Dawn had uttered a mental prayer that he wasn’t secretly in the basement packing up guns for Griselda.
Vicky always did paperwork on Tuesdays, so she was holed up in her office.
Chad was the bigger problem because he had clients to train, so he moved around the gym. Every time Dawn saw him, cold fingers of fear walked down her spine. So it seemed smart to head in the opposite direction the moment she spotted him. She’d been avoiding him for weeks anyway.
When her nerves started to jitter, she reminded herself that all she had to do was say the word “Zulu” to bring Leland, Tully, and their reinforcements racing into the gym. The image of Leland sprinting to her rescue across the wood floor in his black undercover outfit evoked equal parts of comfort and heat.
So far no rescue was necessary so she turned her mind to counting reps. As soon as the session was over, she jogged to her locker to check her encrypted phone. She didn’t dare keep the strange-looking cell on the floor, even in her jacket pocket.
A text from Leland had come in ten minutes before.
The DEA bust is headline news. Your sound check is loud and clear but be VERY careful. This is going to piss people off.
She wished he had added something personal, an endearment, a sign-off, a little word of affection. It was hard not knowing what their relationship was, especially when she felt so anxious. Were they lovers or just working together but with benefits? Would they continue on after the case was closed or had this been a short, intense fling?
They’d had that moment at her kitchen counter when Leland had said he didn’t want to lose her. The look in his eyes had made her believe him. But it wasn’t exactly a commitment.
She tucked the phone back into her locker and headed for the treadmills, finding an empty one and turning on the screen to an all-news channel. As Leland’s text had promised, the news footage showed a rather mundane-looking house surrounded by an array of official vehicles, among which walked people in police uniforms or dark jackets with DEA printed across the back. The caption read: NOTORIOUS DRUG KINGPIN GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ CAPTURED IN SUCCESSFUL DEA RAID.
Dawn did a mental fist pump and flicked off the screen. Score one for the good guys in the war on drugs. Now they needed to take down her local arms dealers and she would be done for the day.
The question was when. Griselda was in custody so that cleared the way for a raid on the gym. Dawn’s heart started to race in an unpleasant way as she pictured the vehicles and agents from the television footage, only clustered around Work It Out. They would wait for night, wouldn’t they? To minimize civilian involvement?
She glanced around at the cheery, well-lit equipment room, filled with nothing more sinister than treadmills and ellipticals. About half were in use, mostly by women of all shapes, sizes, and ages. Some chatted with each other. Some stared at their screens. Some listened to music on their headphones. All worked out in serene ignorance of the illegal arsenal under their feet.
Dawn had found refuge here when she could find it nowhere else. She was pissed off that Chad, Vicky, and maybe Ramón had ruined that for her. She wanted to be like the women on the treadmills, not even questioning that they were safe.
A glance at the clock reminded her that she should meet her next client in the gym lobby. As she walked in that direction, Chad fell into step beside her, making her jerk sideways as apprehension spiked through her. “Jeez, where did you come from?” she exclaimed before she could stop herself.
“Sorry, I forget you have a reason to be jumpy.” His tone was syrupy with unwanted sympathy. “I finished restocking the water fridge and saw you walking the same way I was headed.”
“Right. Okay.” She made herself breathe normally despite her heart going double time. What would be an ordinary thing to say next? “Thank you for walking me home last night.” Even though she’d hated every minute of his company.
“I don’t like to see ladies walking alone at night.”
Because they might see you selling guns to drug dealers. Nope, not good to think those thoughts when Chad was a foot away from her. “Did Josh enjoy his party?”
“I’m pretty sure he did since he called in sick this morning.” Chad gave her a conspiratorial