Chapter 38
JUSTIN
––––––––
“I’m sorry,” Sue whispers. “I’m so sorry.”
“You screwed up,” I say harshly.
A flush stains her cheeks. “I know.”
“I need that wrecking bar.” I run a frustrated hand through my hair. “It has my prints all over it.”
We sit in silence as the van rumbles over the road leading away from Werner’s Science and Health University, the beagles moving restlessly in their carriers.
“We can’t go back,” Sue ventures. “It would put everyone at risk.”
“I know that.” I dig out my cell phone and call the informant. “We have six of the packages.”
“Only six?” he asks nervously.
“We were interrupted.”
“What did you do?”
“We handled it. But there’s another problem. A tool was left behind.”
There’s a beat of silence. “Your problem, not mine.”
“I need you to fix it.”
“What? No way!”
“I can make the problem yours,” I challenge. “Don’t push me.”
“This isn’t the deal!” the informant whines. “There’s nothing I can do.”
“Listen to me,” I say evenly. “There’s a colleague of yours locked in a broom closet. You head there now under the pretext of retrieving some work you’ve forgotten, wipe down the tool—do not take it with you—then free the man and call the police. You’ll be a hero.”
“I don’t know,” he says in a dubious tone. “It sounds risky.”
“Welcome to the game. You play it right, you’ll be fine.”
It takes another minute of wrangling before the informant reluctantly agrees to the plan. Disconnecting, I say to Sue, “Let’s hope he gets there before his colleague frees himself.”
“Once your informant calls the police, we’ve lost our window of opportunity,” Sue points out.
I rub my temples. “Yeah, I know. The price to pay.”
Sue whispers reassuringly to the beagles as the van coasts to a stop. It’s our first drop-off point.
The moment the doors open, I fill Joel and Michael in on everything that happened.
Michael cracks his knuckles. “Ah, it’s one thing after another on this mission.”
“You think your guy will follow through?” Joel asks.
“He knows his own neck is on the line,” I reply.
We’re parked in a back alley behind a closed Thai restaurant, out of sight from the road.
“We need to move quickly,” Joel says. “We probably have half an hour before the van has to be off the street.”
We discard our overalls into trash bags and drop them into the restaurant’s dumpster. Using a citrus-smelling solvent, we strip the vehicle of its cleaning service logos and then pile back into the van.
Michael’s townhouse is our first stop. Two of the dogs are being relocated to areas close to his place. “Good luck,” I say, handing him two carriers. “Send Joel a text when they’re safe.”
“Will do.”
Settling into the passenger seat, I check the police scanner while Joel navigates the roads, keeping to the speed limit. We come across no mention of the break-in at the university.
Fifteen minutes later, we’re at Sue house. She takes two of the dogs, loading the carriers directly into her car.
“Drive safe,” I caution. “Don’t get stopped. Same drill with the text.”
Sue nods, biting her lip. “Justin, I’m sorry—”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“It’s not that, it’s just... I can’t do this anymore,” she says in a rush. “I want out of the field.”
My jaw tightens. “Just get the dogs to their new homes. You think you can do that?”
She looks offended. “Of course.”
“Good. I’ll speak to you next week. Not now.” Not when the urge to shake a sense of commitment into her is so strong. I stalk to the van and yank open the passenger door.
Joel raises his eyebrows but says nothing as he motors away from Sue’s house. After a minute, he asks, “Lover’s tiff?”
I snort. “Give me more credit.”
“What happened?”
“She’s pulling out.”
“She had quite a scare tonight. Give her time to calm down.”
I shake my head. “She’s not coming back.”
Joel sighs. “We can’t afford to lose even the inept ones.”
“I know.”
His eyes flick to the digital clock on the dashboard. “Our time’s up. We need to stash the van.”
“You still got your Beetle?”
“Yeah,” Joel answers cautiously. “Why?”
“I’ll drop the last two dogs off.”
“In the Beetle? Not on your life.”
“It’s only a car.”
His eyes widen at the insult. “She’s a classic. I’ve had her forever.”
“Yeah. And?”
“You don’t do forever.”
“Relax, I’ll return her in one piece. She still runs okay?”
Joel looks even more affronted. “Better than this bucket of bolts.”
It’s close to midnight when we park the van in its customary spot in the garage. We transfer the carriers to the back seat of the VW Beetle and I ease myself behind the wheel.
“You’ll get rid of the tools?” Joel asks, stooping slightly to lean a forearm on the half-open window.
I pat the bag on the passenger seat. “I’ve got it covered. Don’t worry, old man.”
Joel grunts. “With you around, that’s like asking me not to breathe.”
Driving away, I locate a dumpster far enough away from my folks’ house and upend the bag of tools inside.
A few minutes later, the announcement of the break-in crackles across the police scanner.
I anticipated the announcement, but it’s still a shock to hear it broadcast so officially.
Dragging in a breath, I mothball my fear.
I can only hope the whistleblower erased my fingerprints from the wrecking bar in time.
It takes me nearly an hour to get both dogs settled with their new families.
The look of pleasure on the faces of the beagles’ new guardians almost makes up for the disappointment of the night.
I return the Beetle to Joel and lean against the wall in exhaustion, while he anxiously inspects the car in the fluorescent glow of the garage light.
“Hate to interrupt the love affair,” I drawl, “but did Mike and Sue handle their transfers okay?”
“Yeah, it all went smoothly,” Joel murmurs absently. He freezes suddenly, peering at a hairline scratch on the paintwork.
“That was already there,” I protest.
“It looks deeper.” He squints my way. “It’s late. You want to spend the night?”
Temptation tugs at me, but I shrug off its pull. “Nah, I’ll head home. I have an early-morning session scheduled at the gym.”
“All right.” Joel scuffs his feet on the oil-stained floor, his eyes suspiciously bright. “Tonight was good for me.”
I squeeze his shoulder. “It was good for me too.”
Retrieving my bike, I settle onto the seat and set off at an easy speed down the street, steeling myself not to sneak in a last glimpse in the side mirror, already seeing in my mind’s eye Joel’s solitary figure watching me drive away from him.
Halfway home, an odd urge to speak to Heather, to tell her all about tonight, curls like smoke inside me. I don’t understand the urge and I sure as heck don’t want to analyze it. All I know is I’m hungry for the sight of her. The late hour doesn’t bother me, but it might her. Tough.
I navigate my way to her house and come to a stop under the streetlight. The house is in darkness. Leaving the engine running, I tug off my helmet and place it on the tank, staring at the darkened windows.
What am I doing here? What am I trying to prove?
My phone beeps. A message from the whistleblower stating he did what was required. Relief moves through me.
A moment later, a curtain is pulled aside in one of the upstairs windows. The muscles in my stomach tighten as I stare at the unmoving silhouette. I know it’s her. My mind pictures what the dark hints at—her small waist, the decadent flare of her hips, the lush fullness of her figure.
The need to talk to her courses through me. Talk, not touch, I tell myself. I know how sheltered she is, how innocent, and I’m not about to ruin that. There are depths that not even I will sink to.
I’m about to cut the engine when I take another long look at that storybook house and the fairytale family inside.
I picture telling Heather about the raid, the look on her face when she realizes how many laws I broke tonight.
I picture a lot of other things too, and they’re all to do with bringing my darkness into that house.
I mutter a foul name under my breath. This is a mistake.
Jerking my helmet onto my head, I twist the throttle and roar away.
Exhaustion seeps into me. I want to crawl into bed and sleep for hours, days if I can, waking up only to remind myself of the six beagles in their new homes, sleeping in a bed instead of a cage.
If only I can dislocate the memory of the beagles I didn’t save. And somehow find a way to divert the impending storm when Kane finds out what I did tonight.