file. He’s been a blight on the FBI for more than a decade.”
He moved to the doorway. “Call the judge back and tell him we need that warrant. While we’re waiting on it, we can grab some lunch.” He turned to go, then stopped and came back around. “Does Mrs. Ford look like her picture? Young? Fair of face and form?”
The two detectives consulted each other with an exchanged look, then Locke spoke for both of them. “You could say.”
Rudkowski snuffled. “Easton’s got the devil’s own luck with pussy.”
Drex sensed that Talia was about to utter a sound of protest over Rudkowski’s vulgarity. He stopped it by placing his finger lengthwise over her lips. Even the slightest sound, an intake of breath, could have given away their hiding place.
Chapter 27
It had been agony to remain perfectly still and silent for the duration of Rudkowski’s conversation with the pair of detectives, especially when listening to the harsh things he’d said about Gif and Mike.
Drex was glad to hear his stamping footsteps moving out of the study and down the hall. As soon as he was out of earshot, Menundez said something under his breath in Spanish. Locke asked him for a translation. What he’d said was unflattering to Rudkowski and his ancestry, but less of an insult than the jerk deserved.
The two detectives remained in the study while Locke called the judge, who must have been unavailable. The detective said, “Tell him there’s been a development. Ask him to call me back. Thank you.”
After a pause, Menundez asked, “Where do you think they went?”
“You’ll have to be more specific.”
“Mallory and Lewis.”
“On a mission for Easton.”
“That’s what I think, too. What about him and her?”
Locke said, “Maybe she tried to escape, and he had to chase after her.”
“Is that what you really think?”
“Hell, no.”
“Easton’s got balls. Gotta give him that. Would you have the nerve to pull something like he’s doing?”
“No.”
“I admire the guy.”
“Don’t let Rudkowski overhear that.”
“What an asshole. Even after what we now know about Easton and his team, I would choose them over that guy to lead the charge or cover my back.”
“Easton called him a blowhard. That description doesn’t come close.”
“How’d he make it into the FBI and manage to stay on?”
“Must’ve been a nephew,” Locke said. “I’ll get the search warrant for him, but, between you and me, I think it’s a waste of time.”
“How’s that?”
“If Jasper Ford is Easton’s guy, and he’s as canny as Easton says, he wouldn’t have left anything incriminating behind. He never has before.”
“Maybe he did, and the investigators missed it.”
“But Easton wouldn’t have.” Following Menundez’s unintelligible agreement, Locke said, “We’d better rejoin Rudkowski.”
“Do we really have to eat with the guy?”
“We’re his ride.”
Menundez continued to mouth about it. Their voices faded as they left the room.
Tension ebbed out of Talia. “Close one,” Drex whispered.
“I’m not cut out for adventures like this.”
“Me neither. I’m too tall. I’m getting a crick in my neck.” He’d had to keep his head lowered in order to fit beneath the ceiling.
“How’s the bump?”
“I’ll live.” He’d banged his head as they’d squeezed into the small space. “You could have warned me about the low ceiling.”
“There wasn’t time.”
“Sure there was. We had maybe a second and a half to spare.”
Inside the enclosure, it was pitch black dark. He couldn’t see her, but he felt the silent laugh that caused her breasts to shift against his chest, then resettle in the hollow between his ribs. They were soft, unbound, and enduring this forced alignment with them had been both agony and bliss.
Except for pressing his finger against Talia’s lips, he hadn’t dared to move. He estimated that two hours had elapsed since her offer of unconditional help had launched him into action. Through the back porch screen he’d seen his partners marching up the stairs to the apartment, the two young patrolmen trailing them.
“I’ve got to get you out of here,” he’d told her. “Now. Before they come back. They’ll try to stop me, and they would be right to.”
He’d gnawed on the problem as he watched the quartet disappear into the apartment. How could he and Talia leave, either from the back or front of the house, without being seen? Taking any of the cars would result in a chase.
Then he’d remembered something from the floor plan he’d studied before breaking in the first time. “There’s a sizeable unlabeled space beneath the stairs,” he said to Talia. “Storage closet?”
“Safe room.”
“Where’s it accessed?”
“My study.”
“Who knows about it?”
“Jasper and me.”
“Well,