Page 87 of The Pretenders of Copper County
“I don’t need respite,” I assured him. “I’m fine. Better than ever, actually.”
“Yeah?” He lifted an eyebrow. “I hope that’s true because I’m moving up the timeline. Dante’s signed his plea deal by now, so we don’t need to placate him anymore, andsince there have been no credible threats against your protectee, I want you on Perez full-time starting next week.”
“No.” The word was out of my mouth before I had time to think twice, but just like earlier this morning, when I thought about it, I realized I meant it.Huh.
“Excuse me?” He laughed in disbelief. “No?”
“No.” I blew out a breath. “I can’t put my finger on it, but I’m not convinced Chris is safe yet. There’s something we’re missing. Overlooking. Someone called his name that night at the safe house?—”
Janissey shook his head. “Not your decision to make, Sunday. Things might have calmed down a bit this week, but we’ve still got a staffing issue?—”
“Yeah,” I agreed without hesitation and without regret. “If you pull me off this assignment, you sure will. Because I’m staying here for as long as Chris needs me.”
His eyes flared wide as he realized what I was saying. “Sunday,” he groaned. “Jesus Christ. You did it again, you bastard. Just like last time.”
“Nope.” This was nothing like my last assignment.Then, I’d made a choice in the heat of the moment without fully understanding the consequences. Now, I knew exactly what I was doing.
“You’re telling me you haven’t gone soft?” Janissey rolled his eyes. “I don’t believe—what, Eloise? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of—?Hang on, Sunday.Well, tell them I’ll call them back when I’m—What do you mean ‘gone’? Jesus, Eloise, they called three hours ago? Why didn’t you tell me? Yes, it’s an emergency! It’s a fucking clusterfuck, is what it is.Sunday!”
I snorted, amused. “Still here. Clearly.”
His brow creased. “And where the fuck is your protectee?”
Immediately, my heart rate picked up. “Back at the campground, as I told you when I joined the call. What’s going on?”
“Dante’s missing. He didn’t sign his plea deal.” His computer vibrated as he typed something into his keyboard. “He’s in the wind.”
“What do you meanmissing? The Marshals were supposed to?—”
“But they didn’t. He disappeared yesterday, those fuckers only informed us this morning, and I’m just hearing about it now.” His fingers didn’t slow down. “Not my shit show, fortunately. But the Marshals are probably gonna want to send someone there to keep an eye on things, in case Dante comes your way?—”
“An eye on what? My protectee hasn’t told his uncle where we are.” Chris had said that and I believed him, one hundred percent. “And five minutes ago, you were happy to pull me off this assignment to fix your personnel issues, so is he even really my protectee anymore?—?”
“Don’t be naive,” he scoffed. “The Marshals have reason to believe Dante will contact your guy, so obviously they’ll want to watch him. No better way to do that than by keeping him in protective custody. We’ll coordinate?—”
Suddenly Janissey’s earlier words seemed prophetic, because thiswasfeeling an awful lot like my assignment back in August. The Powers That Be wanted to use my protectee for their own purposes under the guise of protection.
It had felt wrong then. Now it made me incandescently angry.
I stood and grabbed my phone, already moving toward the door.
No way would I let the Marshals anywhere nearChris, at least until he’d heard about the situation frommeand we’d decided together how to handle it.
“Like hell they will,” I told Janissey as I jogged down the hall. “You tell the Marshals to keep their asses away from Copper County. They’ll only attract attention and blow our cover.”
“Your protectee is connected to a crime family, and?—”
“My protectee is not a criminal, and youwilltalk about him with respect,” I growled. “Someone else fucked up here. Go bitch at the Marshals. Understand?”
Janissey blinked up at me in shock. “What the fuck?”
“Gotta go.” I pulled open the door to the street and realized it had started raining at some point. Water sheeted off the overhang and ran down the street in small rivers.
“Go? Go where?”
“To protect Chris.” I jabbed the End Call button and dragged my keys from my pocket before ducking my head and facing the storm.
I’d parked two blocks down, which hadn’t seemed like a big deal this morning but now felt a million steps too far. I should never have left Chris alone?—
