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“On it. Local badges are almost here. I’ll do my best to get in.”
“Be careful, Tank.”
They drove for a bit, circling to avoid the emergency responders flooding the area and make sure no one was following them.
Twenty minutes later, they picked up Tank at a strip mall on the edge of the shopping district. He waited at the bus stop, brown leather bag in hand.
“Nice purse. Really goes with your shoes,” Pierce said through the rolled down window as they pulled up alongside the tiny shelter. There was an old lady on the other end of the bench, eyeing Tank rather suspiciously and clutching her own handbag to her chest as though he might swipe it.
Tank nodded at her and said, “Have a nice day, ma’am,” as he climbed into the SUV.
Pierce howled with laughter as they pulled away.
“I think she was fixin’ to call the police on you,” Will added.
“Good thing that bag wasn’t pink or something,” Pierce said. “Hard enough to be inconspicuous when you look like Tank. Let alone holding a purse.”
Will glanced at Melanie as she took in the exchange, the hint of a smile playing on her lips as the team teased the large man. When Tank growled at Will, he saw her eyes widen. Fear?
Will leaned in, “He’s harmless, I promise. Just a bit uncivilized.”
“I heard that,” Tank said from her other side. “Here’s your bag, ma’am.”
“Thank you,” she said, her raspy voice cracking on the words. He looked around for some water to offer her, but he’d emptied his bottle to clean the blood from her face.
“Pierce, you got water?”
Pierce handed her a new bottle from the front seat, and Melanie gratefully drank nearly half of it.
“What’s the plan?”
Tank’s question made Will pull his eyes away from the movement of Melanie’s slender throat as she swallowed the water.
In a process that was as familiar as breathing, Will evaluated his options, dismissing each of them in turn. He didn’t want to take her to the safe house until he knew he could trust her.
He needed to get the video from her, figure out how to catch the shooter, and take him down. And keep her alive in the meantime.
“Call Miranda. Get a hotel room for tonight.”
Pierce raised his eyebrows but pointed at Tank to make the call.
He grabbed Melanie’s bag from her lap and began to dig through the contents.
“What on God’s green earth do you think you’re doing?”
Melanie tugged her bag out of his hands. The quiet, confused woman was gone, replaced by one glaring daggers at him and yelling at him.
“I need that video,” he said firmly.
“And I already told you that I’m not handing it over.” She crossed her arms over the bag.
Will pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, trying to push away the headache that was building behind his eyes. “We talked about this, Miss Byers. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but I’m going to get that video.”
“Over my dead body.”
His temper flared and Will turned in his seat to face her fully. “Do you not understand what just happened back there? Do you not see how this team right here saved your life and risked our own to make it happen? We are the good guys, Melanie. Stop acting like the enemy or we will start treating you like one. And that is not something you want. I can promise you that.”
CHAPTERTEN
