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He could think what he wanted. She wasn’t going to change her mind.
A knock at their door had her jumping in her seat. Okay, she wasn’t going to change her mind, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t on edge. Steele crossed over to check through the peephole before opening the door to take the tray.
The scent of french fries made her mouth water. They weren’t healthy, but she didn’t care. Returning to some level of normalcy even for a few hours had brought her appetite back.
Steele uncovered their plates, then sat beside her. She was about to say grace, but Steele surprised her by taking her hand.
“Dear Lord, thank You for this food we’re about to eat. We ask that You continue to keep us all safe in Your care, the entire tactical team but especially Harper and her unborn child. Amen.”
“Amen.” Her voice was husky with emotion. She glanced at their joined hands, then up at Steele. “That was nice.”
“We need God’s protection now more than ever.” He gently squeezed her hand, then released her to cut his chicken sandwich in half.
He was right, but the fact that he’d even bothered to pray for her was humbling. She almost wished she’d met Steele before she’d married Jake. But no, she’d been blessed with this baby. She wouldn’t regret that.
But this time with Steele only reinforced the truth. That a husband and more children was something she’d never have.
* * *
Steele forced himself to eat.His nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Not because of the danger, they were safe here. But this togetherness with Harper was wearing on him.
He hadn’t truly appreciated what Joe had gone through last month while protecting Elly. It had been obvious that Joe was falling for Rhy’s younger sister, talk about playing with fire. He’d warned Joe from getting too involved, yet here he was doing the exact same thing. The only difference was that Joe and Elly were engaged to be married. The entire team had been invited to their wedding next month. The Finnegans didn’t wait around, they jumped right into marriage without hesitation.
Watching Harper work today should have been boring, like watching paint dry.
But it wasn’t.
He’d spent some time following up with Rae and Brock about the evidence they’d found in the brown SUV and the various shooting scenes. Unfortunately, the crime scene techs hadn’t uncovered anything new.
The planted murder weapon had nagged at him all afternoon. He went back and forth between suspecting the ATF agents of planting it to Tommy Grotto doing the deed himself. He always came back to the idea that the ATF agents wouldn’t be so stupid as to put the gun there, then set themselves up as the cops who found it.
Which left Tommy Grotto or his buddy Waylon Brooks. He’d also wondered why the information Harper’s ex-husband had given the ATF agents hadn’t yielded any fruit. In his opinion, if Feldman was being straight with them, they’d have one or the other in custody by now.
Preferably both.
Something to discuss tomorrow during the meeting. He’d already asked Brock to ride along with them to the precinct. He knew the meeting wouldn’t take place until late morning, as the ATF agents would need to transport Feldman here from Chicago, but he planned to get Harper there early. If nothing else, he wanted some time to talk to Rhy and Joe about their next steps.
“That was good, Steele. Thanks.” Harper stacked her dishes, then yawned. “I’m sorry, but I need to get some sleep.”
“That’s fine.” He took the tray from her fingers. “I’ll deal with this. Go relax, Harper. It’s been a long day.”
“No kidding,” she murmured. She flashed a brief smile, then walked toward her bedroom.
He finished eating, then set the tray outside their door. The hotel was quiet, which was probably a good thing. He felt too restless to sleep, so he went back to pacing the room.
It was nice to have a safe place for Harper, but the inactivity was driving him nuts. They couldn’t just hang out in hotel rooms forever. They needed a plan to draw the shooter out into the open. Not that he intended to use Harper as bait, but maybe a female officer could be used as her double? The more he’d thought about it, the more he’d warmed to the idea.
Jina had long blond hair too. Her features were more angular than Harper’s, but if she wore her hair down and had a pillow tucked under her clothes to fake a pregnancy, anyone watching her from a distance might believe she’s Harper.
It could work. Especially if there was only a small handful of people who knew about the trap. Specifically, the members of the tactical team and no one else.
Not even the ATF agents.
He’d decided not to mention the idea to Harper until he had buy-in from the upper brass. He doubted Harper would like it, even if it meant getting their hands on the shooter. But he wasn’t sure that Rhy would go along with the plan anyway.
Even though Jina Wheeler was a trained sharpshooter, they were always cautious about putting one of their own in the line of danger.
Knowing Jina, she’d jump at the chance to prove herself. She always wanted to be involved, regardless of the danger level. She was more than competent, though. The woman spent more time at the shooting range than all the team members combined.
