Reid - Maddie Wade Page 0,32
cock before he turned and walked away, leaving her to either follow or stay put. Either way, she would be safe here. He was secretly pleased when she stood her ground and stayed where she was.
Somehow the attraction between them had just moved into new territory and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun with a woman—if ever.
He walked into Lopez’s operations room which had five monitors and a constant hum of life from the servers in the place.
Lopez was already talking to Liam but turned to him when he entered. “Hey, Reid. How is supermodel duty?”
“Interesting to say the least,” he replied, not wanting to say more. “Has Liam brought you up to speed on what we need?”
Lopez nodded. “Yeah, full backgrounds on everyone on the list you sent me, and I’ve just added Jolie McConnell to the list too. I agree with Liam, it’s suspicious she’s delayed the autopsy.”
Reid nodded. “Good. Can I leave that with you? I need to talk to Jack.”
“Sure. And if you need any help with the supermodel, let me know.” Lopez was a total flirt and had the clever, bookish geek charm that woman loved. “You’re not going near her. Not in a million years, brother.”
“Like that is it?”
“It is now.”
Reid headed out ignoring the laughter of his teammates behind him. He walked down the corridor towards Jack’s office and past the conference room. He stopped when he saw Callie inside talking to Waggs. If anyone could put Callie at ease, it was the ex-Delta medic. He knocked on Jack’s door and entered when he heard him call out.
Jack looked up as he placed the receiver on his desk phone down, his face a mask of anger.
Instantly Reid knew something was up. “What happened?”
Jack didn’t beat around the bush. “There was a fire at the morgue where Tina Pugh’s remains were being held.”
Reid knew in that second that the next words out of his boss’ mouth weren’t going to be ones he wanted to hear. “And?”
“Tina Pugh’s body was burned beyond all recognition. There’s no way they can carry out an autopsy on what remains.”
“Just her?” Reid paced, clenching his hands to stop himself from punching something.
“Just her.”
“God dammit.”
“Sit down, Reid.” Reid sat and held Jack’s eyes. “It looks like an inside job.”
“We must be onto something bigger than just a stalker case. Callie is high profile, but this feels like a cover-up to me.”
Jack sat back and placed his hands across his flat stomach. To anyone else, he looked relaxed, but those that knew him knew he was on the verge of going nuclear. “I agree. The fact that Jolie McConnell is the only one with access to that wing at night makes it worse.”
“Worse, how?”
“Because Tina was Commander Helen Pope’s sister.”
“Blake’s old boss?”
“Yes and Commander of the Met Police Force.”
“You think she has something to do with this?”
“I think she has links to the Palace where the threats to our team are coming from.”
“Meaning it’s no accident a stalker targeted Callie.”
“No, I don’t think it was.”
“Motherfucker! I’m going to squeeze the fucking life out of Gunner when I get my hands on him. He’s messing with people I care about now, and I’m not going to stand for that.”
“News flash, Reid, he’s been doing that for months. It’s just now he’s made it personal.”
“Any sign of him in Egypt?”
“No, and I have Alex and Blake headed home. We need all hands here because I think it’s only a matter of time before this shit blows sky high and when it does, I want all my men ready.”
Reid cracked his knuckles as he thought about the fear he’d put in Callie’s eyes. “Oh yeah, we’ll be ready.”
Chapter Eleven
Callie caught Reid’s eye as he left the office at the end of the hall. She saw Waggs follow her gaze as a furious looking Reid walked towards her. Her body stiffened as if waiting for the axe to fall, some ingrained instinct telling her he had more bad news.
She stood and met him halfway across the room. “What happened?” Their earlier sparring match, which she’d enjoyed as much as it had infuriated her, was forgotten.
Reid stopped and angled his head as he watched her, the look on his face unreadable. Without thinking, Callie raised her hand and placed it on his chest somehow needing the physical contact with him to steady her.
This man had become her rock the last few weeks, he grounded her like nobody else except perhaps her