CHAPTER 40
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‘GOT LOCATION ON JAMIEJORDAN, 10 MILES FROM YOUR LOCATION. NEED BACKUP. REST OF TEAM AN HOUR OUT.’
That was what the text message from Emerson said. It was also accompanied by GPS coordinates to her current location. Over the past week she, and her team, had been combing both Northern and Southern California, looking for any clues as to where our elusive suspect was.
The last time he’d been spotted on camera was driving through a tollgate in the bay area. That had been a day before he’d broken into the lobby of our apartment, and we’d finally made the connection between Jeremy King and Jamie Jordan. The fact that he was ten miles away from our location made me want to gather Tibby into the car and drive her as far away from here as possible.
“We can’t just leave her by herself.” Lizzie had entered the room and shown a similar text message on her phone. “She needs our help, so we need to go.”
“We can go instead,” Agent Keilar offered, and gestured between Agent Smart and himself.
Agent Smart scoffed, “No, we can’t. Our mission is to stay with the omega, and I’m not going to incur Cruz’s wrath just because you want to play hero.”
Agent Keilar glared, “I was just offering because they might feel safer staying with their omega.”
“Maybe. But Agent Collins promised Cruz that he wouldn’t let his emotions get in the way. Isn’t that right?” Smart turned to me, raising a blonde brow.
I’d always hated this agent. He was a show pony of the highest order, only taking the most interesting cases with the most news coverage. He had also had it out for me ever since I returned to the San Francisco FBI field office two years ago because of some stupid ass macho bullshit.
But he wasn’t wrong. I needed to think like Agent Collins right now, not as Cobb. “Alright, I’m going to go. Theo, you can stay here with everyone else if you want.”
Theo glared at me like I was an idiot for even suggesting that, “I’m not letting you go in alone, Guppy.”
“Theo will take care of you.” Tibby looked scared as she clung to Matteo and Aria, her fingers buried in their clothes as if she could keep herself from floating away on a river of fear.
Reaching for her I pressed my lips to hers, “Are you sure?”
Tibby nodded, “Yep. I’m safe, I’ve got two FBI Agents and two alphas with me. This place is practically Fort Knox. Go get that bastard so we can finally finish this.”
“You got it, babygirl.” I pressed one last kiss to her forehead before getting out of the way so that Theo could pull her into a tight hug. He was murmuring something to her and she nodded, her hand coming up to the spot on her neck where his mark was hidden underneath her shirt.
I looked over at Agent Keilar and Agent Smart. “You better take care of them or I’ll kick both of your asses.”
“You got it, boss.” Keilar gave me a mock salute.
Smart rolled his eyes at both of us. “Don’t fuck this up Collins. Remember: you only get so many screw-ups in your FBI career.”
“Whatever, Smart,” I said, ignoring the barb and heading for the door. Lizzie was already there, dressed in a bulletproof vest and an FBI issue windbreaker. “Lizzie you can’t go with us. You need to stay here because we have no idea what kind of situation we’re about to walk into.”
The beta glared at me stubbornly and tilted her chin upwards in defiance, “Nope. Rach is out there on her own, and I will be damned if I can’t be there to help.”
“Guppy, there isn’t enough time to argue with her.” Theo said as he came from the rec room. “We need to get our vests on and head out.”
I pointed a finger at her, “you stay in the car, you hear me? I can’t look out for you and give Emerson back-up.”
“You got it, boss,” Lizzie agreed, crossing her right pointer finger over her heart.
We headed down the steps to the back of one of the black SUVs that were parked in front of the lodge, opening the trunk, I unlocked the safe and pulled out a handgun. “You remember how to shoot one of these?”
