“Goddamnit!” I throw my phone down at the receiver. Something is going on and no one is answering their phones. I suspect Suzie knows something but she’s conveniently locked herself in Brad’s old office and is working diligently on her computer. Every time I take a peek at the rainbow-haired beauty; I want to either yell at her for some answers or kiss the shit out of her. I’ve somehow gained eight pounds since she started working here and I know it has something to do with those damn sparkly cupcakes she brings in twice a week.
But now isn’t the time to talk about my expanding waist size but the fact that my two partners have somehow gone off the grid after this morning’s antics and this afternoon’s activities. Add to the fact that before those two idiots went off on their own, they helped figure out a critical lead. And now I have to call my former…fling.
I pick up my personal cellphone and I look for the familiar name. Hopefully, Irina hasn’t deleted my number or changed hers.
The phone rings a few times before I hear a man’s voice answer.
“George? It’s Joseph Rodriguez from D-One.”
“Ah, Mr. Rodriguez. I actually expected to hear from you earlier,” he chuckles into the phone but I bite my tongue and roll my eyes. Two nights with her was more than enough for me.
“Sorry to burst your happy bubble but this isn’t that kind of call. I actually need to speak to Irina on a more professional level.”
“This is about him, isn’t it?” His voice lowers to a more serious tone but I can tell that he’s got an inking as to what’s been going on.
“Look. Obviously, you’ve been watching the news. Is there any chance you, me, and Irina can video chat?”
“She’s just finished up some reshoots. How about we facetime you when we get into the car? It’s got a privacy window and we can talk freely.”
“I’ll be waiting, George.”
“Five minutes.”
We hang up but all I can think about is how deeply Doc and Logan are involved in this mess. I should have known that joke they made so long ago was actually a hidden truth. Logan never made jokes like that.
I make sure my MacBook is loaded and running and in less than the requested time, my notifications tell me they’re calling me back.
“Hey, y’all. Sorry to have to talk like this but we need your help,”
“Jo, if this is about what I think it is, then just know that we’re doing something on our end. We know about The Judge. But we have a plan on our end to fish the guy out. Quietly. I can’t have him dragging my name into this.”
“Irina, I can’t have your people messing with our investigation. This isn’t just about that, either. Did you know that my business partner was killed that night? His sister also works for me and she survived. Barely. She still wakes up at night screaming, can’t sleep with the lights off, and goes to therapy three times a week. And were you aware that my other business partner’s boyfriend was also killed that night which happened to be the ten-year anniversary of his parent’s death? Or do you know that evidence found at the Houston scene traced back to your private plane and hangar? There is so much more involved than some stupid investigation and trying to keep your reputation intact isn’t helping.”
“I’m sorry, Jo. I didn’t know. We thought we’d tighten security on all my teams. Only a few people we trust know what’s going on and I thought that if we tackled this from the inside, we’d be able to hand him over to you before anything else happened.”
“Look, I appreciate the effort and you can guarantee that we will work in tandem with your own team to ensure that we get this guy. But I need to know how you figured out it’s a member of your team?”
“That was me,” George finally pipes up. “We’ve been on the run so much over the last six months that we’ve not had much time to stop and watch the news. We’ve heard about a couple of the attacks but it wasn’t until we started tracking Houston that we realized that all the attack dates coincided with the places Irina worked. Naturally we assumed it was someone on the IA team. When we were in mid-flight in the early hours of this morning, we heard about the Denver attack.”
“Jo, we’re headed to Atlanta in three days. I can’t have this on my conscious if someone else gets hurt. Or dies.”
I feel bad for Irina. She thinks someone is attacking her through all these incidents. But that’s not even the case. Not even close. She’s unknowingly providing some psychopath transportation, money, and an alibi.
“Have either of you seen the sketch drawing that we got from a witness?” They both shake their heads and I grab for the copy on my desk. I hold it up to my camera. “Does this man look familiar?”
“No.” Irina shakes her head no and looks at George. He squints at the photo and shakes his head as well. I let out a disappointed sigh. I was hoping that they’d recognize him. I roll my head into my propped hands and groan.
“I mean, he kinda looks like Steve. But not really?” He looks at Irina who shrugs.
“I can kind of see it. But Jo, he’s my pilot. I trust the man like I do George. And he was flying the plane when the Denver attacks happened.”
“Then it’s not him. Look, I have your phone number. I’ll text you a picture of the sketch for your security team and send us an updated schedule, please. Within the hour. Keep us updated, but know that I have to let Assistant Director Wilkerson in on this. There’s a chance he’s going to want to plant a few people in your teams. I have to go, but we’ll keep in touch, okay?”
They both nod and the screen goes blank.
One call down, one to go. And then there’s the matter with Suzie still. I don’t want to burden her with more shit but whatever she’s in on with the guys, it has to stop. I storm around my desk in a huff then grab my jacket and throw it on as I rush out my office door.
“Suzie!” I bang on the door and she jumps at the sound. Look of fright flashes over her face, making me feel like shit. But its replaced by a scowl just as quickly before she stands up and unlocks the door.
“Jo, you scared the shit out of me.” Her voice goes quiet while I beat myself up inside. I know better than to make sudden loud noises.
“You know I didn’t mean it, Suzie-Q.” I pull her into me and I kiss the top of her head. Really, I want to kiss the shit out of her ruby lips that have a slight quiver to them at the moment. I want to reassure her and let her know that I don’t care if her cooking makes me get fat or if I have to sleep with the lights on occasionally. God, I’ve had fucking googly eyes over this woman since the second I saw her. And right now, I feel like an ass for having to have this awful conversation with her. “We need to talk, Suz.”
“Come inside. I think I know what this is about.” We walk in and take a seat in the conference area. Somehow, we skip the long sofa and sit on the loveseat. I prop my head on my hand and stare her down.
“Where are they, Q?”
“I don’t know.” I raise an eyebrow but she holds her hands up. “I really don’t!”
“I find that hard to believe. I saw you with both guys this morning. Your heads were together, you were whispering. I need to know what’s going on.”
“I finally told Logan what happened. With me.” She gives me that look that kills me. The one where I know she looks ashamed but she tries her hardest not to let it bother her. “And then I printed out copies of all the evidence we scanned into the system. Logan went to get Cameron and last I heard, they were headed to the airport.” Her eyes wander around the room. Anywhere but at me.
I jump up, pulling at my hair, swearing in Spanish before I focus on her. “Damnit, Suzie. Those two on their own will be almost as dangerous and destructive as that fucker out there. Why the hell would you even think about helping those two when you know damn well they’re only going find that fucker and bury his ass where no one will ever find him.”
“Because I lost someone too, Jo. I survived that horror show only to be like this.” Her hand circles her gorgeous face but I see nothing wrong. She stands up, fighting back tears as she gets in my face. “I helped them because I need closure. For me, Jo.” We stare at each other for a few seconds, breathing heavily until I grab her arms and pull her into me and I finally get that kiss.
Strawberries. Her ruby red lips taste like fucking strawberries.
I part our lips and stare at a stunned Suzie. “Come to dinner with me tonight.”
A statement, not a question. She only nods and walks out the door, her fingers lightly touching her lips.
“I feel that buzz too, my Suzie-Q,” I whisper to the empty room.
God, I really need to find Logan and Cameron. And my money is on Denver.