“Can you describe her, Mr. Murphy?” the officer asks.
“Caucasian. Five-five, maybe a hundred and thirty pounds. She had on a black cap and a black leather jacket. Didn’t see much else but the gun. Nice arse as she was runnin’ away.”
Officer Verti chuckles. “And the man?”
“Only saw him from the back at a distance. Big guy. Taller than me. If he’s not a fighter somewhere, he should be. Jeans, dark brown shirt. Black hair. Pretty sure he was Caucasian too, but I only caught a glimpse of his hands so I can’t be sure.”
If the guy across the street hadn’t been filming the whole damn fight, I could have given the police a full description of Theo. But as soon as they see the video, they’ll know there’s no way I could have seen his face. Every minute I spend away from Zephyr it’s harder to concentrate, but if I lose the narrative, we could both be in a world of hurt.
“If we need to contact you again?” the officer asks.
I rattle off my office direct line, and Verti scribbles it in his notebook. “Call anytime. I hope you find both the man and the woman.”
The trip back to the car takes me a full fifteen minutes. I stop at a little convenience store a block away, perusing the aisles and checking for tails before I buy a couple of candy bars and make a beeline for Zephyr.
I don’t see anyone in the car as I approach, and my heart shoots into my throat until I reach the door. The cuff of one of my jacket sleeves pokes out from between the rear seats.
“It’s me,” I say when I open the door. The left rear seat folds down, and Zephyr wriggles out from the trunk.
“Thank God. Ihatesmall, dark spaces. And your jack was digging into my side. I feared if I shifted my weight, the whole car would move.” Her cheek bears a fresh scrape, and fingertip bruises are starting to swell around her throat.
“Dammit, Zephyr. He could have taken you. Or killed you right in that alley!” The second she’s sitting across from me, I pull her into my arms and hold on tight. “I knew splittin’ up was a bad idea. Oliver wasn’t at the PO Box anymore, and I didn’t get a chance to check out the area because of the sirens.”
“I’m sorry,” she says, her breath warm on my neck. “I was careful. Stopped a couple of steps away from the corner, but as soon as I tried to get a look down the alley, Theo grabbed me. I don’t know when he saw me or how, but he knew I was there.”
My phone rings before I can say anything else, and I groan. “It’s Dax. He’s…goin’ to be pissed. Stay quiet.”
“Dax, this wasn’t like—”
“Get your ass in here right fuckin’ now. A fight in one of the worst neighborhoods in Boston, and from the video posted online, the woman was Zephyr. You better have a damn good explanation for why she’s not sitting in my office in cuffs or you’ll be back to stakeouts starting tomorrow morning.”
The call ends before I can reply, and I meet Zephyr’s gaze. “This is goin’ to be bad. I’ll drop you at home on the way, and you need to promise me you won’t step foot outside the apartment.”
“I promise.” She pulls her knees up to her chest and hugs herself tightly. Adrenaline crash, if I had to guess, and I wish I could stay with her. Hold her. Take care of her. But if I don’t report in, Dax will come looking for me, and that wouldn’t end well for anyone.
Chapter Seventeen
Ronan
“Youhadher.Staring right at her and you couldn’t get the gun away from her? You expect me to believe that?” Dax braces his hands on his desk, and I wonder—briefly—if he’s doing that so he doesn’t leap over the damn thing and strangle me.
“No.”
It’s not the answer he expects, and he straightens with a frown. “Then what happened?”
“Before I say anythin’, I’ll ask for your word that you’ll let me finish before you murder me.”
His entire demeanor switches, the anger turning to something closer to betrayal. “You’re a member of this team, Ronan. Thisfamily. No one’s murdering anyone on my watch.”
The words sting, as does his tone, and I sink down into the guest chair and wait for Dax to take a seat behind the desk. “I let her go. She’s innocent. The Strauss Cartel set her up for Yoden’s murder because she has dirt on them. A lot of it. The contact you gave me from the General Intelligence and Security Service? He doesn’t exist. Or at least, he’s not attached to the case in any way. Dante Lambert is playin’ both sides. He’s the one who convinced Zephyr to come to Boston in the first place, and he’s hedgin’ his bets by gettin’ us to go after her too. If I bring her in, the cartel will get to her within hours, and they’ll torture her until she gives them what they want.”
Dax waits several seconds before he asks, “Are you finished?”
“Yeah. I’m done.”
“Did youeverget close enough to take her into custody?”
If I lie, he’ll know. I told Zephyr this might happen when I dropped her at my apartment, and she knows to run if I don’t call or text her in the next hour with the code word “angel.”
