Knocked Down Read online

  And a teacher of computer sciences or something?

  They’d had the connection right there in front of them the whole time. “Agent Sparks, start on the guy’s class list. See if any of those names match up to our list.”

  ***

  One name matched the ones on Agent Sparks’ list. Sebastian took the best agents he had, and knocked on the twenty-two year old college student’s apartment door, one hand on his weapon. It swung easily on the hinges. He pulled his weapon completely free and looked at his agents. Brockman and Daviess were immediately behind him, weapons ready. “That wasn’t what I was expecting.”

  He cleared the first room. It was trashed, books shredded, CDs and DVDs crushed into the carpet.

  “Clear!” Agent Brockman yelled from the kitchen. Her partner was next to the bathroom, with line-of-sight into the bedroom.

  “Agent Lorcan! Man down!”

  Daviess followed protocol, checking the room before she entered. Sebastian was right behind her.

  Not that it mattered.

  The kid they sought was dead in his bedroom floor. His computer monitor lay broken on top of him. The hard drive was gone, wires cut and dangling where it had been located. He’d been gone at least two days.

  He looked at Agent Daviess. “Head back. See if Sparks can get in through the internet or something.”

  “If anyone can, it’ll be her.”

  “Agent Brockman, we’ll head to Lowenstern’s. Maybe this will be enough cause to bring him in.”

  Sebastian wasn’t going to waste another minute.

  If Lowenstern had snapped and killed his accomplice—a student he’d apparently taken under his wing for the last year—then there was nothing stopping him from killing again.

  Sebastian wanted to make certain that Lowenstern never got that chance—because if he did, the body count had the potential to be too damned high.

  Chapter Twenty

  Carrie did the best she could, but the hacker she was working against was very good. Lowenstern’s student was definitely the hacker they had been looking for. Once she had his name, she’d been able to find out what she could about him online. And through that and using a few tricks of the hacking trade she’d been able to get her hands on some of his work.

  It was undeniable. This was the hacker they’d been looking for. But she’d not been able to get through his protocols to see if he’d put anything online that would lead to who had hired him.

  Question was who had killed him, and what were the two planning?

  After Collingsworth’s confession—she couldn’t think of it as anything less—they’d returned to the field office. Therez and Hernandez had spoken with the rest of Collingsworth’s team who’d been there when Lowenstern had been a member. They hadn’t wanted to speak ill of him, but Nugent had been able to give them a bit more information to work with.

  Lowenstern had always had issues with his brother, and from what Nugent said, had believed his brother had been involved in his wife’s leaving the country.

  It could have been a simple case of revenge against his brother.

  But that didn’t explain the patterns.

  That’s where she was focused.

  If she could isolate where and when Lowenstern would hit next, she could maybe find where he was.

  Agent Lorcan certainly hadn’t had much luck finding him.

  He’d sent Agent Chalmers back to the field office to coordinate the search teams. He’d taken Paige and Al with him, ready to respond at a moment’s

  Carrie was trying to run an analysis of potential targets. If Lowenstern was on a terroristic mission of some sort—some of the documents Paige and Al and Agent Lorcan had found in the man’s house hinted at exactly that.

  They still had to find the where. They had turned over a lot of their findings to the Northwest Regional Computer Forensics Lab, for back up in predicting where Lowenstern would attack next.

  Before the man struck again. And the killing of his accomplice hinted at him escalating. The morbid possibilities continued to run through her head, threatening to choke her.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  He’d called in SWAT, Specialized Weapons and Tactics, for the actual take-down. Chalmers and Daviess had been sent to the cabin once owned by Lowenstern’s father. They’d been given the address by Lowenstern’s older brother, after they’d explained his possible involvement. Daviess had called Sebastian when they realized Lowenstern had holed up in the cabin near Bull Run River. Along with several visible weapons, and no viable way for them to get him out. The elder Lowenstern hadn’t seemed that shocked. He’d even provided keys--and as the registered owner of the property--permission to enter without a warrant.

  It had given Sebastian pause; he’d never take the idea that either of his brothers, identical to the last mole to him, could do something so wrong so easily.

  He and the rest of the team, plus the Portland field office’s SWAT and bomb squads, had taken choppers to where the cabin was located.

  Now they waited for SWAT to bring him out.

  He’d made the call, and he didn’t think he’d overreacted. Lowenstern had extensive experience with how the Bureau would react in this same situation. He’d been around long enough to see the Bureau handbook on standoffs rewritten a few times. He wasn’t stupid, by any means.

  And he’d already killed at least one person.

  That made him extremely dangerous.

  Sebastian wasn’t an idiot, either. And he wasn’t about to risk his people apprehending a man suspected of planning terroristic attacks.

  He looked at the leaders of the tactical teams surrounding him. They knew the terrain around here far better than he did. And they were more experienced with extractions such as this.

  He’d be a fool to not let them do their jobs appropriately. "Do whatever you have to do. I want him out alive; we need to see if he has anything else planned that we need to worry about."

  "Understood. We’ll do our best. You and your people need to stay behind this perimeter here. Unless he has long-range weaponry inside, you should be safe." The leader of the fifteen member team made a mark on a map. Sebastian looked at it, comparing it to where they were.

  "We’re good here, then."

  "As good as you can be."

  "Then we’ll wait right here until it’s finished." Even if it took days.

  ***

  It took less than three hours. The head of the SWAT team attempted to make initial contact. Lowenstern wasn’t interested.

  What he was interested in was taking out as many of the Bureau’s responders as he possibly could.

  He opened fired with a long-range rifle less than half a minute after the initial contact.

  Four of the Bureau’s people had suffered minor injuries.

  Including Agents Brockman and Chalmers.

  Lowenstern had used a long distance weapon, and he’d aimed well enough to shatter the glass of the vehicle Chalmers and Brockman were waiting behind. Thankfully, both of Sebastian’s people had had sufficient cover that they were only lacerated in a few places. Brockman’s arm required ten stitches, but she would recover.

  The tactical team managed to get in behind Lowenstern’s countermeasures. Once inside they’d been able to bring the man down.

  Now all that was left was for Sebastain to talk with the man and confirm everything they’d found.

  Not that he expected to make much headway. The man had been led to the waiting vehicle fighting and screaming anti-government rhetoric. It had taken several agents to subdue him.

  But Sebastian wouldn’t be stopping until he knew it was over.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Carrie watched Agent Lorcan and Paige as they worked on Lowenstern. Collingsworth was at her side. She’d heard from Al—who rested at one of the chairs just behind where Carrie stood—that the older agent would only be censured, that his career wouldn’t suffer greatly from the decisions he’d made.

  She wasn’t sure she
agreed with that. He’d almost let a terrorist slip through. How could that be overlooked?

  “Lowenstern, you know how this works. You need to tell us exactly how and what you were planning.” Paige leaned over the man; he stayed in his position.

  Carrie almost wondered if he was shutting them all out. When he looked straight up at Paige and spit, then demanded his attorney she knew that was exactly what he was doing.

  She shuddered when her sister wiped her face. “You shouldn’t have done that. Now I have you for assault on a federal agent. You remember how this works. You give us something, we don’t put a cop in general population. Especially a cop who may be a terrorist. You know how the public feels about terrorists…”

  “Fuck you. I did what I had to do. This country is vulnerable. Everyone needs to know that. We are too open to these people. They come in, use our resources, take our wives and children…Get my attorney in here, now.”

  Collingsworth looked at Carrie. “Should I go in there? Try to talk to him?”

  She was the last person he should ask, wasn’t she? Thankfully Al answered from behind her. “No. He’s lost, Agent Collingsworth. Whatever has made him this way, you’re not going to break through that.”

  “He asked for his attorney, as well. Anything we got after this point we couldn’t use.”

  “True. It just seems like such a sad end.”

  “It is.” Carrie thought for a moment. “If you think about it that way. I think it’s happy one. He’s already killed one person. And he targeted his own brother. We know he was planning something. He could have even used his brother’s airline to attack several places in this country. We can’t forget that. We stopped him. We saved people. I’m sorry about your friend, though. The loss of his wife and daughter obviously was more than he could handle.” The man had become a potential terrorist after his wife had had an extra-marital affair with a doctor from India. In his mind that had been all it had taken to make him snap.

  Carrie would never understand it.

  “Thank you. And I mean that. All of you, for everything.”

  “You’re welcome.” She didn’t know what else to say.

  It was over. All that was left for them to do was go through Lowenstern’s properties and computers, find the remaining evidence to hand over to the federal prosecutors who would be responsible for the next part of Lowenstern’s journey. Then she and Agent Lorcan, and all of the new Team Three, would head home.

  Where they belonged.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Sebastian knew when a suspect was far past the point of giving them anything else. And Lowenstern had hit that point within moments of them dragging him into interrogation.

  He knew when to press and when to call it quits. They’d get nothing else from Lowenstern—the man was garden variety ideologist. He’d lost whatever tenuous grip he had on reality the day his wife had left him.

  After trying for nearly seven more hours to break the man he’d lawyered up.

  And that was the end of it.

  The Portland office’s teams were tasked with continuing the collection of all evidence. They’d be the ones credited with the arrest, and he thought that was the way it should be. Lowenstern had been one of their own at one time.

  They were cleaning up their own house now.

  Sebastian had his own business to deal with. He borrowed a conference room and pulled Gerth and the other two agents he was cutting from the team with him.

  He explained to him why they hadn’t made the cut, and while one wasn’t happy, Gerth and the other seemed relieved.

  The CCU wasn’t for everyone.

  That left speaking with those who would be his team, and he handled that next.

  Agent Brockman was still there in the field office, and that surprised him. The woman was tougher than she looked.

  Sparks was sound asleep, her red head pillowed on her arms. Daviess, sans spit, was playing solitaire on her phone while waiting for orders from him. She looked up and nodded when he entered. The phone disappeared into her pocket. “Yo, bossman. What’s up?”

  Chalmers, Hernandez, and Therez were sharing a pizza at the other end of the conference room.

  “A team meeting. Lowenstern’s out of our hands, now. We’re heading back to St. Louis first thing in the morning. But that’s not what I want to talk to you about now.”

  “I need to wake Carrie?”

  He looked at the woman in question, at the bruises on her cheek still so colorful. “No. This is a Team Three matter, not a Team One. Let her sleep.” Sebastian looked at the five surrounding him. “As you all know, you were sent here from other disbanded teams. I understand that. But you’ve all more than pulled your own weight this case. At least, I feel that the five of you have. So…final say on the CCU Team Three is mine. And I’d like to offer each of you a position on my team. If you’re willing.”

  They all were; though Hernandez and Therez seemed shocked that he’d offered. They shouldn’t be. He’d make a point in the next week or so to pull them both aside and explain why he chose them and what was expected of each of them. “There’s one more thing.”

  “Ok, bossman. We’re all yours.”

  “I’d like to offer one more position to Agent Nugent. He represented himself well. Would that be agreeable to all of you?” He’d been thinking of the skills the young CART agent had exhibited. He wasn’t as good as Sparks, but Nugent had impressed Sebastian by his willingness to work hard and to push that extra mile. If Nugent wanted in on the CCU, Sebastian would be happy to have him.

  “I think that would be a great idea,” Agent Brockman said. “He’s really talented at what he does.”

  “Then it’s a done deal. Everyone, I’ll see you in the morning. Ed Dennis is sending the jet, via Seattle. Apparently half of Team One is finishing up their own case right now. I will see you then.”

  Epilogue

  Carrie snuggled into her husband’s shoulder and just breathed him in. He’d changed colognes shortly after they’d met, and she’d always loved this spiced scent. “I remember trying to get off that plane, in the rain, with those stupid crutches.”

  “And I remember seeing how the rain seemed to cling to your hair. You have seriously beautiful hair.” Something he’d told her many times before. She toyed with the buttons on his shirt. She loved his chest, and wanted to run her fingers over it. “I couldn’t help myself. And when I realized you needed help getting out of the plane—and it was either my hands or Hellbrook’s on you—I practically leapt over Hellbrook to help you.”

  “Funny, that’s not how it seemed to me.”

  “It was. And two months later I found myself on your door again. My world changed then, and only for the better.”

  “Mine, too. But you still frightened me.”

  “And you terrified me, as well.”

  “I felt so badly for Collingsworth. He cared about the people on his team—just like we do.”

  “Yes, but you can’t always predict how people will act in bad situations.” He grinned, an expression uniquely him. He may have been an identical triplet, but she would always know him by his expressions. “But I can predict how I am about to act in this situation.”

  His hands told her exactly what he wanted. Carrie smiled. He was so big, and strong, and wonderful. “I’m sure you can. I have an idea of my own…”

  PAVAD: FBI FILE #0002—

  CASE CLOSED!

  Look for #0003 coming soon!

  “Knocked Around”

  Motivation was always the key.

  He had six dead, and forty-two possible suspects. And no way to figure out which of those suspects was responsible.

  Mal Brockman, head of CCU Team Two, poured over the files in front of him and wished—not for the first time—that he had a desk job that he actually rode a desk in.

  It was seven minutes past ten in the evening and all he truly wanted was something to eat…and his wife.

  Jules had clocked out over four hou
rs before and had probably already settled Auggie and Ruthie, their two children, into their beds.

  She was probably waiting for him, wearing nothing more than one of his tee-shirts and a smile. Damn, he wanted to be home with that woman instead of pouring over a fifteen month cold case that he somehow doubted anyone other than the killers could solve.

  It hadn’t even been his case to begin with. It had come his way through the Internal Affairs division his younger brother ran.

  Mick had stumbled upon the case and when he took a look, his younger brother had passed it on to a more appropriate channels.

  Unfortunately for Mal, those channels could be summed up in one way—him.

  Mick was probably laughing his damned head off knowing his brother was stuck in the office so late while Mick was curled up with his new wife in the home they’d just moved into a little over a month ago.

  Someone knocked on the door and Mal looked up, grateful for the reprieve.

  Apparently his brother wasn’t at home after all. “Mick? What’s up? Shouldn’t you have left hours ago?”

  “I found a bit more on that case. Paige got called out with Lorcan. And the kid is spending the night at the Reynolds’, so…Didn’t feel like heading home to an empty house. Thought about swinging by and begging dinner off of Jules, but that didn’t seem quite fair.”

  Mal looked at what had passed as his own dinner. If his wife knew he’d settled for fast food again, she’d be a bit snippy.

  He loved her all snarky and sassy. He just wished he was with her at the moment. “What did you fiind? I’m o not seeing anything that tells me this is an imminent case. I’m going to head home and start on it with the team tomorrow—with fresh eyes.”

  “Sounds like a good idea. I’ll meet you here at nine.”

  “What for?’