My brows join as confusion slices the tip off my anger. “I thought Theresa ordered you there?”
Since she’s so worked-up, even her breathing crackles when she tattles, “They instructed me to tell you that if you showed up.”
“And the plates we’ve been searching for the past four hours?” My voice is as hot as the anger roaring through my veins.
Ellie chokes back a sob before disclosing, “I did see a car when I arrived, but the tags and information on Megan’s murder were patched through to my phone this morning.”
I am tempted to crush her phone to death when she digs it out of her pocket to show us the messages she was sent. They’re basic, but the prose is undeniable. She’s being puppeteered by an outside source.
As the pieces of the puzzle slowly slot together, the truth smacks into me. “How did they get you to agree to do this? Not even an unbreakable bond could have you siding with the wrong side of the law.”
Ellie doesn’t need to answer my question. Her eyes tell me everything I need to know. They have the same petrified glint Roxanne’s had when I used Estelle to force her to eat.
After stuffing my gun down the front of my pants, I snatch up the microphone Smith growled down a minute ago and press it to my lips. “This is a hostage situation. Exterminate the perpetrators. I repeat,onlyexterminate the perpetrators.”
Clover peers at the body cam on Preacher’s chest before he jerks up his chin, advising he understands my objective.
Once all four men are weaponed-up and ready to roll, they enter the Gould residence by a side entrance. The constant yap of a pair of chihuahuas exposes the perps are still in the vicinity. They don’t pay Clover and his crew any attention. They’re facing away from them, barking in the direction of the room Clover wordlessly instructs for his men to enter first.
The next thirty seconds is a blur of gunfire and wounded cries. The sobs aren’t coming from my men. They don’t murmur a peep during operations like this. They remain completely quiet, aware sneaky attacks are usually more deadly.
Within minutes of entering the premises, Clover unclips the body cam on his vest and swivels it around so I can see his face. His brows are sweaty, and his grin is massive. He is in his element. “Perps have been exterminated. Hostages are uninjured and accounted for.”
Ellie sucks in her first breath in what feels like minutes when he spins the camera around to show the remaining four members of her family bound and gagged but relatively unscathed.
“You owe me,” I say before I can stop myself. “And I want payment in full,today.”
I don’t wait to see her nod because if it is slower than immediate, I’ll order Clover to finish what Smith attempted to start. That’s how worked up I am and how hollow my chest feels. Roxanne wasn’t meant to get hurt, and although tears are usually painless, I have a feeling Roxanne isn’t experiencing that tonight. She’s hurting. I can feel it in my bones, and I’m going to make sure the people responsible for her pain pay with more than their lives.
I’m going to claim their souls as well.
10
Dimitri
Iscrub a hand over my tired eyes when Smith and Ellie enter my office at the same time. Since Smith’s shoulders are almost as wide as mine, he has to take a step back to let Ellie enter first. It’s cordial for him to do and expected since Ellie has kept her word the past several hours. She’s left no stone unturned as she has endeavored to repay her debt. Just like she wouldn’t fall on the knife for Smith, she won’t for me either, but she’s convinced she doesn’t need to get her hands dirty to achieve a good outcome.
“I think we have a way of unearthing Rimi’s location.” Smith lays a set of official-looking documents onto my desk before pressing his palms to the battered material. “Although we have no intel Roxanne is with him—”
“We both know he is,” I interrupt, confident I know him well enough to know what direction he’s taking.
He lifts his chin. “Ellie contacted some friends in the Bureau about an operation that’s being kept under wraps. When her inquiries didn’t yield any results, she contacted less- attributed colleagues.”
When I shift my eyes to Ellie, she faintly smiles. She isn’t comfortable with the line she’s crossed, but she’ll wear the injustice if it has her name smudged from my tally board sooner rather than later.
“What I said earlier about Internal Affairs investigating my department wasn’t a lie. We’ve been under scrutiny for a couple of months now.” Ellie digs through the stack of papers Smith laid out until she finds a trio of two men and one woman. “With bureaucratic tape the thickest it’s ever been, IA will never say who their main suspects are, but even rookie agents can smell a rat.” She waits to see if Smith smiles about the wit in her tone. When he doesn’t, she gets back to business. “These were the main runners for IA’s investigation. I reached out to the first two with the hope a little bit of ego-stroking would entice them into an unethical conversation.” She screws up her nose. “They didn’t take the bait. However…” she places down a photo of a man I’d guess to be mid-thirties with a dramatic flair, “… he loved having his ego stroked. So much so, he wanted to exchange pictures.”
My lips quirk. “You went in as an admirer instead of a colleague?”
Smith doesn’t look happy when she nods. “Previous exchanges with him assured me it was the right route to take.”
“Was it?”
Smith nods along with Ellie this time around. “They exchanged photos. He admired Ellie’salmostnude photograph…” he overemphasizes the word ‘almost’ to ensure I understand she wasn’t exposed “… long enough for me to poke around on his computer. He’s the nark IA is seeking.” After waving his hand over the official-looking Bureau documents, he adds, “This is only a handful of stuff he’s shared with the men his team is chasing.”
The extra beat of my heart is heard in my question. “Is Rimi’s current location amongst this?”
Disappointment smacks into me hard and fast when Smith shakes his head. “But it unveiled a way we can find out where he is.”
