He told her he would be in contact with the local officials and that he would be flying out within twenty-four hours with a team of agents.

  Pine got her wounds cleaned up and treated. They drained the fluid from around her knee; her broken finger was put in a splint and her fractured ankle was placed in a soft cast and walking boot.

  Later, Pine, using a pair of crutches, visited Spector in her room, where she was recovering after the surgeries on her calf, face, and oblique.

  “Good as new?” Pine said, taking a seat next to the bed.

  Spector sat up, wincing a bit. “You bet. No complaints.”

  “Little dicey back there,” noted Pine.

  “Your sister really saved us. It was her idea to use the walkie-talkie and the fuse to make the truck into a bomb. Buckley had told me they used dynamite to knock down some of the old, damaged buildings. That’s why the fuse was in there.”

  “Good thing she was there, or we’d be dead.”

  “I sure as hell wouldn’t want to face her in a cage match.”

  Pine rubbed her jaw. “I feel like I got hit by a tank round. And she was holding back.”

  Spector slumped down and stared at the ceiling. “I suppose the FBI is on the way?”

  “There was no way to avoid it, you know that.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “They’ll be here in about twenty-four hours. The lead agent I know. He’s a good guy. Plays fair.”

  “Right. Okay.” Spector smoothed down her sheet and looked away.

  Pine studied her for a few moments. “Really, how is the calf? I need the truth. It’s important.”

  Spector looked over at her curiously. “Not bad. Didn’t hit the bone. Surgeon said it was a clean in-and-out.” She glanced at Pine’s crutches and boot. “Unlike you, I can probably actually walk on it now. Be going full bore in a week. But why is that important?”

  “Okay, but the big question is: Can you drive?”

  Spector sat up and looked at Pine, her features full of confusion. “I’m sure I could. But why do you need to know that?”

  “There’s a rental car place in town, saw it on the way in.”

  “Okay, but—” Spector froze as understanding crept over her. “Wait a minute, are you going where I think you are?”

  “For some reason I forgot to mention your involvement to Special Agent McAllister. As far as he knows all the bad guys are dead.”

  “Just to be clear, what exactly are you saying?”

  “There’s an airport two hours from here. I looked it up on my phone. You can catch a flight and be pretty much anywhere in no time. Even another country if you’re so inclined.” She stopped and stared at Spector.

  Spector obviously had not been expecting any of this. “Why?” she asked. “This breaks every Bureau protocol, and you know it.”

  “You saved our lives back there. I have no beef with you. And I’ve worked on my own at the Bureau for long enough that sometimes I set up my own rules. And most of the time they’re better than the FBI’s.”

  “I…I don’t know what to say.”

  “Well, on my part, I’d like to thank you personally, only I still don’t know your name.”

  Spector glanced down. “Britt Spector.”

  “Okay, Britt, thank you for saving all of our butts.”

  Spector said nervously, “Now you can easily find out my history at the FBI. It’s not exactly…ideal.”

  “Sure I could, but I won’t bother.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I met you in person, under the craziest circumstances ever. So I know all I need to know about you. I don’t need to read a bunch of files.”

  Spector looked concerned. “There’ll be questions. The forensics—”

  “The crime scene is a mess. I know that, you know that. There’s nobody left to prosecute. They’ll only be going through the motions. End of story. The locals and the Bureau have no incentive to push it.”

  “But you’re an agent. You’re taking a risk. I don’t want to leave you hanging out there.”

  “I think it’s a risk worth taking. And I’m really good at landing on my feet when it comes to the Bureau.”

  The two women stared at each other for a significant moment.

  Spector slowly put out her hand, which Pine shook.

  “I’m not sure I deserve this, but thank you.”

  “The only thing I would say is you need to use better judgment in picking the people you work for. You’re way too skilled to help the bad guys anymore. We need you a lot more than they do.”

  Spector slumped back and smiled weakly at the ceiling. “I’ve already taken that into account. And you’re right.”

  “But really, why?”

  Spector looked at her. “Why what?”

  “It wasn’t just Carol’s little speech to you. I spoke to her about that. She’s good, but maybe not that good. So, really, why did you help us?”

  Spector rubbed at her eyes, eliminating a sudden stray tear or two. “I didn’t have the greatest…childhood. And I never had a sister growing up.” She looked at Pine, her eyes glistening. In a cracking voice she added, “But I really could have used one. It…it would have made things a little more…bearable.”

  “I can definitely understand that. I feel the exact same way.”

  “I know what happened to you and your sister. In the end, I…I just thought you two deserved a lot more time together than Peter Buckley was willing to give you.”

  Pine rose and put the crutches under her arms. “Well, Britt, I think I just found myself an honorary sister.”

  Spector held her gaze. “Maybe I did too, Atlee.”

  Chapter 78

  JUST LIKE SPECTOR, PINE HADN’T WAITED around for the FBI to show up in the little town in Idaho. She didn’t want to deal with McAllister face-to-face right now. She wanted some distance. So, before McAllister and his team were wheels down, she had caught a flight back to the East Coast with her sister and Blum. She had emailed McAllister to let him know of her plans. When he had emailed back to tell her to stay right where she was, she had conveniently already boarded the plane and turned her phone off.

  Now, more than two thousand miles away and four days removed from the deadly encounter, Pine had called Drew McAllister to find out what had happened with his investigation in Idaho.

  Their phone conversation had been a delicate dance for Pine.

  “I told you I wanted to talk to you when we got here. Why the hell did you fly out? And I’ve been calling you the last four days.”

  “My assistant, Carol, needed some special medical attention,” said Pine. “And I needed to get back to the East Coast for personal reasons. And I haven’t been checking my phone. It’s a new one because mine got lost in the shuffle. And I’m having a hard time getting it to work right.”

  “Right, and they don’t have sufficient medical services located in Idaho?”

  “I made an executive decision on that. But I’m happy to answer whatever questions you have now. And if you had talked to me before you went to the crime scene, our conversation wouldn’t be nearly as helpful to you. By giving you the time to see everything we can be a lot more productive.”

  “I was warned by several people at the Bureau that you could spin things with the best of them.”

  “Just trying to be helpful.”

  “It looks like a war zone out here,” McAllister said, his tone turning serious.

  “Well, from my point of view, it was. I’ve been through some crazy stuff in my career, but that one ranks right up there.”

  “I’ve discharged my weapon twice in twenty-four years’ service with the Bureau. It looks like you beat my number in about four seconds.”

  “It was out of necessity.”

  “I could see that. I also saw the cage in the old barn. What was that for?”

  “They kept us in there.”

  “But there was a jail.”

  “They kept us in there, too,” replied Pine.

  “You and your sister and Carol Blum?”

  “Not Carol, she wasn’t in the cage, just in the jail cell.”

  “We ran tests. We found some of her blood in the barn outside the cage. And we found traces of your blood in the cage.”

  “Well, they didn’t treat us nice.”

  “Why did they bring Carol into the barn?”

  Pine decided to simply tell the truth. She explained that Buckley had forced her to fight her sister in the cage and used Blum as the carrot.

  “Jesus, what a maniac,” said McAllister.

  “Spot-on with that one.”

  “But how exactly did you get away?” asked McAllister.

  “We managed to break out and get some weapons. We stole a vehicle, rammed the gates, and the chase was on. They shot out our gas tank. So we had to hole up in that box canyon. That’s where the battle really took place.”

  “We found the remains of a drone and a slew of freaking NATO rifle rounds.”

  “There was a bunch of weapons in the SUV, along with the drone. We used everything we could to stay alive. And we needed it all.”

  “And the SUV? It was destroyed.”

  “Yeah, my sister had the great idea of using the gas vapors in the tank as a bomb to take out a bunch of Buckley’s guys.”

  McAllister said dryly, “Well, it worked. I don’t remember seeing quite so many body parts in one place. I’ll be seeing those in my head for the next ten years at least.”

  “Well, the bad guys lost,” Pine added brightly.

  “Right,” said McAllister. “So you’re saying that you and your sister took out all of those heavily armed men without help? I mean, I know you’re good, but really…”

  “Well, we had Carol, too—don’t forget her. And my sister could kick the crap out of just about every FBI agent you’ve ever worked with.”

  “I’ve heard the same about you.”

  “And Buckley had an FBI agent murdered. So he got what he deserved. So I’m just a little confused as to why you’re giving me the third degree on how I managed to live through all of it.”

  “No, no, you’re absolutely right,” said McAllister, his tone quickly changing. He cleared his throat and continued, “Anyway, we’re also looking into Buckley’s business empire. Seems he had the clean side and the dirty side. And they only became intertwined when he needed to launder the dirty money through the clean storefronts. But it’s going to take the best financial forensics guys at the Bureau to untangle all the stuff.”

  “No surprise. Buckley was a smart guy.”

  “And now a dead guy. Did you do the honors?”

  “I did. Good thing I’m on leave, otherwise I’d be stuck at my desk while the Bureau does a down-and-dirty investigation on me discharging my weapon, which I did quite a few times that day.” Pine paused and said, “Now, are we done with that piece? Because I have a question I want to ask.”

  “Gee, let me guess what that might be.”

  “How is your investigation going into Tim Pine?”

  “Are you cleared to hear all this?” he said. She could almost see his smile through the phone ether.

  “I think I am, but you can just give me the nonclassified parts if it will make you feel better.”

  “We had an unusual development on that end.”

  “What?” said Pine curiously.

  “Members of another federal agency came to see us.”

  “Which one?”

  “That’s the classified part.”

  “Okay.”

  “They filled us in on the whole history of your mother and Tim Pine. Bruno and Ito Vincenzo. The works. Stuff you already told me, but that they confirmed. It was quite a brave thing your mom did, and at age eighteen no less.”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “Anyway, they made it clear that Ito went there to kill Tim Pine. And Pine nailed him instead. We were made to understand that the ensuing cover-up was sanctioned at the highest levels of American intelligence.”

  “So you won’t be pursuing Tim Pine anymore?”

  “As far as the Bureau is concerned, the matter is closed.”

  “Did you talk to Jack Lineberry?”

  “I did. Quite an impressive man.”

  “And did he have a hand in getting this sister agency to come forward?”

  “I’ll let him answer that. I assume one reason you’re on the other coast is to see him.”

  “It is. Did Lineberry tell you anything else?”

  “Like what?”

  “Just anything.”

  Like his being my and Mercy’s dad, thought Pine.

  “Nothing other than what I said.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  “I hope after this all plays out, you’re coming back to the Bureau. You’re a good agent, Pine. We don’t want to lose you.”

  “Don’t lose any sleep over that. I’m an FBI agent down to my bones.”

  “And stay out of trouble. At least for the next few days anyway.”

  “I never go looking for trouble.”

  “I know. It just finds you.”

  Yes, it does, thought Pine.

  Chapter 79

  THEY PULLED UP IN FRONT OF THE GATES of Lineberry’s estate. It was weeks after their return from Idaho. Pine was out of the walking boot and cast, and her assorted other injuries were much better. Blum had healed fully.

  Pine was driving the rental, Mercy was in the passenger seat, and Blum sat in the rear.

  “Holy shit,” said Mercy. “The guy lives here?”

  “You should see his place in Atlanta and the pied-à-terre in New York,” said Blum.

  “A peed what?” said Mercy, looking back at her.

  “It’s an apartment, a very nice one,” explained Pine.

  Pine checked in with the security intercom and the gates swung open. When Mercy saw the extent of the massive building and property, she shook her head and looked at her sister.

  “Does he live here by himself?” she asked.

  “He has a staff.”

  “Yeah, I guess he would have to. I mean, just to make sure he doesn’t get lost going from the bedroom to the kitchen.”

  “He’s also our father,” Pine reminded her.

  “Not to me. I don’t even remember the guy who I thought was our father.”

  They pulled up in front and got out. The door was opened by the maid, and they were led to Lineberry’s office.

  “He’s doing much better than when you were here last,” said the maid, an efficient-looking woman in her thirties. She glanced at Mercy. “I understand that you’re Agent Pine’s twin sister. Mr. Lineberry will be very pleased to meet you.”

  “Well, it might not cut both ways,” said Mercy.

  When the woman looked startled, Pine put a hand on her sister’s shoulder and said to the maid, “I know the way, thanks.”

  Pine knocked on the door and Lineberry’s voice told them to come in.

  When they entered Lineberry rose from behind his desk. He looked like a totally different person, Pine observed. He was dressed in beige linen slacks, a white collared shirt, and a navy sport jacket with a pocket square. His color was healthy, his white hair was neatly trimmed, and though he was still too thin, he looked nearly recovered from his injury.

  And his depression, thought Pine.

  He smiled, his eyes riveted on Mercy. He came toward them with his arms outstretched.

  “My God, Mercy, I can’t tell you how pleased I am to see you.”

  When he moved to embrace her, Mercy stepped back and stuck out her hand for him to shake.

  He looked surprised at first, but then glanced at Pine and a look of understanding broke over his features. He shook her hand. “I’m obviously getting way ahead of myself. You don’t even know me. I’m so sorry. Please, sit down.”

  He joined them around a coffee table and looked each of them over before settling his gaze on Pine. “I understand that you have been informed the FBI has closed the matter involving Tim.”

  “Am I wrong to sense your hand in all that?” asked Pine.

  “I had a personal stake in it, too. They were investigating me as well, you know. But I will admit to placing a few phone calls to old comrades, as well as to people on Capitol Hill to whom I have donated liberally over the years. It was beyond clear that Ito Vincenzo came there to kill Tim and Tim merely defended himself. Now, I understand from Agent McAllister that you all had some adventure out in the western U.S., but he didn’t elaborate.”

  “It’s classified,” said Pine. “But we all survived to make it here.”

  Lineberry’s jaw slackened at this comment, but he snapped it shut and looked at Mercy. “I’m assuming that your sister has filled you in on things?”

  Mercy looked him over, glanced around the finely appointed room, the purchased domain of the very rich, and then glanced back at him, unimpressed. “That you slept with our mom and had us? Yeah, got that. So I hear you want to leave us all your stuff. Can I take some of mine now? I got bills to pay and have to get back on my feet. It’ll probably be less than what you spend on haircuts.”

  Blum stiffened, but Pine didn’t. She had wondered what her sister’s reaction to this meeting would be. And what had happened did not surprise her.

  To his credit, Lineberry didn’t react to this, either. No patronizing smile, no look of anger or disappointment, nothing to show that he felt disrespected in any way by her blunt comments.

  But he did glance at Pine and said firmly, “Atlee, would you and Carol mind giving Mercy and me a few minutes alone?”

  “You okay with that, Mercy?” said Pine.

  She shrugged. “Whatever.”

  Pine and Blum rose to leave. Pine anxiously glanced back before closing the door and saw father and daughter staring at each other across a span of about six feet. It might as well have been six million. She closed the door after her.

  Chapter 80

  SO CAN I GET THE MONEY NOW, or do I have to wait for you to die?” said Mercy.

  Lineberry said, “Oh, I’m sure something can be arranged. As you can clearly see, I have a great deal of wealth. You certainly should have your share of it.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I had to quit all my jobs to go back into my past and get stuff figured out. And I got tossed out of my place, so I’m homeless right now. All I need is a little stash to get back on my feet, find some work, and I’m good to go. And you can leave all the rest to Lee. I don’t need it.”