"So they begin taking women with connections to the politicians capable of making what they"re doing disappear."
Was she really on the same wavelength as him? "The fourth victim could have been taken either as leverage against the police chief, or she was on the payroll of the gang, or involved with someone on the payroll who was making noises about getting out and she was taken as leverage against them."
"Maybe she stumbled across the dirty cops and threatened to turn them in and this is their way of silencing her."
"Maybe." He blew out a ragged breath and turned toward her.
If Kieralyn could be made to believe that his father might be innocent of any heinous involvement then maybe he wasn"t such a fool for hoping. If that was true, his father could eventually reclaim his spot in the family.
Ian"s heart broke every time he visited his mother and sister. Every time he heard the sadness, the grief in their voices. They"d thought his father was a consultant for the government. If they knew what he might be tangled up in... He would make sure they didn"t crack.
"Ian, I know you want me to agree that you"re right about your dad. That you think maybe if I believe the best of your father then maybe he hasn"t done your family wrong."
"I"m a big boy. I can handle it if you see the situation differently." He approached the desk opposite her and braced his hands flat on the cool surface. "I need your honesty on this. I need to know that I"m not coloring the options to suit my desires."
"You could be right." She slipped a hand over his. A brief touch of comfort that had tears thickening his throat. "It"s possible that your father has gone so deep undercover that he"s stopped talking to our side. I hope, for your sake, that"s what has happened."
"Yeah, I"ve thought of that. I"ve just never found any validation to the theory."
"Don"t you have a high enough clearance to find out for certain?"
"When I"m not being shut down at every turn by my father"s supervisor. He says there"s nothing to know. That my father is gone."
"Sounds like a great guy."
"He"s an a.s.s who would prefer that I think my dad is dead."
"I hope you"re right about your dad." She pulled her hand away and went back to tapping on the keyboard. "Right now, we need to see what the background runs found through the night and check on the wires we planted."
"I"ve checked the wires. About an hour ago, they met for breakfast. Nothing of interest has been said yet."
"How can you know that? You don"t have the recording playing."
"It"s turned down. I can hear it." Though he may have missed something during their talk. "I"ll wind it back and turn it up."
"I"ll check the search results on the computer."
He moved to his control panel. She worked at the computer. They worked in silence, aside from Kieralyn"s pulse thrumming steadily-a constant reminder of what would never be.
h.e.l.l, maybe he was imagining his feelings. He didn"t have a lot of experience with emotional connections to women.
"A Horatio Danielson and David Sanders were cellmates in prison for two years. Without confirmation of the names of the men we"ve tagged, I can"t be sure they"re the same men, but it"s a bit too coincidental." Her heart sped up suddenly. A flush of warmth heightened her body temp, carrying her essence to him. "Especially when you add in the fact that one Tyler Isaacs served time in the same prison during their incarceration."
Interesting. He paused the recording. "What did they do time for? When?"
"Danielson got charged with drug possession, intent to deal, and a.s.sault and battery with a deadly weapon. Sanders for three counts of armed robbery. Isaacs went in for murder three years ago. Interestingly, all three were released less than two months from when Isaacs went in."
"Someone pulled strings to release them. Serious strings in Isaacs" case. When did that happen?"
"July of 2005."
"Six months before my father went missing. Though we"re still missing hard proof of where the women are being held, and if they"re going to be shipped out or the details of said shipment. Some of the women have been missing for weeks. Would they really keep them in the same place-especially a club filled with people?"
"If they have cops on the payroll and know that no one is on to them why would they need to move them?" She huffed out a frustrated breath. "I have to bring my team in on what we"ve learned. I"m thinking that since they came after me they at least suspect that they"re being investigated."
"Logical."
"I have to tell them about your father and the possible link between the cases."
"Goes without saying." He considered the situation. "Will you advise them of the possibility that he"s still undercover?"
"I can do that, but I can"t guarantee how things will go down."
"Understood." Ian stood and pointed toward the phone. "Call your team. I need to...feed Maximum."
They would likely argue that she was rushing the case, but Ian understood her need to act fast, and he wouldn"t let her confront anyone without backup. He forced himself to walk calmly from the room to give her privacy. His gut told him that whatever happened with the case, regardless of how soon it took her team to move in, today would be his last with Kieralyn.
She"d stopped being the woman who fell apart at his touch. The woman who undermined his control with her s.e.xy moans and the wiggle of her hips had vanished when she walked into his lab that morning. The untouchable FBI agent, determined to save her friend and prove herself to her team, sat in her place.
He turned the corner into his apartment and leaned back, resting his head against the wall. He closed his eyes and listened to the steady rhythm of her heart. He ached for the loss of the sensual lover he"d discovered, the s.p.u.n.ky woman willing to spar with him. Kieralyn was the first woman to make him see the lighter side of life, to make him remember the pleasure of a simple laugh. She was also a woman who couldn"t be his.
"d.a.m.n it." Kieralyn slammed her hand against the desk, wishing she had something she could plant her fist into. "I"m surrounded by closed-minded b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."
"Present company excluded?"
She spun around to find Ian leaning against the door with his head tilted. Maximum sat at his side with his head tilted the same as Ian"s. It might have been comical if she hadn"t just slammed into the brick wall of the men on her team. "They won"t move in until we know Isaacs has the women, and where."
"They"re right."
"Bulls.h.i.t!" She jumped from her chair and paced the floor. "What is it with men? Why can"t anyone take what I have to say as valuable information?"
"Um-"
"I didn"t get to mention your father. They didn"t give me the chance. What is it about me that makes people not see me?" It had always been the same thing. Ever since she"d been abandoned as a young child, left with nothing more than a bag of clothes and a paper with her name and birth date, she"d never managed to stop being a charity case for more than short bursts of time.
Lana had been the one person who hadn"t looked down on her or belittled her. Even though she hadn"t gotten into that college group, Lana had taken her reports seriously and covered the story. How could she not do everything possible to save the first real friend she"d had? She couldn"t let a group of arrogant men keep her from answers. Keep her from helping the only person who"d valued her.
"You don"t let them." The rough timbre of Ian"s whisper sc.r.a.ped her nerves.
"Excuse me?" It was her fault that people treated her the way they did? Did that make it her fault that her team didn"t put any stock in her investigative skills?
"You don"t let people see you." He pushed off the wall and walked to the desk where she"d been working. Reclining against it, he crossed his arms over his broad chest. "Whatever has happened to you, whoever turned away from you, you"ve given them the power to control your life."
"I control my own life." He couldn"t know what had happened to her.
"You hold yourself distant behind a protective shield. You say you want to be accepted, but how often do you let people know the real you?"
"As if you know the real me." Ugliness swelled in her gut. "We only met two mornings ago."
"And I"ve witnessed your protective streak even as you resent expressing it." His tongue swept across his plump, kissable lips. "I"ve felt you melt beneath the influence of genuine affection. You want to be liked, even loved. You crave acceptance and friendship. You just don"t trust yourself to be able to give the emotions back. You think they"ll make you soft."
"You know nothing about me."
"Keep telling yourself that while you continue blaming the men you work with for your professional difficulties. h.e.l.l, Kieralyn, if you treat them like you have me since you walked in that door the first time, you make it an uphill battle littered with lethal landmines to find anything likeable about you."
"You seem to like me well enough in bed."
"For some perverse reason, there"s nothing about your smarta.s.s b.i.t.c.hiness that I don"t like." He rushed her and pinned her against the desk. "h.e.l.l, maybe it"s because I don"t have to deal with you daily. Maybe it"s because you keep things entertaining. Or maybe it"s because I find immense pleasure in witnessing your loss of control at my touch and the way you quiver when I kiss you."
She braced her hands on his chest and shoved him back. Her hands shook as she walked to the control panel he"d commanded. Hoping to drown him out, not that she could nudge his words from her mind, she cranked up the volume on the listening devices they"d planted on Sanders and Danielson.
"Sanders, get the van and prep it. Danielson, get the women ready to move out." Isaacs ordered the men as brusquely as a drill sergeant. No one would dare cross him.
Ian snapped to attention and joined her. Tension vibrated off him. They were running out of time.
"Yes, sir. When do we move them?"
"El Dogo will be here within the hour." Something clinked noisily as Isaacs spoke.
s.h.i.t. She had to get her team together, which would no doubt lead to another argument.
"We haven"t discovered the ident.i.ty of the woman who was asking questions. We can"t afford to take chances that she"s with the cops."
"You have cops in your pocket. Can"t they find out?"
"If only I"d thought of that." Disdain dripped from Isaacs" voice. "Since you fumbled the task and failed to get anything helpful like her plate number while you followed her, I"ve got nothing to go on. I can"t ignore the possibility that the reporter got a message to someone."
"Right."
They didn"t know she was a fed or that they were being listened to. Some luck was on her side. She could use more. Like a verification of where they were and the right approach to get her team to back her up.
"What if the woman pops back up?"
"Then she"ll join the others on their trip."
"The guy she was with?"
"He"ll never see the bullet coming."
"They"re on guard." Ian"s fingers drummed his leg. "That can work for or against us."
Me. Not us. Her suspects didn"t know who she was. They likely didn"t know Ian was blind, but they were right about his chances against a bullet. Adrenaline kicked through her. As good as Ian was with hand-to-hand, she had to keep him away from the danger. She had to get away from him.
Ian snapped his fingers. Maximum, who sat facing them, rushed to the main door and sat in front of it. "Grab what you need. We"re moving out."
She glanced around looking for a way to leave him behind. Problem was... "Do you know where they are?"
"Yes." He stepped around her, opened a drawer, and pulled out a handheld pocket PC sort of device. "We"ll call your team on the way."
"Where are we going? The club?"
He angled a smile her way and shook his head. "If I tell you now, you"re only going to try to find a way to leave me behind."
"So?" She grabbed her phone and bag. "You heard them, Ian. They will kill you if they see you."
"And you will be shipped off to wherever with the other women. You want to find Lana, but I don"t think you"re willing to pay the price of being some man"s slave."
"I"m doing my job!"
"You"re being impulsive! I"m not letting you go in without knowing that backup is with you." He slipped the device into his pocket and faced her. "Besides, how are you going to know if they change their plans? How are you going to know what"s going on inside of wherever they are, so that you know the right time to move in?"
She tapped her foot. She could jump him. If she moved fast enough she might be able to surprise him enough to knock him unconscious and get the device he"d slipped into his pocket-likely a portable listening device. Then she recalled how he"d fought those men. And he"d helped her. The least she could do was make sure he stayed safe.
"If you manage to knock me out, Maximum will never let you out of here."
"Sure, you can hear my thoughts now?"
"No, but considering that protective streak I mentioned earlier, it"s logical that your mind would go there."
"Fine. If you get shot, it isn"t my fault."
"Fine." He grinned and turned his back on her to walk to the door. "Get your a.s.s moving."
Her lips quirked into a smile. Arrogant p.r.i.c.k acted as if he had a right to order her around. As if they were more to each other than two agents from different agencies working on a case. She wanted to be angry that he"d thwarted her intentions of going in alone. She wanted to knock him out and deal with things herself. To walk away from him and all the mixed up emotions he had churning around inside of her. "Do you have anything we could use to talk to each other?"
"Because you"ve decided that having me in the car to be your ears isn"t a bad plan?"
Admitting he was right, that she needed his help, irritated her. She absolutely couldn"t reconcile her desire to keep him close as long as possible. "Pretty much."
"In the drawer below the one I was just in, there"s a black case."
She opened the drawer and found three cases. Black, white, and gray. "Why are they different colors? I would"ve thought you"d describe it to me based on the location."
"It"s easier to tell a sighted person to get the black box than the middle box on the right side of the second drawer in the third bank of drawers."
"Both ways work." Grinning, she grabbed the box and closed the drawer.
"My way uses fewer words." He bent down and put Maximum"s harness on him. "When you"re finished being a smarta.s.s, we can go."
"You enjoy it." She joined him at the door. "Don"t pretend otherwise."
He leaned close and brushed a kiss just below her ear. She shivered before she could brace herself. "Do you want to talk about what we enjoy? What I enjoy?"
"No." She pushed him back and opened the door. Now was not the time for distractions. No time was great for the distractions Ian seemed so intent on providing. Too bad her traitorous body didn"t agree.