Scarlett bit back a smile. ‘None taken. I’ll give your regrets.’
‘I can honestly tell Gayle that I’ve seen you two with my own eyes, alive and kicking. I’m going back to the hospital to check in on her and Stone.’ Backing away from the growing group of federal agents and SWAT team members, he got into his car and drove away.
‘Considering he’s terrified of hospitals, that just said a lot,’ Marcus said mildly, then sobered abruptly when Deacon, Kate and Agent Davenport approached them. ‘What’s happened?’
‘First things first,’ Kate said, pointing at each of them as she introduced them to Davenport.
‘You were the man deep under,’ Marcus said.
‘I was,’ Davenport said. ‘They knew me as Gene Decker. I’d say my cover’s pretty well blown at this point.’
Deacon gave Marcus a look that was half-wince. ‘But if the Bureau returns Davenport to undercover status, this might be the biggest story of your life that you can never write.’
‘But it’s over,’ Marcus said, then stilled, apprehension settling over his shoulders. ‘Why can’t we tell the story? It is over, right?’
Davenport shook his head. ‘Not yet. At least two of the guys got away – Dave Burton, Sweeney’s acting head of security, and Sean Cantrell, who was the IT guy – and Sweeney’s son. These guys trafficked all kinds of things. Drugs, porn, people.’ His mouth twisted. ‘Children.’
‘We’ve started a sweep of the property, but they could have slipped away when we were dealing with Sweeney,’ Kate said with a scowl. ‘We put out a BOLO.’
‘Was Woody McCord one of their customers?’ Marcus asked.
Davenport’s brows raised. ‘Yes. You knew him?’
‘We exposed him,’ Marcus murmured, ‘through the Ledger, but we didn’t go deep enough. Sweeney was afraid we’d keep digging, so he targeted us.’
‘He hated you,’ Davenport said. ‘They all did. But now they’re all dead, in prison or stashed.’ His shoulders sagged wearily. ‘Except for five – the two that got away, Joel Whipple, who did the books, and the new guy in security, whose name is Trevino.’
‘There’s a fifth guy stashed under a bed in one of the upstairs rooms. Name’s Rod Kinsey. He got shot yesterday morning. I gave him some high-power sedatives and he’s been asleep ever since. I doubt he’ll know anything. He’s a low-level flunky.’
‘That’s only four,’ Marcus said.
‘Where are Joel and Trevino?’ Scarlett asked. ‘And how did the first two get away?’
‘We don’t know yet,’ Kate said grimly. ‘Burton and Sean were no longer in the shed when we got there. Someone had cut their bonds and slashed Stephanie Anders’s throat. She’s dead.’
‘Good,’ Marcus bit out. ‘That the Anders woman is dead, I mean. Not that the others are gone.’
Scarlett laid a hand on his arm, a reminder to calm his temper. ‘Let’s take it from the beginning,’ she said. ‘Tell us about Sweeney’s organization. We know about Demetrius and Alice, but that’s it.’
‘All right,’ Davenport said. ‘Sweeney, Demetrius, Joel and Reuben were the owners of this criminal enterprise. Sweeney and Demetrius started out moving drugs up from Florida back in the eighties. Their legit cover was toys, and still is. They moved a lot of teddy bears stuffed with pills. But then Florida tightened its pill laws. That’s when they expanded into trafficking – adults and children, for labor and sex. Sweeney was the CEO and arranged for the sales, Demetrius managed the supply base. As far as I could tell, they were tricking immigrants into coming into the country on a temporary visa. They targeted highly educated individuals because they could get more money for them. They got lower-level laborers too. And they forced people into the sex trade from all over – other countries and this country too. Like I said, Reuben was Security and Joel managed Accounting.’
‘What was your role?’ Scarlett asked.
‘I was hired in as a bodyguard for Sweeney, but I wasn’t able to get at any of the good information. My handler arranged a little accident – I got shot and couldn’t be a bodyguard any longer. I have a math degree and convinced them I could be an accountant, thinking I could get to the books. But I was only working the legit businesses. I wanted to get back into Security but into tactical, not personal, bodyguard services. I figured with a tactical security job I’d be able to access all kinds of information, but they kept me stuck in Accounting and time was passing and I wasn’t gathering the intel I was supposed to.’
‘So you created a hole and then filled it?’ Kate asked.
‘Basically. Reuben was the security chief and Dave Burton’s boss. Both of them had been cops together in Tennessee. They had some kind of strong history. I wasn’t joining that clique, so I had to bust it up. Jason Jackson worked in the security office of the downtown building. I made friends with Jackson and that gave me the excuse to wander up to Security now and then. I was just waiting for my opportunity to break into the network and find the proof I’d been sent in to discover. I got my chance when Tala’s tracker was cut off her. I drugged Jackson – he was the guy on duty that morning – then took him home and made it look like he was too ill to work. I really wanted the top job vacated, so I lured Reuben, the chief of security, to where Jackson was, then I drugged Reuben too and put them both in a safe place. I contacted my handler, in code, and told him where to find the two of them.’
‘You wanted Reuben’s job?’ Scarlett asked.
‘Not really. I just wanted him out of the way so that I could get better access to the leadership team. Reuben ran a tight ship, kept all his departments separate. I was Sweeney’s bodyguard for a while, but Reuben made sure we bodyguards never got close to the real workings of the business.’
‘Where is this place where you stashed Reuben and Jason Jackson?’ Deacon asked.
‘An apartment near my handler’s house. My handler parked Reuben’s car at the airport hotel, but he was supposed to go from there to the apartment to take those two into custody. Trouble is, my handler and I lost contact. I was getting ready to make an emergency call to the SAC in the field office when you pulled your rifle on me, Agent Coppola. Everything had gone to shit and I didn’t want Sweeney’s leadership team to completely kill themselves off.’
‘I’ve sent personnel to the apartment,’ Kate told them. ‘I haven’t heard back yet.’
‘Did you get access to the data you needed?’ Deacon asked.
‘Some of it.’ Davenport nodded. ‘I copied a lot of it. Some of it’s still up here.’ He tapped his head. ‘Some of it’s in the computer in the office, although I think Sean destroyed all that.’
‘What about Sean?’ Scarlett asked. ‘You say he was Sweeney’s son?’
‘Yes. Sweeney’s son and daughter both worked for him. Alice you know.’
‘Oh yeah,’ Marcus said darkly. ‘I know Alice.’
Scarlett rubbed his back comfortingly even as she directed her questions to Davenport. ‘What was Alice’s role, besides being an evil, conniving bitch?’
Davenport’s lips twitched. ‘Alice was Sweeney’s right hand, his heir apparent. The woman is cold as ice and can think on her feet. Sean is IT. Bookish. Likes to keep to himself. I got the vibe that he didn’t like his father, but I never pushed because he would have denied it. The blood in the garage is Sean’s. He confronted Sweeney about funds that his old man had taken from company coffers, then taunted him that he’d taken the money back for himself. Then he pulled a gun on him. Sweeney wrestled the gun away from him. Sean was a desk jockey and Sweeney still had a lot of physical strength. Sweeney overpowered Sean, tied him up, then cut off fingers and toes until Sean revealed bank account numbers and passwords.’
‘You stood there outside the garage and . . . just listened?’ Scarlett said, looking appalled at the thought that Davenport could have witnessed such a thing without stopping it.
‘I “just listened” from the small shed,’ Davenport corrected icily. ‘Once I got access to Sweeney and his house, I planted bugs everywhere that I could. The shed was my listening post. If I’d intervened, my cover would have been blown and three years of work would have gone down the toilet.’