dillon and while I know you and your brother believe that Paxton won’t harm you, don’t go in thinking you’re bulletproof. He’s working with Jimmy Hunt, which tells me he’s a changed man. The Jonathan Paxton I knew would have killed Hunt before he worked with him.”
“Or,” Lucy said, “used him before he killed him.”
* * *
After ending the call with Rick, Lucy spent the rest of the drive convincing the lead agent, SSA Steven Pierce, to let her go in alone.
The only reason he finally—reluctantly—agreed was because he didn’t want bodies to drop. No one in the FBI wanted another Waco or Ruby Ridge. They wanted a peaceful resolution without an armed standoff, especially when they didn’t know how many hostiles or hostages were on site.
And thank God they considered Sean a hostage, not a hostile. That was because of Rick, Lucy was positive, because Sean’s name hadn’t been cleared by Houston PD.
“He’s going to know we’re out here,” Pierce said.
“Yes. I’m going to tell him, but he’ll know as soon as he sees me. I’m going to explain to him that the only way this ends is with him surrendering.”
“You think that will work?”
“It’s the only way it’ll work. If we storm in, we put Sean in jeopardy.”
“You need to be wired and wear a vest.”
“Agreed.”
“If I think it’s going south, we’re coming in hot.”
“I understand.” She hoped it didn’t come to that. “I’m going to try to get Jonathan to tell me where Sean is—you might be able to rescue him while I keep Jonathan occupied.”
“We’re working on disabling the cameras, but if they have someone monitoring the feeds they’re going to notice a change, even if we loop it. When we get them down, we’ll move into a closer position.”
Lucy took a deep breath. This was it. She couldn’t screw up.
* * *
Jonathan Paxton watched as Elise ate a full brunch as if she’d missed a week of meals.
He didn’t want to kill her. When she showed up early this morning, Colton wanted to turn her away, but Jonathan didn’t trust her. She hated Lucy; he wanted to know why.
Sadly, if she was a threat to Lucy, she would have to die. But he couldn’t help but see her as a young girl, raised by brutes, abused, unschooled in proper behavior.
He wasn’t ignorant of her crimes. He’d read her files—all of them. He’d read Lucy’s testimony against her. But he wondered if Lucy herself was a tad biased against Elise because of who her family was. That, perhaps, Elise was a victim who only did what she had to do to survive.
Lucy, of all people, should understand that.
“Wow, Senator, that was delicious,” she said.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He sipped his coffee. He’d eaten long ago.
“So, my dad.”
“He left for Mexico last night.”
“Really? When? Because when Travis called me he said he was supposed to bring them.”
“Late.” He’d found out about Travis’s call to Elise after the fact. The men loyal to Hunt were no longer a problem. “If I recall, your father instructed you to meet him there.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t do everything he says. And I don’t like his girlfriend.”
“You had an unusual childhood.”
“You’re telling me. My aunt Margaret was crazy. She liked me, though I don’t know why, considering her sister screwed my dad and got me out of it. But she was like, you’re the daughter I never had, blah blah. And my mom was just … a wacko. I don’t think there was a day she wasn’t high.”
“You’ve done some bad things.”
She shrugged. “You do what you need to do, right?” She picked at crumbs on her plate and looked at him. “I should probably go now. If my dad isn’t here, I’ll catch up with him across the border.”
“You can stay for a while if you like.”
She snorted. “Not. I mean, you’re nice and all, and this place is fucking amazing, but I should probably disappear for a while.”
“Did you do something for which you need to disappear?”
“Sort of. Sometimes I really hate it when my dad’s right.”
“Dads usually know what’s best.”
“Not always. But this time, I should have listened to him. I wonder if I’ll ever figure out when his advice is bad or on target.”
Jimmy Hunt wouldn’t be giving anyone any advice again.
“Your father’s plans for the Rogans. Did something happen?”
“Well, I know they got Kane. He killed my brother. I miss Toby. I kind of screwed up with Agent Donnelly. He killed my sister. I