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She knew no one was coming to get them, but she had to keep Davenport talking. If she wasted enough time, maybe an opportunity would present itself. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you fucked everything up.” Spittle flew from his mouth, and he waved the gun around like it was nothing. Like it couldn’t end her life with the lightest touch of his finger. “Lewis would go down for the murder. Grayson would stay out of jail. I’d get a promotion. It was fool-proof. Except I didn’t think I’d be dealing with a psychic. I’m not one to believe in that horse-shit, but there’s no other way you could’ve known Lewis didn’t pull the trigger.”

“It was you.” Cassie ground her teeth together. “You killed Connor to protect Grayson. But you didn’t do it for the senator. You did it for Apex. If they lost their champion, they’d have to back another horse. That takes a lot of resources.”

“They’ve got resources.” Davenport shook his head. “What they don’t have is time.”

“They’d have to find someone else to groom for the presidency.” Cassie’s stomach churned. “They must be pretty mad at you.”

“Oh, they are.” Davenport’s eyes were wild. There was still spittle on his chin. “Apex doesn’t offer second chances. And I have you to thank for that.”

“Blame me,” Viotto said. “I’m the one who wanted her on the case.”

“How about I blame both of you?”

“So, what? You’re going to kill us?” Cassie was scared and angry and tired of being at the wrong end of the barrel. “How’s that going to make anything better? Then you’ll go down for three murders instead of just one.”

“I’m aware of the odds, sweetheart, thank you.” Davenport sneered at her, but he lowered his weapon. “Luckily for you, I’m willing to negotiate.”

A floorboard creaked, and a figure appeared behind Davenport. The detective whipped around, but he couldn’t raise his gun fast enough. One minute, he was standing, and the next, he was laying prone on the ground with Mannis pointing a gun at his head.

38

Cassie scrambled to untie Viotto, who immediately retrieved his gun from the next room where it must’ve landed when Davenport had disarmed him. Now the detective had two guns pointed at his face. He didn’t dare move a muscle.

“Been following this asshole for hours. He tailed you from Bolton’s apartment building to the crime scene. Color me shocked when I saw him go right up to you two and invite you to follow him here.”

“Saw the tail, didn’t know it was him.” Viotto glared at Davenport. “Said he had a witness he wanted to check out.”

“Technically, I did—”

“Shut up.” Viotto clenched his jaw. “You won’t get a warm welcome when we take you in.”

“Wait.” Davenport finally looked worried. “You can’t take me back there. They’ll kill me.”

Mannis holstered his gun and retrieved Davenport’s, unloaded it, and tucked it away. “What do you propose?”

Viotto refused to look away from the man on the ground. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“He said he’s willing to negotiate. We’ve got nothing on Apex. Let’s hear what he has to say. If it’s good enough, we take him home with us. If it’s not,” Mannis shrugged, “we let his friends deal with him.”

Viotto backed up, but didn’t lower his weapon. Davenport sat up and scooted back against the wall. He kept his hands visible the entire time.

“I want immunity.”

The room was silent for a full ten seconds before Viotto tipped his head back and laughed. Even Mannis chuckled. The two agents looked at each other and shook their heads. Viotto made a show of wiping away a tear.

“I didn’t know you were this funny, Davenport.”

“I’m not joking.” He leaned forward. His eyes were wild. “I turn on Apex. You get me immunity.”

Mannis crossed his arms. “You know how this works. You need to get us solid information on Apex, something we can convict someone with. Something bigger than your murder charge. Then we can talk about immunity.”

“Even if you hadn’t assaulted me, held Cassie at gunpoint, and confessed, what do you want to bet we’d have enough to convict you? Apex will let you rot in prison if they don’t send someone to kill you first. All that security footage that was missing? All those records someone wiped clean? I’m sure they’ll show up sooner rather than later.”

“Don’t you think I understand that?” Davenport threw up his arms. “I’m not stupid. I know what kind of shit I’m in here. I’m trying to stay alive. Be in witness protection. I don’t care if one of you watches me wipe my ass every day for the rest of my life. I just want to be alive to do it.” He looked at Mannis. “You know what Apex is capable of. You understand what they can do. Help me.”

Mannis shrugged his shoulders. “Give me something I can work with.”

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