Chapter 15 #4
“You’ll do nothing of the sort. The guy’s gone rogue. At this point, our best option is to lay low, let the dust settle, and try again once he’s gotten comfortable enough to let his guard down.”
This cannot be happening.
Months of work down the drain. Weeks of planning, worry, and stress wiped clean, and for what?
“I don’t understand.” He shook his head before raking his fingers through his hair. “What the hell happened?”
“You, Agent Morgan. You happened. You let your feelings for Miss Webb take our focus away from the job.”
Coulter’s mind raced as he tried making sense of what she was saying. It didn’t take long for him to come to the same conclusion.
He had let himself become distracted. Worse, Coulter had let his own inflated ego push him into making a power play with his target. He’d given the guy an ultimatum, for crying out loud. And right when his arrest—and guaranteed subsequent conviction—was right there, within his grasp.
“What were you thinking?” Price challenged, though the question sounded more rhetorical than anything else.
Coulter knew exactly what he’d been thinking. He’d wanted Crawford out of Alex’s life for good, and he thought appealing to the guy’s sense of greed with the threat of losing the auction would do the trick.
Looks like you were wrong.
“Why stay?” He frowned as the question sent a nagging pull deep inside his gut.
“What do you mean?”
“In Charlotte,” Coulter brought his gaze back to his boss.
“The last time I spoke to him, we had a solid deal in place. He was supposed to fly back to L.A. last night. Vas was calling the pilot to get the jet ready when they left Alex’s place.
I was standing right there when Crawford told Vas he wanted to be wheels-up in less than two hours, so why the change of heart? ”
“You tell me.” Price shrugged. “If what you’re saying is true, then something made him decide to stick around. Whatever it was, it had to be worth more than the potential billion-dollar payout he was expecting to get from the auction. Any thoughts?”
Alex.
“Oh, my God.” Coulter pulled out his phone, unlocked the screen, called Alex, and put the phone to his ear. “It’s Alex,” he rushed. “He chose her over the auction. That’s why his plane’s still on the ground.”
“I have eyes on your girl. Two agents followed her from her place to her gallery. She’s had customers come and go, but nothing out of the ordinary has occurred, and Miss Webb is still there.”
“Call them,” he ordered. “Make sure they can still see her. Actually, have one of them go into the gallery.”
“And say what?”
“Whatever they want. They can pretend they’re shopping for a gift for all I care. Just get them inside the building.”
His boss gave a slight roll of her pretty eyes. “They just checked in with me fifteen minutes ago, Coulter. Your girl was with a customer who left with a smile on his face and a painting in his hand.”
“And you and I both know a lot can happen in fifteen minutes.”
Price held his stare a beat before she sighed. “Fine.” His boss pulled her phone from her back pocket.
While she put in the call, Coulter held his phone to his ear and waited. He tried the gallery’s landline first, but when Alex didn’t pick up, he immediately tried her cell.
It rang once. Twice. After the third time, his hope that she’d answer all but disappeared.
A giant fist squeezed his heart as a feeling of impending dread settled deep into his gut. He cursed beneath his breath as the second call he made eventually went to voicemail.
“She’s not picking up.” He spun on his heals and headed for the conference room door.
“Where are you going?”
“The gallery.” Coulter yanked the door open and rushed into the hall. “It’s only a few blocks from here.”
“Agent Morgan—”
“It’s her,” he growled, stopping cold and turning his entire body around on a dime. “Don’t you get it? Alex is the reason Crawford is here. She’s the one thing he really wants.”
“What’s going on?” Garrett joined them.
Coulter’s worried gaze slid to his brother’s. He pushed back his fear and said, “I think Alex is in trouble.”
Without missing a beat, Garrett asked, “What do you need?”
“Get the team together and meet us at her gallery.”
“I’m on it.” His brother grabbed his phone to start making the calls. “I’ll have Ashley get ahold of Shadow and Rafe. See if they can meet us there, too.”
“Thanks, brother.” Coulter nodded before continuing his hurried steps down the hall.
He and Agent Price made it to the office’s main door when she put a hand on his arm to stop him.
“Coulter, wait.”
“What?”
Dammit, they didn’t have time to stop and have a chat.
“That was one of the agents at the gallery.” She slid her phone back into her pocket.
“And?”
Agent Price stared back at him with what appeared to be genuine regret. “Your girl’s not there.”
His lungs seized. “Crawford has her.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
And it was all on him. In a cocky move, he’d warned Crawford to stay away, but by doing so, he’d inadvertently made her even more appealing than before.
He’d pushed too far, and now Alex was paying the price.
“We’ll find her.” Agent Price gave his arm a comforting squeeze. “Come on. You can ride with me.”