“You think, because I had been a victim of violent crime, and because I am obsessive about my work, that I’m also as reckless as Grace Johnson.”
His face hardened, but his eyes lit in surprise. “You don’t know Grace.”
“Though we’ve never met, I know Grace. Her baby brother was killed because of gang violence. Her mother was gunned down in retaliation for testifying against her son’s killer. Her father is in prison for murder. She was the good daughter. Fighting drugs and violence. One of the good guys. You trusted her because she was one of the best. She knew everyone. She was willing to do anything to end the pain and suffering of other families facing what she survived.
“You thought she was reckless—”
“Don’t talk about her. Grace is nothing like you. Of course I read your file. You killed a man in cold blood.”
“I did.”
“You’ll do it again.” Laughlin stared at her, hatred in his eyes. At first Lucy was intimidated, but then she saw beyond the hate, and the pain deep inside.
Laughlin continued, “You’re on a vendetta. If you continue down this path, you’ll get yourself or your partner or innocent civilians killed. Can’t you see it?”
“A vendetta against who?”
He was surprised by the question.
“You said I killed a man in cold blood. You read my file; you know the man I killed raped me, put one of my brothers in a coma, and detonated a bomb in my other brother’s house. Maybe I did have a vendetta against him. But he’s dead. Whom do I have a vendetta against?”
“What would you do to people like Adam Scott? What would you do to stop them?”
“What would you do?”
“I’m asking the questions!” Laughlin was on edge. It was clear he hadn’t expected her to confront him, and the more angry and upset Laughlin became, the calmer Lucy was.
She said, “You think I want to be an FBI agent so I have some sort of authority to take down bad guys any way I can.”
“Exactly.”
She smiled sadly. “You don’t know me, Rich.” She leaned forward. “I want to be an FBI agent so I don’t take out bad guys any way I can.”
He stared at her, confused.
“To me,” she said quietly, “the badge, the gun, the responsibility that goes with being a federal agent, is my deterrent to taking the law into my own hands.
“Eight months ago I worked for Women and Children First! which was run by a former FBI agent, Fran Buckley. I loved Fran. She was my mentor. Then I learned she was using me to set up paroled sex offenders to be murdered.
“These men didn’t deserve freedom. They should have remained in prison, because they were going to reoffend. It was in their psychology, their actions, their thoughts. I knew it; Fran knew it. I wanted them back in prison. Fran wanted them dead.
“It would have been easy for me to join that cause. To be a vigilante for justice. Because sometimes, justice isn’t served. Sometimes, innocent people feel they have no choice but to fight back any way they can.”
“I think you were involved. I think you knew exactly what Buckley was doing.”
“Hmm.” Lucy wondered if he really believed what he said. “If you have any proof, you should turn it over.”
“How can anyone trust you?” he asked.
“All trust has to be earned. And that’s the crux of your problem.”
“My problem?”
“You trusted Grace. She betrayed the trust. Then she died. She died saving the lives of three other undercover agents, which should count for something. But you can’t yell at her; you can’t tell her she screwed up; you can’t ask why she didn’t trust you to back her up, why she changed the meeting place at the last minute. Maybe she had a damn good reason for doing so. Maybe if she hadn’t changed the meeting place, more people would have died. But you don’t know—the investigation into her death was inconclusive, but because you learned she had a history with the people she was trying to take down, you assumed the worst—that she screwed up because she was reckless, on a jihad against the gang who destroyed her family.”
He glared at her, his face red. “How do you know any of this?”
“I know people like Grace Johnson.” Lucy knew he wasn’t referring to her psychology, that he wanted to know how she knew about the case, but she wasn’t going to tell him. “I think Grace died to save many people who will