I tried a different tack.
“Please?”
“Babe…”
Gah!
Another “babe”!
“I feel you,” he went on. “Sounds like your family is the pits. But need to remind you what you been sharin’ with your biologicals. You got kidnapped today.”
“You’ll keep me safe. Tex’ll keep me safe. And when we get there, we’ll be in a place crawling with police. I couldn’t be safer than there.”
Dutch didn’t respond.
“Please?” I tried again.
Dutch stared at me.
“I need to do this,” I whispered. “And I need to do it before I lose the courage to get it done.”
He continued to stare at me before he muttered, “Fuck,” pulled out his phone, engaged it and then said into it, “We’re riding. Evan has something to say to her brother. We’re heading to County.” He then disconnected and leveled his eyes on me. “Shit goes down, you do as told. Don’t make me regret this.”
I smiled at him.
Big.
And through it, I said, “I won’t. I promise.”
He studied my smile, his expression changed to something that made my nipples tingle, then he wiped it and said, “Let’s ride.”Mag“I’m feeling a more active role in this situation,” Lee Nightingale stated.
“Lee—” Mitch began.
Lee looked to Brock. “Your woman was kidnapped.” Then to Tack. “Your woman was kidnapped.” And finally to Mitch. “And your kids were kidnapped. Now, my woman was kidnapped, twice, so I suspect our shared experience with this kinda bullshit would lead us all to a place we…did not…fuck around.”
“No one’s gonna fuck around, Lee,” Brock assured.
“All right, we’ll just break up on the understanding we always got. You do what you do and me and my men will do what we do,” Lee returned just as his phone rang.
Rush’s phone was ringing too.
Lee ignored his.
Rush didn’t do the same.
“Your boys, or Chaos, or Hawk’s soldiers do anything to fuck with bringing down Cisco,” Mitch began, “and bringing him down clean, I gotta say, respect, but there will be issues. Tony was a good man. Tony had two kids and his wife was pregnant when he was capped. And Cisco is a thug who somehow managed to convince people he’s a boss and none of us at this table are unaware of what that’s meant on the streets of Denver.”
Before Lee could respond, Rush’s low conversation ended and he rapped his knuckles on the table, getting everyone’s attention.
And Mag did not feel good about the fact Rush’s eyes were aimed at him.
“That was Joke,” Rush said. “There’s a convoy rolling out of your condo. Seems your woman engineered a sit-down with her brother.”
Instantly, Lee nabbed his phone.
Mag blew out a sigh.
Then he stood.
And walked right out of the room.Evie“Just so you’re prepared, when you enter that room, your brother will be chained to the table,” Hank told me.
God, I thought.
“Fine,” I replied.
“No physical contact,” he went on.
“Again, fine,” I said.
He stopped outside a door and looked down at me.
“Eddie’s in with him now and Eddie will remain in that room with you. He’ll try to be unobtrusive, but he will not leave. I’ll be watching through the one-way. And Evan, I gotta share how far this not-being-a-private chat goes. Anything he says that might incriminate him or anyone he knows, or any information he provides about criminal activities, he will be further interrogated about after you leave. Do you understand?”
I looked right in his attractive, whiskey-colored eyes and declared, “I know a policeman was killed, Hank. I know my brother was in possession of the gun that did that. I know he knew he had possession of that gun, and instead of turning it over to the police, he kept it safe for whoever to do whatever they intended to do with it. So, if he incriminates himself about being involved in this sorry business, that isn’t on me.”
His face gentled and he said, “I’m not asking you to get him to talk—”
But I didn’t let him finish.
“If you were, I’d say yes. This isn’t about that, but if you want to make it so, I’m in.”
His chin shifted to the side in surprise before he replied, “Just do what you came here to do and what comes of it, does, Evie.”
I nodded.
Hank turned the handle on the door and shoved in.
I heard my brother in the middle of saying something, ending with, “…this harassment bullshit. You can’t let every asshole and their brother come in and—”
He abruptly stopped when he turned his head to the door that Hank had gotten out of the way of so I could fully push open and he saw me walk in.
He then paled, jerked in his chair like he was intending to stand, making his chains rattle and Eddie warn, “Cool it, Gardiner.”
I felt the tightness in my cheek, how it was pushing up into my eye.
I also felt the burn in my other cheek, and I knew that graze against concrete broke skin.