He wasn’t prepared for the utter panic that blanketed her features.She grabbed his wrist with both of her hands.
“No.Tanner, please.”
He shook his head.“Those men were armed.You heard them.One said he hurt the priest.Were they going to hurt you if they had found you?”
She nodded slowly.
“Then I need to call this in,” he continued.“I don’t know why you’re protecting them, but it ends now.”
“I’m not protecting them.I’m protectingme.If you call this in, I’m as good as dead.”
“Because you’re on the run.”
Her face was ashen, huge green eyes dwarfing the rest of her features.“Yes, but not from the law.”
It was the first time she’d admitted there was something bad going on with her.
He shook his head.“I can’t do nothing.”
She rubbed her fingers over her eyes.“I know this is going to sound crazy, but can you drive to the nearest police station and tell them in person rather than call?”
He shook his head.“That will take too long.The priest might need medical attention.What if I call anonymously?I can even call the police department directly, so they won’t trace the call like they do 911 calls.I won’t give them my name.”
He would do it, even though it went against his code as a law enforcement officer.
“No, they’ll still be able to link it back to your phone.And it will draw even more attention because you didn’t do what was expected.”She began to look around frantically.“Plus, being here in Denver at the exact same time.They’d be stupid not to put that together.”
“Exact same time as what?And who isthey?”
“You’re only going to believe me if I show you.”
Tanner wanted to throw up his hands in frustration.“Bree.”He put his hands on both her arms.“Show mewhat?”
“Do you trust me?”
He rolled his eyes.“About as far as I can throw you.”
“Well, do you think you could throw me across that street?”She pointed at a man who was talking on his phone, standing at a coffee shop kitty-corner from the church.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Go to that man.Get him to call 911 and tell them the priest is in trouble.But as soon as he does it, you’ve got to get out of sight.They’re in the area, so it won’t take them long to pinpoint the location of the call.So have the guy make the call, then get back over here quickly.”
This was a lot of cloak-and-dagger stuff even for a cop.But he had no doubt Bree’s fear was real.
“You stay right here.”He pointed to the ground.He wanted her where he could see her.
She shook her head.“I can’t be out here.I can’t be around anybody else when this happens.They’ll immediately utilize every cell phone in a half-mile grid.”
Tanner gritted his teeth.Before this day was over, he was going to understand what the hell she was talking about.“Remember that part about not as far as I can throw you?”
“If you don’t trust me, can you at least trust that I want to get back to the twins without leading any sort of danger to them?”
He grimaced, but he had to agree.Bree wouldn’t do anything to hurt the babies.They were wasting time.He nodded at her, and she took off to a little park with no people around.
Tanner jogged over to the man still glancing at his phone in front of the church.He pulled out his badge.This would be the easiest way.
“Excuse me.”He flashed his badge in front of the guy.“My phone just broke and I need you to call 911.We’ve got a priest inside who passed out and injured himself.”
