“What if I’m upstairs when he calls? Or in a car? The doctor’s office?” Her tone skated higher with each location.
Reid swiveled to face her. “You can handle it. Just answer the phone and stall until one of us can be with you.”
A shiver rippled over her. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
Hoping to ease her stress, he offered her a smile. “You stabbed him in the bank, remember? If you can do that, you can talk to him on the phone.”
She gave a derisive laugh. “It took me time to gather the courage.”
“Ah, but that’s because he was standing over you in person. If he calls today, he’ll be miles away and can’t hurt you.”
“And then what? If I’m not allowed to pay him off, how exactly will any of this be resolved?”
Jack rested his elbows on his knees. “If he tries to contact you in person tomorrow at the hospital, we’ll have a team in place and make the arrest.”
“And if he calls instead?”
“Then we’ll schedule a drop for the money, send Lauren in your place, and make the arrest then.” Jack gave a smile that Reid had seen hundreds of times and always calmed the person he was talking with.
Not Megan. She studied him intently. She didn’t buy their plan, nor did she trust them to carry it out.
“No offense,” she finally said. “But I see things like this go wrong in TV shows and movies all the time. How do you know that won’t happen here?”
“No offense taken.” Jack’s flat tone belied his statement. “Movies and TV are nothing like real life. If everything went according to plan on these shows, they wouldn’t be interesting or very long. We don’t need to make things interesting.”
As an agent, Reid had often delivered news like this to terrified parents. He always believed what he said, just as he knew Jack believed his own words. But the calm Reid had possessed on the job wasn’t in reach for him right now. Not even close. He was putting on a good show for Megan. At least he hoped he was. He had confidence in Jack and his plan, but something niggled at his brain.
Maybe it was a simple warning to be on alert. To not let anything happen. That Megan—not some stranger—was vulnerable.
Megan was special. The woman who’d come to mean too much to him again to lose her now.
Jack’s phone rang grabbing Reid’s attention as his buddy answered and listened intently.
Jack tilted his head. “Good. I’ll head out there now.” Jack tapped his knee with a long index finger. “Text it to me when it comes through, and I’ll pay him a visit.”
A warrant? Sounded like it to Reid.
Jack shoved his phone into his pocket. “Warrant came in for the video at PJ’s.”
Reid leaned forward. “I want in on it. Give me fifteen minutes to get Micha and Russ here to take my place on Megan’s protection detail, and we’ll head out to the bar.”
“I need to print the warrant and update Lauren anyway.” Jack stepped toward her and the equipment.
Megan nibbled on her lower lip. She didn’t like that he was leaving. Reid got that. She might not want to have anything to do with him on a personal level, but shehadcome to depend on his protection.
He worked hard to ignore her additional concern and texted an urgent request for help to Russ and Micha.
As he waited for replies, he turned to her. “You don’t need to worry about me leaving. Russ and Micha will provide the protection you need.”
“Do you have to go?” She frowned. “Or maybe you want to.”
He did and he didn’t. Truthfully he missed the action of being an agent. But he didn’t like causing her undue concern. “I don’t really want to leave you and Ella, but Idowant to find a lead on Fowler’s whereabouts.”
“Can’t Jack do that?”
Could he? Sure he could, but if they located Fowler, Reid wanted to be in on it. But it was more than that. “I trust Jack to do a thorough job, but with my history with Fowler, the manager might say something that means nothing to Jack but it does to me.”
“That makes sense.” She twisted her hands together. “I’m just being selfish.”
