“There’s something else no one has mentioned yet.” Rooney placed a hand on her stomach. “Determining who else might be in danger.”
Ava hadn’t even thought that far ahead which showed how much she was off her game.
“Write a list of everyone on that squad.” Frazer agreed. “I’ll talk to HR for their official list too.”
“It’s possible other people may have been targeted. If this was a case that went to trial there could be witnesses. Prosecutors. Judges.” Dominic dragged a hand over his face. He looked haggard. She felt guilty for yelling at him. Maybe she hadn’t been fair. She’d known she was crossing a line when she’d investigated Van’s death in spite of Aldrich’s orders.
“You know you’re a target, right? Regardless of who roofied your drink last night. If we’re right about this then someone wants you dead,” said Ava.
“I can look after myself.”
“Like you did last night?” Frazer said sarcastically. “If you are right about this then the UNSUB has used various methods to successfully murder several experienced Federal Agents without raising suspicion. Until now.”
“You want me to go into protective custody, or into hiding? CNU is severely shorthanded and can’t afford to lose a full-time negotiator.”
“They’ll be more shorthanded if you wind up dead,” Frazer stated. “Anyway, you might not get a choice.”
“Yeah,” Dominic’s lip curled. “I don’t think so.”
Frazer raised a patronizing brow. Ava crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. So, Dominic would use his unspoken influence to keep himself in the game without even batting an eye, but she’d had to beg for him to support her.
“Why don’t we get Ava reassigned as your bodyguard until this is over?” Rooney suggested brightly. “You need someone to drive you around anyway, right?”
“What? No.” Dominic looked horrified.
Ava flinched.
“It’s the perfect solution. She can work the case while you’re doing your negotiator thing and watch your back the rest of the time.”
Frazer was staring at Ava in an assessing manner. “It’s not a bad idea,” he mused. “You could pose undercover as Sheridan’s girlfriend and that way the killer won’t necessarily know we’re onto them the way they would if he was suddenly surrounded by HRT agents.”
Dominic said, “You think they’re watching me?”
Fraser nodded. “Unless they just happened to be at the bar last night, they’re probably stalking you. Same way they must have stalked the other victims.”
The saliva in Ava’s mouth dried up.
Dominic’s usually smooth voice rumbled through his chest. “I don’t want a bodyguard.”
“I don’t want to be suspended,” Ava shot back.
“Then you should learn to work with the FBI rather than in spite of it,” Dominic bit out.
Ava sucked in a furious breath.
“Here we go again.” Frazer rolled his eyes. “How about we take this one step at a time. Alex can look for any surveillance footage he might be able to find from the bar. I’ll talk to the DEA, but don’t hold your breath. Mallory can follow up on getting the police artist out to the guy who started the bar fight and talk to the waitress who served you. I’ll approach the director with our suspicions. You,” he looked at Dominic, “put in an appeal to Aldrich to get Kanas’s suspension lifted and her assigned to work with you. OPR are investigating anyway, no reason for her not to be useful in the meantime.”
Ava blinked at his callous matter-of-factness.
“You’ll need to take basic security precautions which includes having someone with you at all times. If not Kanas then we’ll arrange someone else—until the higher ups decide to make that decision.” Frazer pinched his lips together. “I suspect they’ll want an HRT unit on you whether you like it or not.”
“No way am I wasting the time or resources of HRT,” Dominic said forcefully. He shot her a look. He didn’t want her either, that was for damn sure.
Rooney’s stomach rumbled audibly, breaking the tension. “Sorry.” She rubbed her distended abdomen. “Junior is hungry and whatever is cooking smells good.”
“Beef stew courtesy of a neighbor. You want some?” Dominic asked.
“Only if you don’t mind.” Rooney smacked her lips. She looked at her boss.
He shrugged. “Far be it from me to come between a pregnant woman and food.”
“Linc?” Dominic asked. The use of Frazer’s shortened first name suggested they were good friends as Ava had suspected.
The blond man shook his head. “Not for me. I’m taking Izzy out for dinner.”
“I’m in.” Parker accepted the offer without being asked.
“Ava?” asked Dom.
No way she was eating the neighbor’s infamous beef stew. “No thanks. I’m thinking of turning vegetarian.”
Dominic’s lips quirked. “And give up chicken wings?”
She gave a reluctant laugh, and some of the lingering tension eased away. “Maybe not. But I’m not hungry. Go ahead and eat.”
Dominic went into the kitchen, and they all strung along behind him. Ranger was dancing excitedly under his feet. Ava saw what happened like some slow-motion Rom-Com disaster. Dominic put on an oven glove and retrieved the casserole dish awkwardly with his one good arm. Then he turned, tripped over the dog, and knew he was going down. He lobbed the casserole dish so that it wouldn’t hit Ranger who yelped in confusion and shot out of the way as Dominic crashed hard to the floor. The casserole dish shattered. Stew went everywhere.
Ava rushed to where Dominic lay writhing on the floor.
“Are you okay?” She clutched his good shoulder, and his hand grabbed hers as he rolled onto his back, gasping for breath, gripping his ribs with his elbows, clearly in pain. He squeezed her fingers so hard she winced.
Under the blackened bruises, his skin was milky pale, eyes scrunched up and watering.
“Jesus, Dominic, say something. Do I need to call an ambulance? Did you break a rib?”
Then his shoulders started shaking, and he started to wheeze.
“Are you okay? Speak to me dammit before I smack you.”
Finally, a shout of laughter erupted, and he let go of her hand to wipe the tears from his eyes. “You’d make a terrible nurse.”
“Did you break anything?” she asked urgently.
“Suzanna’s fucking casserole dish. Now I’ll have to buy her another one. Help me up, Agent Kanas, and then I’ll show you to a spare room you can use in the short-term until we figure out what the hell is going on.”
The dog started to lick up the stew.
“There’s broken glass in there,” Ava warned sharply.
Frazer caught Ranger by the collar and dragged him away. “Come on, boy.”
Dominic looked up at Rooney from his prone position on the floor. “Stew’s off the menu. How about some homemade soup?”
Chapter Thirteen
Every muscle in Dominic’s body hurt. Every nerve, every bone, every sinew. It was getting worse rather than better, and no way was he taking anything stronger to numb the pain. The epidemic of opioid addiction scared him far more than any temporary discomfort.
He and Ava Kanas had spent most of the early evening going over the reports on the other agents’ deaths looking for commonalities. The only thing they found in common was the fact they were now all dead. In terms of cases worked by the New York squad there were hundreds of instances where they’d all worked together to some degree. The FBI tended to do takedowns in overwhelming numbers as a deterrent against criminals thinking they stood a chance of escaping and to crush the will to fight back. It was a tactic that worked.
He and Ava had kept everything strictly polite and professional and had both been as uncomfortable as hell. She was set up at the opposite end of a long work table the previous owners had left in the basement.
His gaze kept drifting to her. Intelligent eyes narrowed in concentration. Shiny brown
hair loose around her shoulders rather than tied up in its ubiquitous bun. She wore a baggy cable sweater with tight jeans. Her Glock-22 sat on the table beside her computer. A reminder she wasn’t here for a social visit.
Dominic did not want to be shadowed by anyone. He was a loner by nature—he had a feeling Ava was too. He didn’t want to waste Bureau resources protecting him when there were other people in greater danger. Chances were his would-be attacker had left the area and if they hadn’t, they sure as hell would bail if Dominic were surrounded by a bunch of HRT meatheads in Kevlar.
He wanted to catch this bastard not have him run away. But he couldn’t do it alone right now. Hell, he couldn’t even drive. So, he was stuck in close proximity to a woman he found increasingly attractive, a woman who seemed to like him a hell of a lot less than he liked her—which was a good thing, he told himself.
He was supposed to be making a list of everyone he remembered working with at NYFO, but he couldn’t concentrate with the other agent in the room. Maybe he was tired. He touched the bridge of his nose which was now as black as his eye sockets. He looked like a goddamn raccoon—made worse by the lack of sleep.
“Want a drink?” He nodded toward the fully stocked bar. The previous owners had also left a pool table and darts board down here. Not to mention the fully functional cinema with seating for eight.
Ava looked up from her computer where she was casting an eye over the lists of cases he’d helped work on at NYFO to see if anything jumped out. Perhaps Van had mentioned a particular defendant and the list might jog her memory. Basically, they were clutching at straws.
“No. Thanks. Better keep a clear head. Just in case.”
Just in case some UNSUB decided to take another crack at him—and she what? Threw herself in front of a bullet to save him? Hell, no. Not happening, but he figured it would be better if she didn’t realize that.
She’d gone back to her apartment and grabbed some belongings. Who knew how long it would take to catch this bastard. At least his home had good security. He’d drawn all the blinds to prevent them becoming easy targets for a sniper upstairs, but here in the basement they didn’t need to worry.
“You can have one beer—”
“I know you don’t think much of me, SSA Sheridan.” Those eyes of hers narrowed to laser points of disapproval.
Dominic opened his mouth to argue, but she spoke over him again.
“I know you think the idea of me acting as your bodyguard is ridiculous and the last thing you want, but I take my job seriously. So, no alcohol, thank you.”
He held onto his silence when all he wanted to do was dive in to protest with both feet. After a few moments he said carefully, “It isn’t ‘you’ I object to, Ava. It is the idea of anyone—including yourself—putting themselves in danger for me.”
She looked up, and something flickered in her eyes. “I don’t believe you.”
Dominic realized he needed to treat his interactions with Ava like any other high stakes negotiation so he started with some emotional labeling. “It seems like this is upsetting for you.”
She rolled her eyes dramatically.
“It seems like you think I don’t value you as an agent.”
Her eyes went wide in feigned surprise. “What gave it away?”
“The daggers in your eyes.”
Her eyes narrowed again.
He winced. “That was a joke.” Apparently a bad one. She brought out the worst in him and he decided to use that by listing all his worst characteristics in an accusation audit. “Look, I’m an asshole. I take myself and my job way too seriously. I am hypersensitive about my political connections. I don’t want anyone thinking I got my position for any reason other than the fact I’m good at what I do.”
She was watching him now with a little less hostility.
“I don’t like the idea of some scumbag hurting people, especially my friends and colleagues. If we discover Van was murdered, I’ll never forgive myself for not being there to protect him. If he committed suicide, I’ll feel the same way.” And the idea of anyone harming this woman because she was with him drove a stake through his already aching body. He cleared his throat. “I’m a private person. I like my own space, and I don’t like having to hide from this bastard. I don’t want them to think they are winning. I don’t want them to think I’m scared.” He paused briefly. “I guess that’s pride. A deadly sin where I come from.”
She let out a long breath that sounded like she might be letting go of her resentment. “I get that. I overreacted earlier. Van always said I had a hair trigger. I apologize. I just feel like no one is taking my opinions seriously—”
“I take you seriously. You’re a good agent.”
She raised a brow in question.
“You held fire when we were being shot at during Van’s funeral. A hot head would have returned fire.”
“We were out of range.”
“Which proves you were thinking and not just reacting. And this thing with the circumstances surrounding Van’s death. You kept hammering away at the case even though no one believed you.”
Her lips pulled tight, and she looked away. “I might still be wrong.”
“You’re not wrong.” He knew it with certainty now. There were too many unexplained deaths. Too many coincidences. “I’m sorry I wasn’t keen to go out on a limb for you with the higher ups. I figured if I persuaded Frazer to do it, I’d have been able to help you while maintaining my puritanical stance.” The ease with which Ray Aldrich had agreed to reinstate her while OPR did their work had made his stomach crawl.
“I had no idea about your political relations. Van never mentioned your family to me.” She picked at a piece of fluff on her sweater. She was curious but didn’t want to admit it.
“Because he knew I hated it when people brought them up—especially at work.” Dominic got up and poured himself a small whiskey. Enough to feel the kick, not enough to blunt his faculties. “My father and I don’t have the easiest relationship, but he’s a politician so I try to not talk about it.”
“Why don’t you get along?”
He looked at her, the whiskey warming his tongue. “We get along fine, he just tends to put his career before the rest of us, and that can be hard.”
“I googled your family earlier,” she admitted. Her voice dropped low with sympathy, and he knew what she was going to say before she said it. He braced himself. “The article said your mom killed herself when you were a kid.”
“And that’s just one of the many things I don’t like to talk about.” He poured himself another shot. Crap. “What about your family?”
Her eyes went wide. “What about them?”
“The name Kanas is Greek, right?”
She nodded but shifted uncomfortably.
“Something you had in common with Van?”
She threw her pen down and stretched her arms above her head. A blue, beaded bracelet caught the light. Dominic looked away. Did not need to be reminded she had breasts.
“Van converted to Catholicism to marry Jessica. He pretty much left the tight-knit Greek community behind at the same time,” she said.
“You seem to know a lot about him.” How close had they been?
“We talked about it a lot.” She laughed. “Ask any Greek kid about Greek school, and you’ll understand why growing up ‘Greek’ is such a big thing.”
“You think the fact you both come from a Greek background is why you two got on so well?” If he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he wouldn’t have noticed.
Her hand went to the bottom of her neck in a move that screamed self-protection. “Probably.”
He frowned. He didn’t believe her. Why would she lie about something as simple as that? “You come from a big family?”
She climbed to her feet and started to pace. “Not really.”
He raised one brow. She seemed even more reluctant to talk about her family than he did. She yawned. The dark circles under her eyes told him all h
e needed to know about how exhausted she was. He also knew that until he turned in, she wasn’t going to budge.
His cell phone started to vibrate. It was his father. Damn. “I’m gonna take this in my room and then get some sleep.”
“I’ll sleep on the couch upstairs.”
“There are five other double beds in the house,” he said in exasperation.
“They’re all on other floors to where you’re sleeping. I’ll be fine on the couch,” she insisted.
He ground his teeth, picked up his service weapon from the table, and headed upstairs. Ranger was already in his dog bed by the back door and half-heartedly wagged his tail when Dominic walked by.
He went through to his bedroom on the ground floor, placed the Glock on the bedside table. If Ava wanted to sleep on the couch that was her problem.
She’d be fine.
He’d slept there plenty of times, but it still felt weird to have anyone, let alone a woman he found attractive, sleeping so close by. On the couch. “Protecting” him.
He pressed redial on his cell.
“Dominic, how are you, son?” It probably wasn’t his father’s fault that he perpetually sounded like he was on the campaign trail.
“Pretty good, considering.” Dominic forced himself to smile because people could hear smiles even on the phone. “Been a hell of a week.”
“I called you after the shooting on Tuesday.”
“Sorry, Pop, I meant to call back but I got tied up at work.”
“Joshua was asking after you…”
Dominic had been ecstatic when his godfather had won the election, it was only afterward it had become awkward. “Please give him my regards.”
“You could pick up the phone yourself you know. Better yet, pay the man a visit.”
Tension pulled at the muscles across Dominic’s chest. “I’ll try to do that the next time I’m in DC.” And he probably did owe the man a visit. It just felt so incredibly freaking awkward visiting his godfather at the White House.
“I was calling for another reason.” His dad cleared his throat. “I asked Tracy to marry me, and she said yes.”
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