Chapter 20
Rowan half knocked as he stepped into the gym, found Adalyn lying on one of the mats and staring at the ceiling. In shorts and a sports bra, she was stretched out and sweaty. And basically his dream woman.
Which was a big kick in the nuts.
She glanced over at him and mustered a half glare before she sighed and looked back at the ceiling. Her auburn hair was in a braid, the end haphazardly splayed out to the side of her head.
He lay down next to her, propped his hands under his head. “Your aunt’s okay at least.”
“I know and I’m grateful. But we’ve called the cops now twice with what were essentially hoaxes. Not intentionally, but they’re wasting resources during the busiest time of year for them and…I want to freaking kill this guy.”
Get in line.“Did the punching bag help any?”
“A little. I ran on the treadmill too. I’m exhausted now but my brain simply won’t stop. I’ve called or contacted everyone I can think of who might have information on Omar. Because if we can find his stash house or figure out what routes he takes…I can make him come to me.”
“You need sleep.”
“I know, but I can’t turn my brain off. I feel like a stupid hamster on a wheel right now, as if we’ve been running around in circles all day.”
They hadn’t been, something she had to know, but sometimes leads took longer on certain cases. It was simply the nature of the beast when working these cases. And it was easier for him to say that considering it wasn’t his life or family on the line. So he kept his mouth shut. “I’m sorry you’re dealing with this.”
“I miss you being a big angry jackass.”
“No you don’t,” he murmured.
She didn’t respond, but she also didn’t leave the gym either. “Are there any leftovers from dinner?” she finally asked into the quiet.
It was only eight, but she’d skipped dinner with everyone after the fake bomb threats. He could have left her alone, but he knew she was struggling right now and hated that. Even if he wasn’t her favorite person, he was still going to be there for her, whether she wanted it or not. Because she needed someone to have her back. “Yeah, I saved you a plate of chicken shawarma. And baklava for dessert.”
She actually looked over at that. “Really?”
“Yep. I threatened Tiago with bodily harm if he touched your food.”
“Thank you.” She gave him a real smile, one that softened all her hard edges, and for just a moment it was only the two of them. Rowan and Adalyn. No baggage, no history, nothing. Just a quiet moment in a raging storm.
But just as quickly her smile faded and she sat up, grabbed her phone from one of the weight benches, then headed out.
Oh no, she wasn’t getting away from him that easily. He followed her to the kitchen, not caring if she wanted space or not. She’d had too much as it was and that was how people like them spiraled.
As she started to heat up her food, he grabbed sparkling water for her because he knew it was her favorite and she had a thing about not drinking while on the job.
When her phone buzzed with an incoming call, they both paused.
“It’s an unknown number,” she whispered even though the caller couldn’t hear them.
But he tensed all the same. “Answer.”
She shot him a dry look but pressed the green button, then speaker. “Hello?” she said cautiously.
“Addy?” It was Detective Collins. Her ex.
Rowan frowned, but moved to open the microwave door before it beeped.
“Oh, hey. Where are you calling from?”
“An unused office at the precinct. It’s a landline.” And he was speaking in low tones. “I didn’t want to call you from my phone in case… Well, in case anything.”
“That was smart, thank you. So have you found anything?”
“Maybe, but I have no idea if it’s actually useful or not. I figured you’d want the intel regardless.”
“Definitely.”
“After some careful digging that I made sure didn’t look like digging, I found out that the DEA and ATF are working with one of our teams to bring down not only Omar Ali, but a handful of other gunrunners who have been using the port. And once I casually dropped the intel about the FBI to my contact, I was able to get more information because they’re not playing nice with everyone else.”
Rowan set the plate of food in front of Adalyn as she nodded at her phone. “Okay.”
“And like I said, this could be nothing, but Omar’s cousin, the one you mentioned, Bes Ali, he used to be involved with a woman who does a lot of business here. Ah, she’s a madame, I guess you’d call her. Her name is Naomi Winter, or Mistress Winter to some of her clients. I don’t want to say that she’s untouchable necessarily, but there’s a theory that she’s got some powerful clients including judges and that they’ve been protecting her.”
“From what exactly?” Adalyn asked.
Rowan was glad she was pushing because he wanted the detective to spell it out. He didn’t care about prosecuting someone for the oldest profession in the world. But if the woman was involved in terrorism…that was a whole different thing.
“Prosecution essentially, or a deeper look into her suspected other businesses. No one can get close to any of her businesses—suspected drug running specifically—or the people who work for her. It’s almost impossible to get a warrant to look into the places she owns, including a warehouse near the port. The ATF is convinced she’s housing Ali’s guns there. They can’t be sure because they think at least two judges are either involved with her or that she has blackmail on them. Or both. She’s managed to evade getting arraigned too many times, but they’re working to get a federal warrant on the premise that she’s storing weapons of a suspected terrorist. I don’t know if that helps or not, but it’s what I’ve got.”
“That’s really incredible, thank you. Are you sure you’re safe? That getting this information didn’t tip anyone off?”
“I’m good. This was a very casual conversation where we were basically talking shit about the FBI. Everything was organic. And I’m about to head out of town to meet up with my family as soon as I get out of here.”
She took him off speaker and held her phone to her ear and continued to talk to him quietly.
Which didn’t annoy Rowan at all. Not one little bit. When she ended the call, he pointed at her plate when she went to leave.
“You eat,” he ordered. “I’m going to relay everything to Hailey and Gage. If there’s a connection, they’ll find it.”
“I can—”
“I heard the same conversation you did. And you need sustenance.”
Oh yeah, she really wanted to argue with him. He could see it in every tense line of her body. But she sat back down and started eating so he raced upstairs to let the others know what they’d learned. This might be the lead they were looking for.
Then it was only a matter of time before they brought that killer down and stopped him for good.
Once he’d given their resident hackers everything he knew, Rowan started to head back to the kitchen but stopped himself. He was walking a razor-sharp edge of control and was tempted to offer to let Adalyn ride his face or use him any way she wanted to get all her aggression out. Because a punching bag wasn’t going to give her what he could.
But he knew exactly how that offer would go over. So he headed to his room to take a shower.
A very cold one.