Denise found her first genuine smile that night. “What can I say? I’m an ammo-sexual who likes to exercise my Second Amendmentrights.”
The agent rolled his eyes andgrimaced.
“Eddie Perry,” Chrissaid.
It was the first time he’d looked directly at her for more than a few seconds and she wished he’d just kept looking at his notepad. Two days ago, he’d had his face buried between her legs, making her promises, and now he treated her like a stranger. Objectively she understood what he was doing, not showing any emotion or hinting at any personal connection, especially in front of other agents, but she was so tired of it. Tired of being second. Tired of always being promised more, when there wasn’tany.
“What abouthim?”
“You think he was involved inthis?”
“After demanding to know where his kids are and the threats he made at the rescue, yes—he was involved in this. I don’t know if he was one of the guys on the bikes or if he was in the truck or if he was even there at all, but he was involved somehow. There is no reason for them to target meotherwise.”
“I’m sure you’re aware of the FBI’s interest in the Southern Anarchists,” Philsaid.
“I amaware.”
“We believe Eddie Perry is making a play to take over the Anarchists,” Chris said. “We’ve had several reports he’s trying to reconstitute the group under his leadership with intentions to branch out into guns, drugs, and humantrafficking.”
She didn’t respond. Partly because she couldn’t make herself care. What the Anarchists did wasn’t her problem. Keeping Eddie away from Kimber and Kaden was her problem and she wasn’t going to do anything to put them in the middle of a war between the FBI and the Anarchists. She waited, content to sit in the silence, knowing eventually someone would say something to fill the void. People tended to be uncomfortable with silence, especially after a statement had been made to elicit aresponse.
They knew that. They’d had similar training to what she’d had, but with the exception of Chris they likely didn’t know her background. She’d sat for hours across from a detainee fighting a silent battle of wills. She’d neverlost.
“Jesus! Don’t you care?” the female agentasked.
“No. I don’t,” she said. “Eddie Perry can rot in hell. I wish you all the luck in catching him and the rest of the Anarchists but, other than their threat to my kids, I don’t have shit to do withthem.”
“We’d like to put you and the children in a safe house,” Philsaid.
“No.”
“Denise—”
Denise leaned forward in the chair and braced her arms on the table. “I said no. These kids have had their lives disrupted enough in the past few weeks. They know nothing about their biological father and now I have to tell them the boogeyman exists. You want to put a detail on them, that’s fine. I’ll even give you access to the house if your true concern is their safety. But I’m going to keep their lives as normal as I possiblycan.”
That wasn’t entirely true. She’d take the kids and go off-grid if she needed to. She held Phil’s gaze, unwilling to give aninch.
He sighed and nodded. “As you wish. We’ll assign a detail to watch your house and theirschool.”
Denise nodded and leaned back in her seat. She needed to tell Graham so his guys would be aware there’d be a second team. “Is there anything else you need from me tonight? I need to get the kids home and in bed—they have school in the morning and it’s been a very long day forthem.”
“Your parents took them home about half an hour ago,” Philsaid.
Her chest tightened. She knew they were safe with her dad, but the idea of them being out there without her still sent a fissure of worry through her. Sprocket nuzzled her hand, lifting her palm with hersnout.
Standing, she gave Sprocket the command toblock. The dog followed her from the interrogation room, keeping her rear protected. Not that she expected the agents to jump her, but she was still on edge from the attack earlier—hyperaware and hypersensitive to all the people moving around her. The tiny pinpricks of hurt feelings weren’t helpingmatters.
Taking her phone from the small locker they’d asked her to leave it in, she turned it on and waited for it to boot up. Pulling up a hidden app, she checked to see if they’d messed with her phone. Not that she didn’t trust the FBI but…she didn’t trust the FBI. Either they hadn’t tampered with her phone or they used a program the app couldn’t detect. She’d hook it up to her laptop later and run ascan.
Denise sensed Chris the moment he left the interrogation room. Their gazes locked. Finally, he showed some emotion, anger blazing from his eyes. From her refusal to help or her refusal to put the kids in a safe house, she didn’t know. She couldn’t work up the energy tocare.
Phil exited the room and stopped in front of her, handing her his card. “Just in case you need it. The safe house offer is good anytime you change yourmind.”
“Thanks.” She shoved the card in her back pocket and pivoted toward the exit. She had people to take care of athome.
Chapter 19
Denise pulledinto the Walgreens parking lot and drove around to the back of the building. Leaving the engine running, she set the brake and took a small flashlight from the center console. She got out and scanned the area. Clicking on the flashlight, she dropped onto her hands and knees and shined the light under the front bumper. She repeated the process for the rear bumper and the wheel wells. Tucked into the rear passenger wheel well, she found what she was lookingfor.
