Rachel opened her mouth, then closed it again, not sure what to say to that. Before she could get her thoughts together, the courtroom doors opened with the babble of conversation and the clatter of footsteps.
Rachel was immediately on her feet, as was Khaki, who crumpled the brown paper bag and discreetly stuffed it into her cargo pocket.
“Gage wants me to stay with the judge,” Khaki said. “There’s been some concern he might be targeted along with Jennifer. He’s headed somewhere right after this, so I’m taking him out the west exit like normal, while you take Jennifer through the back. DAPS has a security motorcade waiting for you there.”
Rachel nodded. While the stuff about guarding the judge was new, the route she’d take Jennifer out of the building this morning wasn’t. It had been planned out last night.
Rachel thumbed the radio on the shoulder of her vest. “We’re on the way,” she told the DAPS guys waiting outside.
Khaki slipped through the crowd of nearly a dozen men coming out of the courtroom with Jennifer. Rachel would have preferred to grab Jennifer and slip away quickly, but unfortunately, the ADA was still arguing with several men in expensive suits in the middle of the hallway. A few of them looked more like bodyguards than lawyers.
Rachel moved closer until she was standing at the prosecutor’s side as she faced off against a tall man with aristocratic features and a slight bit of gray in his dark hair. Rachel recognized Alton Marshall from the photo the chief had shown her and her teammates the other day.
“By all means, feel free to exercise your legal rights and take the stand to testify on your own behalf, Mr. Marshall,” Jennifer said. “I’m sure you think your charm will have some effect on the jury, while I look forward to cross-examining you on any statements you might make.”
Jennifer’s heart beat fast as she faced down the crime boss. They were staring at each other, waiting for the other to break. Knowing there was no way the prosecutor would be the first one to walk away from the confrontation, Rachel leaned in to interrupt the impasse.
“Ma’am, it’s time to go,” she murmured in the woman’s ear. “Your car is waiting.”
Jennifer threw Rachel a grateful look, but before the DA could say anything, Marshall spoke.
“Officer Bennett, what a pleasure,” he said.
Rachel gazed at him coolly. She wished she could say the same. “Mr. Marshall.”
He regarded her thoughtfully. “I understand ADA Lloyd owes her life and her daughter’s to you. Surviving an ambush from three highly trained assassins, then almost chasing down their getaway vehicle on foot is quite impressive.”
Rachel felt like reaching over and ripping the guy’s throat out, but instead, she smiled. “I can’t honestly say if those men were highly trained, since the two who got away ran for the hills pretty damn fast. I personally think whoever hired them got ripped off.”
Marshall didn’t even blink, but if the tension in his body was any indication, he was pissed off as hell, something that pleased Rachel to no end.
Taking Jennifer’s arm, Rachel guided her to the stairwell at the end of the hall. Pushing open the door, she took a quick look before they headed down the steps. Rachel was watchful but not overly concerned anyone would try anything in the heavily guarded government building. That was good because Rachel’s head was still spinning with the possibilities of what she and Khaki had talked about.
Could Knox really beThe Onefor her? What kind of crazy, mystical force out there would put a werewolf together with a hunter? Even if there were extenuating circumstances. Was that why she’d let him get away all those months ago at the SWAT compound?
One of the DAPS security team members announced over the radio earpiece she wore that they had the prosecutor’s vehicle ready and waiting and that the rear loading dock area was secure.
“My daughter can’t seem to stop talking about you. I think Addy idolizes you,” Jennifer said, jarring Rachel out of her thoughts as they continued down the steps.
It would have been simpler to walk out the front door, but they’d all decided that option was too dangerous. There were dozens of tall buildings nearby that could serve as the perfect location for a sniper. The back was more secluded.
“Addy is an amazing girl,” Rachel murmured as they reached the basement level of the building, forcing herself to stop worrying about soul mates for a while. “And I’m sure she idolizes you just as much. She’s probably talking about me more because I’m around her so much lately.”
The basement level of the courthouse had a lot of offices but seemed to be used mostly for file storage, hence the nearly overwhelming smell of old paper. She heard a few people moving around, but other than that, it seemed relatively quiet.
“I think we both know my daughter doesn’t think much of me right now.” Jennifer’s voice was soft and full of regret. “Her father and I haven’t been getting along very well lately, and unfortunately, Addy’s been caught in the middle of it.”
Rachel remembered Addy saying as much the other day at the mall. She hadn’t felt comfortable getting into it then, and she didn’t want to talk about it now, either. She led the way along the long central corridor that led to the back loading dock. To their left and right they passed open doorways, endless rows of filing cabinets filling each room.
But she had to say something. “I’m sure everything will work out.”
Jennifer sighed. “I hope you’re right. As soon as the trial is over, I plan to do everything I can to make it up to her and my husband. They both deserve more from me.”
Recognizing yet another minefield she wouldn’t be stepping into, Rachel simply nodded and kept walking.
She was still waiting for the next awkward thing to come out of Jennifer’s mouth when two men stepped from one of the rooms ahead of them. Both guys were wearing work coveralls and there was a trolley cart loaded with the kind of boxes copier paper came in.
One of the men—a middle-aged guy with a slight paunch straining to slip out the front of his partially unzipped coverall—smiled at them warmly. A split second later, he grabbed the handgun that had been hidden under one of the boxes and opened fire in their direction. The move was so smooth Rachel never saw it coming. There hadn’t even been a single tingle of her normally hypersensitive werewolf senses. She hadn’t even smelled any gun oil.
