Page 21 of The Witness

I reached out and touched Sabrina’s forearm, walking my fingers down her arm to find her hand and give it a soft squeeze. Our gazes met and held for a moment. Her face was flushed and her pupils were dilated from the rush of fear, but otherwise she was holding it together.

“Sabrina, don’t say anything to anyone and stay in the car if possible. We need to get you and Minerva back to the office. That is the priority.” The sooner Sabrina was inside the safety of the Smith Agency building, the better. This attack had me believing that Sandoval was the boogeyman that John Smith described him as.

“But the police—” She started to pull her hand away, but I kept it in mine.

“Aren’t your problem. You did nothing wrong.” I smiled reassuringly at her and Minerva.

“Okay.” Her tone was steady, if subdued. After one more soft squeeze, I reluctantly released her hand.

Minerva wrapped an arm around Sabrina and looked at me over her daughter’s head. She gave me a single nod of approval that I returned.

“Noah, call Smith and tell him to get us a lawyer. The cops are going to want to keep us for questioning, and that’s not happening.”

“On it.” Noah put his phone to his ear.

Even Sandoval’s organization had limits. And the chances that he’d infected this department were about zero. The area wastoo far from Miami and not exactly a hotbed of crime. Unless you considered the real estate prices or the hideous golf pants many of the men here favored when on the course. My issue was that our cross-fairway car chase would be the most exciting thing these officers had seen all year, and they would want to investigate… very thoroughly. Not happening.

I put The Tank in park and sighed long and loud, getting ready to do some serious tap dancing. My exhalation disturbed a single small blue parrot feather that had landed on the dash. I watched it float up and get carried away by the flow from the AC vent. If only we could extricate ourselves that simply.

Chapter 10

Sabrina

“Thank you, again.” I held out my hand to Sydney Leck. Thanking people for saving my ass seemed to be my new vocation. I ignored the slightly icky feeling being in debt to yet another person caused.

She took my hand in a firm grip. I’d met her briefly during the flurry of activity as we arrived at the Smith Agency. I’d hardly done more than give her a nod and smile as we all piled out of The Tank. She and I were alone now, and it was my chance to express my gratitude for her help without all the distractions.

“No law enforcement agency has an active warrant for your arrest. There wasn’t much Palm Beach Gardens police could do to hold you. But you are welcome.” The lawyer shrugged and retook her seat at the table in the Smith Agency break room. A small moleskin notebook and gold pen sat on the surface next toher cell phone. “It was lucky I was here working on something else for John, or they might have booked Steel on reckless driving.”

“It wasn’t reckless. It was incredible. He saved me, er us.” I stuttered to a stop. When did I become president of the Michael Steel fan club? That was so not me. I’d never been a gushing fan girl type. But I’d never been shot at during a high-speed car chase before, either. Yet another person I owed a huge thank you to.

“He’s a good wheelman. Probably the best on Smith’s team.”

“Wheelman?” I sat next to her at the table.

“Driver.”

“Got it.” I didn’t really. These people spoke a different language. Kind of like me in a kitchen, where words like chiffonade and macerate were commonplace. A security company got burner phones and wheelman. My life had taken a surreal turn.

Sydney cocked her head and considered me. “You’re a lucky woman. You’ve landed in the laps of the right people. Smith and his Machiavellian manipulations will deal with Sandoval. And Steel, as you experienced today, will protect you from the fallout.”

“It wasn’t luck. FBI agent Lewis Wright sent me here after I got him shot at the Oceanfront diner.” A lump of emotion tangled around the word shot, and I had to force the end of my sentence past it. The debt I owed to the FBI agent was the size of a large boulder.

“You didn’t get anyone shot.” She’d taken my hand again. Her brown eyes overflowed with compassion. “It’s all Sandoval’s doing. Men like him cause carnage and chaos. They only care about profit and protecting their organization. Trust me, I’ve been dealing with his kind for years.”

“At times it feels like this is happening to someone else or I’m watching a TV show. But the car chase today was too real and totally out of my control. I’m so off balance.” The only steady thing was Michael Steel.

I envisioned Gabriela Cantoral’s blood-stained sheet blowing off the back deck of Sandoval’s yacht and into the ocean. My life had become too much like that scrap of fabric, buffeted by the rushing winds and lost to deep water currents. My goals and passions drifting farther and farther away, disappearing over a distant horizon. I wanted to fight the tide, but I wasn’t sure how.

“Control is overrated. Right now, you’re aiming to survive. Don’t underestimate Sandoval’s reach. I’m not trying to scare you. I believe in telling people the truth during a crisis. These are bad people. I’ve had a run in with this group in the past. Take the threat they pose seriously.” She held my gaze with a sincerity that terrified me and drove home her point.

I closed my eyes, my shoulders hunched forward, and all the fear I’d held in check during the car chase rushed over me. Sydney wrapped an arm around my back, her soothing presence a balm to my tattered resolve. There were worse things than accepting help.

“You can do this because you have to.” Her softly spoken words soaked into my bones and filled in a few of the newest cracks undermining my foundations.

“Do we ever get choices when it comes to the hard things?” I already knew the answer. I learned this lesson more times than I cared to count. When I found out I was pregnant and single. When Hailey got sick. And a million other incidents before, during, and after those moments.

“It wouldn’t be life if we did.” Sydney patted my back.

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