Robert looked at her. “Are you sure? I mean, what if they don’t come and you’re stuck out here.”

  “I’ll be fine. Just go. Mo-Morgan needs your help.”

  He’d heard the first sounds for mom on her lips, but she’d stopped and said her first name instead. Robert understood. Ericka didn’t really have parents. She’d raised herself.

  Maybe one day the hatred and resentment would vanish, and she would be able to forgive them.

  ****

  Ericka refused to reenter the sanatorium. It was creepy enough with people inside. Going in alone was not something she planned to do.

  She leaned against the porch railing. The wood had been eaten by something over time. Large hollow pieces covered the once white wood. Bugs could be seen going in and out in a long line.

  She moved a little farther away.

  Robert, Sasha, and Morgan had left. The dust kicked up from the car showed that Sasha was in a hurry to escape.

  Ericka understood. It was important that Morgan was taken to the appropriate facility as soon as possible. The length of time that she’d been programed to be someone else had gone beyond the human limit.

  Sympathy welled inside her, but she quickly tapped it down. Her mother hadn’t had to leave. She’d left to get out of an abusive relationship.

  So many other ways could have garnered the same result. All she’d done in the end was make Ericka live a miserable existence. Ericka knew her experiences in life had shaped her as a person. She was more sympathetic. She was kinder. She always put others above herself.

  Except for here lately, apparently. Here lately, she’d been taking all the time for herself. But now she had the answers she’d sought for years. Now she knew her father and her mother. She’d never thought the day would come, but now it was here.

  It was here and it wasn’t what she’d wanted at all.

  Sirens wailed; lights flashed. The trees were lit up with it all. Ericka didn’t move until they stopped before the house.

  All of them jumped out of the car with guns ready. Ericka held up her hands.

  “Hold your fire!”

  Greg.

  Greg’s voice would be the first one she heard.

  “You don’t have to fire at all. You can even lower your weapons. I’m the only one here.”

  “Not quite.” The low deep voice was in her ear and a warm arm was around her neck before she could take another step off the porch.

  Sasha had been so wrong.

  Paulo hadn’t vanished.

  He’d been there all along.

  Chapter Twenty

  Greg’s heart jumped to his throat. He’d seen the shadow behind Ericka. They probably all had. Somehow, Ericka had missed that she had a visitor.

  Paulo, better known as Edward the Diablo, as well as other monikers they hadn’t been able to read, held Ericka in a tight grip. She had her hand on his arm as if trying to relax his grip.

  Paulo waved his weapon. “You should all back up. Just back up. I’m going to be taking one of your cars and getting out of here. Do you understand?”

  Greg lowered his weapon and raised his hands. It didn’t matter though since there were about six other agents with guns trained on the Diablo, but he hoped it was enough of a distraction.

  “I see the other weapons on me, amigo.”

  “I want to take her place.”

  “What?”

  “I said that I want to take her place. Besides, she’s just a lowly detective. I’m a Sargeant. I have a higher paygrade, which means more cred when you try to escape.”

  Ericka’s eyes had widened, and she mouthed no.

  “I-I don’t want to change. Maria cares more about Ericka.”

  Greg laughed. He hoped he wasn’t overdoing it. “Do you see Maria here? If she cared about the detective, would she have left her?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t care. I want the manifest. And a car. Yeah, a car. And a ship. Do you understand? I’m going to finish taking these people back to their countries so that I can get the money.”

  Lights flashed behind Greg. Paulo moved his arm to cover his eyes. That slight movement left him exposed. That was enough.

  His eyes rounded as the bullet went through his temple.

  Greg looked around.

  Captain Regina Shaw held the smoking gun. Tito went up to her and she handed it over. Tito made sure not to touch it.

  Ericka had moved away from Paulo. Her eyes were focused on his lifeless form at her feet. Her hands covered her ears. Greg rushed to her side and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her head against his shoulder.

  “She didn’t have to do that.”

  “Maybe.”

  “His gun wasn’t loaded.”

  “What?”

  “Look.”

  Greg squatted. It was clear that the clip wasn’t in the weapon. Shaw couldn’t have known that. He was closer and he didn’t know it. But Ericka knew it. She’d not fought because she knew there was little he could do other than snap her neck.

  Greg looked back at Shaw. She was receiving congratulations from the other officers. She was a member of the Coast Guard. He couldn’t imagine there would be many opportunities to shoot a criminal. She’d taken the shot, had perfect aim, and now she wasn’t even shaky or seemingly concerned.

  “We need to go back to the office.”

  “You think something is wrong?”

  “Don’t you?”

  ****

  Ericka rode in the car with Greg. She’d agreed to sit in the back with Regina Shaw. Nick was up front with Greg, and he couldn’t stop talking about how she’d taken Paulo out.

  “That was a magnificent shot. Maybe you should consider joining the PAU.”

  “Nah, I like where I am.”

  Ericka just bet she did.

  She had no idea who this lady was or what was going on, but she knew something was rotten in Denmark.

  Greg had insisted they wait only until the ambulance arrived to pick up Paulo before they left. An investigative team would come behind them, but he’d said they could question them at the office.

  Ericka agreed. They needed to take Miss Shaw somewhere where she couldn’t disappear.

  She received a text. Sasha was letting her know that they’d made it to a place her mother could receive help. She would reach out when everything was back to normal.

  Ericka would have laughed if she’d been alone. When had her life ever been normal?

  Ericka looked out the window.

  “You seem distracted. Did you know the man?”

  “I did not.” It was almost true. She didn’t know him personally only what she’d read in his file and what Sasha, Robert, and Morgan had told her.

  “I was surprised to find you alone at the house. I thought you were there with someone.”

  Ericka didn’t reply. She didn’t want to lie, but Regina didn’t deserve an answer.

  “I see. Well, we were under the impression that someone brought you out here.”

  “They did.”

  “And left you?”

  “They did.”

  “You don’t talk much.”

  “Oh, she talks all the time! Can’t hardly get her to shut up.” Nick would add some words of wisdom.

  Ericka shot him a look of disgust. Nick needed to stop trying to flirt with every skirt.

  Greg was oddly quiet. He must be thinking. She wished that she was able to do that.

  “When we get to the office, I think we should make a visit to Director Manis’ office. He’s been looking for you.”

  Ericka got his meaning. They needed to find a quiet place and look up information on Regina Shaw.

  They entered the parking garage and parked. Greg stepped out first and waited to lock the doors until everyone was out. As one group they walked to the elevators. The others were behind them. Ericka didn’t know if that was by design or for some other reason.

  As soon as they exited onto the fourteen floor everything broke loose.

  “That’s her! She’s the captain of the White Lily.”

  Ericka drew in a swift breath. The last person she expected to see on the floor where she worked was her mother.

  “She’s the one who made me do all those horrible things!”

  “Why would they listen to you? You’re Maria Petrov! You’re a notorious criminal.”

  “Oh, yeah, sure make it like I’m the criminal. I’m a secret agent. I’ve been told so.” Morgan crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back at the waist.

  “A secret agent…” Regina’s words caught.

  Tito shook his head as if in shock. Nick’s mouth was agape.

  Blake said, “What? What is happening here? Who is that? We know who this lady is, but that one, I have no clue.”

  Robert stepped forward. “This is Morgan Taylor. She is Ericka’s mother.”

  Jaws dropped around the room as their gazes sought her. Heat stuck her cheeks as she tried to look away.

  “While I see the similarities, I don’t understand why this makes her more trustworthy. Several hours before we assumed that she was Maria Petrov.” Micah had a good point.

  “And you would have been correct.” Director Manis entered the room. A row of agents appeared behind him. They fanned out around Regina, pushing the rest of them out of their way.

  “Morgan Taylor went undercover as Maria Petrov, only her cover programing was too deep and unfortunately she was placed in an asylum. We’ve been trying to reach her for years with Captain Regina Shaw.”

  Regina smiled.

  Ericka blinked.

  “Only Regina stopped working her cover and became the mastermind behind shuffling people back and forth between hostile governments.”

  Officers grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back.

  “No, no, there must be some kind of mistake.”

  “There is no mistake. You killed Paulo because you knew he could identify you as the woman who broke out Morgan and ran the entire operation.”

  “I did not! He had you at gun point.”

  “Without any bullets.” Ericka added.

  Regina narrowed her eyes. Then she changed her expression and focused her attention on Tito. “Help me. You know me. You know I couldn’t do something like this. They’ve lost their minds. They’re delusional. I can prove it. Besides you have to let me go. I’m the only one who knows where the White Lily is.”

  “Unfortunately, you’re not.”

  “I’m not?”

  “No. The White Lily sank off the coast of Connecticut only a few hours ago.”

  “B-but, how? I was just onboard before I met these yahoos to take them to the house.”

  “It seems your second in command decided you were taking too long, and he hadn’t heard from you, so he went out in the storm. A gale force wind came through bringing with it a massive wave of water and flipped the ship over.”

  “And my crew?”

  “Most were recovered.”

  Regina nodded and lowered her head. Then she lifted her chin. “What gave me away? Other than Morgan over there. I knew keeping her on was a mistake. I should have let her go years ago. And Paulo! I knew allowing Edward the Diablo on my ship could only bring grief. A man who believed he was a notorious killer but who had killed no one! Not a soul. Until recently. He always carried an unloaded gun even though he thought in his mind it was loaded. A complete nut. He was the only way to help Morgan escape the asylum. But I should have made him move on.”

  Quinn and Greg said the words at the same time, “Unloaded.”

  Greg raced from the room and Ericka followed. Regina was escorted away. The officers that had hung out with her were aghast and stood around the entryway to the other rooms discussing how they could have missed such a thing.

  Greg entered their office with Ericka on his heels.

  “You want to explain what is happening?”

  “I’m not sure yet.”

  Quinn flopped in front of the computer and began to rewind video footage. “I can’t believe we stopped when we did.”

  “I know. We should have went on and not assumed that we knew what had happened.”

  Ericka bounced on her feet. “What happened? Tell me.”

  Greg leaned over Quinn’s shoulder. When the footage reached a certain location, he stopped it.

  “There. That’s what we didn’t see.”

  A young kid pulled a gun. There was no flash, no pop, but after he pulled the trigger while looking away, he ran from the building.

  Ericka gasped. Rochelle Rawlings stood up. She’d sank down, but she stood up. She must have thought she was avoiding a shot. Now here, she motioned for someone to come out of the back room. When he did, they talked before he pulled a weapon and pulled the trigger.

  “Lex didn’t kill Rochelle.”

  “Nope. He didn’t realize he didn’t have bullets in the gun because he picked up Paulo’s gun when he ran out before.”

  “Wait, wait, wait. What are you two talking about?”

  “A street kid moved in with a gang and was ordered to take someone out. He saw a guy drop a weapon outside Rochelle’s so he grabbed it, went inside, and fired. Only he didn’t really fire. Someone must have been following him to make sure he’d do it. Maybe they made the sounds from the room, we aren’t sure. But there, there is your real killer.”

  “Who is that?”

  “We don’t know. We need to find Lex.”

  ****

  “Thank you for busting me out, Jess.”

  “No worries, dude. I had some money from that guy I robbed. I figured I might as well do something good with it. But hey, you got to promise you’ll do that court thing.”

  “I promise.”

  Lex breathed in the fresh air and let the sunshine hit his face. Jail hadn’t been too bad. The food wasn’t great. The sleeping arrangements could be better. And the bathroom situation definitely could use improvement. But it could have been worse.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Oh, back to the crib, man. I thought you’d want to see the big boss. He’s all proud of what you did.”

  Lex gulped back his fear. He’d told everything about the big boss. He’d given his location. He’d describe his features. He’d told about his recruiting practices.

  Everything…

  “Nah, man. I think I’m going to go crash with a friend.”

  “How could that be? You didn’t have no friends before.”

  “True. But my friend, Trey came to see me in jail and said if I got out, I could see him. So, I thank ya. I do. I’ll see you around.”

  “No, man, that ain’t going to fly.”

  “It’s not?”

  “Afraid not. You see, word on the street is that you sold out the boss. You see, he can’t have that. So, I’s afraid you’re going to have to pay the piper.”

  Pain ripped through his chest. Searing, burning pain. He should never have trusted anyone. His parents had abandoned him. The police didn’t protect him. His new family killed him.

  Maybe this was better.

  Now he wouldn’t need to worry about a family anymore.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Ericka and Greg stood inside the airport. The thick glass shielded them from the wind, the rain, and the other elements outside. All she could see was the plane.

  The passenger plane was pulling out onto the runway preparing to taxi and make its ascent.

  “This wasn’t the reunion I expected.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Ericka shrugged. Honestly, what had she thought would happen. Her father and mother were ex-spies. Her mother had been brainwashed and sent to a mental facility. Her father had been living undercover for the last twenty-five years. There was no good outcome.

  “I don’t know what I expected to happen. Going home for a huge Christmas dinner? I guess, well, I guess I should have realized that my family would never really be a family. I should have realized that any hope of that had vanished long ago.”

  After arresting Regina, her mother had been taken away and put into a program to make her remember herself. The process took a few weeks. The doctor’s said it was a miracle that she remembered anything at all after so long a time.

  She remembered where she’d hidden baby pictures of Ericka before she went under. So many little things that most people wouldn’t even think of now she thought of. But what did it matter?

  Again, they couldn’t go back.

  While her mother recovered, Ericka and the team had searched for Lex. He’d been released on bail. There was footage of him leaving the jail with a friend and then it was as if they’d disappeared. They traced every camera within a five-mile radius, but he was nowhere to be found.

  Ericka feared he would be found floating in the east river. The kid had tried to do the right thing and look where it got him.

  Look where the right thing had gotten her.

  Here.

  Losing everyone and everything again.

  Greg reached out and grabbed her hand. He squeezed.

  She sighed and let the warmth of his touch spread over her. “Truthfully, maybe I shouldn’t have been looking into the past or so far away to find my family.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Quinn and Maggie stood at the ticket counter. Both of them were planning trips with their significant others and they were looking for a discount, or a good deal, or anything to save some money.

  Maggie’s hands weaved around her face like a mad person. Quinn watched with eyes rounded before he did a similar thing.

  Ericka smiled.

  “I’m glad to see that expression.”

  “I can’t help it. Those two, they are just so funny together.”

  “They are.” He looked off into the distance to stare at their fellow agents. He snickered under his breath as an officer walked around the counter and moved closer to an irate Maggie.

  “Looks like they are going to get arrested before they plan their excursions.”

  “I sure hope not. Then we’ll have to listen to them complain about it at work.”

  “I know, right.” Ericka smiled again.

  What she’d been looking for had been under her nose the entire time. Through all the ups and downs. All the pressures of the job and of life. Even all the times she tried to connect with her family. These three people, Quinn, Maggie, and Greg. They had all been there. They hadn’t left her side.