Page 88 of Justice for Francesca

A few minutes later, two shadows passed the window bay that looked out from the office into the hangar. The first person through the door was totally unexpected. Special Agent in Charge Ortiz. Right behind her was Oisin McCabe.

“You see, my dear Stella? Safe and sound. Not cooperative but undamaged, as I promised.” He looked to Rory. “Is the jet ready?”

He grunted. “Fionn’s got it under control.”

“You’re not going to get away with this, Father.” Francesca glanced at Ortiz. “What does he have on you?”

Ortiz was pale and sweating. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, Frankie. I had no choice.”

“There’s always a choice. The choices may be shit, but I never pegged you to make the choice of advantage over what was right. But you’re right, it doesn’t matter anymore. Knowing my father, he plans to kill you. If by some miracle that doesn’t happen, you’ll be going to prison for a long time.”

“You are so right, Frankie,” her father said. Before she could even yell out a warning, Oisin had raised his hand, a gun at the ready, and the crack of the bullet being discharged happened almost simultaneously with Ortiz’s figure dropping to the floor. Blood sprayed back upon him, but he didn’t react. Rory was correct. He was a psychopath.

Some of the spray from the bullet passing through Ortiz’s skull at point-blank range hit Francesca. Bits of bone, brain matter, and blood hit her face, but other than a natural recoil to the noise, she schooled her expression as best she could. Showing her father any sort of emotion would only cater to whatever he was trying to accomplish. Not reacting was also a risk. It might anger him if she didn’t react as he wanted her to, but she’d take a bullet before she’d agree to whatever madness he proposed. Given her circumstances, she didn’t think she had long before she got a bullet either way since he’d already tried to kill her once.

“Frankie, why did you have to be so stubborn? Why couldn’t you just fall in line with your brothers? We’ve had a long, illustrious career within the PD. We run the city. No one gets in our way. You could have had New York at your feet if you’d just done what you were told. You would have wanted for nothing. A life of total luxury. Your pick of husbands.”

“You’ve never understood what I wanted out of life. I did not want to be one step from an organized crime family’s principessa.”

“But that’s what you were, my dear, whether you wanted it or not. That’s what you’ve never understood.”

“If that’s the case, why let me go through the academy?”

“What better example of our power in the city than to see yet another McCabe turned? Especially the notoriously perfect Francesca. If I could turn the imperious rule-follower, everyone would know no one was safe. And with you in our midst, Michael would have folded easily.”

“I won’t become your puppet. You’ll have to kill me. As for Michael, all of you have always underestimated him. You’ll be forced to kill him, too, when he refuses to comply.”

Oisin sighed. “Yes, I’m afraid I do have to follow through on that, but Michael will have to wait. I would have preferred toleave your boyfriend out of it. A true hero, that one, but… he of all people would have understood the importance of sacrifice. Leave it to my only daughter to prove to be too stubborn even for my persuasion. Because of that, things are a bit too hot in San Antonio for your death to occur here, so we’re going to take a little trip and take care of things along the way. Can’t investigate a murder that happens in a totally unrelated place, now, can they?”

It became crystal clear to Francesca that if she got on that plane, she was doomed. If her older brothers were to be believed, she was going to have to fight her way out, and either she would die, her father would, or maybe both of them. Both would certainly not walk out of this alive.

Oddly, she felt no regret at walking out of this building with his blood on her hands. Maybe it was always meant to end this way. Maybe the only way to break the McCabe legacy was for all of them to go down. Although, it seemed like her brothers were something else entirely. Hopefully, taking care of her father would be enough for the cycle to break. If she was the sacrifice to make that happen, then so be it.

If she managed to survive, her career would be over. She wouldn’t be able to go back to the bureau, even if killing him were justified. The scandal would be too great to recover from, and no one would trust her. Would that include Ethan? She would hate it if it destroyed what they seemed to have started, but sometimes life was unfair, and you didn’t get what you wanted.

Her fingers stretched to reach the knife on the back of the chair, careful not to move anything but her fingers. She had managed to secure the knife in her grasp when there was the sound of gunfire in the hangar outside. Oisin’s focus was not distracted, although he obviously heard the commotion becausehe ordered Rory out of the room to see what was going on. “Take care of whatever that is,” he snarled.

Rory said nothing as he exited the room, but as he went out the door behind their father, he risked one more glance at Francesca, giving her a nod. Then he drew his gun and closed the door behind him.

“We can stop pretending, Frankie,” her father told her.

“Pretending?”

“Pretending you’re still bound to that chair. Pretending your brothers haven’t provided you with a weapon to defend yourself. They’ve been protecting you since you were a child.”

Panic set in. How did he know? “How do you figure? They were beyond cruel to me my whole life. I was a girl. A waste of space. They bullied me throughout my entire school years. They beat the shit out of me on a regular basis, terrorized me so that I slept with one eye open. They threw obstacle after obstacle in my way at the academy. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the ones who spread the lies that I was sleeping with every city official in order to protect your corruption. Why in the world would you think they would be protecting me?”

Anger blazed through the McCabe patriarch’s entire being. “They were cruel to you to train you to stand up to me! They taught you to be immune to insults and lies and scandal! They made you stronger than any boy and taught you to fight so that you could take out men their size! Made it so you could stand up to anyone, no matter their level of authority! Everything they did was to make you stronger and able to withstand me! They’ve been useful to me up until now, but don’t think they won’t pay for that,” he snarled.

Frankie brought her arms forward, the knife in her hand as she stood. “If you’re going to kill me, you need to do it now. Those gunshots mean that the FBI is here and has found you.You’re not leaving this hangar alive, whether by my hand or theirs. We both know you won’t go quietly.”

He raised his hand with the gun. “It didn’t have to be this way, Frankie. You could have just come home like you were supposed to.”

The shattering of glass combined with two gunshots. The first shot came from Oisin McCabe and hit Francesca high in the chest, sending her crashing back into the chair, which then tipped onto its back. The second shot came from outside the office, both shattering the window and killing Oisin McCabe. She lay on the ground looking up at the lighting in the ceiling. Her last thought before slipping into unconsciousness was how Ethan would take her death.

27

THE CONCLUSION

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