Page 103 of Static

"Girlfriend," I growled.

"Girlfriend," he agreed. "And you hand me a case that will supposedly make my career? Whose girlfriend do I need to hit on to get a promotion?" He grinned, looking around at the others.

"No," Hush growled at him, glaring the officer down. None of the others looked happy about Torres's joke either.

He held up his hands in a universal sign for peace. "Kidding." He sobered and looked at me. "I can probably get you out, start a case, but I'm not going to be able to get everyone else out. Not yet."

"That's fine," Lock told him. "Just get Static out so we can put all this to bed."

"Too bad the rest of you will be too late."

We all stared across the hall at one of the men standing at the bars. He gave us a nasty smile.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Rip asked him.

"If you know something," Torres said, "speak up. Or I'll add withholding evidence to your charges."

The man rolled his eyes. "Like I'm scared of that," he replied. He met my gaze. "We know we're fucked. If Fremont is going down, so are we."

"You are," I agreed.

"Maybe you could help us out. In exchange for information."

Rainer cleared his throat and wrapped an arm around Torres's shoulders. "Why don't we go work on getting Reed out of that jail cell."

"But we should-"

"Get Reed out of that jail cell," he interrupted, steering Torres toward the front of the building.

Watching them go, I waited until the door shut and focused on the man again. Idaho's PI had investigated these assholes, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember which one this was. It didn't matter. He didn't matter.

"What kind of information you have to trade?" Lock asked. He was standing at the front of his cage, arms resting on one of the horizontal bars on the cell. He gave off a calm, collected vibe, but I knew he was as tense as I was.

"Fremont's going to have you killed," one of the others muttered.

The man hesitated, then shrugged. "Fucking life's over anyway. May as well get what I can." He glared at me. "What kind of deal can you get for me?"

"I don't know yet," I told him. "It's going to depend on the US Attorney out there." Now that I'd brought Rainer and the US Attorney General into this, a lot of the decision making process would be taken out of my hands. That was fine by me.

The man considered my words. "You'll try to get me a deal?"

"If the information is worth it," I told him.

"Is your woman's life worth it? And her kid?"

We all went silent and dread filled my chest. "What do you mean?"

"Got a call from Fremont right before we came after you. We were just supposed to follow you, but Fremont needed you out of the way. Distracted. Said your woman and her kid were going to the hospital and he was planning on taking them."

"Rainer!" I bellowed.

He and Torres came running back. The cop who'd given me the phone call was on their heels. "What?"

"I have to get the fuck out of this cell. Now!"

Rainer searched my face, then nodded. "Get him out," he told the officer with the keys. "I'll handle everything," he interrupted when the cop started to argue. "Let him out."

I shoved out of the cell, heading back to where they had all my shit and dressed as fast as I could right there in the storage area. Slapping the USB drive into Torres's hand, I told him, "Be careful. Fremont has a bunch of cops on his side. This is evidence that Fremont is taking bribes and blackmailing people into paying him to get them lighter sentences or to drop cases completely. Julian Sikes, the assistant DA is a part of it, too."

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