Page 26 of Back the Blue

“Fuck,” I breathe.

“Really?” Waters chuckles. “You’re confined to solitude with a gorgeous woman and you’re grumpy?”

“I need her safe,” I fire back. “I can’t…she means…Jesus Christ.”

“You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”

“I can barely think straight around her,” I sigh. “I don’t get it.”

He chuckles again but stays silent. I go with it and allow myself to get lost in my thoughts until he pulls into the parking lot of a motel. After a deep breath, I thank him and head inside. Five minutes later, I’m settling down in a room and powering on my laptop. Once I’m able, I send my email to my supervisor.

At a new location. Settling in for the night.

I hit send and wait. Whomever the leak is, we want them to think that Lorna and I are together. And when he sends his reply, our hope is that it sets up Diamond and his crew to move in again. Plus, we’ve got our tech team dialed in to track the leak. If we can get at least one of those taken care of, it will make things a hell of a lot easier to manage.

Two minutes pass before I get a reply.

10-4 check in again in two hours.

I send back another 10-4 and settle in to wait. This morning, it was less than three hours before Diamond was at our location. If they do happen to find my location, it should take a little longer than that because we’re out of the city. And that’s thanks to Lorna.

I smile at the thought of her. Then my cock starts to thicken.

“Jesus,” I breathe.

Not knowing what else to do, I settle in for a nice calisthenic workout. While I’d rather burn off my frustration with Lorna underneath me, this will have to do for now. Thirty minutes later, I’m a sweaty mess. But I’m still frustrated, and not just sexually. Now, I turn to one of the decks of cards that I brought for Lorna. Stupid, because I once again imagine a game of strip poker while I play countless rounds of solitaire. When I can take no more, I see that it’s been ninety minutes.

“Fuck.”

I hate not knowing what’s going on. And even though my phone is back on, I told Lorna to keep hers off. I didn’t want to put her at risk in any way. Not after my carelessness this morning almost put her in Diamond’s crosshairs. Of course, I would have done everything in my power to save her then. And in the future as well.

Twenty minutes later, I hear the email notification from my laptop. When I sit down, I open the message and sigh in relief.

Leak is plugged but a team is currently tailing Diamond. Shut down and stand by for a call.

I do what he asks and pace the room with my phone in my hand. Thirty seconds pass before it rings. After a deep breath, I answer.

“Hughes.”

“What’s your location?”

I tell him and he asks where Lorna is. Then he tells me to go back to her and await further instructions. I thank him and sign off. No sooner do I step outside, Waters is there to take me back to Lorna. After I get seated, I ask the obvious.

“Do you know who the leak was?” I growl.

“Rumors are it was Ellis.”

“What?” I snap.

“Yeah,” he sighs.

“But…why? What the hell could Diamond have on him that would make him betray the Bureau?”

At this point, Waters goes on to talk about how Ellis’ life kind of fell apart after his wife left him. Apparently, he sought solace at the bottom of the bottle first. When that didn’t work, he turned to drugs. And combine that with his gambling addiction, which was the cause of his divorce in the first place, it was a recipe for disaster.

“Jesus Christ,” I sigh.

“Tell me about it.”

---