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He’s silent a full three beats in which I can almost hear him cursing. “Did you tell him who, Ed?”
“No, I did not. Is this really a problem? Pitt and Martin are good men.”
“Everyone’s good until they prove otherwise,” Adam says.
“Exactly what I said,” he replies.
“Unfortunately,” Adam says, “we often find out they’re bad when someone ends up dead.”
“Ed, this is Savage,” comes another male voice. “Hey ya, Pri,” he adds as if we’ve met, offering me power, I think.
“Hi Savage,” I say, playing along and wishing I could speak freely and directly to Adrian, but comforted by his team’s open involvement.
“The good news,” Savage says, “is that our involvement means killing witnesses will feel too high-risk for the assassin.”
“In other words,” Ed says, a gloating smile on his face. “The assassin will back off.”
It hits me then that this was Ed’s. He thought Walker was wrong about keeping their involvement silent. And he thought exposing them was a way to protect himself, but I don’t think Savage is confirming his success but rather the opposite.
“Speaking as a former assassin,” Savage continues, “no. He won’t back down. He’ll decide he can only risk one last hit and he’d better make it good. That means you, Ed.”
Ed visibly pales.
“But more good news,” Savage adds. “I love these games and I always win. All the bad guys end up dead, Ed. All of them. I’ll be close. Stop talking to people.” The line goes dead.
Ed’s jaw clenches and he stands up, no doubt flaunting his larger size. “Anything else?”
“Waters wants to meet. He’s offering us a trade, three for one, him being the one. No names. He’ll give them to me if he trusts me. And before you get excited about this, Walker believes anyone on that list is meant to be a suspect in your murder.”
“Let me be clear, I agreed to protection because I’m not stupid, but it’s borderline conspiracy theory that everything Waters does is a part of a bigger plot. Maybe he just wants to make a deal.”
“You’ve read his file. This is what he does. He layers his many versions of evil. This fits his profile.”
“I’ll take the meeting.”
“He asked for me. Waters said he’ll only make the deal if he trusts me.”
“I’m the final say. He can trust me.”
“But can you trust him?” I press. “The deal will never happen.”
“If it’s a good enough deal, it might.”
I blanch and recover quickly. “I can’t even believe you’re saying this. A good enough deal will put him right back on the streets.”
“And put three other monsters behind bars. What time is the meeting?”
“Two.”
“Good. We’ll go together. Then he has you and me. We’ll get this done and save some lives.”
“You’re afraid of him, aren’t you?” I don’t give him time to reply. “I’m not going. You’re no better than my father. I don’t even know why I’m here. You’d better make the deal because I’m off the case and without me, there will be delays. It won’t look good that I quit right before the trial and your election.”
“You think you can blackmail me?”
“This isn’t blackmail, Ed. This is me telling you where I stand.” I start for the door.
“Do not even think about walking out of this office,” he calls out.
I pause, hand on the knob and I don’t turn. “Are you going to let me run this case my way?”
“That’s not how this works.”
I open the door to exit and gasp. Adrian is standing there.Chapter Twenty-SevenADRIAN
Pri pulls Ed’s door shut behind her, her perfect pale skin flushed pink. “What are you doing here?” she whispers, catching my shirt and then glancing around me to check for prying eyes.
“Relax, sweetheart,” I say, and do so with confidence. Aside from my team nearby and watching the building and even the floor, I tracked every person in my path and in view on my way here. “Ed’s office area is private.”
“And yet you walked through the main workspace. You’re going to get yourself killed. Are you crazy?”
She’s worried. I shouldn’t enjoy that, but I really fucking do. “For you,” I say, sliding my hand around her hip to press to her lower back.
“Adrian,” she chides, her hands going to my arms, but her body softens and melts into mine. “What are you doing?”
“Weeks ago you would have eagerly handed me over to Ed as your star witness.”
“I would have protected you then, too, but now—”
I arch a brow. “Now?”
“Now, I’m personally involved,” she says quickly, glossing over what she might have said moments before. “We agreed you were keeping a low profile to stay alive.”
“And now, I’m not. Do you trust me?”
“I thought I did,” she says, “and then you showed up here trying to get killed.”
“More like trying to catch a killer.”
“Please tell me you’re not using yourself as bait.”
