Page 68 of Armed ’N’ Ready

“Your concerns are duly noted.” Using his pen, Bennett pointed to Nick’s phone. “Get him here tomorrow.”

He unmuted the call. “Myer. When can you be at the courthouse tomorrow?”

“Noon. And Andi will be there?”

He held back a snarl. “Yes.” He recited the address for the Springfield federal courthouse on State Street.

“Sergeant.” Myer’s voice choked. “If something happens to me, tell Andi… Tell her I love her.”

Swallowing the first response that sprang to his mind—go fuck yourself—Nick reeled in his anger. “You can tell her that yourself.” You sonofabitch.

Even though Myer was looking at substantial jail time, there was no way on this earth Nick would allow him to start something again with Andi. No way he’d ever let Myer touch his woman.

Damn straight, she was his woman. Until that moment, he’d been too thick-headed to see it, but he fucking knew it now.

The phone beeped, and the screen went dark. Now all they had to do was throw together a foolproof ops plan involving a half dozen agencies.

From across the table, Eric caught his attention. “So we still have no idea who we’re looking for.”

“Then we start with the secretary,” Nick said. “As soon as we get Myer’s cell phone and laptop, we track her down.”

“When he gets here,” Bennett added, “I want to do a thorough interview before putting him in front of the grand jury.”

Thirty minutes later, they’d hashed out an ops plan that would suffice, given the exigent circumstances. Through it all, Wolinski’s face registered more and more indignation. The man hated not being in the driver’s seat.

The door opened, and Nick recognized Brendan Sykes, another prosecutor he’d occasionally worked with. “Sorry to interrupt,” Sykes said. “Nothing was on the schedule for this conference room right now. I thought it was free.”

“It’s an emergency meeting,” Bennett replied. “We’re almost done here.”

“Thanks, Ted.” Sykes left, closing the door behind him, but it didn’t completely latch and edged open a couple of inches.

“I just heard from the lab guys.” Cox held up his cell phone. “They dumped everything on Matteo’s phone and are analyzing it now. I told them it’s a priority, so they’ll try to have something for us by the end of the day.”

“I have something to add.” IRS Special Agent Douglas tugged a stack of sheets from his portfolio. “I went back ten years into Ms. Hardt’s financial records. She’s totally clean. All her money is untainted, including funds she used to purchase and renovate the Dog Park Café. I also found this.” Douglas handed the sheets to Bennett. “Two years ago, she left a prominent financial firm that was later named in a civil complaint alleging the theft of millions of dollars from their clients. Unsolicited, Ms. Hardt turned over incriminating evidence to the Attorney General’s Office proving that her colleague—and boyfriend at the time—had used her to bring in clients, then scam them out of annuities by changing the terms of the contracts without Ms. Hardt’s knowledge. The company got hit with heavy-duty fines, and her ex-boyfriend was arrested.”

Holy shit. Nick drew his brows together. When Andi had talked about New York, she’d barely touched the surface. That asshole had raked her over the coals. While Nick had been unloading the ghosts of his past on her, she’d been keeping hers to herself.

“In addition to Myer’s admission, we also have hardcore proof that Andi had no knowledge of that wire transfer.” Cox handed Bennett another sheet of paper. “This is a notarized letter from her bank admitting they ‘erroneously’ permitted an incoming and outgoing wire transfer in the amount of a hundred grand without legitimate authorization from the account holder.”

Disgusted murmurs went around the table.

“Erroneously?” Nick snorted. “Meaning Myer’s friend at her bank did him a favor.”

“Exactly.” Cox nodded emphatically. “A team of agents interviewed the branch manager this morning, and he admitted to doing Myer that very favor.”

Bennett finished perusing the bank document before placing it in a manila folder. “I’ll consider filing charges against that manager. I’ll also prepare the paperwork to unfreeze Ms. Hardt’s bank account. It may take a week or two, but it should bring a smile to her face.” He turned to Nick. “I’d say congratulations are in order.”

“For what?” He narrowed his gaze on the prosecutor. Until they got an indictment, nothing was a done deal.

“For an outstanding plan and for getting Myer to turn himself in. You were being modest. You’re better at undercover than you thought.”

“What’s this about?” Wolinski glared at Cox. “Why wasn’t I told this was an undercover op?”

“It wasn’t.” Nick snapped, wondering who’d given Wolinski the impression it was.

“Well, not really.” Cox squirmed in his seat, making it obvious he hadn’t updated his SAC on the extent or method of Nick’s involvement. “Nick merely suggested he could work his magic and get close to Andi Hardt. You know, spend more time with her. We figured Myer would call her eventually, and if he was stuck to her side when that happened, he could intervene and talk the guy in. Who knew he’d turn out to be a better actor than most of our trained UCs? It was an Academy Award-winning performance, and she fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Believe me, the way Nick’s got her under his thumb, she’ll agree to anything we need. Including being there when Myer turns himself in.”

Nick shot the agent an icy glare. What a dick Cox turned out to be. He’d put his own spin on Nick’s operation just to get his ass out of hot water with Wolinski.