Ultimate Risk (R.I.S.C. Book 6)

by Anna Blakely

  Mostly, Mac didn’t feel comfortable sharing that particular story because it wasn’t solely hers to tell.

  Maybe I can take the vague approach.

  “Coop wanted to…take a pretty big jump in our relationship.”

  “And you don’t want to?”

  “Not at first, I didn’t. No.” She shook her head. “That’s not true. I wanted it more than anything, really. I guess I was afraid it wouldn’t work.”

  “Was? As in you’ve changed your mind?”

  Mac nodded. “After talking about it with Olivia, I realized being scared wasn’t an excuse for not trying. You’d think someone in our profession would already know that, huh?” She chuckled softly.

  “Professional fears and personal ones are two completely different things.”

  “That’s the truth.”

  Put her boots on the ground in the middle of a battleground and she felt right at home. Thinking about putting on heels and walking down an aisle in a long, white dress, however…that was a whole different kind of terrifying.

  “I tried talking to him about it before he left tonight. I told him I’d changed my mind, and I wanted what he wanted.”

  “And?”

  “I was too late.” Mac shrugged. “He didn’t want to be with me anymore.”

  “That doesn’t sound like the Coop I know.” Trevor frowned. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want, but…what exactly did he say to you?”

  “He asked me why.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I told him what I wanted, which was the exact same thing he’d wanted earlier. But then he kept asking me why, like it was some sort of test. One I failed miserably, because apparently, I didn’t say the right thing.”

  Mac remained silent while Trevor considered all she’d told him. After a minute or two, he looked back over at her.

  “You know, Mac. Women think men are these complicated creatures with all kinds of hidden agendas and whatnot. Really, there are only two main things we want in a relationship. Trust and Love. You give us that, all the other stuff will work itself out.”

  Trust and love. Trust and…love!

  That’s it! That’s what Coop wanted me to say!

  Mac’s eyes flew to his. “I’m such an idiot, and you, Trevor Matthews, are an absolute genius.”

  It was dark, but she could’ve sworn the handsome man was starting to blush. “I don’t know if I’d go that fa—”

  Mac grabbed the sweet man and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you!”

  “Um…you’re welcome?”

  “Lexi was right, you know.” Mac smiled wide as she opened the door and climbed out. “You really are a good listener.”

  “I try.” Trevor smiled back.

  Grabbing her bags as fast as she could, Mac slammed the cab’s back door shut before grabbing the edge of hers. “Thanks for the ride and…everything else.”

  “Wait. I’ll walk you inside.”

  “No need. The threat’s been taken care of, remember? You’ve got a sweet wife waiting at home for you.”

  Trevor’s eyes softened. “That I do.”

  “Good night, Trev. Drive safe.”

  “Night, Mac. And good luck.”

  “Thanks.”

  She shut the door, hoisted the wide strap of her smaller bag over her shoulder, and headed inside. Using the elevator ride up to her floor, Mac quickly devised another plan. One much better than a desperate run in a hospital parking lot.

  Looking at her watch, she assumed Coop would already be home by now. It was late and given the mood he’d been in when he left, he’d most likely showered and gone to bed.

  You know me better than I know myself.

  He’d told her that earlier when they were still in the barn, and he was right. Mac knew him inside and out. A fact that left her wanting to scream with frustration for not having picked up on what he’d wanted her to say.

  I love you.

  That’s what he’d wanted to hear. That’s what she should have said.

  I love you.

  All he needed was trust and love.

  She’d damn near blown the first one, and though she felt it with every fiber of her being, she’d been too confused to understand all he wanted was the second.

  I love you.

  That’s what she would tell him the second he opened his door. But first, she needed to get herself more presentable. A moment like this called for a shower and freshly shaved legs and other lady parts.

  The elevator dinged. The doors couldn’t open fast enough, so Mac used both hands to help them along.

  Squeezing through—which wasn’t easy to do with her suitcase and bulky bag—she speed-walked to her apartment door, all the way down at the end of the hall. She was in such a hurry to get in and out, and get to Coop, she didn’t notice the tiny scrapes in the metal around her keyhole.

  With a push on her door, Mac lugged her suitcase inside. She waited until she was completely in with the door shut behind her before flipping on the lights. When she turned around, her heart leapt into her throat.

  Her apartment was trashed. Every inch she could see either upended or destroyed.

  Mac drew the gun she’d placed at the small of her back when she and Trevor left the hospital. Next, she pulled the phone from her pocket and called Trevor while she started clearing all the rooms.

  The sound of tires squealing traveled through the phone’s speaker as Trevor turned his truck around and headed back to her apartment. He stayed on the line, waiting until she confirmed she was alone and in no immediate danger, before hanging up and call the authorities.

  In the meantime, Mac called the alarm company to find out why she hadn’t been alerted to the break-in. They had no answer for her other than to say the alarm hadn’t gone off, and they had no explanation as to why.

  Someone had somehow bypassed her system. A system Derek had help design and install. Whoever it was, they knew what the hell they were doing.

  Less than thirty minutes later, her apartment was flooded with people. Trevor was there, of course, as was Eric West, Derek’s twin brother.

  Eric was a decorated detective with the DPD and was more privy to the inner workings of R.I.S.C. than the general public. Any time a call came in involving a member of either of the Alpha or Bravo teams—both teams had seen more than their fair share, lately—Eric managed to get himself assigned to the case.

  Tonight he’d brought along fellow detective, Riley York. The tall, attractive woman was wearing her signature ponytail. Her long, dark hair swishing back and forth with each movement of her head as she spoke to one of the officers.

  The pair had worked closely with Mac and the others when Derek’s wife had been terrorized by her ex. At first, Mac didn’t care for Detective York, but that probably had something to do with her having accused Derek of murder.

  After that situation was resolved and Riley risked her own career to help Derek and the team save Charlie, Mac’s feelings toward the woman changed.

  Eric ended a call, and he and Riley walked over to where Mac and Trevor were standing.

  “I heard back from the Jersey City police department. The detective in charge of Henry Doyle’s case assures me the attorney is still sitting behind bars.”

  “Then he sent someone to do this,” Mac stated without pause. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  Derek’s brother nodded. “From what you’ve told me about that situation, I’d have to agree. Problem is, unless we get a confession from this Doyle character, which isn’t going to happen, we have no proof.”

  Mac could tell Eric wanted to do more, but his hands were tied.

  “It’s okay, Eric,” she told him sincerely. “You’ve done all you can here.”

  “We’ll keep tabs on Doyle for you, Mac,” Riley spoke up. “Guys like that are smart, but the people working for them on the outside aren’t always so clever. You ask me, that’s where we need to spend our time focusing. We find who he
has under his thumb, get one of them to roll, and we’ll have him dead to rights.”

  Mac gave the other woman a half-smile. “I know you mean well, Riley, but you and I both know that’s a long shot, at best. Break-ins committed by small-time idiots go unsolved in this city every day. Finding the person who could hack into that security system unnoticed, do all this damage, and get out without anyone reporting it? These guys are pros. They’re not going to be easy to find.”

  Riley put a hand on Mac’s shoulder, her beautiful, dark eyes sincere when she said, “We still have to try.”

  “Thanks.” Mac patted her hand. “I appreciate it.” And she did, but she wasn’t getting her hopes up.

  Trevor’s ringtone blared, interrupting the conversation. He answered it immediately.

  “Hey, D. Did you tell Coop about—” The man frowned for all of two seconds. After that the lines in his forehead smoothed, the tone of his voice dead serious. “Stay with the truck. Mac and I are on our way.” There was another pause. “Yeah. We’ll bring him, too.”

  Mac’s heart began to beat a heavy rhythm. She barely waited for Trevor to end the call before blurting out, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  Trevor’s eyes became lit with anger and worry. “That was Derek. He, uh…he found Coop’s truck on the side of the road. He never made it home.”

  14

  “What?” Mac’s heart plummeted in her chest. “Where’s Sean? Is he okay?”

  “Derek said the keys were in the ignition, and the engine was still running. The flashers were on, but Coop wasn’t there.”

  “That can’t be a coincidence.” Eric looked at Riley, and then to Trevor and Mac. “Not after what happened here.”

  “No.” Mac shook her head. “It’s not.” To Trevor she said, “Call Derek back. We need to track his phone. His work phone.”

  “It won’t do any good.”

  “Why not?” Mac knew she was panicking, but she couldn’t help it. “If we track his phone, we can—”

  “His phone was on the ground behind his truck,” Trevor cut her off. “Derek said it was smashed in, like someone had taken their boot to it.”

  “Oh, my god.” Mac covered her mouth, doing her best to keep the bile churning in her belly from rushing into her throat.

  “We have to go.” She headed for the door. “We have to get to his truck and search the area. Maybe…maybe we’re wrong.” God, please let them be wrong. “Maybe he pulled over because he got sick or hurt or something.”

  “Mac.”

  She ignored Trevor and grabbed her purse. “Where on the road was his truck found? Because there’s a stretch that’s pretty secluded before you get to his apartment complex, and it’s possible he’s out there somewhere.”

  “Mac!”

  “What?” She spun around, yelling loudly enough, the other officers and crime techs in the apartment stopped what they were doing to turn and look at her.

  Trevor put his hands on her shoulders, his face as serious as she’d ever seen it. “You need to stop and take a breath.”

  “I don’t need to fucking breathe, Trevor. I need to find my partner!”

  “We’re going to find him, but not like this. You’re no good to Sean or anyone else if you fall apart now. So take a few deep breaths and calm the hell down, or I’ll leave your ass here. That’s an order.”

  Mac opened her mouth to argue but closed it again. Trevor was right. She couldn’t go batshit on them, now. This was too important. Sean’s too important.

  “I got the truck’s location from my brother,” Eric spoke up. “I’ve got units on the way with orders to begin an immediate search of the area.”

  She glanced over at Derek’s brother. There was a slight resemblance here and there, but the two men’s grayish-blue eyes were the only identical thing about them.

  “Thanks.”

  The handsome detective tipped his chin. “Riley and I are headed there, now.”

  “We’ll follow you,” Trevor told him. To Mac, he said, “You can ride with me.”

  As the four of them left her disheveled apartment, she forced herself into a calm she didn’t really feel. She never intended for any of this to happen. Had no way of knowing what the consequences of her actions all those years ago would be. Still, there was no denying what she knew in her gut to be the truth.

  Coop had been taken. Was most likely hurt—no way someone would get the drop on him like this if he wasn’t—and it was one hundred percent her fault.

  The man she loved, body and soul, may very well die tonight because of her. If that happened, Mac didn’t know how she’d go on.

  Twenty minutes later, she was standing beside Coop’s abandoned truck. DPD officers were scouring the surrounding area with flashlights, and a forensic tech was dusting the vehicle for prints. They wouldn’t find him. They wouldn’t find anything.

  He’s not here.

  The minute they’d pulled up to the scene, Mac knew Coop was already long gone. What she didn’t know was who’d taken him.

  There’d been no phone call. No ransom demand or threat left inside his truck or anywhere else. The only thing they’d found was the smashed phone, looking exactly as Derek had described it.

  “We’re wasting our time.” Mac looked over at Trevor and Derek. “We need to be out there, looking for him.”

  Derek’s worried eyes found hers. “I understand your frustration, Mac. I want to find Coop as badly as you do, but we have to have some sort of startin’ point in order to do that.”

  She wanted to pull her hair out. Howl in frustration or scream into the night. Mostly Mac wanted to find the bastard who’d taken her partner and end them, once and for all.

  “The truck is clean,” Eric informed them after talking with the tech. “The only prints we could find are Sean’s and Mac’s.”

  “Not surprising,” Mac muttered.

  Sympathy shone in the man’s eyes. “There’s no broken glass or blood, so that’s a good sign.”

  “There’s also nothing leading us to the person who took him, Eric.”

  “Mac.”

  “Don’t ‘Mac’ me, Trevor.” She turned to her current team leader. “We have nothing to go on. Nothing. No idea who took him or what they’ve”—her voice cracked—“what they’ve done to him. All we have is his damn truck and a busted phone.”

  “We know this was a set-up.” Trevor pointed out the obvious. “There are no skid marks or damage to the truck indicating he hit an animal or anything else. The truck is parked straight. The flashers were on, and there’s a set of tire marks on the shoulder back there.” He pointed behind them. “My guess is Coop saw someone who looked like they needed help and he stopped to give it to them.”

  “And what did he get in return?” Mac raised her voice.

  “Easy,” Derek attempted to calm her. “We’re doin’ everything we can. You know that.”

  “I know.” She inhaled deeply before blowing the air back out. “I know you are, but none of what we know is going to point us to where Sean is. And if we don’t find him—”

  Her damn voice broke again, this time bringing with it a few tears. Using both hands, Mac dried her cheeks and forced herself to try to stay calm.

  She hated feeling this helpless. Like her hands were bound but she didn’t even know who’d tied the freakin’ ropes.

  Needing some space to think, she turned and walked away from the others. She didn’t stop until she was several yards from the back of the truck.

  Mac looked around, for what, she wasn’t sure, but standing around doing nothing was the last thing she wanted to be doing.

  Her gaze fell on the ground a few feet in front of her. Pulling out her phone, she used its flashlight to study the road’s soft shoulder and beyond. Seconds later, a light hit something in the thick, grassy edge.

  Even though it was probably a piece of trash, she found herself walking toward it. Using her free-hand, Mac carefully moved a section of tall blades, her breath freezing insi
de her lungs when she realized what it was.

  “Over here!”

  She caught Trevor’s gaze. He, Derek, Eric, and Riley all jogged to where she was squatted down.

  “What is it?” Riley asked.

  Not wanting to touch it in case there were prints, Mac tilted her head to where it lay. “A syringe.”

  “Shit, Mac. Some druggie could’ve tossed that thing out their window as they drove by. Hard tellin’ how long it’s been there.”

  “Not long.” Riley bent down next to Mac. Having already donned a pair of protective gloves, she carefully picked up the syringe. Studying it more closely, she said, “It’s clean. No dust or dirt. There’s still a trace amount of whatever was inside and look at how shiny the needle is.” The detective held it up for the others. “It looks brand new.”

  “They drugged him.” Mac announced before locking eyes with Trevor. “We need to get that tested, ASAP.”

  “I need an evidence bag over here!” Eric hollered over his shoulder at no one in particular. Three officers started running in their direction at the same time, two of them falling back when they saw the third was going to reach them first.

  “Thanks.” Eric nodded to the officer before opening the bag and handing it to Riley. “Here you go.”

  Careful not to stick herself, Riley placed the syringe inside. After making sure it was properly sealed, the detective stood and faced Trevor.

  “Technically this is our evidence. However, your boss has a lot of pull with mine, so I may as well save some time and give this to you.”

  Trevor took the bag from her hand. “Appreciate it, Riley. I know you’re not a fan of going against the system.”

  The other woman smirked. “After what went down with Eric’s brother, I realized sometimes it’s a necessary evil.”

  “Let me call Ryker.” Trevor nodded. “His lab can run the test and have the results back in less than an hour.”

  “Why do you think I’m giving it to you, now?” Turning to Mac, Riley said, “I hope you find your partner soon.” Her dark eyes flittered to Eric and back. “I can’t imagine how hard this is for you.”