Reese stiffened. “I’m doing this for her.”
“She’s not here, and I can make my own decisions. I was safe with Heath and his brothers.” She missed him already. They hadn’t had time to say good-bye. She glanced down at the sparkly ring still on her finger. It felt right. Maybe she could draw some sort of comfort from it. “Heath will find me.”
Reese snorted. “I don’t care how good of a detective he is. There’s no way he’ll find you if we don’t want him to.”
She shivered, caught by the ominous tone. Nothing in her could imagine never seeing Heath again. “How long is the order for?” she asked.
“It’s open-ended, since you’re in so much danger. Until we catch this guy, we have the right to treat you as a material witness.” Reese checked the clip on his gun and then talked into his comms mic again. “One minute out. Have the rear door open.”
Why hadn’t she brought her gun? She’d left it on the nightstand. “There has to be some way I can fight you legally on this.”
“There isn’t. With a court order, I have all the power.” Reese placed a hand on her arm, his gaze direct and his voice low with authority. He looked like a capable lawman. Just like her father had. “We’re almost to the office. Are you ready?”
She swallowed over a lump in her throat. Her breath came shallowly, and she tried to calm herself. “No.”
CHAPTER
33
Two hours exactly after Anya had walked out of an area he could control, Heath pounded his fist on the metal door of the FBI offices.
“They’re in lockdown, hence the barricaded metal door.” Detective Malloy chewed on peanuts next to him. “Calm down or they won’t let us in.”
“Can I help you?” came a tinny voice from a speaker set above the door.
Malloy grabbed Heath’s arm before he could answer while also looking up into a camera above the door. “Detective Malloy from the Snowville PD. I’m here to see Special Agent Reese, and it’s urgent.”
Heath barely kept himself from smashing a shoulder into the door.
“Credentials?” the voice asked.
Malloy sighed and reached for his wallet, which he flipped open and held up. “You should know my face by now, Shanella.”
“We have procedure, handsome.” The voice had warmed. “Who’s your friend?”
Malloy tucked his wallet away. “This here is Heath Jones from the Lost Bastards detective agency in town. He’s got news on the Copper Killer case.”
There was a pause, and then a buzz went through the door.
“Let me handle this,” Malloy muttered to Heath, pushing open the door.
Heath kept silent and flexed his hands into fists.
He followed Malloy into a reception area that led to another door. Shanella buzzed them into a long hallway.
Reese strode through the matching door at the other end, his face pissed, a gun visible in his shoulder harness. “You have news?” The heavy door clicked shut behind him.
“Yeah,” Malloy said, reaching into his coat pocket for a folded piece of paper. “Consider yourself served with a writ of habeas corpus for Anya Best. She’s free until a hearing next week.”
“Next week? That’s too late.” Reese snatched the writ and quickly scanned it. A vein bulged in his head. “How did you get this so quickly?”
“I’m good at my job,” Heath said, flashing his teeth. “Sometimes I’m a lawyer.” The second Anya had left, Heath had gotten Denver working on reciprocity while he called Malloy for help and the name of a good judge. “Next week, during the hearing, the judge would like to hear from you how Anya is a witness. How do you feel about perjury charges, asshole?”
Reese’s lips peeled back. “You do know that taking her from here makes her vulnerable.”
Heath leaned in. “You fuckin’ cops. Think you can use the law any way you want and then also enforce it?” Past hurts and fury bubbled up, and he had to struggle to force them down. “Taking her frommeput her in danger. Use your fuckin’ head.” If he didn’t see her soon, he was going to lose his damn mind.
“You let her set herself up as bait,” Reese exploded, his cheeks turning a dark red.
