Page 56 of Home Team Advantage
Jake turned to him. “What?”
“Me. I want in.”
Jake shared a look with his brothers. One by one, they nodded.
“All right then. Let’s get you kitted out.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
ANNA
Hovering between full awareness and light slumber, Anna was vaguely aware of the van slowing down and turning. Instead of picking up speed again, however, their pace remained relatively slow. The vehicle bounced and swayed, as if navigating a rough road and potholes. Or maybe speed bumps meant to deter anyone from getting any bright ideas about gate-crashing the facility.
After several minutes, the van stopped.
Fully alert now, Anna strained to hear something—anything—and picked up nothing but the hum of the engine in idle. Then came the muted murmur of a male voice. She looked toward the front, but the partition between the driver and the passenger areas remained closed.
Had they reached the correctional facility? Was he showing ID or documentation at the gate or something?
Then, the back door opened, and she got a good look at the driver. She’d seen him before. At the library.
“You,” she said. “You’re a cop?”
“Not anymore,” he said with an evil smile, “and it’s all thanks to you, Anna. Or should I say, Giovanna.”
Her heart skipped several beats. “What did you call me?”
“You know, when Eddie hired me, I thought you were just some low-key con artist who went around scamming old ladies. You know what I found? Nothing. Not a goddamn thing. But Eddie promised to cut me in when he got control of his grandmother’s assets, so I went the extra mile and started tailing you. Then, just when I thought you couldn’t possibly get any more boring, you went to the library and looked up some gangster in Chicago.”
Anna felt a frisson of unease slither along her spine.
He laughed and shook his finger at her. “There’s a life lesson for you: always delete your browser history. Anyway, I got to thinking, why would some small-time scammer be interested in a Chicago mobster? That’s when I realized, I’d seen you before.”
She let her eyes roam over him—from the top of his head down to as far as she could see, then back up again. “Except for the library, I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I was just a beat cop then, so I wouldn’t expect a Mafia princess like you to notice a scrub like me, but I was there, working the streets.”
Her heart began to pound, but she kept her features calm and her expression bored. “You obviously have me confused with someone else.”
“Yeah, I thought I had to be wrong too. I mean, you were dead, right? But then I got a buddy of mine to send me your cold case file, telling him I was consulting on some true crime podcast, and guess what? The fingerprints they took off you a couple of days ago are an exact match to those of the dead Bianchi girl. That’s one hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?”
Anna had known it was only a matter of time. The past had a way of catching up. She hadn’t foreseen it going down quite like this, however.
She straightened her spine and lifted her chin. “So, what now, Sherlock?”
“Now, I need to figure out if you’re worth more to me dead or alive.” He scratched at the growth on his chin. “I bet DiGiorgio would pay a pretty penny to make sure you stayed dead, especially with him running for office and all. Or maybe he’d prefer to see to that himself, after he got what he was denied all those years ago. He had quite the reputation, you know. Had a thing for pain.”
Her mind whirled. It didn’t sound like this former beat cop had contacted anyone in Chicago yet. But had he told anyone else?
“Is your buddy Eddie in on this too?”
He barked out a laugh. “Eddie? Fuck no. The guy’s dumber than a bag of hammers and doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut. He can fuck up even a sure thing like you. Anyway, it’s time to go.”
“Time to go where?”
“I have to stash you someplace safe until I decide what to do with you. I had to act quick, you understand. The window of opportunity was slim.”
He climbed up into the vehicle. “Sorry, sweetheart, but I’m going to need you out for this next part.”
