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Antony looked at the man and raised an eyebrow in question.
Randall continued, “We’ve seen this before. Been a few years, and we’ll have to wait for the tests from Madden, but it was bad.” He turned to walk back to his office. “I’ll call for the case files from back then. Report in when Madden’s released from the hospital. Until then, go get some rest, all of you. It’s been a shit 24 hours, and I need all of us fresh.” He turned to Ant. “You don’t take this shit on your shoulders, Ramos.”
“I’m not—” he started.
“No, you’re not.” The older man stared down at him, hard. “Not your fault. Get it through that skull.”
“Roger.”
Randall got about two steps down the hall before he called out, “I don’t hear you three leaving.”
The trio walked out of the building and toward their cars in silence.
“I need to go run or something,” Antony said.
Simon squeezed Audrey’s shoulder, and she nodded. “I’ll go with. I could blow off some steam, too.”
“You don’t have to babysit me.”
“No shit, dumbass. It’s been awhile though, and I really could use a run.”
Antony scrubbed his hand through his hair and nodded. “Meet you on Apache Flats in twenty?”
Twenty-five minutes later, the men hit the road at an easy pace.
“This shit’s not sitting right, Simon,” Antony said. “Too many things aren’t adding up here.”
“Mmhmm. But it’s still so early in the game, we can’t know for sure.” Simon looked over at his friend. “Your gut?”
Antony nodded. “I don’t know what I’d do if we lost her, man.”
“Me either.” Simon wasn’t as close to Charlie as Antony was, but she was such an integral part of the team that what happened was a blow to them all. She was also Audrey’s best friend, and if something worse had happened, well, he didn’t want to think of what that would mean. “But we didn’t,” he said, nudging Antony. “That’s what matters. She’s safe, and we’ll figure this shit out. We need to shut whatever this is down, fast.”
“Top saying this is gonna get worse ain’t helping.”
“No. It’s not.”
They continued the run in silence. Half an hour later, they made it back to their cars.
Antony popped the trunk on his car and propped himself on the edge before reaching down to spin the knob on the side of his running blade. A quick tug and it released. He set it down in the trunk and grabbed his regular foot and fixed it in place.
“What are you going to do now?” Simon asked.
“Shower. Grab some lunch at the food court. Need to pick up a couple things, anyway. You?”
“The usual,” Simon grinned.
“Mmhmm. Well, give my regards to ‘the usual.’”
Simon laughed as he got in his car. “Will do.”
As he watched Simon drive off, a twinge of jealousy spiked in his chest. Simon’s relationship with Audrey was hard won, by both of them, and it was almost obnoxious how in love they were. Almost. They’d come close to losing her, too, to some asshole associated with her imprisoned father. And then there were the ones they had lost. He absently rubbed the four thin black lines on his forearm.
Now was not the time. He started the car and pulled out onto the road. It was time to focus on the living.
CHAPTER FOUR
Lesley twirled the pen between her fingertips as she stared at the stack of papers in front of her. She’d seen the altercation at the door. Antony exuded a power she found both intimidating and exciting, and she wondered what he did to have that kind of presence. The man who ran off had shown up shortly after they arrived and started talking to one of the other people in their group. She didn’t know him, but he never left, and with such a large group, she didn’t pay much attention to him. If he was responsible for what happened to Antony’s friend, he could have done it to any of them. And if that was the case, it was possible he’d done it before. She shuddered. They were so close to the border, and even though military personnel weren’t allowed to cross, that rule didn’t apply to civilians. Drugs from Mexico were abundant and easy to come by.
