it has the officer heeling to his chain of command, jerking a thumb behind him at the squad car where Coleman is in custody.
He motions to another officer and Coleman is yanked from the car, then marched over to the group of feds. As he gets closer, Thea tenses. I clutch her in a hug. He can’t get her now.
Coleman goes willingly enough, until he sees who he’s trudging toward. He freezes.
“No.” He loses his cool, paling. Struggling against the officers, he tries to get back to the car. “No, no!”
“Is that any way to greet me?” The lead agent asks with a sadistic gleam in his eyes. He holds out his hands. “I told you we’d find you. No point in running.”
Coleman hollers in protest as the two other intense agents grab his arms. They have no problem containing him. Their boss gets in Coleman’s face, grabbing his jaw and forcing his head back. The curve of his smirk is lethal.
With a sharp nod to his guys, they drag Coleman to the SUV and shove him in the back seat. One pulls out a knife as he slides in with him.
My brows jump up. Are switchblades FBI regulation? Thea finds my hand around her waist and grips it tight. I stroke my thumb over her knuckles to soothe her while we watch.
The lead agent flicks his gaze at us. He motions in our direction, then stalks off toward the house.
After watching his boss’ back for a moment, the remaining agent comes over. I blink in surprise when he stands in the pool of light from the open ambulance. This guy can’t be much older than Thea and I, maybe two or three years at most. He has tousled dark brown hair and a sick neck tattoo of a crow in flight. His coat is open, revealing ripped black jeans.
There’s no way these guys are real FBI.
“Need a statement. Shoo,” he says to the EMT working on me. The EMT gives the guy an unimpressed look. He chuckles and nods his head toward the house. “You have a problem with it, you can take it up with him. Trust me, he is in a pissy as fuck mood right now. Rough target for him to finally get his hands on.”
“Fine.” The EMT points at me. “Don’t think about leaving the scene. Coherent or not, you need to see a surgeon as soon as possible.”
“He’s not going anywhere,” Thea assures him, squeezing my hand. “I’ll make sure of it.”
The fed imposter grins at her, winking. “You’re cute as a button.”
A growl rumbles in my chest. He lifts his hands in surrender.
“Just sayin’, man.” Once the EMT moves away, he gives me a once over. “Should’ve waited. Our way was a lot cleaner than all this fuss. Here.”
He hands me a thumb drive and doesn’t wait for an answer before walking back to meet up with the other guys.
“Do you know them?” Thea asks.
“I think so.”
When I look up, the imposter agents are piling into the SUV with a drawer from Coleman’s bureau and the computer tower. All the evidence of Coleman’s crimes. The doors slam, then the SUV peels out and speeds away.
Something tells me Coleman won’t make it to jail.
Whatever. The only thing that matters is Thea’s safety. I lean my head on hers, breathing easier when a hint of her sweet scent hits my nose.
Thirty-Nine
Connor
As the anesthesia from surgery wears off, I wake up groggy in a hospital room. Thea is by the bed, holding my hand as she dozes, her head resting on her folded arm. Her hand is re-bandaged.
“Hey, man,” Devlin says from a chair by the window, Blair asleep in his lap with her head on his shoulder and his coat draped over her.
“Time is it?” My tongue moves sluggishly and a gross metallic taste makes me grimace.
“Late. You got out of surgery at eleven and it took a couple of hours for the drugs to wear off.”
Out in the hall, I hear Mom’s grating voice, followed by Dad telling her to keep it down. She’s arguing about using this to turn around the approval ratings after they took a hit. The gunshot wasn’t a fatal injury, but Mom is here to put on her show anyway.
Rolling my eyes at her ridiculous bid for a boost in her numbers, I angle my head to get a look at the bandage covering my upper arm. It’s stupid that I’m even in the hospital. I told the paramedic