telling me what exactly do you do? I doubt you’re merely a CIA asset.”
She walked to the duffel Levi brought in earlier, thankful there were jeans, sneakers, and a sweater. Gabby felt a bit woozy, but it wasn’t anything she hadn’t been through before, so she sat on the couch as she carefully slipped her jeans on.
“Need help?”
“No. Start talking.”
“Counterterrorism task force proposed under the CIA.”
“The CIA can’t command anything on U.S. soil.”
“Garrison’s been given authority by Homeland Security and FBI since he’s more knowledgeable of how all the players work together or who’s fighting against whom. The U.S. healthcare system is vulnerable. Inject a super bacteria or virus into the system and tens of thousands could die. Ground Zero is Southern California whose borders are more vulnerable to the entry of terrorists in the guise of true asylum seekers.”
Gabby stood up and fished a bra and shirt from the bag and turned away from Bristow. She slipped off her hospital gown. “Go on.”
The door opened. “What the fuck?” Declan growled. “Cover your eyes, dammit.”
“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Bristow quipped.
She hooked her bra and was about to pull on the sweater when she felt the electric presence of Declan behind her.
“I know you said you’re used to guys in the locker room, but would you give me a chance to get used to it?”
Rolling her eyes, she pulled the sweater gingerly over her head as Declan helped her the rest of the way. Then fingers clasped her shoulders and turned her around, her heart sinking at the turbulence in his green eyes.
“Theo?” For the few minutes Levi and Declan were gone, she’d clung to the hope that they were overreacting … their son couldn’t be taken in the blink of an eye.
He gave one shake of his head. “Found his phone in the trash.”
“Oh, god.” The instinct of a cop warred with the instinct of a mother and she clung to his forearms as if to steady herself.
“Gabby …”
She focused on what she could control. “Bristow’s taking me to Claudette. You do what you need to do. Surveillance tapes—”
“Got the ball rolling on that.”
“If Ortega has Theo, let’s hope he’ll make demands.” The alternative was too painful to comprehend.
“He will and you don’t need to see Claudette,” Declan and Bristow exchanged a look, and the nurse nodded. “We know what he wants.”
27
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”
Gabby stared, open-mouthed, at the man standing beside Ariana. She yanked her hand out of Declan’s. No wonder he’d been evading her questions on the way home. What did he think she was going to do? Ask for a gun and shoot Biker Guy from the alley?
“Gabby …” Declan started.
“Don’t you dare Gabby me,” she snarled, avoiding his attempts to grab her hand again while keeping him, Biker Guy, Ariana, and Garrison within a forty-five degree angle of her sight.
“What’s going on?” Kelso asked, moving to her side.
“This man”—she stabbed a finger at Ariana’s bodyguard—“was the man I followed in the alley.”
“Miguel Alcantara Walker. You can call me Migs.” The man introduced himself with a smirk.
“How about I call you asshole?” She turned and scowled at her ex. “You played me. He pointed a gun at me and you …arrgh—I can’t even.” Gabby started pacing, waiting for someone to offer an explanation, but the room lapsed into silence, so she stopped wearing a hole through the floor and glared at Declan. “What? Nothing to say?”
He had his thumbs hooked in the front pockets of his jeans, his feet braced apart as he rocked back on his heels. “Nothing. Just letting you cool down and realize that what I did was the best option.”
His whole posture and words incensed her further. “Oh, really? What about saying ‘don’t shoot him—he’s on our side’?”
“My cover was important,” Migs retorted.
“Your cover ceased being important the second you got your ass caught by a police officer,” Kelso joined into the fray.
Gabby turned her displeasure on Garrison. She was getting more and more furious with each second that went by that these men thought what they did was okay. “Don’t think because you’re this hotshot CIA officer that you can run roughshod over interagency protocol. This wouldn’t have happened if we’d been brought into the loop. Someone could have gotten hurt.”
Garrison regarded her and her partner for one beat, two beats, and then said, “Right. That’s a risk we take—”
“Don’t start spouting collateral damage to me—”
“—but now that we’ve established that we’re on the same side, can we