Yeah, that wasn’t Homeland.
That was CIA.
Now he understood why they didn’t want their gunrunner to expire. He had international links to something bad.
“GET DOWN,” he ordered, shoving her to the floor. They’d recognize her. They might not recognize him.
When they were safely past, she climbed into her seat.
“This is getting crazier and crazier,” she stated. “I’m tripping over bodies here.”
He was aware.
He only hoped she didn’t trip over her own.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
LVPD
Delilah headed into the police station, her partner by her side. She and Finn were dropping off their weekly batch of fun. They spent more time at this office than their own or their homes.
As she headed to the commissioner’s office, she winked at the secretary.
“Tell him to come on out.”
She buzzed her boss.
When he exited the office, he looked irritated.
“Here you go, Commissioner. You’ve been served,” she said. “This is your cease and desist. If you screw with the Blackhawks, you’re going to be seeing a lot more of me!”
Finn laughed.
“You’d think you couldn’t possibly see more of us unless he lived with us.”
The man scowled.
“Play nice with the Blackhawks. They put me on retainer. I will make your life hell.”
“You work for Croft!”
She laughed.
“Commissioner, I work for whoever pays me—except you. I’d rather give up my practice than help you.”
He moved toward her, and Finn stepped protectively in front of her.
“Want to make it a restraining order for threatening a woman? I have a shitload of ways to make your life completely uncomfortable if you follow through with what you were thinking,” Finn stated.
He backed off.
Good idea.
Only, Delilah didn’t.
“I hear from the streets you’ll be needing a good representative. If anything happens to Elizabeth or Ethan Blackhawk, consider yourself in deep shit. We’ve noted this last stunt, and I have you on video smirking as she was brought in. You’re screwed.”
She waved at the secretary.
“See you…oh, likely tomorrow.”
With that, Finn and Delilah headed out, and Commissioner Raye headed into his office. He dug out his burner phone and dialed Heath Spencer.
He answered on the second ring.
“Don’t do anything tonight. The Feds will be there, and I’m already under suspicion.”
“Okay,” Heath Spenser said, continuing to straighten his tie. “I won’t head there. Do I still get paid?”
“YES! Back off until the Feds leave. We can regroup and take a shot at the Crofts later.”
“I can do that.”
He hung up the phone, and Heath smiled in the mirror.
There was no way he was backing off. This was a long time coming.
Vegas was about to blow up.
He was taking the real bad guys down.
Finally.
Chapter Fourteen
Sky Villa
Thursday Afternoon
W hen he arrived back at the building, he noticed security looked a little thin. Normally, there were two to three guys on duty, but tonight, there was only one. Something had to be up. That couldn’t be good.
“Where’s your partner?” he asked Tommy.
“He didn’t show. We have backup coming in,” he stated. “Don’t worry, Mr. Croft. Will you be staying much longer?” he asked. “We’ve had owners ask.”
He wasn’t shocked.
The last time they lived there, people started selling off their condos. They didn’t want to live smack dab in the middle of the crazy.
He couldn’t blame him.
Greyson wouldn’t want to live near him either.
“I’m not sure. I’ll have to let you know.”
Heading up in the elevator, the three men didn’t speak. Greyson was lost in thought.
“Are you okay?” Riley asked.
“Yeah, I’m good. I was just thinking about tonight. I have a bad feeling about it.”
“You’ll be safe, Mr. C. Ivan, myself, and Gamble are on duty. We’ll be all over you and the Blackhawks,” Heath stated.
He hoped so.
Katerina and Curtis were going to be joining them on this outing. There was safety in numbers. Since the Blackhawks were going, and they couldn’t ‘associate’ that meant surrounding his wife with family was a good thing. She was the pregnant one, and she needed to be protected. Curtis would do that, as would Kat.
“Thank you, Heath.”
As they headed into the penthouse, there was pizza, Dimitri, the Archers, and Emma too. They were reading through the files and working.
He knew why he was so on edge.
He’d killed someone and hadn’t flinched. Now he had to tell his wife. He probably shouldn’t, but he knew that he needed to be honest with her.
She was his lifeline, and he’d just gone under.
“Hello,” he said.
Emma was up, off the couch, and heading toward him. She tossed herself into his arms and gave him one hell of a kiss. It sent warmth to the cold spots in his body.
“I missed you.”
He missed her too.
More than she’d ever realized.
“How was your ‘mission’?” she asked, smiling at him. He looked so handsome.
And worried.
That wasn’t good.
“Well, we have some fun stuff.”
He pulled Derk Utz’s phone from his pocket and tossed it to Paris.
“We questioned him, and he admitted to selling women. He was stoned out of his mind, and he was spilling his guts. He told us he could order up a woman and there was a pickup. His partner handled a lot of it.”
They were all horrified that someone could be so proud of that—stoned or not.
“So somewhere in that phone, there will be information.”
Elizabeth headed into the room.
“Well, that’s ironic. I have a phone too,” she said, holding up Babylon’s. It was encased in snakeskin, and immediately, Dimitri recognized it.
“Uh, that’s Babylon’s cell. He wouldn’t give that up willingly.”
She laughed.
“Oh, I know.”
“I hope you didn’t do anything dangerous. He’s a bad man,” Dimitri said. “He has minions who creep around doing his bidding. He only sold guns for shits and giggles.”
“Well, on that note,” she said, “you were right. Viktor needed to buy a gun.”
They all waited.
“Ivan?” she asked.
He pulled the Russian knife from his back pocket and placed it on the table.
“That’s a Kampo bayonet. They hand those out to the military in Russia,” he stated.
“Well, that confirms it. When we got to Babylon’s home, he was dying.”
Dimitri stared at them.
“Oh, that’s bad.”
“Well, his last word was ‘Viktor’ so I’m thinking he showed up for a gun, got it, and left.”
“If Babylon is dead, there’s no one to control the really nasty assholes in Vegas. The reason I didn’t kill him a long time ago was because we didn’t need an uprising of really bad, horrible human beings.”
Greyson let it go.
That was another problem for another time.
He had to fight one battle at a time.
“We have his phone, but cracking it open…it’s pass coded. As soon as Ethan gets here, we can get some help and open it. We might have GPS on where he’s been. Maybe we can get a location on where he hangs out.”
She also dropped a book on the table.
“It looks like he recorded his transactions, and I’m guessing NOT for the IRS.”
Dimitri reached for it with his good arm.
<
br /> He flipped it open and read some of the pages.
“It’s not transactions per say, but guns, drop-offs, and codes for the buyers.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
He stared at her.
“Lucky guess?”
She didn’t want to know. In this case, it was best she just take his word for it.
Greyson was worried.
“You are grounded, Dimitri,” he said. “You aren’t to leave this building at all. Do you hear me?” he said.
“He doesn’t know I’m alive. I think I’m good.”
He didn’t care.
“Lockdown.”
He sighed.
“Fine.”
“No transport on Sam either,” Greyson stated. “Other than heading out tonight, we all need to stay safe. We should have enough now to work through the details on those phones.”
Elizabeth waved at him.
“Well, I’m going to be heading out tomorrow. I have to. We still have to figure out who was sabotaging the FBI from the inside out.”
Ivan shook his head.
He wasn’t shocked.
“I’ll rattle a few cages. Ethan is getting me the personnel file for Devin Barosi.”
“Why doesn’t he just pull it electronically?”
Ethan walked in with Chris and Wilcox.
“Well, that’s because I did and it was clean. There was nothing but his name, social security number, and address. Someone didn’t want us finding out anything about the man’s life after the failed undercover op.”
Greyson lifted a brow.
“It had to be cleaned after me. I did a personal audit on every single file. My secretary helped. They were all done right.”
Well, that only left one person.
“It looks like Robert Lee was up to some dirty things,” Ethan said, kissing his wife. “The paper file is safe in DC. My secretary will scan it and send it over. I’ve already emailed her. She’s going to handle it.”
Well, that was a good thing.
Elizabeth told them what she’d learned from Scott Downing.
“Hopefully, it will lead somewhere.”
“Once the phone is open,” Paris said, “Tessa and I can work on the texts and anything else that we can find in it.”
That worked for her.
“I want to order up a girl and see who shows up. We might get lucky.”
“I can get a computer guy to come here from the FBI office. He can crack it.”
“Works for me,” Elizabeth stated. “What did you learn?” she asked Greyson.
He replayed the whole thing again, minus the part where he killed the man.
“We can bring in Utz and question him,” she said. “I can pick him up for transport in the morning. His statement gives us enough to at least interrogate him. I can handle it.”
“Yeah, you can’t,” Greyson stated.
“Why not?” she asked.
“He’s got a hole in his head.”
Chris started laughing from his spot on the couch. They all looked at him like he was crazy.
“I just did more autopsies in one day than I do in a week. It’s going to have to be tomorrow. I’m not staring up at the ceiling because I’m admiring the plaster’s craftsmanship.”
“We didn’t report it,” he admitted.
Dimitri raised his eyebrow.
That was odd.
“How did that happen?” he asked, knowing there was no way his friend killed someone. Greyson was anti-murdering and tried to go around it at any opportunity.
“Accident?” he replied.
“Uh, Mr. and Mrs. B, can I see you in the kitchen?” Heath asked.
Greyson looked over at him, suspecting that maybe he shouldn’t have sent out Riley, but Heath.
Well, shit.
“You can relax, Mr. C. I need to tell them about what you offered.”
Greyson was relieved.
It was the job offer.
“Uh, okay,” Ethan stated. “What’s going on?” he asked as they followed him out.
Dimitri lowered his voice.
“What the hell happened?” he asked.
Greyson shrugged.
“Like I said, it was an accident.”
Greyson wasn’t going to talk about it until he discussed it with his wife. She looked worried.
He was too.
“Grey,” the man said.
“Let it go, Dimitri. Let it go. Please.”
He did.
It was the least he could do since this was on him. If Greyson had to cross a line, it was his fault. He’d gone out for revenge and put him in that position.
“Okay, my friend.”
He was glad.
“Let’s go get ready for tonight,” Greyson stated. “Kat and Curtis are heading here.”
Dimitri looked worried, and not only because he was going to have to face his sister—the one he bailed on, but because Sam was there alone.
“Don’t worry. The gunkles are handling babysitting tonight. Sam will be safe. He’s on lockdown. There’s a security guy outside the door, and Sam doesn’t know the elevator code. He’s trapped.”
Well, that helped.
A little.
Greyson held out his hand for his wife, and they headed toward their room.
“I’m going to head home,” Riley said. “Delilah said she had one stop to make and she’d be there. I like to meet her at my place. She gives great welcome home kisses,” he admitted,
Paris gave him a fist bump.
“Wait until you live together. That’s even better. Then it’s wake up kisses too.”
He could only imagine.
“We’ll keep you company, Dimitri,” Tessa said, seeing Dimitri agitated.
Yeah, and that felt all kinds of wrong. He wanted to go with them to the party.
He felt off.
Vegas was exploding. With Babylon dead, it was going to get much worse.
He only hoped he was wrong.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
In the kitchen, Ethan dropped his arm over his wife’s shoulders as they waited for Heath to say what he had to say. It wasn’t going to be good.
The man looked…troubled.
“Just spill it,” she said.
“Mr. Croft offered me a position here in Vegas. I know that you and Mrs. B have been good to me, but I think I’m going to take it.”
Ethan was surprised.
He thought Heath was happy in DC.
“Is it about money, Heath? We can up your salary if that’s the reason. I can contact the Capitol division and request it. You do a dangerous job, and you deserve to be well compensated.”
“No, Mr. B, it’s not about the money. I just broke up with my girl, and I hate going home alone at night. I’m not a fan of the cold, and I like it in Vegas.”
She listened to him.
“Did he kill Derk Utz?” she asked.
He closed his mouth.
That told her everything she needed to know—not about what Croft had done because she got that, but where Heath’s allegiance lied.
He’d already moved on to their team. This was the proof.
“You’re free,” she said. “I think you should come here. I want you to be happy, Heath. You’re a good person.”
“I feel like I belong here. I feel like this is a place I can do the best work. You’re a little too straight as an arrow.”
Ethan laughed.
“Said no one ever.”
She elbowed him.
“I know it puts you in a bad spot with Rory leaving, so I’ll come back if you think Mrs. B is in danger. I don’t want to see her hurt. I can give you as much time as you need until you can replace me.”
Ethan knew they could change his mind if he went back. Heath was loyal to a fault, and he’d clearly grown an attachment to the Crofts. That meant he’d protect them.
“I think you should stay. We can have your place packed up, Heath, and sent here.”
He wiped his eyes.
“Thank you for that. Thank you for not making this harder than it has to be.”
How could they?
“I’m going to miss you, Heath. You’ve been nothing but a pleasure, entertaining, and a good bodyguard. If you ever want to come back, you can,” she said.
He lumbered toward her and picked her up in his arms to hug her.
“I’ll love her and squeeze her, and…,” Ethan teased.
She laughed as her feet dangled off the ground by a good foot.
“Be safe out here, Heath. It’s a nut farm. You’re going to be busy.”
“I know, and that’s why I want to stay. I became a soldier because it’s all I’m really good at,” he said. “I’m big, people are afraid of me, and I have no sense of self-preservation.”
“That’s why you and Elizabeth get along,” Ethan teased.
He laughed.
She gave him the look.
“They need me here. This town is bad. I served my country to be proud of it. I’m not proud of Vegas. It’s a shithole, and it needs to do better.”
She laughed and patted his cheek.
“You fight the good fight, my friend. If you need me, or if the Crofts do, you call me. I’ll come.”
He hugged her again.
“See? She’s the best kind of person. She’s like a mom. Can I still get cookies?” he asked. “Mrs. C is not a fan of people eating baked goods. That’s all kinds of wrong. I need calories. It’s a lot of work to stay this sexy.”
She snorted.
“I’ll hook you up.”
“You have Ivan, and he’s damn good at his job, Mrs. B. Callen doesn’t need me, but they do. I need to be needed.”
Ethan held out his hand.
Heath hugged him instead, pulling him into his body to squeeze him.
“Sorry, ex-boss, but I’m a hugger.”
He laughed.
“I see that.”
When he set him free, he was smiling and felt a million times better. He didn’t feel lost. Heath felt…home.
“I’ll tell Ivan and Wilcox. You’ll find a replacement for me, and it will be seamless. Ivan is a good leader.”
“Heath, my big friend, there is no replacement for you,” she said.
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