CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Kate hated Elijah Cox.
She knew she should retain at least some sort of detachment. She didn’t need to be a robot, but hatred affected her judgment. It narrowed her vision. It blinded her to any factors that might disagree with her preconceived notions and to hitherto unseen factors that support them.
She couldn’t help it. She fucking hated him.
The door to the office opened, and Marcus stepped inside. He hesitated for the briefest fraction of a second when he saw that Kate was there but Winters was not. He tried to mask it with a friendly smile that hurt worse than if he’d cursed and run from the room.
“AD not here yet?”
“She’s here. She’s hiding behind her desk.”
Kate didn’t even bother keeping a civil tone, so the sarcasm in her response bit hard. Marcus banished his smile and sat in the chair next to her. They stared at Winters’ immaculately organized desk and said nothing else to each other.
That was another thing Cox had taken from her.
Not Marcus as a boyfriend. Hindsight showed her that expecting him to move on the literal second, he realized his marriage to Cheryl was ending was unfair and foolish.
But they’d given it a shot, and if they’d had the chance to talk it through then maybe in the future, they’d have a chance again.
Instead, they’d spent the past two days going straight from wrapping things up in Miami to flying back to Portland and driving straight from the airport to Northbridge SMU, then from there to assist with the manhunt.
Not in person by strict orders of Winters, but by consulting with the Bureau and offering expertise and advice to the various other agencies involved.
By the time they did talk about it, their hurt feelings had calcified, and neither of them had the energy to crack through that shell.
Kate didn’t anticipate having that energy until far too late for it to make a difference.
She told him that, and he agreed. They would remain professional partners.
They said they would also remain friends, and Kate believed they would, but she also believed it would be some time before that friendship enjoyed the easy quality it had possessed in the beginning, before either of them had entertained the possibility of something more.
That was what Cox had taken from her. He’d destroyed the one thing in her life that was easy, that made sense.
Not by himself, her conscience insisted. You made mistakes too. So did Marcus. All Cox did was expose them.
Kate hated the truth of that.
Marcus finally grew uncomfortable with the silence. “Any news yet?”
“If there was, I would tell you.”
“Right.”
They fell silent again. Kate imagined this was going to be their new normal.
Her thoughts drifted back to the prison, presumably the most secure in the country, apparently not secure enough to hold a murderous former priest-slash-burgeoning cult leader.
A badly shaken warden, Frank Cirillo, informed her that there was one casualty, a corrections officer who was bringing Cox his dinner when the explosion occurred.
It appeared that Cox had sabotaged his ventilation system somehow.
One of his disciples had posed as a maintenance worker and planted a bomb timed to go off Wednesday at dinner.
The same disciple had arrived with a fake Corrections Department ID and spirited Cox away.
Cirillo fell all over himself promising a full and thorough investigation with the harshest possible punishments.
He told her that he was already in meetings with contractors to improve the prison’s security, including robots that could manage all of an inmate’s care from transportation to meals to cleaning to maintenance.
“Rest assured that if Cox is returned to us, he will not escape a second time.”
“A third time,” Kate reminded him.
Cirillo lowered his eyes and didn’t reply.
Marcus sighed. “Listen, Kate—”
Kate was spared the need to listen when the door opened, and Victoria Winters stepped inside. The cold look she flashed Kate told her she wasn’t happy. What else was new?
With her usual lack of preamble, Winters sat and said, “Is there a reason the two of you didn’t disclose your romantic relationship to me or the Bureau?”
Kate didn’t think she had the capacity to be surprised any further, but that question surprised her. “That’s really what you want to talk about?”
She didn’t mean to be disrespectful, but Marcus winced, and Winters’ eyes flashed with fury. “That’s exactly what I want to talk about, Agent. There’s a reason fraternization is discouraged among field agents. It affects your ability to do your job.”
“With respect, ma’am,” Marcus interrupted, “We performed just fine. We found the killer.”
“The killer confessed to you after completing all of the murders she intended to complete,” Winters countered.
A knife twisted in Kate’s chest. She swallowed and looked down at her hands.
Kate had spent the entire mission having trouble focusing on the case and not her emotional conflict with Marcus.
She believed she’d focused when necessary and given her full energy to the case, but both things couldn’t be true, could they?
She glanced at Marcus. Judging by his expression, he was wondering the same thing.
Winters sighed. “I’ve given you both an exceptionally long leash.
I’ve had good reason to do that because you two have been by far my most effective field agents, but there comes a point when I have to accept that the longer the leash, the more you guys pull on it.
I’m not going to tell you two that you can’t date, but in light of your relationship—”
“That relationship is over, Director,” Kate said. “We’ve agreed to remain professional partners only.”
Winters stared at her for a moment. Then she glanced at Marcus. “Is that true, Special Agent Reid?”
Once more, there was the briefest hesitation before Marcus replied. “Yes, ma’am.”
Winters looked at both of them. Kate counted by the soft ticking of the analog clock hanging above her door.
She reached fifty before Winters finally said, “I see. Well, in light of that, I will provisionally allow your partnership to continue as I still believe you two are better agents together than apart. If your romantic relationship resumes for any reason, you will report it to me. If I find out by any other means than you both informing me, I will not only dissolve your partnership but will also pursue disciplinary action. Am I understood?”
Kate nodded. Marcus murmured, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. With that out of the way, we can move on to more pressing business. Elijah Cox has been placed at number one on the Bureau’s most wanted list. His description has been provided to every law enforcement agency in the nation.
The TSA has his file as well, so if he tries to leave the country, he’ll be picked up and held for us. ”
“Are there any leads, ma’am?” Kate asked. “Any at all?”
“No,” Winters replied. “We’ve been unable to identify the man who broke him out.
It’s come to light that the guard who was killed was involved in an inappropriate relationship with an inmate.
Our hypothesis is that Cox leveraged that information to obtain the supplies he needed to contact the disciple and arrange his escape. ”
Marcus sighed. “Lovely.”
Kate pressed her lips together. To think that Cox had escaped because a guard couldn’t keep it in his pants.
And with an inmate, no less. She was nowhere close to believing Cox about the wages the nation had earned for its sin, but it was hard not to feel like they deserved Cox a little bit for being so utterly foolish.
“Put us on his trail,” Marcus said firmly. “We’ll find him.”
“Absolutely not,” Winters replied, just as firmly.
“You two are far too close to this case, you especially Kate. You’ve behaved well in recent months save for the stumble over your personal relationship.
I don’t want to risk that.” Her face softened a touch.
“And it’s not right to put that on you after everything you’ve already suffered at Cox’s hands. ”
“She’ll keep suffering if we don’t stop him,” Marcus argued. “We need to be the ones catching him. We need to be on the front lines. We’re the most well-equipped to stop him.”
“Your advice will continue to be appreciated,” Winters replied, “but you two will not be joining the manhunt. That’s final.”
Marcus frowned, but he didn’t argue further. Winters held his gaze until she was sure there would be no more conflict, then moved on. “I’ve contacted Mrs. Reid about the potential risk to her person.”
“Miss Jones,” Marcus corrected.
“Until your divorce is final, her legal name is Cheryl Reid, and that’s how the Bureau will refer to her,” Winters returned. “As I was saying, she’s declined to accept our offer of protection and chosen instead to stay with family.”
“Yeah, she told me,” Marcus said in a clipped tone.
“I don’t think Cox will go after her,” Kate said. “It’s me he wants. He wants me all to himself. That’s why he…”
She clammed up. She hadn’t told Marcus about her hypothesis yet, and she didn’t want Winters to know that she thought Cox wanted to drive a wedge between her and Marcus out of jealousy.
Winters took a deep breath. “Whatever the case, she’s declined the offer. As for you two: Marcus, I’m willing to offer you an escort to and from your apartment to the field office.”
“No, that’s not needed,” Marcus said. “I’ll be all right.”
His eyes were narrowed, his shoulders flexing. Kate got the impression a part of him was hoping Cox would try to attack him.
“Very well,” Winters said. She turned to Kate. “Agent Valentine, considering the pervasive harassment Cox has shown you and his clear fixation on you, the Bureau has approved protective custody. I very strongly suggest you accept it.”
“No,” Kate replied.
“Yep,” Winters said tersely. “Figured as much.”
“Kate, you should take it,” Marcus said. “You need to keep yourself safe.”
“I’ll never be safe as long as Cox is alive,” Kate said, “and I’m not going to hide while he and his disciples perpetrate more murders.”
Winters sighed and got to her feet. She clearly disagreed with Kate’s choice to decline the protective detail, but she’d had this argument before and knew better than to keep pushing at Kate’s stone wall. “You’re dismissed, both of you. I’ll contact you when I have more information.”
Kate stood and left the room. Marcus followed her, his brow furrowed.
When they were outside, he said, “At least come stay with me. I’ve got room. I don’t want you by yourself.”
“I won’t be. I’ll be staying with my mom.” She didn’t add that part of her reason for doing so was to make sure Catherine wasn’t vulnerable if Cox chose to go after her again.
He frowned again. “I’m willing to stay with you if you need me to.”
Kate took a breath. “No, thank you. I think you and I need a little time apart. We… had a rough go of it. We should take some time to recover.”
“What if that’s what Cox wants, though?” Marcus insisted. “What if he wants distance between us so I can’t protect you?”
Then it worked.
“We’re only a few minutes from you,” Kate said. “I’ll call you if I need you. In the meantime, I would really like to remain your partner, and that means we both take time to heal from the wounds of the relationship that never was. Please respect that and respect me.”
Marcus didn’t meet her eyes. His shoulders were bunched, his arms stiff. “Kate, I get that you and I fell flat on our faces, but I still care about you. You’re my friend. Let me protect you. Or at least help—"
She turned to him and pulled him close. He fell silent and wrapped his arms around her.
She closed her eyes and drunk in the feel of him—strong and warm and safe, the musk of his cologne, the slightly rough timbre of his voice, the even rougher texture of his skin.
She pressed her lips to his neck, not quite a kiss, just contact.
When she pulled away, Marcus’s eyes were moist. She lifted a hand to his cheek, smiling at the stubble tickling her palm. “We’ll be okay,” she promised.
He met her eyes, and it was all she could do not to throw caution to the wind and kiss him.
But she wasn’t a child, and no matter how much she wanted it, the fairytale romance wasn’t waiting for her.
If she and Marcus worked out, it would be a long, slow crawl with a lot of fighting and struggling, and the finish line would be peace, not passion.
But for the moment, neither of them could run that race. Kate pulled her hand away, and after another smile, she turned and walked to her car.
She didn’t look back. She couldn’t. Not with Cox out there lurking, scheming, anticipating the moment when he and Kate would be together again.
That was all right. Kate would be waiting for him.