Sudden Death

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The patrol car sputtered and died.

Barbara Dodge barely managed to pull over. “I don’t believe it! No gas. It was full when we left.” Dodge radioed in that an officer needed nonemergency assistance.

Megan stared at Karin Standler’s image on her Black-Berry.

“You’re the sister I never had, Meg.”

Why-how-had Karin gotten involved with Barry Rosemont? Megan didn’t want to believe that Karin had been in any way involved with killing the soldiers, but there was no doubt in her mind that she was capable of such violence. Karin had shot Megan in the back and gotten away with it.

Her excuse had been stress. Her mother had committed suicide three weeks before and Karin hadn’t told anyone. She had been embarrassed and angry and depressed. The shrinks all agreed that Karin was suffering from acute depression. OPR removed her from duty because of “reckless disregard for human life and proper procedures” but with extenuating circumstances. As long as she went to counseling for a year, she wouldn’t be prosecuted for manslaughter and attempted man slaughter in shooting an unarmed suspect and her partner in the back.

“It was an accident,” Karin sobbed at the hearing. “I saw the suspect going for Agent Elliott’s gun. I thought I did. It happened so fast, and I reacted.” She looked across the room at her still-recovering partner. “I am so sorry. Megan, I am so sorry. I love you like a sister, you know that.”

But Megan had been immune to Karin’s pleas and lies. It had taken three years, but in that time Megan learned that Karin was a pathological liar and a murderer.

OPR didn’t believe her.

“Agent Elliott, you are justifiably enraged by what happened and this panel is taking this situation and your accusations seriously. But in light of Agent Standler’s mother’s suicide, we can’t help but consider the extraneous circumstances that impaired Agent Standler’s judgment.”

Procedures and changes were made to prevent situations like this in the future. More counseling, more feelgood measures to make sure that the agents didn’t have external pressures that could lead to “reckless disregard for human life.”

It was all bullshit, Megan thought. Then and now. Karin was a sociopath, only now she was far more dangerous. Megan dialed Hans. She hoped that Jack had received the sketch from Texas as well and that Hans was already jumping on tracking down Karin Standler.

Officer Dodge said, “They’re sending a patrol with a gas can. I feel like an idiot.”

“It happens to the best of us,” Megan said lightly. She was irritated only because she wanted to jump on Karin’s trail.

“I’m going to stretch my legs. If you want to-”

“I’m fine here, thanks,” Megan said. They were on a narrow turnout on the Pacific Coast Highway. Five feet away from Megan’s door was a cliff and a short guardrail. Megan wasn’t scared of heights, but she’d just as soon stay in the car. She also didn’t want to admit that she was nervous about Karin. Her ex-partner still scared her. Ironically, it was because of Karin’s lies that Megan herself had learned to discern truth and fiction from suspects and witnesses, one of the reasons Megan had ended up being so good at her job.

Officer Dodge stepped out, stretched. Traffic had improved. “Once we get gas, forty minutes, tops,” she told Megan before walking down the shoulder.

Hans picked up. “Meg, I was just trying to call you.”

“It’s Karin Standler.”

“I know-you got the sketch from Father Cardenas, then.”

“Yes, but I also found a witness in Orlando who says that Karin had been dating Ken Russo for months and left just prior to his murder. Russo had Price’s tags, but the police didn’t find them after the homicide.”

“I screwed up, Meg. I didn’t consider that the contact the killers made with you was personal. I assumed it was to taunt the police. I’m sorry.”

“How could we have known about her? No one has heard from her in years. Last I knew, she was a physical therapist somewhere. Did you get my text message about Ken Russo?”

“Yes, and Rick Stockton is sending four agents to the community to interview everyone who saw her, starting with Paula Andrews. Good work, Meg.”

“Don’t pat me on the back. Karin’s at large and we need to find her ASAP. I don’t have to tell you she’s extremely dangerous.”

“Are you okay?” Hans asked.

“Yes. But I’ll be better when she’s behind bars.”

“I’ve already sent out an APB and her picture is going out to law enforcement.”

“You need to do a picture with shorter, blond hair. The witness said she dyed it.”

Movement behind the car caught Megan’s eye. She turned and the driver’s door opened.

The woman wore black jeans and a black T-shirt. Her short streaky blond hair looked like she’d cut it herself. But her wild blue eyes and the smug hatred on the woman’s face told Megan that nothing had changed. Karin Standler was still a sick, twisted sociopath.

She had a gun in her hand.

Megan dropped her BlackBerry and reached for her gun, but it happened too fast.

Karin pressed the trigger. Megan expected to die, but there was no gunshot, only a faint pop. Her left shoulder stung. Her head felt thick and her gun fell from her hand. She reached for something that protruded from her shoulder and the last thing she heard was Karin laughing while Hans shouted from far away, “Meg? Megan! Megan!”

Thirty minutes later Jack stared at the empty police car on the side of the Pacific Coast Highway. He pushed aside the quiet sobs of Officer Barbara Dodge who had been shot with a tranquilizer that had left her disoriented and ill. He ignored Hans Vigo and Detective Holden and a dozen cops walking around the area, looking for evidence-clues-as to where Karin Standler had taken Megan. He avoided looking at the plastic bag that held the tranq dart that had most likely been in Megan’s body, or the bag with her phone and her gun.

He focused on being the soldier he was. Not the man still grieving for a friend who’d been cruelly murdered. Not the man worried about a hostage. Not the man falling in love with a woman who may not even be alive.

She’s not dead. That bitch doesn’t want to kill her easy.

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath to push away the image of Megan tied to a chair, screaming in pain as she was being tortured with a thousand needles.

Megan’s strong. She’ll survive. She has to survive until I find her.

“Vigo!” Jack shouted. They weren’t doing anything. Not even planning their next move.

Hans approached. “We’re doing everything we can to find her. We have roadblocks-”

“We were too late with the roadblocks. Standler had ten minutes before we even knew where the damn car was!”

“We have aerial sweeps, until it gets too dark.”

Which was imminent.

“We have to find her fast.” Jack didn’t want Megan to suffer one needle of pain. He’d gladly take the torture to spare her.

“Dammit, Jack, I know that! Everyone at Quantico is working on this. We’re looking into Karin’s bank records, credit cards, property she may own, vehicles, everything.”

“The woman likely has cash and fake I.D.,” Jack said. “And a car that isn’t registered to her.”

“What do you want me to do? Give up?”

“Think like a killer.”

“I knew Karin. I was her boss. I didn’t recognize her for what she was.”

“Beat yourself up about it later. I need Megan’s phone.”

“Why?”

“She has friends who don’t always play by your rules.”

“We’re doing everything-”

“Give me her phone. What was that name again? J.T.?”

“Caruso.”

“Right. Rogan-Caruso.”

After Hans nodded his ascent, Jack ran over and snatched Megan’s phone from the evidence bag. He quickly found J. T. Caruso’s number and called it.

“Hi, Meg, I saw the news and-”

“This is Jack Kincaid. Is this J. T. Caruso?”

The voice turned from friendly to dead serious. “Yes. Where’s Megan?”

“Rosemont’s accomplice kidnapped her. Karin Standler. The feds are working it, but she’s been missing an hour and no one knows where she is. Standler could have taken her anywhere, though most likely someplace driving distance from Santa Barbara.”

“I’m on it. Keep this phone on you, I might need information.” He hung up.

Jack felt marginally better calling in the cavalry. Rogan-Caruso was the top private security firm in the country. They would do everything they could to find her. Jack had to believe that.

“Jack-” Hans began.

“I’m calling Dillon,” Jack interrupted. “He knows this stuff.” Walking away from Hans and the others, he dialed his brother on his own cell, keeping Megan’s free for a call back from Caruso.

“Jack?”

“Megan’s gone. Kidnapped by Rosemont’s accomplice.”

“Megan knows the woman.” Dillon stated it as a fact.

“Yes. It’s her former partner. Karin Standler shot Megan during a fucked-up operation and was fired, but Megan said it was deliberate, not an accident. Get into her head, Dillon. I need to find Megan now.”

Dillon said quietly, “I’m not psychic, Jack. I need information.”

“I don’t know anything!” Jack ran his hand over his head, staring at the ocean without seeing the setting sun. “Where would Karin Standler take Megan?”

Dillon began slowly. “We need to assume that Agent Elliott was the target all along. That however Karin became involved with Rosemont, her primary purpose was to abduct and torture Megan. Which means she’s most likely still alive.”

“I already know that. She’s alive, and about to suffer horribly if I can’t find her. If I know where she is, I can extract her. That’s all I need, a location.”

“Is the FBI running property records? Credit? Any-”

“Yes, all of it. Megan is one of theirs, they’re doing everything they can.” Megan is mine.

“Does Hans know this woman?”

“Yes. He was Standler’s boss back then.”

“Put him on the phone.”

Jack motioned for Hans to come over. “It’s Dillon.” Jack put it on speaker. He wasn’t about to miss any of it.

“What have you got?” Hans asked.

“Do you have any of Standler’s aliases?”

“No, though we’re pursuing a lead at a hotel near the resort where General Hackett was killed. During the canvass, officers found a witness who saw a woman in a red bathing suit and sarong enter through a side door with a card key. She looked disheveled and matched the description we had from the bartender. We now think she registered under the alias Erin Hunter and are pursuing that lead.”

“What about Russo?” Jack said. “And the elderly people she conned?”

“Rubin,” Hans said. “Hannah Rubin.”

“What’s this about a con?” Dillon asked. “I need to know how she’s pulled all this off.”

Hans explained how Karin passed herself off as the long-dead daughter of an elderly couple in order to get close to Ken Russo. “That’s where she got Price’s dog tags, and likely where she found the location of the other Delta team members. She was there for five months.”

“Do you know anyone else she conned? Where are her parents? Siblings?”

“She’s an only child. Her father was a Virginia Supreme Court judge killed in a car accident when she was twelve. Her mother committed suicide twelve years ago. Right before she almost killed Megan.”

“Did anything else lead up to that attack on Megan?”

“Meg said she was quietly investigating Karin’s actions in the field. She felt that she’d shot a suspect without provocation, then reviewed all Karin’s reports and learned she had a high rate of shootings. Karin found out, according to Meg, and tried to kill her by setting up a sting for a fugitive and putting Meg in the line of fire.”

“And she’s not in prison?”

“There was no proof to Meg’s accusation, and Karin was diagnosed with severe depression. Her mother had just killed herself. Three psychiatrists, one FBI and two independent, all came to the same conclusion.”

“How long was Megan looking into Karin’s record?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Longer than three weeks?”

Hans said, “It was longer than a month. Meg never came to me about it, though. Why didn’t she say something?”

“And accuse her partner of being a vigilante killer?” Jack said. “She wanted proof. Cross her fs and dot her ‘s, especially something this serious.”

Dillon said over the speaker, “I’d bet my life savings that Karin killed her mother. How did she die?”

“Carbon monoxide poisoning. There was a suicide note.”

“Typed? On a computer?”

“Printed. But Crystal Standler’s prints were on the keys, no one else’s. Believe me, the FBI looked into the suicide after Karin’s actions.”

“I’ll still bet my reputation that Karin killed her mother or forced her to kill herself.”

“This doesn’t help us find Megan!” Jack said. “They’ve been gone over an hour.”

“Two things. Karin has taken Megan to a secluded place where she can be confident that not only will no one hear Megan, but they wouldn’t know where to look. The property will likely belong to someone she knows, who is either dead and the land is in probate, or it was willed to her but she never changed the ownership. Possibly property that is owned by the elderly couple-the Rubins-if they own any, but it would have been purchased in their name when she was living with them and they might not even know about it.”

“So we run property searches for the Rubins, Judge Standler, Crystal Standler-”

“Did Crystal remarry?”

“I believe so, but she was a widow when she died.”

“Check that husband’s name as well. And Ken Russo, plus any of the other victims, though I don’t think she did that. She’ll want to feel perfectly secure, and that means a place set up ahead of time that she doesn’t think anyone will find.”

“Why not break into a vacant house?” Jack asked.

“She wants a base camp. A place where she feels safe, in control, and away from prying eyes. She’ll take Megan to the one place she thinks she can do anything to her and not be discovered.”

“Dillon,” Hans interjected, “there is no national property records search. We have to go state by state. It’ll take days.”

“She’s close,” Dillon said. “She’s not going to want to drive for three days. I’d guess twelve hours, tops. Start in those states.”

“California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, maybe Montana, Idaho, and Washington. That’s still a lot of territory.”

“Then we’d better get started,” Jack said. “Are you sure we’re not just chasing our tails? If this takes hours and doesn’t lead anywhere …”

“I’m confident in my assessment, Jack.”

Jack had a hard time trusting anyone, even his brother. But Dillon had proven himself in the past; Jack had no choice but to trust him now.

“Thanks,” he said quietly.

“She means something to you.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll find her.”

“God, I hope so.”

“Where’s your friend, Father Francis?”

“Hidalgo. Why?”

“There’s something to that. I’ve been reading Rosemont’s records in more depth. He was extremely obsessive-compulsive.”

“Which means?”

“Father Francis should have died.”

“We already figured they didn’t have the time to kill both Scout and Padre, or were interrupted.”

“No. Rosemont wouldn’t have left unless it was complete, or it would bother him so deeply he would be compelled to return.”

“And if he couldn’t?”

“He may start acting erratic and unpredictable, like he’s trying to scratch an itch he can’t reach.”

“Perhaps like killing two innocent civilians for no reason.”

“Perhaps.”

“Why is Padre important?”

“He saw Karin at the church. They talked. She knew he was a priest and that he was part of the Delta team. But she couldn’t set him up. I think she had a Catholic upbringing. Team up with him; he may be able to talk her into letting Megan go. She has a healthy dose of respect for and fear of priests.”

“Fear?”

“I probably said that wrong. I meant, she respects and admires priests, but has a fear of God. That if she hurts a priest, that’s it.”

“She’s already going to Hell, Dillon.”

“I’m not making a moral judgment; I’m getting into her head. She justifies her actions because she’s not killing a man of God. Everyone else is guilty of something.”

“So she’s a religious nut job killing for God?”

“Absolutely not. She’s not insane, and she knows exactly why she kills.”

“Why?”

“Because she can get away with it.”