Peter gave Violet strict guidelines about what to say and not say when they went into the data center. She obeyed him. Fear did that to people, and Peter knew how to use it. He wouldn’t have brought her at all except the warrant was specific: that Violet would verify that the backup was uncorrupted. He had to bring her or the manager might get suspicious.
Everything had fallen apart in the last two days, but Peter had an escape plan.
That included retrieving the backup drive and using it to extract a whole lot of money from Lydia Zarian and Dorothy Duncan. Rebecca Chavez didn’t have access to her money yet—trying to stay clean because of her job. It was layered in shell corps and trust funds so deep that she couldn’t get to it quickly. But Zarian and Duncan? They were made of money, and they would pay handily to protect their children.
And themselves.
He had his brother’s passport—they looked enough alike that no one would think twice—just in case the FBI caught wind before he could get out of the airport. He was flying to Mexico City tonight, then tomorrow to Brazil, then he would lie low in a house he’d bought when he first started working for Zarian on the side. With the money he’d get from Lydia, he could buy a new identity and use that to move anywhere he wanted. Maybe Australia. If he liked Brazil enough—he spoke Spanish well and could pick up on Portuguese with a little practice—he might stay there.
But first things first: get the backup drive, exchange it for money wired to his offshore account, and disappear.
“Ms. Halliday stated that the drive was undamaged and from the correct day,” the manager said. “I don’t know how a virus could have gotten into our system—we have the best cybersecurity out there.”
“Your security is good,” Violet said. “It was on our end.”
Peter didn’t want her talking too much. “Here’s your copy of the warrant, and a receipt for the drive. I think we’re good?”
The manager glanced at Violet. He was assessing her, and Peter couldn’t have him paying too much attention—not until they were gone.
“Violet is our computer guru. She’ll get to the bottom of the problem,” Peter said with a smile. “Is this it?” He gestured to a silver box the size of a large briefcase.
“Yes, we secured the drive in the case to protect it.”
“Great. Thank you for your cooperation.”
And the manager walked them out.
“You could have been friendlier,” Peter said as they walked to his car.
She didn’t say anything.
“You’ve been a pain in my ass since you started talking to Craig.”
“You killed him.”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“You might as well have.”
“I didn’t want it to happen. I told Duncan he was being paranoid. But when you figured out how to locate the deleted files, we had no other choice.”
“Craig was doing the right thing and he died because of it.”
“Oh, please. You can’t be that much of a Pollyanna. People are making money. If not Zarian and her lackeys, someone else. The system is fucked, it’s never going to work the way people think, and I’ll take my slice of the pie, thank you very much.”
Peter stopped when he reached his car. He didn’t believe this.
Conrad James got out of the SUV next to his. “Why are you here?” Peter asked. “We’re meeting in an hour.”
“Just making sure everything is in order,” Conrad said.
“All is good. We need to go. I don’t know how much time we have before the feds put it together.”
“Give me the drive.”
“You know how this works, Conrad. Don’t pull this bullshit with me.”
“Meyers is dead.”
“Oh, fuck.”
“Time is running out. Hand me the drive and walk away.”
Everything clicked right then. Conrad was here to clean up. If Meyers was dead, that meant Colton Fox was still alive, and he had the photos that would take down Zarian.
Peter reached out for Violet, but she stepped away, as if sensing exactly what he sensed.
Conrad pulled out his gun faster than Peter could get to his and pulled the trigger.
Violet screamed.
Conrad James watched Peter drop to the ground, still clutching the briefcase. The bullet had gone through the center of his forehead. A perfect shot, if he did say so himself.
Hard to miss when you were less than five feet away.
He turned the gun to Violet, who had started backing away.
“Freeze,” he said.
She froze.
“Get the briefcase.”
She didn’t move.
“Now, Ms. Halliday.”
Her hands were shaking as she pulled the briefcase from Peter’s dead fingers.
He heard the SUVs before he saw them.
This was certainly inconvenient.
He grabbed Violet by the arm and held her close to him, turned and faced the FBI as they screeched into the parking lot.
FBI Agent Matt Costa jumped out of the back of the car, gun out, aimed at Conrad. He hadn’t expected them to arrive so quickly; he had some quick thinking to do.
He had no intention of dying today, but he wanted to see how this played out and what he could learn.
Information was always his trump card.
Matt immediately assessed the situation as he held his gun on Conrad. The data center was thirty feet away; they were on lockdown. Matt had his people contact the manager and told him to lock down as soon as Peter and Violet left. If they tried to stall, Peter could have become nervous and taken everyone inside hostage. Having one hostage was bad enough.
Lex stayed in the vehicle, door open. Kara had gotten out and flanked Matt. Matt wished Colton would stay in the car, but he got out as well, taking the other side.
Michael and two officers pulled up behind them. Conrad watched everything with cool eyes. Matt had to be careful how he played this. This man was a cold killer. But cold killers were, by definition, dispassionate. Matt had to believe he didn’t want to go out in a blaze of glory. It was rarely as cinematic and exciting as the bad guys thought.
“Conrad, it’s over. Let Violet go and no one else has to get hurt.”
“Agent Costa,” he said. “I’ve been impressed with your team. You have lived up to your reputation.”
Matt didn’t know what, if anything, Conrad knew about him. He could just be playing with his head, stalling, distracting him.
“The FBI has already launched a full investigation into Lydia Zarian and Dorothy Duncan, and everyone associated with them. Rebecca Chavez has been suspended. If you hurt Violet, you will die. I promise you that.”
Matt sensed more than saw Michael take a position to the right of Kara. Now Conrad couldn’t keep them all in his sight. Michael was the best shot. He could take Conrad out with a clean head shot, but Violet was nearly as tall as the man. There was no guarantee she wouldn’t be caught in the line of fire, and Michael wouldn’t put her at risk.
Matt had to talk Conrad down. Convince him to turn himself over.
“You’re hired help,” Matt said. “You roll on who hired you to kill Craig Dyson and FBI Agent Bryce Thornton, death penalty is off the table.”
Conrad laughed. “It’s funny that you think it was ever on the table.”
“I’ve seen too many dead bodies this week,” Matt said. “I don’t want to see another.”
Conrad didn’t say anything. He still held the gun to Violet’s head, clutching her arm. He was calculating. Matt could see it in his eyes.
“Are you willing to die for these people? Do you actually believe that the drive in that briefcase is the drive with the evidence? We spoke to the data center before Peter Sharp ever walked into the building. No way in hell was I going to risk the files—the proof of all the crimes that Zarian and her people committed—getting into Sharp’s hands.”
Conrad looked surprised, then he smiled. “Bravo, Agent Costa. Bravo. You win this round.”
He let go of Violet’s arm, slowly squatted and put his gun on the ground, knelt and put his hands on the back of his head.
“Violet,” Kara commanded. “Come here.”
Violet walked slowly toward Kara, still carrying the briefcase. Then she ran and Kara immediately escorted her into the SUV.
Matt and Colton Fox approached Conrad. “Cuff him,” Matt ordered Fox as he holstered his own weapon. Michael still had a clear shot if Conrad tried anything.
Fox complied, sparing only a glance at the dead Peter Sharp.
“Who gets him?” Fox asked Matt.
“We’ll let the lawyers fight over him, but he killed a federal agent so he’s mine first.”
Conrad laughed.
“Shut up,” Colton told him and pulled him to his feet.
Conrad looked right at Matt and said, “I live to fight another day, Agent Costa.”
He didn’t look worried, but Matt expected that to change. Once he realized he wasn’t walking free again, he would be very worried.
Colton led Conrad to the rear vehicle so Violet wouldn’t have to ride with him.
They had Conrad James on murdering Peter Sharp in cold blood and they had him on hiring Colangelo to kill Chen. And likely enough evidence to convict him of killing Craig.
But they had better find more evidence or he wouldn’t go away for killing a federal agent.
They needed the gun.
Matt called Tony Greer and laid out his plan.