Page 59 of Red, White, and BearCat Blue

He scratched his beard, tugging on it. “We want to make your exit less showy, so I figure the two of you can go over the back fence and through the neighborhood. Since your Camaro is currently on a flatbed on its way back from Vegas, I’m having an agent bring you a car. He’ll park it on the next street over.”

“Okay, and from there? Where to?”

“I’m arranging for a room at the Westin Bonaventure for the two of you,” Candy replied. “It’s only seven minutes from the office, so you can bring Mr. Demarco back in if he’s needed. I’m only assigning one of you since that’ll be more discreet. We don’t need to draw attention to either of you until we have Sterling in custody with a solid case built.”

I swallowed. Putting Cam and me in a hotel room was like putting the cat among the pigeons since the last time we’d been in one together, things had gotten very heated, very quickly. “So, I’m on permanent guard duty then?”

Candy frowned. “Yes…unless that’s a problem for you, Clifford.”

I blew out a long breath. “No, boss, course not.”

I wasn’t about to enlighten him; he’d bloody crucify me. But the last thing I needed was to be forced to stay in a hotel room night after night with a temptation like Cam in the room with me.

“You two seem to get along.” He glanced at Mickey before looking back. “Way says the man trusts you.”

I shot Mickey a look of surprise. He was watching me right back. He shrugged. “You seem to like him fine.” Blimey. Any denial would be a lie.

“Yeah, ‘e’s not a ‘ardened criminal by any means. I think ‘e’s been given a bit of a raw deal in life and made the best of it.” I caught Cam watching us from the kitchen with a guarded expression on his face. “We could always ask ‘im ‘is thoughts on the arrangement.”

Candy frowned. “That’s not an option here, Clifford. Whatever arrangements we make are for their own good.”

I nodded, feeling butterflies in my stomach as I came to a conclusion. “So, it’s an order then, sir.”

He smirked. “That’s right.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to ‘im.”

Candy ignored me and lifted his hand, beckoning Cam over. “I wanted to fill you in on what will be happening, Mr. Demarco.”

Cam stood beside me, crossing his arms over his chest, watching Candy with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. “Okay.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking uncomfortable.

Candy explained the plan. “We’ll be moving your mom in the morning. I’d say we should move her now, but I’m guessing she needs her rest.”

“She definitely needs a good night’s sleep. After everything she went through today, I’m actually shocked that she stayed on her feet as long as she did, if I’m being honest.” He frowned deeply. “Do you think it’s safe to move her to a private residence in broad daylight?”

“I don’t think we have a choice, Mr. Demarco,” Candy replied honestly. “We’ll just have to take precautions that we aren’t followed tomorrow.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “What kind of precautions?”

“I’ll get in touch with the CHP and have them run a traffic break on the 405 when we head south. If we’re followed, they’ll be caught behind it and we can proceed on. By the time they figure out what’s going on, we’ll have changed vehicles and it’ll be virtually impossible for anyone to know which patrol car we’ve got her in.”

Cam uncrossed his arms, breathing out a sigh of relief as he looked up at me for confirmation. When I nodded, he glanced back at the boss. “Okay, if you can do that, it sounds great.”

Candy nodded sharply. “Good. That’s settled then.”

“Can I leave my things with someone?” Cam asked. “I’ll take my clothes, but the other things I have…I don’t want anything lost as we hop fences.”

“Of course. Take only what you need.” Candy glanced at me. “Put his clothes in your backpack.”

“Go get them, Cam.” He nodded and moved away.

“I trust you to watch over him with your life, Mars.”

I nodded. “Goes without saying, boss.”

He stared at me with an intense gaze. I couldn’t work out what I was seeing behind his eyes, but Candy was no fool. He had to know I was attracted to Cam but he’d never mention it to me. I wondered if he’d planned things out for some other reason. Both Nash and Patsy had met the loves of their lives while watching over the men they eventually pledged themselves to.

He was way off base with me, though. I wasn’t interested in settling down with any man, much less a man I had absolutely no future with. I was a dedicated law enforcement officer, and Cam was a criminal, regardless of the circumstances that led to his life choices. Not to mention the fact that I never ever dated a man more than once. I had no desire to be tied to any one guy. It was more trouble than it was worth as far as I was concerned.