Page 76 of Fast Justice

Oceane’s head spun as she struggled to take everything in. When Rowan’s detail had been attacked this morning, her own detail had whisked her straight back to the WITSEC facility. Now she sat with Victoria Gomez in a private room while various agents came and went. Some peppering her with questions.

How did Montoya find you again? Have you been communicating with him somehow? How do you know him? When did you last see him?

She didn’t know anything, was as confused and stunned as everyone else was, though no one seemed to believe her.

“They think I’m lying,” she murmured in Spanish to Victoria, who held her hand.

“They don’t like not being able to figure out what happened,” she said, squeezing Oceane’s hand in support. Things had shifted between them yesterday at the hospital. It helped to know someone cared about her. To have someone else who understood what it was like to have your life shattered in an instant.

“I don’t know how else to tell them that I can’t help them.”

“Then don’t. You’ve made your position clear, and you’ve been watched constantly for the past few days, so they have to know there’s no way you were involved with any of this. You’re not the problem. Maybe the leak is somewhere inside WITSEC,” she finished in a hard tone.

Oceane sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. “I’ve been thinking the same thing.” Her eyes hurt. In the privacy of her room here at the orientation center, she’d cried herself to sleep, soaking her pillow as she thought of her mother lying so cold in the hospital morgue. Her whole body ached and she felt…empty inside. Almost as though she didn’t care what happened to her anymore.

They could interrogate her all they wanted. Throw her in a dark cell and toss away the key. She didn’t care. Everything and everyone she’d ever loved had been taken from her. There was nothing left now but the hunger for justice.

A soft knock came at the door. Commander Taggart stepped inside with a couple of FBI agents and Special Agent Hamilton, a device about the size of a cell phone in his hand. “Found a couple of these on Montoya’s men at the port,” he said, crossing toward Oceane.

Hamilton moved to one side of the door and crossed his arms, giving Oceane a wink that helped ease her anxiety. She must not be in trouble.

“What is it?” she asked Taggart.

“Homing device. Military grade, although pretty outdated now. Extremely expensive.”

Oceane didn’t see what that had to do with her.

“Montoya’s men,” Victoria said, interrupting her thoughts. “Did you capture them alive?”

“One. The other two thought they could make a getaway in a semi loaded down with a full cargo container on it. They crashed into one of the huge forklifts instead, and both vehicles slammed into the base of one of the shipping cranes. Snapped it in two, sent it crashing into the water. The counterweight came off and crushed the cab of the semi.”

Victoria’s hand tightened on hers. “Good. Just too bad it was a quick death for them.”

Taggart’s eyes gleamed in agreement, then sobered. “Montoya’s gone.”

Oceane sucked in a breath. She didn’t understand what her godfather’s goal had been, but she was pretty sure it was to find her and bring her back to her father. Oceane never wanted to see either of them ever again.

“Gone?” Victoria asked.

Taggart nodded. “Video footage at the port shows someone resembling him walking away dressed in a cop uniform. He was right near the base of the crane when the crane crashed. If it was him, he couldn’t have lucked out more in terms of a diversion, because he slipped through the perimeter without any trouble in the confusion.”

“You have to find him,” Oceane said harshly.

The DEA commander nodded. “We will.”

She wasn’t sure if she believed him. If Montoya and her father had hidden everything from her all her life, if they had both evaded authorities this long, then who was to say they couldn’t evade them forever?

“And now, if you’ll humor me…” He stepped closer to her, hit a button on the device he held. A high-pitched beeping sounded immediately, stayed steady as he moved it through the air, following the line of her body from head to toe. The FBI agents stepped forward to check the screen along with Taggart, then all three of them looked at her.

Oceane frowned. “What?” Whatever that thing was, whatever it was picking up, the signal couldn’t be coming from her. They’d checked her again for electronic bugs right after the phone incident the other day and hadn’t found anything.

Taggart glanced at the device, hit another button and did another sweep, this time beginning at her feet. The high-pitched beeping was still there but muted, in the background almost. Nothing else happened as he raised it higher, up her legs, her torso. But when he reached her head, a rapid clicking sound started.

Oceane blinked, surprised, and the men all looked at each other. She reached up to touch her earlobes. “I’m not even wearing any earrings,” she protested, thoroughly annoyed. They’d let her keep her mother’s favorite diamond earrings and necklace, but they were currently being analyzed in some lab somewhere and she wasn’t sure when or if she’d get them back.

One of the FBI agents moved even closer, peering at Oceane’s face intently. “You have any dental work done recently?”

What? She scowled at him. “I don’t have braces or a retainer, if that’s what you mean.”

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