Page 67 of Armed ’N’ Ready

“What does he sound like over the phone?” Cox asked. “Young? Old? Does he have a Scottish accent?”

“I don’t know. I never spoke with Argyle.”

“Then who have you been dealing with?” Nick frowned at the phone.

“His secretary, Mary. And she does have a Scottish accent.” Myer paused, and Nick heard what sounded like boat horns in the background but couldn’t place them. “I have to go. I’m not sure, but someone might be following me.”

“Wait.” Nick grabbed the phone. “Why did you use Andi’s bank account to wire that hundred grand last month?”

A deep exhale came through the phone. “I never meant to involve her, I swear it. My bank’s system was down that day, and I was desperate. I had to send money out of the country in a hurry, so I copied down her bank information when she wasn’t looking, and my friend at her bank helped me out. She has nothing to do with this. Any of it.”

She’s innocent. Not that Nick doubted it at this point, but hearing it from Myer’s mouth made it more than just his gut impression. Now it was official.

Tomorrow, Myer would be in police custody, but Nick was reluctant to stop peppering him with questions. Something about this scenario sent up all kinds of red flags, not the least of which was that Argyle could be anyone, and they had abso-fucking-lutely nothing to go on to ID the man. But it sounded like Myer was jittery enough as it was. “Can you be at the Thousand Island Bridge border crossing in Alexandria Bay by ten o’clock tomorrow morning? We’ll meet you there.”

Myer hesitated a long moment before speaking. “I have my own terms.”

“What terms?” Even though Myer couldn’t see him, Nick narrowed his eyes.

“First, I’ll meet you at the courthouse. I’ll slip through the border the same way I got in.”

“Fine,” he bit out. He didn’t like that idea, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. They could easily remove the Red Notice and replace it with a border alert so they’d know the second Myer crossed out of Canada. “What else?”

“I’ll only turn myself in if Andi is there.”

“Not happening.” Nick shot to his feet and smacked his hands on either side of his cell phone. “Your actions nearly got her killed once already. I won’t let that happen again.”

“Those are my terms. Take it or leave it.”

“You’re not in a position to make demands,” he shouted. “I’ll put her on the phone with you, but that’s as close as you’ll get to her.” Ever again, if he had his way.

“Then the deal’s off. If I don’t see her in the doorway of that courthouse, I’ll turn around and disappear. Forever.”

“Nick.” Bennett’s face twisted with disapproval.

Struggling for control, Nick fisted his hands on the table. “Stand by,” he said to Myer, then muted the call.

He knew damned well what had crawled up Bennett’s ass. He wanted Nick to agree to Myer’s terms, regardless of the risk to Andi’s life. Selfish bastard. Like most prosecutors, Bennett only wanted the next notch on his belt of convictions, all in the pursuit of a ridiculously high-paying job offer from a prestigious private law firm one day.

“Dammit, Ted.” He shook his head adamantly. “I won’t let this sonofabitch dictate how this goes down, and I will not put Andi in harm’s way again. Even if it means we have to chase Myer down some other way.”

Because now that he’d found Andi, she was too important to him to risk losing.

“What’s your problem, Sergeant?” Wolinski sneered at him.

“My problem”—he gritted his teeth, again struggling not to do bodily harm to Cox’s boss—“is that no one but me seems to care about an innocent woman’s life. They already tried grabbing her as bait once, and if they’d succeeded you know as well as I do, they’d have killed her the second Myer showed up. Now you want to put her in the line of fire again?”

“We can put more agents on the ground,” Cox offered. “You’ll be there. We’ll all be there to protect her.”

“Maybe,” Eric joined in, “Matt, Kade, Markus, Jaime, or Dayne can lend a hand. Their detail at the Expo started today, but their shifts vary. Some of them may be free tomorrow morning to assist.” Eric’s expression was one of understanding. He was the only man in the room who knew about Nick’s personal relationship with Andi. “We’ll control every aspect of the meet.”

Nick pressed his lips together, glaring at Eric. Not that he didn’t appreciate his friend’s input, but he’d seen plenty of controlled meets go bad. This one was so out of their control, it was a joke to call it that in the first place.

“I don’t have to remind you,” Bennett said in an implacable tone, “as long as you’re assigned to this federal task force, technically you report to me.”

“And to me.” Wolinski shot Nick a smug, cocky look.

“Let’s be clear here.” He flicked a steely gaze from Wolinski to Bennett. “Officially, I don’t work for either of you.” He let out a heavy breath, knowing he was backed into a corner he didn’t like. When the case was over, he was so done with this task force.