“See that you don’t.” He rocked the chair back and forth, his hand smoothing her hair back as she held on.
No matter what happened, she wouldn’t let go.
Chapter Five
The overhead light shone down on the conference room table and the evidence Simon and Jesse had spent the afternoon collecting.
“Does the DPD know yet?” Ian ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he stared at the pictures Simon had taken. They showed a man, likely a businessman given the fact that he was wearing a suit, lying on the floor of his expensive hotel room. He had a startled expression on his face, but then he also had a bullet hole through his forehead so Ian could forgive the man for being startled. It was a neat, clean execution, the kind the mob specialized in. It looked like their hit man had found the perfect perch from which to shoot someone coming out of the building that housed McKay-Taggart, and he didn’t really care that it was already occupied.
“No. No one’s found the bloke yet.” Simon was relaxed in his chair like finding dead bodies was an everyday occurrence for him. He sipped his Earl Grey. It was four o’clock. Nothing interrupted afternoon tea for the Brit. Ian was pretty sure Simon would stop in the middle of a shootout for high freaking tea. “The shooter had put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door. Staff won’t find the body until he’s supposed to check out, I would think.”
And then they might start to put two and two together. Maybe. If they were smart. He needed to make things look good with Brighton or the cops would get involved and everything would go to hell.
Jesse took off the ball cap he was wearing. At least he’d had the good sense to wear a ball cap and a fairly shapeless sweat suit. The kid looked too casual for the office, but no one would remember his hair color or body type. If he slumped properly, it would take inches off his six-foot-three-inch frame. “The hotel is quiet, minimal security. Room 721 is definitely the place where the shooter was planted. We found the sniper hole. The windows don’t open so he used a glass cutter to make a one-inch round hole, just enough to get the barrel through, not enough to hit the ground below and cause a ruckus. He knew he might be there for a while.”
“How obvious was it?” Again, he was thinking about the cops. It might be much easier to draw a line from point A to point B if they found holes where none should be.
“I barely found it. He put it in the bottom corner of the glass. I cracked it a little so it didn’t look so neat and stuffed a tissue in it. It’s what I would do if I accidently broke a window,” Jesse said.
It might work. It might not. “I don’t suppose the fucker left casings behind?”
“No,” Simon replied. “He was very neat, very clean. I managed to bribe one of the security guards. I convinced him I was a PI looking for a cheating spouse. He brought up the security cameras from the hallway at approximately the time we were looking at. A man roughly six foot or so wearing a ball cap got on the elevator carrying a briefcase at the right time. I didn’t get his face, though. He was careful to keep his head down.”
Ian huffed a long breath out. What a shitty day. “Well, it’s good to know Denisovitch trains his people well. We can bet he’ll try again. We need to come up with new protocols concerning Charlotte.”
What was he supposed to do with her? If she wouldn’t leave and hide, he had no idea how he was supposed to just let her run around the streets of Dallas alone. He had no doubt she could take care of herself. The question was how much chaos would she cause while she did it?
He had to keep an eye on her and that meant she would have to stay with him. Fuck.
He glanced over and watched her through the open blinds. She was sitting in her chair in Phoebe’s office, both women quiet. Phoebe’s head was down, her eyes on the computer screen while Charlie’s were squarely on her hands. She stared down at her lap, and Ian wondered what she was thinking.
Plotting most likely. She always looked so pretty when she plotted.
He had to take her into the dungeon tonight. If they didn’t get horrifically murdered first. Charlie would be kneeling at his feet in Sanctum, putting on a show for Derek Brighton.
Was she putting on a show for him, too?
Alex stepped into the room, holding out Ian’s car keys. “I moved your car into the parking garage. I thought it would be better to take Charlie out that way than to walk into the open.”
That woman was going to give him a migraine. “Thanks. I’ll make sure I put her in the trunk when I leave for Sanctum.”
“She’ll love that. No, we’re leaving your car here. We’ll take mine. I doubt they’re looking for mine.” Alex sat down beside him, his eyes going over the photos. “Nice. So our assassin doesn’t mind taking out a few civilians. What is Charlie going to want to do about her sister?”
He hadn’t even thought about Chelsea, the sister Charlie had betrayed him to save. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was interested in meeting Chelsea Dennis. “Send someone out to her place. Bring her to Sanctum tonight. We’ll regroup there. Simon, why don’t you and Jesse go and nab the girl?”
Simon’s eyebrow arched. “What if the girl doesn’t want to be nabbed?”
Alex shot Jesse a nasty look. “Well, I happen to know your little partner there is quite good with duct tape.”
“I said I was sorry about kidnapping Eve.” Jesse turned a bright red. “I’ll go get the address from Charlie. Wait. I shot her. Maybe you should do it, Simon.”
“You really are going to have to stop assaulting people who end up being your team members.” Simon stood and Jesse followed him. “Can the girl write out the address? I understand she’s on lockdown.”
She was going to stay that way. The longer Charlie didn’t actually talk to members of his team, the better. “Adam has it along with a phone number. He’s already talked to the apparently very abrupt Miss Dennis. They’re coming up with a plan to try to flush this guy out. I don’t want you bugging Charlie. Charlie is thinking about all the things she’s done wrong today. I’ll see you at the club in two hours. Make sure this Chelsea girl has the proper clothes if she’s going on the dungeon floor. If she’s not, she can sit in the locker room until I’m ready to question her.”
“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled with the invitation,” Simon muttered.