“We have to decide,” he said.
“Decide what,” I asked, though I already knew.
“How much we’re willing to give him,” Brewster said. “And what we’re willing to lose when we do.”
My pulse thudded once, hard.
Because the answer my body wanted and the answer my brain could afford were not the same thing. Somewhere out there, a man I couldn’t see had just reminded me he knew exactly how to pull a thread—until something came apart.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
BREWSTER
Itold myself I was going alone.
That was the plan I gave Washington. That was the plan I gave the team. That was the plan I repeated in my head as I pulled on my jacket and checked my weapon. I knew it was a lie each time.
Mallory stood in the doorway watching and made no effort to downplay her presence. She didn’t say anything at first. Just watched me the way some people did when they were putting together a story in their head. However, this was Mallory, she was silent, alert, and more than likely three steps ahead of my potential responses before she even asked the questions.
“You’re going to the scene,” she said.
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
She tilted her head. Just slightly. The expression that followed wasn’t defiant—it was worse. Calculating. Patient. Like she’d already accepted the answer and was working around it.
“You can tell me what you saw later,” she said. “Or you can let me see it myself and not have to translate.”
I didn’t respond. I grabbed my keys instead.
“That body is part of my story,” she continued. “Whether I’m on air or not.”
I turned then. Met her gaze. Held it.
“That body is part of an active federal investigation,” I said. “And I will not have you anywhere near it.”
She folded her arms. “Currently, I am cooperating with your protection. Unless you plan to arrest me and charge me with something, I can simply stop cooperating.”
And by stop, she meant, walk out that door and follow us to the crime scene
“Mallory…”
“We know that hiding me isn't going to work. It’s not going toprotectme in the long run.” Not that she wanted to be protected. She was too damn hungry for her story.
“I think you showing up at a crime scene is going to make him notice you even more…” I raised my brows. “Best case, he knows you’re still out here and he can identify who has your leash.” In this case, me. Something flickered across her face. Awareness. Worry. “Worst case, he thinks you’re actively cooperating with us and that makes you his enemy, not his ally.”
That would not only result in us losing our only connection to the Unsub, but could cost Mallory her life if he truly turned on her.
Then she said quietly, “You can’t keep me in the dark and expect me not to go looking for light.” Head canted, she dared me with those eyes of her. Those eyes that saw too damn much and were too damn sensual. Eyes a man could lose himself in… “Elliot, I need to do this. I’m not pretending to be law enforcement, but if it’s him… then he could very well have sent a message only I’ll get.”
A message she could just as easily see via crime scene photos and video. She didn’t have to be there in person. I exhaledthrough my nose. Slow. Controlled. The way I needed because this next decision was going to come back to bite me in the ass.
