Page 82 of Hot Pursuit
“So we have nothing?” The disgust in the boss’s tone was evident. The fury was too. He slammed a wad of stuffed manila envelopes against the conference table, making everyone jump. “Months and months of work, gone. What the hell happened?”
All the men and women around the table shifted uncomfortably in their seats. The boss was not an intimidating man based on looks alone. A little short. Starting to bald. Tanned face leathery from too much sun and full of wrinkles. Broad shoulders with muscles that had begun to turn soft. But the knowledge in his hazel eyes and the iron in his voice, a voice that had chided them all many times before, were enough to make Nate’s blood run cold.
“Anyone want to tell me how this operation got royally fucked? Anyone? No volunteers?” Nate froze when that shrewd gaze landed on him. “Parker? What the hell happened with the daughter? I thought we had a lead?”
He cleared his throat, sitting straighter. “We might still have a lead, sir. I haven’t ruled it out.”
The boss arched one thick brow, staring at him with disbelief. “Let me get this straight. She turned down your offer of immunity. Ran away from you. Helped Ryder steal the painting. And then vanished in the middle of the night. And what? You think it was an elaborate ruse? Tell me what I’m missing here, Parker, because I’d really love to know.”
It took every ounce of self-control Nate possessed to not glance at Leo across the conference table. But he was trained in interrogation tactics, and he knew body language could give away far more than words ever would. “That’s correct, sir. I have a hunch—”
“A hunch?” the boss roared. Nate didn’t flinch. “A fucking hunch? Parker, you got played. We all got played.”
“I think she just wanted time, sir, to do things her own way. Jolene Carter isn’t the type to be bossed around or cornered into anything.”
Well, that was mostly true. But somehow, Nate highly doubted the boss wanted to know that the only time Jo didn’t mind being dominated was in the bedroom. He clenched his teeth as images of their night flooded his thoughts, the sound of her sighs, the feel of her skin, the weight of her body as she straddled his—
“Parker?” the boss said loudly, giving Nate the distinct impression it hadn’t been the first time.
He tried to swallow the sudden tightness in his throat and other places away. “Sir?”
The boss stared at him for a moment and then scoffed, turning to another agent. “Samuels, do we have locations? An update? Anything?”
“Nothing new, sir. Jolene Carter was spotted at the airport. Spent a lot of time circling the shops. She picked up a few cookies, put them back, but there were no notes underneath. An agent followed her to a few food stores and coffee places, no purchases but some candy and a soda. No obvious interactions. The only person we saw her talk to was the cashier at a soft pretzel place, and that was a routine order.”
The corner of Nate’s lip lifted.Sounds like Jo.
“Her plane,” Samuels continued, scrolling a tablet for more updates. “Looks like it took off about forty-five minutes ago. Scheduled to land in two and a half hours. Our agent saw her board and waited for the doors to close before leaving. A ground crew searched her checked luggage but there was nothing of interest, and we didn’t have enough evidence for an arrest to seem worthwhile.”
“And Ryder?”
Samuels winced and glanced at the floor. “Nothing, sir. No one has seen him since he gave us the slip outside the museum last night.”
The boss grumbled incoherently. A vein pulsed in his forehead. “How is that possible? Have we checked the street cameras? Anything?”
“All the cameras within a few blocks were tampered with, and we have men searching all the others, trying to locate a man of Ryder’s description at around the time of the theft, but so far nothing. He disappeared.”
“He’s not a fucking magician,” the boss growled.
Might as well be.
“So we’ve got no prints, no hair follicles, no DNA?” the boss said, turning to one of the forensics guys for confirmation, which he gave, reluctantly. “And we’ve got no video footage, no way to tie the bugs in the security system to Jolene Carter, and no way to place either of them at the scene?” He glanced at the tech team. Again, a silent, hesitant nod was the only response. “And Ryder has vanished off the face of the earth like a fucking Houdini?”
No one bothered to respond that time.
Judging by the boss’s tone, any answer wouldn’t have been received kindly anyway.
“Well, what the helldowe have, boys and girls?”
“The homeowner has given us everything he has on the painting…”
Nate tuned it out. He’d heard it all before. And it was all crap. Fluffy, shiny, bulked-up and well-packaged bullshit. All they had was Jo. And it would be hours, hell, days before he heard from her, if he ever did again.
The phone in his pocket buzzed.
Nate’s entire body jerked into motion as he hastily silenced the vibration. Leo shot him a hopeful look across the table, but there was no way it was Jo. Not so soon. He knew better than to hope, so he shook his head at his partner.
The phone buzzed again.
