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“So she’ll run.”A long sigh.“Shit.Makes things complicated as hell.Ineedto use her to draw him out.”
“I won’t let her run.”I won’t let Lark turn into a wanted criminal.“I’ll keep her at my side.You can have Feds with us the whole time.There will be no way for her to give us the slip.”Would she hate him even more if she knew what he was saying?Probably.But Lark wouldn’t live the rest of her life looking over her shoulder.
“You sure about that?”Colby’s doubt was clear.“The woman seems to have you wrapped around her finger.How do I know that you won’t let her do anything she wants?”
Lark turned away from the mirror.
So Oliver finally looked at Colby.“I am in complete control when it comes to Lark.”
Colby’s brow furrowed.He searched Oliver’s face.“You’re…holy shit, man, have you beenworking the caseall along?”His mouth formed a giant O before he snapped his lips closed and got himself together enough to ask, “You been working her this whole time?Trying to get more evidence?”Another hard exhale.“Trying to shut down this nonsense about her brother being innocent by sealing all the holes in his coffin?You—you let her think you were working with her, but you were really workingherall along?”
The Executive Assistant Director talked far too much.He also asked the wrong questions.“She won’t run.If she finds her brother, I’ll be there.I’ll arrest him.Then you can have one of your press conferences and let the city know it’s safe again.”
A slow smile spread over Colby’s face.“Guess your break is over, huh?”
“What break?”Oliver returned.
Colby slapped a hand on his shoulder.“That’s what I thought.You tricky bastard…go bring that asshole down.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lark had always believed that when darkness swept over Vegas, the city truly came alive.Maybe that was why she’d been so drawn to the city.Right after college, she’d moved to Vegas and never left.There was light in the darkness of Vegas.So much light.
“We should go back to my place,” Oliver said.Quiet, intense Oliver.He’d been that way during the hours of their search as the darkness stretched and stretched.“It’s getting beyond late—”
“And we’ve turned up nothing so far,” Special Agent Shannon Steele finished.Shannon had been with them ever since they left the Bureau.Tall, with short, black hair styled in a modern pixie cut and sporting a no-nonsense attitude, the agent had been on high alert every moment.
Oliver had been on one side of Lark.Shannon on the other.Guarding her?Or keeping her prisoner?
Did Oliver truly think that she might run?
And what about the big lie?He’d clearly suspected from the beginning that she had made up the story about the package being delivered to her store.What was he thinking now that the lie had been proven?She was desperate to ask him all the questions tumbling through her mind, but she couldn’t exactly do it with an audience watching.
Lark was sure Shannon wasn’t the only FBI agent on guard duty for her.She’d caught glimpses of Everett Callen, another member of Oliver’s team.Everett seemed to be busy skulking in the shadows.Skulk all you like, I still know you’re watching.
She’d first met him months before so when she’d caught a glimpse of him at their second stop—an old gym Lane had frequented—she’d known that he’d been brought along to keep watch.
Oliver’s gang is getting back together.The team she’d first met?Oliver, Shannon, Everett, Theo, and Jase.Theo and Jase weren’t beating the streets with them.No doubt, they’d been sent off by Colby Ballard in another direction.
But as for Oliver, Everett and Shannon?They were in hunting mode.The elite agents were needed to bring out a monster once again.Her brother.
“After we check inside, we can go back to your place,” Lark offered.They’d sleep and try again at first light.But she didn’t want to turn back now.After all, they were just steps away from their final destination.
They’d searched so much already.
Lane hadn’t been at his lawyer’s—not her office or at her home.
He hadn’t been at his gym.None of his favorite bars or coffee spots.
Lane’s business had been shuttered and empty.The warehouse he owned locked up.
Lane had never been exactly tight with any friends, but Lark had still taken the agents to the homes of his closest acquaintances.People who hadnotbeen pleased to see her on their doorsteps as the hour grew later and later.
And now—now she was down to her last hope.
She looked up at the FOR RENT sign on the side of the building.The new owner of the building hadn’t yet succeeded in renting the place out.The front window was empty and dark.In the past, she’d always tried to put in fun and creative displays in that window—displays usually themed around whatever holiday approached.
It wasn’t just the window that was dark.The whole store was dark.There would be no bright and beautiful flowers inside.She’d sold them all long ago.Sold all of her equipment.Nothing would be left.
