Page 46 of Long Past Deadly

He stared at her. “What? It’s literally his job.”

“For you, not for me.”

“Untrue. He’ll be put out if I ask anybody else to find a pair. It’s not worth pissing him off. He’s good at what he does, Lani. Leave it.”

She gave in and stood to stomp her boots into place while shoving her credentials into her pocket. A quick use of a brush and a ponytail, her hair was up. “Ready. Let’s go. What about weapons?”

“Patina went to the armory to get them. We’ll meet him at the entrance.”

“Your car or mine.”

Quaid snorted. “QMs. Don’t be surprised if Mackey is driving.”

They exited the room, and she ignored the door to the stairs and pushed the down button on the elevator. “Overkill. We’ll chase him off.”

“We are not meeting him one-on-one. Not happening. He needs to understand what he unleashed.” He stepped closer to her. “You are not alone this time and won’t ever be.” Let her make of that what she would.

He followed her into the elevator and kept silent while the doors closed.

“Say it.”

“Say what?”

“You’d prefer I stay here.”

“Nope, you’re my partner. Where I go, you go. And where you go, I go. Period. Do we understand each other?”

She tilted her head and studied his face. “Okay.”

“What?”

“Not sure I’ve ever had that commitment from a partner before.”

“Then somebody is falling down on the job.” The elevator stopped at the third floor and he huffed in exasperation. But when the doors opened, Mackey stood there, locked and loaded, with his mission face on and no room for argument. Quaid moved closer to Alanna, and Mackey stepped on.

“Three teams are already in the area searching for Whit, so we’ll have backup.”

Alanna ran her eyes over both of them. “Where were you two sixteen years ago?” She mumbled the words, but he heard her.

He waited to answer until she met his eyes. “I wish we’d been there for you, but I was in the Marines by then, Mackey was trying to pass Ranger School. And you made it out by yourself.”

“Through sheer stupidity.”

“No,” Mackey stated. “Even mistakes teach. Sounds like you learned that lesson well.”

The elevator stopped on the ground floor. Conners and Patina waited at the front door. The two QM black SUV’s idled in the drive through portico.

Quaid opened the back door and helped her in. “Safer back here. So don’t say it.”

“I wasn’t going to comment at all. I agree.”

Patina came forward with their weapons and handed her one, then Quaid. “We’ll be behind you.”

“Good.” He slammed the door and went around to the passenger front. Something was seriously wrong with her reactions to all this. She should be snarking at him at the very least.

&&&&&&&&&&

11th and G had a large parking lot currently filled with people and cars. Seven slots at the end had been designated for QM. There was currently a black police SUV parked in one of the slots next to a QM black SUV. Remy St. Claire was talking with the cop.