Page 70 of Hot Pursuit
Told you I’d cover for you. Didn’t expect it to be for so long.
Where the hell are you?
What happened?
Are you with Jo? Are you hurt?
If you two are…
Never mind.
I’m going to kill you, Parker.
Ryder just left the museum, nothing happened. We’ve changed shifts with the overnight team. Call me when you come back online.
He paced around the room, reading the messages for a few minutes, shifting between grunting incoherently and squeezing his fist until it began to tremble. Then Nate dropped onto the edge of the bed, lifted his fingers to the ridge of his nose, and squeezed as the full implications of his evening rendezvous crashed over him. How was he going to explain this to the boss? To the bureau? Hell, to his team? He wasn’t a very good liar, but there was no way he could tell them the truth. He’d be fired. Shamed. He’d known she was trouble from the very start—and he’d walked right into the trap.
Goddammit, Jo.
With a sigh, Nate lifted his head, gaze darting to the clock in the corner. 3:15. He’d wasted enough time already, so he did the only thing he could think of and called his partner.
“Alvarez here.” A sleepy mumble came through the line.
“Leo, it’s me.”
“Shit, Parker,” his partner exclaimed, coming alive in a single second. “What the hell happened to you? And what the hell time is it?” There was a slight pause. “Three o’clock in the fu—”
“I know,” Nate cut him off, wincing. “I know, and I’m sorry. But something is going down. I’m sure of it.”
He could perfectly envision the suspicious way Leo’s eyes were narrowing, especially as he slowly asked his next question. “How exactly do you know something’s happening, Parker?”
“That’s not important. What’s—”
“Holy shit! You did, didn’t you?” Leo whooped into the phone. Nate couldn’t tell if he was pissed or pleased. Probably a little bit of both. “I didn’t think you had it in you, Parker, but you did. You and Jo. You did. While I was on a fucking stakeout, trapped in the car for five hours with can’t-get-a-word-in-edgewise Ben.”
“Leo.”
“So how was it?”
“Leo.”
“Because I covered your ass, Parker. I had to spin a whole tale to the boss about how the Russians had been following you guys, how you probably had to go dark to get away from them, how you might have gone into hiding.”
“Thank you, Leo.”
“I think he actually sent a team out after you, to run some recon, see if there was any word of your whereabouts.”
Nate dropped his forehead into his palm and squeezed the phone tight in his other hand.How the hell am I going to get out of this mess?But that wasn’t important. Not right now. “Leo, listen. Jo just left. She thought I was asleep, but I was watching. She had a set of clothes hidden in the lining of her dress, black leggings, and a black long-sleeve shirt. She changed, and she left. And she has to be meeting Ryder. Are the overnight teams still on watch?”
“Yeah,” Leo answered, voice stern and focused, back on the job as quickly as that. “We have people parked outside the auction house and the museum, keeping an eye out for any sign of movement through the windows, any sign of wrongdoing. If they see anything, they’re ready to move in.”
Nate frowned, feeling a deep wrinkle form in his forehead as his brows pushed together. “What about the townhouse?”
“The gala ended, nothing happened. All the items from the silent auction were removed. We figured there was no need to keep watch. It was a decoy.”
God, that’s exactly what Ryder was hoping we’d do. That must be why they waited so long to act.“No, Leo. No. The townhouse, that’s where they’re going.”
“What? Why?”
