“I got you covered. The bike will be delivered early, and your lookalike’s lined up for late at night.”
Jason sighed at Vick’s sheer stupidity. “I don’t give a fuck whether he looks like me or not. Just be sure he’s close to my height and weight. And you personally put this cologne on him before he visits Leigh.”
“It’s all set. He’ll leave her shaking in her shit.”
Vick’s sinister laugh worried Jason. He wanted Leigh terrorized and beat up. No more. Vick had to follow the plan. Maybe he needed a reminder who gave the orders. Jason pulled his pistol from beside his leg and laid it across the console.
“He’s not to fuck her or hurt the kid.” His voice rose and reverberated through the inside of the SUV. “You understand?”
“He don’t want her. She ain’t his type.” Vick’s dark eyes glazed over. “When you take her out, I wish you’d give me the boy.” He sighed and pushed his hand through his shaggy brown hair.
“I’m giving you money. Leigh and the boy are mine.”
“I know. I was wishing out loud.”
“You remember what to do with this guy after he visits Leigh.”
“Yeah.” Vick’s yellowed teeth shone in the semidarkness. “Him, I can have. Right?”
“Him, you can do anything you want with. As long as you kill him when we’re done. Now, get out. I’ve got places to go.”
Without a word, Vick exited the car. Jason didn’t want to know what the sick bastard had planned for the poor schmuck. Nor did he give a shit. He learned in lockup not to question or denigrate another man’s passions. Jason pulled away from the curb and checked his rearview mirror. That crazy bastard Vick stood right in the middle of the street ignoring the oncoming traffic. Jason shuddered and drove on.
****
Wednesday, April 28, 8:15 a.m.
Leigh’s nose detected sugar when Olivia hurried through the door.
“Will this make up for my tardiness?” She placed a donut box in the middle of the table with a guilty smile.
Leigh took the first one. “Works for me.”
“Food absolves all sins.” Romeo signed the cross in Olivia’s direction with one hand and grabbed a donut with the other. “Right?”
He pushed the box to Casey, who snagged a bear claw. “Romeo’s got a point. I forgive your tardiness this once.”
“What’d I miss?” Olivia slid into a chair directly across from him.
Casey swallowed a sip of coffee and tapped the file in front of him. “I pulled information on the Final Justice Organization, a case I worked in New York last year.”
“I remember. You threw a wide net. Caught a few big fish,” J.T. said. He studied the contents of the box before taking a glazed donut for himself.
“Everybody in the Bureau was talking about it,” Romeo said. “You guys hit the big time when you caught the Angel of Death. They’ll make a movie about the murders and the crazy female vigilante someday.”
Casey silenced Romeo with a glance. “When NYPD SWAT raided the underground headquarters, a large portion of the records had been destroyed. What they managed to retrieve resulted in a number of high-ranking officials across the country being arrested. However, we have no idea how many people walked away. The group had factions in a number of major cities. Assassins, each one with their own talent for killing and their own axe to grind with the judicial system, had been recruited and trained. A few of the weaker individuals were brainwashed into believing they worked for the government.”
The room had gone still. No one had eaten their pastry. Leigh’s gaze drifted to J.T.’s expressionless face. The hard line of his jaw and scowl over his dark green eyes made her wonder what thoughts ran through his mind.
“Wasn’t the Angel of Death related to one of our agents?” Olivia’s words broke the silence.
Leigh turned her attention back to Casey.
“Yeah. A sister. She visits the sanatorium where her twin’s housed.”
For one brief moment, Casey’s eyes darkened, and Leigh watched as a myriad of emotions crossed his face.
“What about the rogue cop?” J.T.’s right eyebrow flexed. Everyone at the table had leaned forward, except him. Still as a granite statue, the intensity of his gaze said he’d immersed himself in Casey’s words.
“Like I said, he went to the other side after the killer who beat his daughter to death went unpunished.” Casey pushed the thick file in J.T.’s direction. “Doyle Preston faked his own death. He’s alive.”
“It’s a place to start.” J.T. turned to Romeo first. “Contact your counterpart in the New York office. There’s probably numerous boxes of evidence. Make sure we get everything. Olivia, dig into the Preston family. Look at their finances. See what they have, where it comes from, and where it goes. Leigh and I will look into the man himself.”
Leigh barely contained herself. Again, J.T. spoke with conviction and in full-blown sentences. To her delight and relief, he’d included her. Shivers raced up her spine. She was working on the case of a lifetime. With the FBI, she had a chance to make a real difference. She followed him out to their work area unable to wipe the smile from her face.
“You all right?” J.T. asked. “You win the lottery?”
“Close enough. I feel like Alice in Wonderland. I keep waiting for someone to wake me up.” She laughed at the confused look on his face. “Let me explain better. Being here, with this team, it’s a dream come true.”
“Good thing you explained, because I don’t know anybody named Alice.”
He half smiled. Her heart fluttered. Geesh, he was beautiful. He leaned over her as she backed up and sat.
“However, I know all about the big bad wolf.”
Holy cow. He was flirting.
Did he use his soft and sexy voice on all women? Or did she imagine he’d dropped his tone a decibel and whispered in her ear? She’d bet when he turned on the charm, the ladies lined up to be serviced. Well, she wasn’t a car in need of an oil change.
“Pass me the folder on Preston. Please.” She intentionally spoke in the same tone she used when Ethan behaved badly. She achieved the desired results. J.T.’s face had the same deflated expression as her son’s after getting himself in trouble. “We should start with his wife.”
J.T. rolled his chair around beside hers and laid the open file on her desk. He mumbled a string of words to himself. Something about the knot at the back of her head being too tight. He’d spoken more than his usual four-word sentence, but Leigh wasn’t about to ask him to repeat himself. She had her hands full controlling her heart rate when he casually dropped an arm across the back of her chair.
The phrase “big bad wolf” swirled through her mind. She swallowed, ignored his woodsy scent and body heat, and drilled down into Mrs. Preston’s life.
Chapter Seven
Thursday, April 29, 2:00 p.m.
Leigh walked ahead with Olivia on the trip back to work. Romeo and J.T. tagged along behind. Two weeks into the temporary assignment, and if they weren’t in the field looking for a break in the case, lunch at Antonio’s Sandwich Shop was routine because the bistro was next to their parking garage.
A light breeze ruffled the loose hair around Leigh’s face. Sunshine warmed her. She hadn’t received one anonymous call today. Her attorney had contacted Morgan Anderson and delivered the message that Leigh would face Jason in court if necessary. The line she’d drawn in the sand must’ve worked.
“You seeing anyone?” Olivia asked when they stopped at the corner.
“No.” The question caught Leigh by surprise. She shifted the conversation to Olivia. “Are you?”
“Not really. I suck at long-term relationships.” Olivia sounded a little defeated and a whole lot jaded.
“I understand.”
Romeo stepped between them, draping an arm over each of their shoulders. “I’d rather walk with you two. What’s the topic? Sex? Men? Me? I have no secrets. Ask me anything.”
“Anything?” Leigh glanced over her shoulder. J.T. lagged behind, apparently ignoring all three of them.
“Go for it.” Romeo flashed his brilliant smile at a young woman as she approached. She rewarded him by rolling her eyes. “Ouch. What did I do?”
“Well, you are hanging on two women.” Leigh had no doubt the ladies loved Romeo. He enjoyed being around them. He lit up, slid into his suave, sassy persona. Flattery oozed from him.
“You had a question?” He leaned closer as if to hear something juicy.
“Is your hair dyed?” Leigh spoke in a low conspiratorial voice.
Romeo’s feet stopped moving. “What?” His eyes flashed wide, and his hands went to his luxurious head of hair.
“J.T.’s hair is black and I wondered if—” She fought to hold back a smile. “Maybe you wanted yours the same color.”
The laughter from behind answered her real question. J.T. projected a stoic, disinterested persona. He missed nothing. He heard and saw everything around him.
Leigh assured Romeo that she was joking. She suffered a small blip in her heartbeat when her phone vibrated and she saw the caller ID. Her mother seldom called during working hours.
“Mom?”
“There’s been an accident.”
“Ethan’s hurt?” A razor sliced into her heart, peeling it open. Her stomach roiled against the sandwich she’d eaten minutes ago.
“He’s fine. No one’s seriously injured.” Her mother’s voice shook.
“Where are you?” Leigh felt a hand on her back. J.T. had moved into the spot next to her.
“At home. Can you come?”
“I’m on my way. What happened?”
“That bicycle...never mind. I’ll tell you when you get here.”
“Bicycle?” Leigh said to the dead cell phone.
Romeo and Olivia walked shoulder-to-shoulder in silence directly in front of Leigh. They turned and led the way as if they were escorting a dignitary. Their unspoken support helped Leigh hold herself together.
J.T.’s strong hands guided her into the parking garage, and Olivia opened the passenger side of a black Corvette.
“I don’t need a ride.” Leigh stiffened and took a step backward.
“You’re not driving.” J.T.’s tone left no room for argument as he headed around to the other side.
“Go.” Olivia nudged her into the car as the engine surged to life. “Don’t worry about Casey or the job. We’ll explain.”
“Talk to me,” J.T. commanded. “Where to?”
A new wave of panic surged. She was about to break a long-standing rule just because she was rattled and shouldn’t be behind the wheel. Romeo and Olivia overheard Leigh’s phone conversation. Was it enough to guess she had a child? Now J.T. would be privy to a part of her life she shared with few people. In fact, no one she worked with had met her son.
“Leigh. Let me help.” His voice, soft and warm, reassured her. “Where to?”
“Peachtree City.”
“No problem,” he said. The sports car’s roar echoed through the building. Its tires screeched around corners. The Corvette burst onto Century Parkway like a hungry panther on the heels of its prey.
Leigh’s blood raced through her body breaking all speed records. An accident? Where no one was injured? She pulled her cell from her pocket and stared at the blank screen. The fact her mom was busy with the emergency stopped Leigh from calling, so the cold piece of technology lay useless in her hand. Her fingers drummed over the numbers. Leigh patted down the loose hair curling around her face. A strong hand gripped her knee.
“Leigh.”
“Ethan doesn’t own a bike,” she said, struggling to hold her panic under the surface. “I’m sure that’s what my mother said.”
“Leigh.” J.T. shook her knee. “I’m leaving the highway and entering the city. I need directions.”
“Sorry. Stay on the main drag for the next five miles, take a right on Turner.” She’d lost herself during the thirty-mile drive. Other than her parents and Ethan’s sitter, Leigh didn’t rely on anyone for anything. She’d grown capable of handling her personal problems. Now she’d put herself in J.T.’s hands without thinking. She pressed her thumbs to her temples as thunder rolled through her head.
“I appreciate you driving. Obviously, my mind hasn’t been on the road,” Leigh admitted.
“No problem.”
“And my imagination is running wild.”
“You’re holding it together.” He glanced at her with something resembling pride in his eyes. His hand remained on her knee, strong and comforting.
“My mother made no sense at all.”
“Ethan’s your son?”
The swish of blood rushing flooded her ears. J.T. was about to meet the entire McBride family.
“Yes.” Leigh shuddered, a chill racing across her skin. “Sometimes my parents keep Ethan while I’m at work.” She covered her rolling stomach with her hand. “He doesn’t own a bicycle. Not unless Dad bought him one without talking to me.”
She directed J.T. through the older, established neighborhood. She was grateful he hadn’t asked any more questions. No doubt, he’d have plenty after today.
“Turn right at the stop sign. It’s the last house on the left.” She opened the door to the car before he turned off the ignition. She hit the ground running. She didn’t pause at the entry. “Mom?”
“In our bedroom,” her mother called out in return.
Leigh ran down the hall and didn’t stop until she reached the side of the bed. Her father had raw abrasions on his arms, his knees, and an angry gouge in his forehead. She looked around franticly. Ethan was nowhere to be seen.