Page 106 of Crossing the Line
“Yeah, I get that. Let’s just keep that option in our back pocket as a last resort.”
Xavier knew, if given the chance, the FBI would be waving Waverly all over L.A. like red in front of a rodeo bull. “Any headway on the electronic side of things?” Travers’ team had been trying to track Ganim’s whereabouts through his Facebook account.
“We left his account active in hopes of snagging some IP addresses, but the sneaky bastard’s using Tor as a browser, which means we’ve got him bouncing all over Turkey and Argentina when we know he was in L.A.”
“How about the email Plotts sent the investigating officer in El Plano?” Xavier asked.
Travers shook his head. “We’re backed up here a good couple of months, and forensics wasn’t too keen on bumping some of their big projects for a goose chase.”
“I’ve got a team ready and waiting,” Xavier reminded him. A team that was better equipped than any overworked FBI electronics forensics examiner.
Travers nodded. “Let me run it by my supervisor, and see if we can’t get something moving there. I take it you’ve got some suspicions that Plotts didn’t send that email?”
“Let’s call it a working theory,” Xavier said.
“Well, a theory’s better than sitting on our asses waiting for something else in downtown L.A. to explode.”
“We’ll see if it gets us anywhere. Keep me posted, and I’ll let you know if we hear anything on our end from Ganim.”
“Have fun globetrotting,” Travers said, without bothering to hide the envy.
Xavier grinned. “You track down Ganim and get him off the street, and I’m sure we could find some space for you at Invictus.”
“I just might take you up on that.”
Xavier disconnected the video chat and kicked back in the desk chair. Waverly exited the hotel’s bathroom, hair still damp from her shower. “No good news?” she asked, tugging a brush through her hair. For the sake of appearances, Waverly and Xavier kept separate hotel rooms in the posh, five-star London high-rise. But for the sake of convenience, she stayed in his. To Xavier’s thinking, it added another layer of security too in case someone on the hotel staff felt chatty about Waverly’s room number. And it was damn convenient to have her all to himself every night.
“No news at all,” he shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense. This guy is obsessed with you. He shouldn’t be able to control his impulses to contact you.”
“If he contacts me, will it give you something to work with?”
He gave her the eye. He knew where Waverly was going with this. “Have you been talking to Travers?”
Waverly crossed to him and stepped between his legs. She tugged at his tie. “He may have called yesterday.” She pushed him back when he tried to come out of his chair. “Just think for a second. We’re on radio silence right now. There’s nothing externally tempting him to reach out again. Now, tomorrow? With about forty interviews exploding all over the media, I imagine he’ll have a harder time controlling those impulses.”
“Angel, are you saying you want to use your interviews to piss this guy off? Because you know what I’m going to say to that.” Xavier tried not to let himself be distracted by the way her fingers were working his buttons free.
“I’m saying I can’t control how an unstable person will react to what I say, even if it’s all perfectly innocent. And, I’m half a world away. What’s he going to do?”
Xavier dropped his forehead to her chest, tugged at the tie of her robe. “If I catch you doing anything reckless, I will stop the interview and throw you over my shoulder and lock you away.”
Waverly pouted prettily. “Here I thought you were going to tie me naked to a bed.”
Xavier pulled the tie of her robe through its loops until it came free in his hands. “Maybe I won’t even let you make it to the junket tomorrow. Maybe you’ll still be tied up, and I’ll still be inside you.”
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“What are you wearing?” Xavier frowned at her as Waverly slid the backs on her earrings.
Waverly avoided Kate’s gaze in the foyer mirror when she answered. Kate was a giggler under pressure, and she didn’t need Xavier to be tipped off that they were up to something. “What? Every important inch of me is covered. You can’t possibly have anything to complain about,” she teased.
He studied her outfit again and continued to frown.
Kate’s phone signaled a new text. “Oh, goodie. Looks like Media Barbie decided to fly in for this. She’ll be here in two. X Factor, can you save me a headache and go down and meet her?”
Waverly waited until he’d left the suite before breathing a sigh of relief. “I was afraid we weren’t going to squeak by on that one.”
“How in the hell does he know to be suspicious of that shirt?” Kate demanded. “His instincts are ridiculous!”
