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Liam rounded the coffee table and caught up to them. “I’ll need an ice pack.”
“That’s cause you’re old.” Jasper offered over his shoulder.
“And wise.” Liam cuffed him on the back of the head. “So don’t you forget it.”
Things might be crazy, but he still had his brothers in SWAT. Now he just might have Roxie as well.
It was time to settle an old score.
THIRTY
Roxie set her laptop on the conference room table. Peter stood by the whiteboard, and Bob shut the door behind him as he came in. They seemed to want to ask her about Liam and what had happened—in front of everyone—but they didn’t. And she loved them all the more for it, knowing they were respecting her decision not to bring it up.
The fact was her head still spun.
What with the arrival of two federal agents and their dog, and the closed door meeting they’d had with Clare and Bob. Then the shoot-out out front and believing for a moment he might be dead. The call had come through the intercom that rang in every room in the whole building: Incoming. Police officer in danger. They’d run out, along with everyone else who wanted the chance to get in a firefight.
They were a strange breed, these operators. The kind of people who ran toward danger, not away from it. She was grateful to find others like her outside of the Marines. It made her feel a little less like an oddity in a world that people respected but didn’t really understand.
“Ready?” Peter tapped the whiteboard marker on his other hand. The guy hadn’t lost his tension since they’d been outside, but they’d worked together well out there. He was new and had less training than her, but she was rusty these days and needed to get back into it. They could spend some time upstairs, running through drills so they got really in sync.
Assuming that this thing became a more permanent position.
Did she want to stay where Liam was after this was over? After “Mark” was arrested or dead? Roxie gave herself a second to absorb it. “This is…” She couldn’t believe what they’d found. “I’m not crazy.”
Peter’s smile softened. The kid was young but a good man already and someone she trusted. Why was it necessary for her to keep reminding herself of that? She could trust the people around her. Colleagues, and friends. Liam and the guys he worked with in SWAT.
She had a support system here. Something she hadn’t had in a long time—but which she couldn’t help being grateful for.Is that Your doing, God? If so, thank You. Help me work out this thing with Liam so I can get to a place where I’m not scared anymore.
Bob came over to Peter and sank into a leather chair. “Run it down for me.”
Peter said, “Bottom line, Clare was right—no surprise there. It looks like when Mark died, Brad assumed his life, or at least his appearance and his credit cards, and decided to torment Roxie.”
What she needed to know was where it would stop. And how soon that was going to occur. Liam might have been the catalyst for the things that had happened recently, but surely, Brad couldn’t do this forever. He must have a plan to finish it, finally.
No matter how it ended, at least it would be over.
Roxie had found a picture of the brothers as kids in Mark’s house long ago. Why hadn’t she remembered that? She’d been so traumatized by what was happening, thinking she was seeing a dead man, that she hadn’t recalled it until Peter showed her a picture of Brad Mills. Even without plastic surgery, they’d resembled each other.
At this point, she’d rather think about Liam and his kisses. Better than a man who’d painted a target on her and Liam. Or maybe the Northwest Counter-Terrorism people and what they might be doing here.
But if she didn’t face this, then she would have to live with it forever, like a symptom of a disease, ignored and never treated.
Bob grunted. “How do we find and catch this guy?”
Roxie nearly smiled. It was sweet of Bob to be offended on her behalf.
“What?” Bob frowned at her.
“You care about me.”
“I have a daughter. She’s tough like you. An FBI agent.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t kick in doors and have words with someone who was harassing her. And if they continued?” He shook his head, a dark look in his eyes. “I’m not a cop anymore. I’m a convicted criminal. It’s not like anyone would be surprised by what I’d do.”
Roxie set both palms on the table and leaned forward. “Don’t kill someone on my behalf.” There were ways to end a life that were legal, so it didn’t count if he had to protect himself or someone else by taking out Brad. They all knew that. But murder? She wouldn’t be the reason his daughter would have to visit him in prison for the rest of his life.
Bob shot her a look like,I do what I want.
“Let’s try to take care of this without any of us getting arrested, okay?”
