“Shut the fuck up,” Krista gritted out.
“Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up,” Collette mimicked.
Krista growled low in her throat, shot the bird a dirty look and then put her ear back next to the vent.
Collette skittered along her perch, knocked her bell and then skittered back. “I want Wonder Bread, Joyce. None of that multigrain shit,” she said. “Multigrain shit. Multigrain shit. Hey there, sexy.”
For fuck’s sake. Krista was about to get up and go throw the sheet over the stupid bird’s cage when the heavy stomp of a boot behind her on the wood floor caused her to pause. The cool steel barrel of a gun pressed hard against her temple.
“So lovely of you to join us.”
That voice. It would haunt her every day for the rest of her life.
Hands up, she turned around to face him.
His smile was disgusting. Full of triumph. He thought he’d won.
“You bitches just had to dig, didn’t you?” He snagged her elbow and took the gun from her hand before dragging her back outside and down to her old suite. Marlise and Wendy were both handcuffed and gagged, sitting wide-eyed on the couch. “Now I have all mygirls.” With a jerk and a shove, he pushed her toward the couch, the gun still pointed directly at her. “Well, except for Mullins … but I’ll take care of that dyke later. No witnesses.”
“You okay?” Krista whispered to both Wendy and Marlise.
Mirror-image eyes of panic stared back at her, but they both nodded.
The toilet in the bathroom flushed.
Who else was here?
“Ah, good,” came a familiar voice as Staff Sergeant Wicks came into view, doing up his fly. “They’re all here.”
“Staff sergeant?” Krista whispered. “Why?”
Unlike Slade’s, the staff sergeant’s light-brown eyes showed he still had a conscience. He wasn’t entirely on board with whatever Myles had planned. His gaze landed on Krista, and his eyes softened. “I really hate that it came down tothis, Matthews. You’re all good cops.”
Wendy squeaked next to her, her eyes growing fierce as she glared at the staff sergeant.
“What did Wendy and Marlise find out about you?” Krista asked. Maybe if she kept them both talking, she could come up with a plan to disarm Slade or, at the very least, give Rex or Brock time to get here and rescue them.
Wicks looked a bit embarrassed. A flush colored his cheekbones, and his jaw tightened. Myles was definitely the one calling the shots here.
Myles rolled his eyes, the gun in his hand wobbling slightly. “Junior detectives Lee and Dougherty discovered that I’ve been blackmailing the staff sergeant here.”
Rolling her eyes at the glee Myles was getting from it all, Krista turned her attention to the man who she still believed had a soul. “What does he have on you, sir? Surely it can’t be that bad? Whatever it is, we can help you. You help us, and we’ll help you. You don’t want to do this. You don’thaveto do this.” She was determined not to let her voice crack. She needed to remain calm, collected and confident. If either man knew she was terrified, they’d use that against her. She had to save her friends. Her hand fell to her belly, and a new thread of fear wormed its way through her. She just had to save them.
“I found out that the staff sergeant here has been accepting bribes from a well-known crime family here in town. He looks the other way when it comes to some of their more”—his grin made Krista’s stomach do a somersault—“lucrative business practices, and they pay him handsomely.”
Wicks’ eyes burned with hatred as his gaze swung up to Myles.
“When I discovered that juicy bit, I began using it to my advantage,” Myles went on, clearly enjoying the entire scene more than the rest of them.
“That’s why all our sexual assault claims haven’t gone anywhere,” Krista stated. It wasn’t a question. Wicks had the power to stop the complaints in their tracks. He could even erase them from the database and lean on HR to drop the case altogether. Krista glanced at Wendy and Marlise, and they both nodded toconfirm it. Then she looked back up at Wicks. “Sir, is it really worth the safety of your officers? Myles is a predator. He needs to be stopped.”
Myles snorted. “It might be, if ol’ Wicksy here didn’t have a massive gambling problem and wasn’t in the hole up to his eyeballs. He needs that payout from Yanni. Big time.”
Wendy made a noise next to her to confirm.
Krista went to stand up. Perhaps she could appeal to the human within Staff Sergeant Wicks. She just needed to figure out how. But Myles was quicker, and the cold barrel of the gun was suddenly pressing into her temple once again. “Sit your ass down. The three of you are going to pay for your nosiness. And then I’m going to go take care of your friend.”
“Allie,” Krista breathed.
