by Misty Evans
“No. There were two of them though. Both men. The one guy had huge hands. Enormous hands, Mitch. Like a pile driver. It happened so quick I couldn’t get a look out the window.”
“You think they were after you or Maria?”
“I’m not sure. They didn’t say anything. Other than ‘leave her’ when the clerk came running out. But forget that. What did you find at Maria’s?”
“Nothing.”
Really? That was his response? They’d been gone five hours and had nothing? “Well damn.”
Mitch shrugged. “There’s more bad news.”
Well, this would be good…considering the mess they were already in. “Lay it on me.”
“Ethan’s SAC went ape-shit after the U.S. Attorney called him complaining about Brice poking around.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah. Ethan’s one of the only guys left in that office that even knew Tommy and he’s scared.”
She knew where this was going. Ethan had a family to protect. He wouldn’t want to be caught up in this fiasco. She couldn’t blame him. She didn’t want to be caught up in it.
“There’s an upside.” He tilted his hand back and forth. “Eh, an upside and another downside.”
If Mitch was trying to make her feel better he was doing a crappy job. “Mitch?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re driving me crazy.”
“Ethan also said the big shots involved with the taskforce called a meeting. He suspects the shit’s about to hit the fan.”
A meeting. Considering the taskforce was housed in New Mexico, she made the assumption the meeting would be held here. But Tommy was still an FBI agent, basically on loan to Operation Bulletproof.
And Donaldson was his SAC. Which meant…
She closed her eyes and breathed in. The slight movement sent hot pain ricocheting through the left side of her face. Please don’t let it be fractured. Maybe she needed a fresh cocktail of drugs.
The pain eased to a dull throb and she opened her eyes. “Is Donaldson coming?”
“He’s already here. At least I’m guessing. Ethan said he jumped on a plane this afternoon. If he’s not here, he will be soon.” Mitch stepped closer, ran a hand down the good side of her face. “He won’t find us. You haven’t used your credit cards and Brice moved Maria. We’ll meet up with them once you’re done here, and hopefully, she’ll talk to us.”
Caroline threw back the sheet and sat up. “Forget the x-ray.”
Mitch held her in place. “Nuh-uh. Medical complications won’t help us. Get the x-ray and we disappear again.”
“Mitch—”
“No, Caroline. You’re getting the x-ray.” Before she could argue, he spun toward the curtain separating the room from the outer hallway. “I’ll see what the wait time is.”
It better not be long. She’d give them twenty minutes. That’s right. If someone didn’t wheel her up for the test in twenty minutes, Mitch or no Mitch, she was gone.
The curtain parted again and she looked up, ready to let Mitch know exactly what her plan was and—oh crap. If she had any spit left in her dry mouth it just evaporated. Cocktail, please!
An extremely pissed off looking Donaldson, his face redder than she’d ever seen, stood in the doorway.
“Foster,” he said, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Chapter Seventeen
Two things shot through Caroline’s mind. Well, two things after the shit-shit-shit stream that lasted a full thirty seconds. The first involved Mitch and whether or not Donaldson had spotted him. Probably not. Otherwise, Donaldson would have grabbed him or at least started hollering. And knowing Mitch, he’d have hollered back and security would have come running and then the police. All resulting in Mitch in handcuffs.
Caroline rolled her bottom lip out. Clearly, Donaldson hadn’t spotted him.
The second, more obvious question was how the heck did Donaldson know she was here?
She stared up at her boss, every word stuck in her throat like a giant piece of steak she couldn’t force down. She swallowed once, twice, three times and croaked a “Sir?”
He grabbed the cheap metal chair next to the bed, dragged it over, hitched his ugly brown suit pants and sat. For added effect, he shot his cuffs. “You did a decent job of laying low. Except I received a courtesy call from the PD telling me one of my agents got the stuffing beat out of her. Now, you tell me exactly what you’ve been up to on this Tommy Nusco thing and then I’ll decide if I fire your ass.”
“Sir, please.”
“Start talking, Foster. I’ve got a meeting first thing tomorrow morning to discuss how a sealed document pertaining to the death of one of my agents got leaked to a blog. And then I get here and find you.”
“Sir—”
Donaldson raised his hand, his eyes hard and mean, a snake about to strike. “Fuck the Sir crap. The only thing I want to hear from you is you didn’t leak classified documents. Tell me that, and maybe I can help you.”
She couldn’t tell him that. Not even close. Sure, she could lie. But she wouldn’t. If she got fired, so be it, at least she’d go down knowing she tried to clear Tommy’s name.
And Mitch’s.
“Sir, something is screwy here.”
Donaldson jumped out of his chair, heaving his weight like it took every ounce of strength. Uh. Oh.
“I asked you for one goddamned thing!”
Caroline flinched and he paced to the wall, turned back to her, his face an odd shade of reddish purple she’d seen one other time. Of course, that time involved Mitch as well.
He pressed his palm into his forehead, took a deep breath, then dropped it. “Why do I think Mitch Monroe is behind this?”
Motherfucker.
Mitch pulled up short on the other side of the curtain, listening to the voice of the man he hated. He didn’t just hate Donaldson, he despised him with a fury that would devour a continent.
Rage filled him, sparking every nerve and making his fingers twitch. Stay cool.
Donaldson.
The man who’d let a serial killer murder innocent women in order to keep his political friends in Washington from getting their reputations tarnished. The man who’d ruined his and Grey’s careers.
You did that all on your own.
No matter what Caroline believed about Donaldson being a standup guy when it came to his agents, Mitch knew the FBI SAC would screw his own mother if it meant rising up the ranks of the Bureau. He was never focused on seeing justice done, only on furthering his career.
And now he was here, threatening Caroline. Every one of Mitch’s protective instincts—already on overload—went Code Red. It would be stupid to go in there. Stupid to confront the one man who wanted his head on a platter. The man who’d put a target on his back in the first place because he hated the fact Mitch had been right all along.
You knew he was coming. Deep down, you’ve been prepping for this confrontation all along.
Like he had in the parking lot after the ambulance pulled out, Mitch hung his head for a moment, closed his eyes and breathed.
Stay cool. For Caroline.
Because in the end, this wasn’t about him. It was about Tommy and Kemp.
And Caroline.
What was the right move here? Turn on his heel and save his ass so he could clear his name and Tommy’s? Or go toe-to-toe with his ex-boss and end up in prison where he could help no one, least of all Caroline?
“Well?” Donaldson was saying to Caroline. Mitch could feel the anger vibrating off him through the curtain. “Is Monroe behind all of this?”
Time to face the music.
Mitch gripped the curtain, reaching deep for a calm he didn’t feel. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—let Donaldson or Caroline see anything in his body language but pure confidence and resolve, no matter how bad his gut cramped.
He shoved back the flimsy curtain, and against his better judgment, stepped into the room. “Leave her alone.”
Don
aldson stood at the end of the bed, his face mottled and the knuckles of his hands white from the tight grip he held on the footboard. His head whipped around and his watery eyes glared at Mitch. “I knew it.” He let go of the footboard and puffed out his chest. “You piece of shit.”
Donaldson had made him lose his temper once. Mitch swore to himself he’d never let the cocksucker do it again. Shoving his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t reach out and strangle the SAC, he rocked back on his heels and nodded at Caroline to let her know it was all right. “Agent Foster has been through a traumatic event. How about you and I step outside for this discussion?”
Caroline’s face was white as the sheet covering her body. Her voice was low, full of warning. “Mitch…?”
“It’s all right.” He kept his own voice light and easy. Caroline usually thought the worst of him and his knee-jerk reactions. This time, he wanted her to see that he could keep a handle on his temper. “Agent Donaldson and I have a lot to talk about, don’t we, Harold?”
Donaldson’s glare turned sharper. He took a step in Mitch’s direction, putting his chest in Mitch’s personal space. “I ought to arrest you, right here, right now.”
Intimidation? Really? Stupid SOB. “Yes, you should. Agent Foster had nothing to do with the information about Tommy’s taskforce, his murder, or the cover up being leaked. It was all me. I hacked into the case file, forced Agent Foster to use her password to run a trace on a gun, and leaked the information to the blogger. I take full responsibility.”
Donaldson took another step closer, putting his face in front of Mitch’s. His stomach brushed against Mitch’s belt. “That’s bullshit.”
Caroline echoed the sentiment. “I wasn’t coerced. I volunteered.”
Damn woman. Couldn’t she let him be the hero just once? He held up his hands, showing Donaldson his wrists. “Cuff me. Lead me out of here. I’m all yours.”
“Damn it, Mitch!” Caroline pushed into a sitting position. “I will not let you take the fall for this.”
He pinned her with a look over Donaldson’s shoulder. Just let me get him out of the building…
And then Donaldson pulled the trigger he knew would set Mitch off. “You’re a selfish, self-centered jackass who’s never cared for anyone but yourself.”
Donaldson chest bumped him as he spoke to Caroline while keeping his eyes glued to Mitch’s. “He burned you again, Foster. You’re busy trying to get his attention and didn’t see he was using you. You’re worthless to the Bureau, and once I’m done lighting Mitch up, I’m going to burn you. You’ll be lucky to find a job as a checkout girl at Wal-Mart.”
Burn her? Mitch’s resolve to stay calm disintegrated. Donaldson wasn’t only threatening to end Caroline’s career with the FBI, he was planning on hanging her out to dry so she never got a job with another government agency. “Do whatever you want to me, but leave her out of this.”
Donaldson chest bumped him again. In his younger days, the SAC had been a tank. “Try to stop me.”
Mitch absorbed the chest bump. Took a breath. Do not hit him. That’s what he wants.
Oh, no. He wasn’t going to lay-out the arrogant SOB. Not again. But backing down wasn’t in his DNA, and he needed to prove to Caroline he could handle this, not blow his stack.
Using two fingers, Mitch shoved them into Donaldson’s chest and pushed his ex-boss back a step. “I’ve been on the run because of you for nearly a year.” Another step. “You really want to throw down that kind of challenge? Because I’m sure you know what happens when you corner a wild animal.”
Another push and he had the man backing up another step. Donaldson’s legs hit the edge of Caroline’s bed. Through the cold rage pounding in his head, Mitch heard her talking to him, telling him to stop it and calm down.
He was calm. Calmer than he’d been in a long time. He poked his fingers into Donaldson’s chest again. “You can have me, but you leave her out of this. Tommy wouldn’t want her to take the fall. There’s a cover-up surrounding his murder, and regardless of what she says, I did coerce her. I couldn’t do the digging, get the information I needed, because every law enforcement agency in the land is after me. I needed her and I knew if I kept asking questions, she’d have to find the answers.”
“I was not coerced!” Caroline yelled.
Mitch turned on her. I can’t let you take the fall for me. I can’t lose you again. “Shut up, Caroline.”
“There is no cover-up,” Donaldson said. “Tommy went rogue.”
“My ass,” Mitch said. “He was one of the best damned agents in the field, and you know it. You’re trying to cover your ass, like the rest of the higher-ups who let those guns walk. You helped put the gun that killed Tommy into a murderer’s hands and now you’re going down. I don’t give a shit how long it takes. Every one of you dickweeds will be dealt with.”
“Mitch!” Caroline hissed. “Knock it off.”
“No, Caroline. A good man is dead over politics. And that, I can’t stand.”
That must have stung, because Donaldson stood silently, absorbing the words. That alone was more fucking bizarre than a tap dancing elephant. Typically, the SAC volleyed back, yelling just as loud if not louder because—yeah—in his mind he was right. All day long.
Not this time, asshole.
Caroline extended her hand and wiggled her fingers. Mitch stepped away from Donaldson, taking a second to regain his composure. He grabbed hold of Caroline’s hand and she pulled him in. “I want you to go outside.”
“No.”
“Then stand in the damned corner while I talk to my boss.”
He stared down at her, huffing a little. She was putting him into adult time-out. What a kick in the teeth that was.
She squeezed his hand. “Please. For me?”
Ha. For her. She knew how to play him. But what the hell, he’d give her this. She always was better at reading people.
But if Donaldson makes one more threat…
His resolve returned. He wandered to the window and stared out over the parking lot where street lamps lit the place like a runway. From the corner of his eye, he saw Donaldson drop into the chair next to the bed, his shoulders drooping forward. What the hell?
“I didn’t know,” Donaldson said.
“Bullshit!” Mitch turned, ready to go at him again.
Caroline pointed a damning finger at him. “Don’t make me throw you out of here.”
That shut his mouth. Who the hell’s side was she on? “I’m not leaving until Donaldson agrees to leave you out of this.”
“Look, Monroe,” the SAC said, “we may despise each other, but I don’t deliberately put my agents in harm’s way. My decisions aren’t always popular, but I don’t sacrifice my people.”
Mitch huffed again and turned back to the window. Cocksucker.
“Sir,” Caroline said, “I don’t know what all we’re into here, but it’s not good. Thousands of guns have walked and ATF supervisors knew it was happening. They told Tommy and the other taskforce agents to stand down.”
“Caroline,” Mitch warned, but she held up her hand to silence him.
“How’d you get that file?” Donaldson asked. “I don’t even have access to it.”
Mitch glanced back.
Caroline’s face went innocent. “What file, sir?”
Good girl.
“Fine,” Donaldson said. “Don’t admit it. Probably better that way. The less I know for tomorrow’s meeting, the better.” He stood. “A little advice, Foster. Come back to D.C., and fast. Whatever can of worms you’ve ripped open has snakes in it. You think these boys hauled my ass out here for nothing? There’s a reason they wanted to meet in person. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they checked me for a goddamned wire. I never did trust that son of a bitch Atkinson. He and his U.S. Attorney brother are both assholes.”
Donaldson eyeballed Mitch for a second. “You think I play politics? That bastard would prostitute his own mother.”
He went back to Ca
roline. “I’m going to that meeting tomorrow. If I don’t like what I hear, I’ll look into these allegations of yours. But if they show me proof Tommy was rogue, you’re gonna have problems.” He turned to Mitch. “And I’ll take you to prison myself. I’ll hunt you down like the dog you are and put you in jail.”
Mitch laughed and held out his wrists again. “Right here, pal.”
Donaldson snorted. “That’s the problem with you, Monroe. You don’t think long-term. I could arrest you right now if I wanted. My problem is, as with your friend Justice Greystone on The Lion case, I might need you. You being in jail doesn’t help me. For now, I’m keeping my options open until after this meeting tomorrow.”
Caroline rested her aching head back on the pillow and blew out a breath. Once again, Mitch’s spontaneous actions had almost cost her. That alone should have been enough to send him on his way. Tell him she never wanted to see him again. Get her life back on track. Even if being on track meant being lonely, she’d live with it. Lonely versus chaos, when it came to her career, was the safer bet.
And she’d always been the safer bet girl.
Except when it came to Mitch.
“Caroline—”
She held up her hand. “Listen to me. You have to stop this.”
“What?”
“You’re like a Molotov cocktail. Someone lights you up and you go boom. I can’t take it, Mitch. I love your determination, your single-minded can-do attitude when it comes to people you care about, but you get reckless when your emotions are involved. When you get emotional, you swing first, think later. I can’t do it. You’re my partner in this and I need to trust you. When you pull this caveman routine, I can’t trust you.”
“Hey, I thought I was doing pretty damned good controlling myself. He was threatening you. You think I’m gonna stand in the hall while that happens? You know better. “
Oh, she knew. “I’d hoped you would have thought ahead. Donaldson could have arrested you and then where would I have been?”
Mitch huffed. “He wouldn’t have done that. He said it himself. He might need me. I knew that from what happened with Grey. I had it under control.”