Chapter 23 #3
“Then make it work.” Sully stepped closer, voice low and urgent.
“You want the rest of this case unraveled? You want to know who was pulling the strings behind Bellini? I don’t know if she knows or not, but I’m the person she’ll tell if she does.
Let me handle this. And no recording. This is between her and me. ”
Winters hesitated, then slowly nodded. “Fine. You’ve got thirty minutes.”
“I’m going to order from a food service. It’ll take about thirty to forty minutes to get here. We’ll let her sit there like you suggested, then see if I can get her to spill anything.”
“She’s an agent. You really think that’s going to work?”
“I don’t know. Guess we’ll find out.” He pulled out his phone and tapped the Food Fleet app. Typed in a quick food order and showed it to Winters. “Bring it to us?”
“Sure. I’ll text you when it gets here in case you’re not looking at the app.”
“Perfect. I’m going to plow through some paperwork while I wait.”
“Me too.”
Winters headed toward his office, and Sully stood still until the man disappeared around the corner. Then he made a beeline for the interrogation room, pulling handcuff keys from his pocket. He walked in and Piper looked up. Without a word, Sully walked over and uncuffed her. “Follow me.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere we can talk.”
“You got that authorized?”
“No.”
“Sully—”
“Just come on. We don’t have long.” And if someone checked the room, he’d be in major trouble. No one would expect this of him. He was a rule follower. He didn’t do this kind of thing. But following the rules had gotten one partner killed.
Maybe breaking the rules would save this one. “There’s an old tech lab on sublevel two. It’s been offline since the HVAC leak last year. No cameras. No mics. Technically condemned, but still accessible.”
“Sully—”
“Shut up, Piper, and let’s go.”
She snapped her lips shut, and minutes later, they shoved through the faded steel door of the old tech lab, fluorescent lights flickering faintly overhead. The air smelled damp and dusty. He shut the door behind them, locking it. The click echoed in the quiet space.
The moment stretched long and taut.
“We’re alone,” he said finally. “No eyes. No ears. Just me.”
Piper sank into the old desk chair, shoulders folding inward like she’d been holding her breath for days.
“I couldn’t say anything in there,” she whispered. “They’re watching everything. Listening to everything. Even from outside. I don’t know who’s compromised, Sully. It’s bigger than Bellini. Way bigger.”
He pulled out a chair across from her, heart pounding. “Start talking.”
She looked up, the fight returning to her eyes.
“When Hannah was taken, I was warned not to tell anyone. I went to ASAC Winters and told him. He told me not to tell anyone. To play along. To not say a word to anyone and he’d handle Hannah’s rescue.
As soon as she was safe, he’d let me know.
Sully, I trusted him. I believed him. I followed his instructions, but now I’m not sure.
I don’t want to think—” She shrugged and spread her hands.
“That Winters has been Bellini’s inside man all along.”
Piper nodded. “I think he has to be. I can’t prove it. I stalled as much as I could. I hired that ex–Navy SEAL to search for Hannah while I played along.”
“Yeah, and you should have trusted me.”
“With my daughter’s life? You’re such a straight arrow, I couldn’t take that chance.” Her voice broke. “I’ve already submitted my resignation.”
Sully sighed, the anger draining from him and the guilt returning full force. Being a straight arrow had gotten his partner killed, and she couldn’t trust him because of that history. “The FBI will want your full cooperation in building a case against Winters.”
“Assuming they can build one, they’ll have it, but I have no proof to offer, just testimony.
I mean, I kept everything. Wrote down every detail.
Every interaction. Everything. But I don’t think it’s enough to prove Winters is behind this.
” She ran a hand over her eyes, then dropped it to the table.
“My investigator came to see me and said he had something, but I don’t know who to tell him to give it to. ”
“Tell him to give it to me.” He slid his phone across the table, and she studied him before nodding.
“I can’t believe you did this.” She gestured to the room.
He met her gaze. “I’m learning that while rules are there for a reason, when the bad guys ignore them, sometimes you have to do the same—or at least bend them a little.” Too bad he hadn’t learned that lesson before his partner died.
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Piper,” he said. “I’ll check with the investigator.”
She gave him the man’s information. “How’s Ollie?” She bit her lip and tears sprang to her eyes before she blinked them away.
“Safe,” he said. “Back at the ranch with Elena and Maya.” Sully checked his phone and motioned her toward the door. “We have to get back.”
She rose, and he led her back to the interrogation room without a single hiccup.
Once she was cuffed back to the table, food in front of her, he left the building, arranged to meet up with the investigator, and learned the man was very, very good at his job.
Within hours, Winters was in custody, and the investigation into his corruption was underway.