“She has half a dozen stitches in her head because of me. Furthermore, my moral obligation to the public ensures I couldn’t leave her.”
. . .
More obsolete silence.
. . .
I drag my cell away from my ear, certain Theresa has hung up on me. It wouldn’t be the first time.
The clock is still counting down. She just wants me to stew.
Fuck her and her black heart. Fuck the world. I feel like shit, the pain tearing at my chest as strong as it was when the doctors advised me Dane would never walk again. He was alive but paralyzed from the chest down. To him, death would have been the better option.
Regan’s injuries are nowhere near as bad as Dane’s, but that hasn’t stopped guilt from gnawing at my chest. If I had continued watching her from a distance as I have the prior six weeks, she wouldn’t be in the hospital, high as a kite on pain pills.
“You told me to get close,” I mutter, using the only excuse I can find.
“No. I told you to monitor her. Not expose you are an agent,” Theresa rebuts, speaking for the first time since I called her to update her on Regan’s condition ten minutes ago.
I lick my suddenly bone-dry lips. “I told her my name. That’s it. No harm has been done.”
Theresa huffs, clearly peeved. “Then how was she seen so quickly? I know firsthand how the hospitals in Ravenshoe work. I delivered my son here. If you hadn’t flashed your badge, she’d still be waiting on the hard plastic blue chairs lining the waiting room.”
As I spin in a circle, my wide eyes take in the plastic chairs surrounding me. They are rigid and blue, just as Theresa stated. “You have an agent tailing me? Are you fucking insane?!”
“I have an agent on atarget—not you. And this is your final warning, Rogers. Cuss at me one more time, and I’ll write you up for being insubordinate.”
My teeth grit.I’ll show you insubordinate, you fire-breathing motherfucking bitch!
Before I can flush my career down the toilet, a sing-song voice calls my name. When I crank my neck to the voice, I discover a nurse in a blue uniform and stark white shoes. “Regan is awake and asking for you.”
I cup the receiver of my phone. “Did she ask for me specifically or. . .?” I leave my question open for her to answer how she sees fit.
The nurse grimaces. “Not exactly. She asked to speak to the person liable for her plastic surgeon bill.”
“Oh.” –That’s it? A fuckin’ ‘oh’?!—“Tell her I’ll be there in a minute.”That’s better. Stern, yet understanding.
Well, I thought it was. The nurse’s eyeroll weakens my assumption.
I wait for her to be out of earshot before returning my focus to Theresa. I should quit. I should tell her to shove her stone-aged antics where the sun doesn't shine. The only reason I don't is because of a pledge I made to Dane years ago. I told him I'd never stop hunting until the man responsible for his injuries is brought to justice. That man is Isaac Holt, and my ticket to him is holed up in an observation bay, waiting for me.
If it were anyone but Regan, I’d get pleasure knowing I’m the man responsible for taking down a member of Isaac’s empire. But since it is Regan, a woman who confuses me as much as she excites me, I’ll wait to crack open my celebratory drink until I have a more deserving victory. I want Isaac to suffer as much as Dane has the past five years, not the woman sheltering him from prosecution.
Although numerous reports have failed to link Regan to Isaac’s empire, my gut assures me I am following the right trail. Regan knows Isaac—the depth of their friendship, and if it started before Substanz is unclear—but I’m certain she is the key to unlocking Isaac’s deepest and darkest secrets. That’s why I chose to investigate her.
Well, that’s what I tell myself when snippets of doubt surface a hundred times every day for the past six weeks.
Ignoring my racing heart, I press my phone closer to my ear. “You instructed me to use any means necessary to bring Isaac to prosecution. I’m following your direct order, Theresa. You’ve read the intelligence; you know Regan is our way in, but if I don’t break through her wall of distrust, she’ll stay as guarded as Isaac.”
Theresa murmurs. It isn’t a conclusive agreement with my statement, but I am going to take it that way.
"If you want your man, let me do my job. If you want to pull me from the case, pull me from the case. But for fuck’s sake, give me a bit of breathing room. I aced the academy; I am singlehandedly responsible for the incarceration of thirty-one notorious men in a little over six years, but even Houdini couldn't break out of the restraints you've put on me. Give me half a chance, Theresa; that's all I am asking."
My pulse pounds my ears as I await her reply.
Thankfully, she doesn’t keep me waiting for long. “Your leash is extremely short.”
“A leash is a leash, as a spade is a spade. I won’t let you down.”
