“I’ll…I’ll just get a hotel. Liam, if you can, please come back to Miami. Thanks.”
“Emi—”
The line went dead before I could even finish saying her name. I stared at the phone, dumbfounded. Did she want help, or did she want the option for help?
“She’s terrified and in danger,” Liam said, getting out of bed. “We absolutely have to get her to Denver, no matter what.”
“I agree, but how—”
“I’ll figure something out,” he said, “but that may require me to head to the airport, just in case I need to head to Miami for a bit.”
I hated to see him go. But that feeling was really no contest in comparison to the fear I felt on behalf of Emily.
“OK, let me take you to your car.”
We hurried to get dressed, a strange feeling after the way the previous twelve hours or so had gone. For the first bit in the car, we didn’t say a word. I suspected Liam was trying to figure out how the hell to take care of this asshole, while I was just hellbent on getting him to his car as safely and quickly as possible.
“You’ll do whatever it takes, right?” I finally said when the tension became practically unbearable. “I’m really worried about Sean. He’s a fucking evil psycho.”
“I’ll take care of him.”
He said it with such conviction that I felt I had to believe him, but there was something nagging about how little he said that made me wonder if Sean really was worth fearing. Sean was no international terrorist mastermind or whatever the fuck Liam dealt with, but there wasn’t a dismissive tone in the way Liam spoke. I wanted to believe that was just him not underrating the challenge, but I knew better.
“Don’t worry,” he said, as if able to read my mind, “I promise that I’ll take care of him.”
And as if on cue, I heard my phone ding. Stopped at a red light, I quickly opened it.
“Thought better of it. I’m on the next flight out. Should be to Colorado in about five hours.”
I immediately felt so much better. Even if Sean got on the plane with her, it was too public an environment for him to try too much. As long as she made it to the airport in Miami, we could pick up the rest from there.
“She’s coming.”
“Good, then I’ll wait at the airport for her.”
I nodded. I hated that we were leaving the topic of us unsettled, but questions like would we or wouldn’t we and “how long will it last” didn’t really matter when your best friend’s life was literally in danger.
I pulled up to the grocery store, drove where Liam told me to, and parked right outside a white pickup truck. He got out, and for a second, I thought that would be it. No goodbye, no kiss, nothing. But right as he was about to shut the door entirely, he stopped it halfway and poked his head inside.
“This is not over,” he said. I knew what this was. “Let me get Emily back here and we’ll sort this out.”
“OK,” I said, “but go get her, please.”
“I will.”
Now he shut the door, and now I felt more at ease.
For now, at least.
Chapter 16: Liam
The last fucking thing I needed right now was the addition of another case.
But Emily had been the rare client that, if she asked for help again, I had always said I would give it to her. Her cries for help sounded authentic; this was not the type of girl to cry wolf when a puppy was outside the door. She needed help, and I needed someone in Miami right now to start looking into things.
Fortunately, I knew just the guy.
I was about five miles outside of Breckenridge when I pulled out my phone, disconnected it from Bluetooth—one could never be too cautious, though I hadn’t always perfected that—and called my fellow DOM agent, Burke.
Burke was the other associate under Scott. Burke was a true badass. Scott was quiet and reserved, I was quiet and brooding, but Burke had no qualms making a point to fuck you up if he had to. Burke and I had worked together on a couple missions here and there, but for the most part, the nature of DOM ensured that we rarely crossed paths. That was fine; I liked being alone. But I also knew that if anyone needed to be pulled in who could take care of shit, it was Burke.
I called his number.
“Liam,” he said, simply stating my name, as if that sufficed for hello.
“Burke, I need your help with something,” I said. “Can you get to Florida soon?”
“Yes. What’s going on?”
That was another reason I loved Burke. If you asked him to do something, there were never excuses. It was either yes almost ninety percent of the time, or no very rarely. When he did say no, you only found out later it was because he’d broken his leg, but he sure as hell didn’t make that excuse mid-call.
A fucking warrior, Burke was.
“I have an old client of mine. Her name’s Emily. She’s got a real fucker of an ex stalking him. Guy’s named Sean. Worked in the Department of Justice for a time, so a lot of his activity was shielded or easily erased.”
“An inside guy, huh?”
“Yeah, one of those. I’m in Colorado right now so I can’t help, but wondering if you can dig around and see if you see what Sean is up to. I’ll send you some more information when I’m not driving.”
“Roger that, in Miami?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
A brief pause came. I honestly figured that was the end of the conversation—
“How’s your current job, by the way? Heard
