Touching Silver

by Jamie Craig

  She shook her head. “I think they left the part about you being a romantic out of your record.”

  “Oh, it’s in there. Except when you’re on the job, they call it being ‘dedicated’ instead.” He speared more of his eggs. “Which, oddly enough, is the same code they use for ‘difficult to work with’. Go figure.”

  “Oh yes, I love the code. For the record, every time you see ‘dedicated’ in my official reviews, they just mean difficult. I frustrated a lot of plans when I made my transfer request.”

  Isaac shot her a sly grin. “A woman after my own heart. Reading between the lines paid off for me this time.”

  “Oh, really? And what else have you seen between the lines?”

  He paused. That was flirting. She was flirting with him. He hadn’t expected that. Hell, he hadn’t really expected her to agree to a first-name basis, let alone sit and have a decent conversation with him, especially when she deliberately ordered the one item on the menu he’d warned her against. But the reaction wasn’t unwanted. Far from it. She was beautiful, he was available, and he was most definitely not a stupid man.

  He leaned closer, his comeback ready. Before he could speak, his phone began to ring.

  With a sigh, Isaac sat back and pulled it out of his pocket. He frowned when he saw the display. Nathan wasn’t a morning person.

  “What the hell are you doing up at this hour?” he said in lieu of a greeting.

  “Packing. And good morning to you too.”

  “Considering how many times I’ve had to pound on your door to get your ass out of bed, I don’t think it’s a wholly unjustified question.” He paused, frowning. “Did you say you’re packing? Did Remy finally come to her senses and decide she can do better than you?”

  “No, not yet. I give her another six months, tops. In the meantime, we’re going to South America.”

  He blinked. “Since when is Remy your Sundance?”

  “Don’t be jealous, Isaac. You know you’ll always be Sundance to my Butch. Besides, they went to Bolivia. We’re taking a trip to Argentina.”

  “The day you’re Butch…” Olivia’s brows shot up the second before he realized what that sounded like. Clearing his throat, he shifted in the booth, leaning against the wall with his leg cocked up on the seat. “You better be yanking my chain here. Because there is no way you’re abandoning me on this kidnapping case.”

  “I’m not abandoning you.” The humor disappeared from Nathan’s voice. “Detective Wright thinks those girls are dead. They’re not. He’s got to be sending them somewhere with the Silver Maiden.”

  “How is that even possible? I thought it didn’t work that way.”

  “We don’t really know how it’s supposed to work. Which is another reason to find out as much as we possibly can. So we’re going right to the source.”

  “The source is fucking here in LA. Big shootout. Remy’s poker face. Ringing any bells?”

  “Oddly enough, I haven’t forgotten the time I nearly died and you used my girl as bait to save me. But we need to know more about the coin itself. Look, I’ve spent the last six months doing whatever research I could, but there’s just no info here in LA. Might be something in Argentina, though.”

  “Might be? You’re leaving me alone here for a might be?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Pulling his wallet from his pocket, he tossed a twenty onto the table and slid out of the booth. “Don’t go anywhere. I’m on my way over.”

  “We’re leaving in about thirty minutes for the airport.”

  “I’ll be there in twenty.” Snapping his phone shut, he shot an apologetic glance down at Olivia. “Sorry, I gotta cut this short. Can I meet you at the station in, say, two hours?”

  She bolted to her feet, the food forgotten as she darted around to block his path for the door. “Is Pierce leaving? Where is he going?”

  “Nowhere, if I can help it.” When he tried to sidestep around her, she matched his movement. He sighed. “Fine. He’s got tickets for Argentina that he’s going to use over my dead body.”

  “Argentina? No, no, no, he’s not going to Argentina. He needs to help me talk to Stacy. I’m going with you.”

  For a second, he considered arguing with her. She didn’t know about the Silver Maiden’s powers, and it was quite possible she’d learn something that would have her running to his captain demanding Isaac get a psych eval.

  On the other hand, she had a gun. And if it came down to it, he wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t be able to take Remy in a fight.

  He had a brief fantasy of bikinis-clad Olivia and Remy wrestling it out in a pit of orange Jell-O before giving her a sharp nod. “Let’s go. And I’m driving.”

  Dawn had yet to crack over the horizon, but already the city was coming to life, roads growing thick with commuters. Olivia sat next to him, silent and resolute. Every time he turned a corner, he caught a glance of her delicate profile, distracting him almost as much as the light musk of her perfume. It even blocked out the smell of the smoke from last night’s arson, which he would have considered an impossible feat. But he was starting to think the word impossible didn’t exist in Olivia’s vocabulary. Tenacity like hers was admirable, especially in such a tempting package. The possibility of pursuing the flirtation once he stopped Nathan from leaving him high and dry was increasingly tempting the longer he considered it.

  So was Olivia.

  As he pulled into Nathan’s parking lot, Remy stood at the rear of the Mustang, wedging a duffel around a large suitcase in the open trunk. Isaac gritted his teeth as he squealed to a stop. “Thirty minutes, my ass.”

  Remy barely looked up at him when he slammed his door and marched toward her. “You’re not sandbagging us. You know we need to do this.”

  “I know neither one of you has probably slept,” he shot back without breaking pace. “Everything sounds like a fucking fantastic idea when you’re punch drunk.”

  Olivia didn’t even pause to talk to Remy, she just followed Isaac as he headed for the stairs to Nathan’s apartment. Good. Two level heads against Nathan’s usually leveler one. Isaac liked his odds more and more.

  Isaac didn’t know why Nathan didn’t find a new place. The apartment had served its purpose when Nathan took his five year vacation to drink and hide from the world—and it was better than Nathan trashing Isaac’s place—but Nathan had returned to the land of the living and still called this hovel home. It had been promoted from shithole when it started reflecting Remy’s influence. Mostly because she accepted Isaac’s expert advice in redecorating.

  The old couch had been replaced by something large and plush—something that wasn’t a throwback to the best-forgotten seventies. Nathan also had a new computer and a sturdy mahogany desk scavenged from an estate sale. Besides the couch, desk and a full teetering bookshelf, the living room was empty of anything else except Nathan zipping up a bulging backpack.

  “I thought traffic would probably hold you up.” Nathan looked over Isaac’s shoulder to Olivia. “I didn’t realize you were going to bring a guest to this meeting.”

  Olivia stepped forward. “When he told me you planned to leave for Argentina, I decided it wasn’t a meeting I could miss.”

  “Have you even slept?” Isaac said. “Because this is the decision of an exhausted man, not one who’s thinking clearly.”

  “Have you slept?”

  “I’m not the one hopping a plane across the world on a whim.”

  “It’s not a whim. If Gabriel is using the Silver Maiden to send those girls…” Nathan glanced at Olivia and frowned.

  “To send those girls where?” she prompted. “Is he sending them to South America?”

  “No.” Nathan rubbed the back of his neck. “Will you excuse us for a moment? I think Isaac and I should talk privately.”

  Olivia crossed her arms over her chest. “This decision affects my case. I want to hear what you have to say.”

  No, you don’t, Isaac wanted to say. She didn’t want to hear some magical coi
n was making girls disappear from their normal lives, and further, that it was very likely they were now bouncing through time like Bill and Ted. And she most definitely didn’t want to hear Remy was a time traveling refugee, because then he looked less like an ally and more like the ringleader of a three-man circus.

  His hands balled into fists at his sides. Olivia was his sole back-up in keeping Nathan and Remy from going anywhere either. They were a team now, whether he’d wanted it at the start or not. The last thing he needed to do was fuck up their newfound camaraderie.

  He turned to Olivia. “Can you get Remy in here?” Maybe Remy would be less likely to make a scene if…he couldn’t even finish the thought. Remy couldn’t care less who backed her into a corner. “Tell her we need to talk some more.”

  Olivia looked from Isaac to Nathan, then nodded and turned on her heel. Isaac couldn’t help but watch her walk away. Her coat was short enough to show just how well her pants fit her perfect ass.

  Nathan came up to stand beside him, watching as the door shut behind her. “She’s cute.”

  “She’s not the topic on the table,” Isaac countered. “And she doesn’t know what the fuck the Silver Maiden is other than a stupid coin, so watch what you’re saying in front of her.”

  “She could be in even more danger if you don’t tell her.”

  “And look like I’m flying over, under and through the cuckoo’s nest? I don’t think so.” He folded his arms over his chest and stood directly in front of the door. “You can’t seriously think I’m going to let you go, can you?”

  “Isaac, you’re just experiencing separation anxiety. It’s perfectly normal.” Nathan smiled, but Isaac knew what he was doing and refused to be pulled into the friendly repartee. “You’re not going to stop us and I’m not going to waste time trying to convince you it’s a good idea. But it is a good idea and you’re wrong.”

  “Who’s going to talk to Stacy if you go? You’re the only one who’s been able to get her to open up.”

  Nathan’s lips thinned. “A professional, hopefully. And we’re not setting up a summer home down there. We’ll be back soon.”

  “Soon is all it takes for Gabriel to get away. You fucking know this!”

  “Then don’t let him get away. Even if you arrest him today, lock him up, and throw away the key, we are still not going to get those girls back unless we figure out what he’s doing with that damned coin.”

  The way Nathan spoke made it sound like Isaac had been playing tiddlywinks for the past decade instead of trying to get the goods on one of LA’s worst gang lords. He opened his mouth to argue, yet again, that he was trying to do his job when a sharp, female cry echoed from outside.

  It only took a single glance at the flare of panic in Nathan’s eyes to know he’d heard it too.

  Remy.

  Both men bolted for the door at the same time. Isaac yanked it open to race out onto the balcony. The sound of scuffling was louder out here, and his head swiveled toward the parking lot, his hand already going to his gun. It stopped at the sight at the bottom of the stairs.

  Olivia defended herself against two men, one of whom clearly had a broken nose. Blood soaked his white and blue T-shirt and he attacked with one hand while holding a bandana over his bleeding nose with the other. The other man didn’t have a mark on him, but he did have a knife clutched in a tight fist and the butt of a gun peeking out from his waistband.

  Isaac drew his gun, ready to shout, but before he uttered a sound Nathan pushed him out of the way and sprinted down the stairs. He ducked the blade and raced for the parking lot where Remy was chasing after a third man. As near as Isaac could tell, she was unarmed, but she still had the thug on the run, and she didn’t look like she intended to let him go. Nathan closed the distance between them, shouting Remy’s name, but she didn’t slow.

  A loud crack split the air. They might use celery to simulate the sound of bones crunching in the movies, but Isaac had heard and been responsible for enough of the real live stuff to know when someone’s wrist had been snapped. He looked back in time to see Olivia slamming the iron gate leading to the pool against the arm of her bladed attacker, and for the man’s loose sleeve to suddenly tear away to expose a distinctive tattoo.

  Gabriel’s mark. Fuck.

  Isaac charged down the stairs, tackling the bloodied man before he could get to Olivia again. The pair rolled into a heap against the sandpaper-textured walls, and only Isaac’s thick jacket protected him from losing the skin off his shoulder. The man twisted away, his blood-slicked fingers making it difficult for Isaac to maintain his grip.

  He shifted tactics and kicked at the man’s head. The bastard couldn’t fight if he wasn’t conscious.

  By the time Isaac got back to his feet, Olivia’s guy was facedown on the ground, her heel between his shoulder blades, her gun aimed at the back of his head. Her eyes were fierce and her mouth tight, but other than a loose strand of hair slipping across her cheek, she looked immaculate.

  “You have the right to remain silent.” She reached for her cuffs. She didn’t add asshole, but she didn’t need to. The gun remained steady on the back of his head as she dropped to one knee and forced his arms behind his back. He screamed as the cuff closed around his broken wrist, but Olivia appeared unmoved by his pain. She straightened and pulled him to his feet. “They went right for Remy.”

  Isaac turned his head in the direction Remy and Nathan had taken off. There was no sign of either of them. “Gabriel’s men haven’t bothered them since last summer. Why would they be starting now?”

  “Let’s ask our friend here.” She holstered her weapon and grabbed him by his ponytail. “Well?” She yanked his head back. “Why did Gabriel send you?”

  “I don’t have to say nothing. I know my rights.”

  He barely got the words out of his mouth before Olivia yanked on the cuffs and jarred his broken wrist. She spoke over his yelp of pain.

  “I suggest you waive those rights. Why are you here?”

  He gasped for breath. “Just told to stop them.”

  “From?”

  Isaac prepared himself for another scream, but the man—who didn’t look much older than eighteen—quickly said, “Going to the airport.”

  He frowned. How could Gabriel know Nathan’s travel plans? Isaac had only found out about it half an hour earlier. That Gabriel knew about the trip meant two things.

  One. Either Nathan’s or Isaac’s phone was bugged.

  Two. Gabriel didn’t want Nathan to go.

  All of a sudden this trip to South America sounded like the best idea in the world.

  “We need to get a squad out here to take these guys in. You mind calling it in?”

  Olivia nodded. “Sure, I’ve got things under control. You should go make sure it was only the three of them and nobody got the drop on Remy and Pierce.” She pushed the kid against the wall. “Don’t move or I’ll get you for resisting arrest too.”

  Isaac took off, but he’d only rounded the corner leading to the parking lot when he was pulled up short by the sight of Nathan and Remy. The man they’d been chasing was nowhere to be seen, but Remy’s cheeks were flushed, her body still poised for flight.

  “Don’t start,” she warned. “I know he chumped me. I don’t need you reminding me of the fact.”

  Isaac held up his hands in surrender. From the look on her face, Remy’d skipped her usual, more fun Lara Croft mode and gone straight into Kill Bill’s Bride. “I wasn’t going to. I was going to say, we better get the two of you to the airport. Pronto.”

  “What prompted this stunning change of heart?” Nathan wasn’t looking at Isaac as he spoke. His eyes were darting around the narrow lot, as though he expected another attacker to jump out at them without warning.

  “This is all courtesy of Gabriel. The guy Olivia’s got cuffed gave it up. Someone’s itching for you to stay very far from Argentina.”

  “Oh, Christ,” Nathan muttered. He looked over Isaac’s shoulder and his eyes
widened. “My car! What the fuck did they do to my car?”

  When Nathan bolted past him, Isaac turned and followed the same path Nathan’s gaze had just taken. All four tires of the Mustang had been slashed, leaving the vintage vehicle to sit even closer to the ground than it already had. “Looks like I’m driving.”

  Chapter Five

  Olivia’s fingers were still trembling from the adrenalin rush when she reached the Children of the Lamb Church on Western. She hadn’t been on patrol in years and working cold cases rarely brought her in contact with armed thugs. Her blood thrummed in her ears, her pulse hammered and she wanted to go for a long run.

  When Isaac had left her to take Nathan and Remy to the airport, she had been mildly annoyed. Not at being left to deal with their attackers—she had everything under control. In fact, Gabriel’s stunt had been a jolt of hope she might actually get a break in her case. Later, she would interrogate the two of them and see what interesting morsels of information she could gather. But she didn’t want Nathan to leave. Not yet. He’d given her the first glimpse of what Stacy could offer. She was convinced there was even more there, just waiting to picked from the girl’s memories.

  Almost as annoying as losing her best chance at getting to Stacy was having her breakfast with Isaac interrupted. A part of her liked something about him. He was full of himself, though according to his record he pretty much had a right to be. But his fierce loyalty to his ex-partner was commendable. If she tossed in the fact that he wasn’t hard on the eyes, and he invited her to another breakfast at Scramblers, she probably wouldn’t turn him down. She wouldn’t tell him that, though. Forget the fact that his ego was big enough already. She wouldn’t risk looking a fool in case she’d read his interest wrong.

  He’d instructed her to meet him at the station once she finished with Rico. Instructed. She had planned to suggest the same thing so she didn’t mind agreeing, but being ordered like she was some kind of cadet still chafed. They were a team now. Equals. She refused to let him bully her into submission like he probably did everybody else at the station. They were on the brink of something here. Nobody was going to ruin it for her, especially Isaac McGuire.