Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I t was nearly nine at night, and holy shit, the last few hours had to have been the longest of Gavin’s life. After the shooting—make that the second shooting of the day on the McClintock property—he’d had Team Three make themselves scarce. When the Seattle PD arrived, Gavin, along with Xander and Wilson, had stayed long enough to give their statements, each giving the bare minimum. Once that was complete and before the FBI had shown up, they’d whisked Edward and Rita away, happy to leave the time-consuming logistics and bureaucratic bullshit for Polanski to handle. Thankfully, Edward had ordered Polanski’s team to stay on the property until further notice. To say they hadn’t been pleased would be an understatement. And Gavin didn’t give two shits.
By the time they’d escorted Edward and Rita back to the hospital to be with their son, Esme had secured a safe house and was in the process of arranging for a private doctor and the necessary medical equipment needed to continue Anson’s recovery outside the hospital.
The hours that followed had been a waiting game—for the doctors to approve Anson’s discharge, for the ER to stitch up Gavin’s shoulder, and for Esme to get all the moving parts settled. While all this was happening, Team Three installed additional video surveillance at the safe house, and the cyber division ran the photos of the shooter through every database available to them.
The lights of Hudson Island twinkled in the distance, and Gavin stifled a yawn. The Tylenol he’d taken at the hospital had worn off hours earlier, and exhaustion tugged at his mind. As the helo touched down, he let out a tired sigh. There was still so much to do, but the critical items had been taken care of. The McClintock family was secured at the safe house with Tash and both Teams Two and Three, along with twenty-four-seven surveillance by the cyber team.
“Thanks for the lift, Owen,” Gavin said, taking off his headphones and hanging them on the seatback in front of him.
“Glad you made it back in one piece, Frazier,” she replied.
He gave her a chin lift. “You and me both.”
“Night, Owen,” Xander said while Wilson gave her a salute.
He walked toward the main building with Xander and Wilson. The two men were not only two of his most trusted colleagues and friends, but they were two of the sharpest minds he knew.
“Answer me this,” he began, running a hand over his jaw and then wincing as the movement pulled at his new stitches. “ Fuck . It had to be my right shoulder.”
“You’re lucky, man,” Wilson said as they approached Hudson Security’s main building. “A little more to the left and it could have been bad. Could have hit the bone, nicked an artery, fucked up the muscle, or some other shit.”
“True.” He slowly rotated his shoulder, fire sparking at each movement, and waited for Xander to enter his security access code at the entrance. “So here’s the thing, why the hell did the shooter off himself?” The question had been nagging at him for hours.
“Maybe Team Three surprised him,” Xander said, holding the door open. “Maybe he didn’t think he had time to run.”
Gavin nodded while Xander entered another security access code for the interior door. Maybe Xander was right, but it didn’t sit right. As the door silently whooshed open, they stepped into the inner sanctum. All four members of the cyber division were at their workstations, while Bean had commandeered the large ten-screen setup at the edge of their area. He could see both Tiny and MacKay on one of the monitors.
“Alvarez and Esme are checking with their contacts at SPD and FBI to see what they know,” Wilson said. “Here’s hoping the dead guy’s the same shooter from the morning. If not...”
“If not,” Xander murmured, “we have even more questions.”
Gavin glanced at both men. “Him killing himself seems a bit extreme, don’t you think?”
“Maybe the shooter was more scared of who hired him?” Wilson shrugged. “After all, both McClintock and you are alive.”
Gavin frowned. “Me?”
Wilson nodded. “You sure he was gunning for McClintock?”
Maybe he was more tired than he’d realized, because he wasn’t connecting Wilson’s dots. “Yeah. I saw the red dot on McClintock.”
Wilson’s expression said he didn’t buy it. “The shooter was positioned pretty far out. You sure they weren’t aiming for you? Because this is twice in three fucking days you’ve been in the line of fire, man. Is that really a coincidence? ”
“Well, shit, Wilson. When you put it like that...” Gavin exhaled and then pressed his lips together.
“Not much more we can do tonight, though,” Xander said, slapping him on his good shoulder. “Let’s check in with cyber and get the hell out of here.”
The cyber team was busy at work in the center of the room. Bean was pacing off to the side, her attention focused on their wall of monitors along the edge of their work area. He took a moment to take her in. She had on a sleeveless pink sweater and a sexy, fitted skirt that hit right below her knees. Her glass-slipper heels caught the light with each step she took. There was a sight for sore eyes, and then there was Bean. Even after a long-ass day, the woman was fucking stunning. Completely inappropriate thought? Absolutely. Did he care? Not one bit.
“Holy shit, Frazier,” Abbot called out, waving at their trio with her slice of pizza. “No offense, but you look like hell.”
Bean spun around, and her mouth dropped open. Her gaze darted to his shoulder, and her blue eyes widened. He glanced at his clothes and fought a cringe. Shit . He should have thought about changing his shirt at the hospital, but he hadn’t. It was still bloodstained and torn.
Her clasped hands were pressed against her lips, and the worry and despair in her shimmering blue eyes gutted him. This was Bean , dammit. The woman who had a spine of steel. Who, when they’d been shot at while they raced through Seattle, hadn’t flinched. Not once.
He was across the room and standing in front of her in seconds. His hands reached out but dropped to his sides before he touched her. All eyes were on them.
“I’m fine, B. I swear.”
Shaking her head, she closed her eyes and bit down on her lower lip. But it still trembled.
His chest squeezed, and everything inside him stilled .
Oh, hell no.
Not giving a shit about who was watching them, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him, dropping his lips to the top of her head. “I’m okay, honey. I promise.”