“It’s not…likely. Not really. Only a handful of people who even work the TSP would have the capability. I might be wrong. Someone may have just tried.” She hoped that was just it. But the way everything was going around here, Madison just didn’t know. They’d had people break into the lab and steal evidence before. A security guard had been seriously injured, and A.J. Callum had been locked in the vault. “Someone may have been trying to hack it. I just wanted you to know.”
“Give me their names. I’m going to do some…digging…of my own. In the meantime, watch your back. We don’t have a clue what those assholes are really up to. I’m not going to risk you for this. The TSP is not takingyou,I’m going to make damned sure of that.”
“I just don’t know how much longer we can alldothis. I just don’t.”
Madison almost jumped back when he lifted his hand—and cupped her cheek. Dom…gentle and Dom didn’t really go hand-in-hand. At least not…here. In this building. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Will it? Because I am ready forokayright now. I think we are long past due forokay.”
He shocked the hell out of her when he just pulled her close for a long, long time. Madison just let the scent ofDomsurround her. Just for a moment.
Strange enough—she almost feltsaferight where she was at the moment. At least…for a little while.
10
Officer Kara Jeyne Millerclosed the door to her patrol car and looked at the officer who had been assigned as her temporary road partner while her main partner was out on medical leave. She’d been stuck with him for over a week now, and it wasn’t getting any easier.
“We usually vary up our routine, so that we are visible, but not predictable.” She was in charge now. She and Brett, her partner, her best friend, they had worked well together. They werepartners,they did this together. What had happened to him still hurt, on the deepest level. And while his prognosis was better today than it was yesterday, no one knew when he’d wake. Or what would happen next. “At lunch, I’m stopping by County Gen. Checking on my partner.”
Herrealpartner, that was. This guy…no.
The man just looked at her. He was good at that. Looking and judging.
K.J. didn’t trust him one bit. Not to mention the asshole had flat-out asked her if she was sleeping with Brett. Because, apparently, that was what the rumors said.
She almost snarled.
She hated rumors. Period. And there were a lot of things beingsaidabout people she liked and respected right now. Part of her wondered if this guy knew anything about that, too? Since he seemed to know everything that was going around lately.
This guy had been assigned by the Wichita Falls post. He’d been sent there to spy. She was sure of it.
To find out what K.J. knew.
There were a lot of people from Wichita Falls invading Finley Creek now. Poking into things they shouldn’t be. Everyone was on edge, no one trusted anyone else, and she felt like she had to constantly watch over her shoulder.
Brett had called her that night, before he’d taken a bullet to the back. He’d told her he had found something he wanted her to look at—he’d wanted her opinion on something before he went to the chief. They were patrol officers with the TSP, she’d been working toward her detective shield. Brett already had his, but they’d needed a supervisor for her unit. Brett had stayed, to help where he could.
It had almost gotten him killed.
He’d been on scene. She’d been off that night. She’d had a date. Her partner had almost died. Because men they should have been able to trust at their back had been monsters.
Brett had never gotten a chance to show her what he had found. She didn’t have a clue what it was, and he was in and out of consciousness from pain meds right now. He was going to live, but it had been far too close.
The TSP was still piecing together why it had happened in the first place.
Trace was still looking at her. Something about him set her on edge. There was just something about his eyes. They were beautiful eyes—the purest blue she had ever seen—but…it was like they could see into someone’s soul.
He freaked her out. That’s what it was. The man was just too intense. Too oddlypurposefulwhenever he looked around, when he asked questions. He was looking for something specific—K.J. wasn’t going to be fooled. He had been sent there for a reason.
When they were called back to the precinct an hour later, she was relieved.
He definitely wasn’t Brett.
K.J. headed inside.
The chief wanted to see her, specifically.
His assistant, Officer Magda Journey, waited in her office. She guarded Chief Marshall like a rabid wolf sometimes.
