Page 26 of Sinner's Secret

Baz glanced at the younger man. He looked equal parts embarrassed and irritated by the by-play between Nika and the lieutenant.

“Quite a bit,” Baz replied. “But, in a nutshell, it assumes that you have a measure of control and containment of the situation.” He turned to look at Thomas. “You don’t.”

The lieutenant narrowed his eyes. “Bullshit.”

Baz proceeded to explain how fast the RFID tags could be found and removed from Nika’s body, how fast she could be taken out of the city, or even out of the country. Never seen alive again. Then he delivered the final nail in the coffin of this so-called operation.

“You nearly lost one man. And they won’t have forgotten that you tried to get inside their organization. They know how the police works. They’re aware that you’d try something else.” He moved until he was standing next to Nika. “Hell, they tried to grab her again tonight.” He paused, then added, “Twice.”

Everyone jerked as if he’d hit the whole room with a Tazer.

“The cab driver and the two beat cops,” Nika said with a growl.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” the lieutenant asked. “What cops?”

Nika told him about the overly zealous cab driver, and bogus traffic stop and how their team had to intervene. Then she said, “And now those two cops are dead. They were on the sidewalk in front of the station when the drive-by happened.”

The lieutenant exploded, charged Baz, grabbed him by the shirt, and slammed him up against the wall. “You will tell me everything you know, or I will make sure you end up in a hole so deep, you’ll never see daylight again.”

Baz stared into furious brown eyes. “I don’t know anything beyond the obvious.” He kept his tone calm. This guy was wound way too tight.

The lieutenant pulled him back, then slammed him against the wall again. “Spell it out for me.”

“You were warned. You didn’t listen, now they’re going to make you pay.”

“Pay how?”

Geez, the guy was spitting in his face.

Baz shrugged, relaxing into the other man’s grip. “Eight dead so far, and they keep trying to grab Nika.” Baz looked at her. “Which is both interesting and concerning.”

“You seem to be interested in her too,” her boss snarled.

Baz resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “She’s the daughter of a friend of a friend of mine. Do you know Joe from Joe’s Pub?”

“You’re a friend of Joe’s?” Thomas asked as if Baz having friends directly contravened several laws of physics.

“So, he tells me, although I’ve reminded him repeatedly that I’m an asshole.” He shrugged again. “Why don’t you call him?”

Thomas let go of Baz and stepped back. “I’ll do that.” He looked around the room. “The rest of you, stay here.” He left, slamming the door shut on his way out.

“Why would anyone want me specifically?” Nika asked him

“Maybe to make an example of you,” Baz said. “Or they don’t like it when someone gets away. Could be as simple as that.”

“I think Baz is right,” Davis said. “I think we’re blown to hell.”

She ran a hand over her face. “Yeah.” She walked over to the door. “I’m going to change out of this uniform. It’s time for Nika the waitress to go back into the closet.”

“I thought we were supposed to stay here?” Baz asked her with a half smile.

“I’m just going to the bathroom,” she said with a scowl. “I’ll be back before he is.”

That left Baz with Williams and Davis alone in the conference room.

“Want a coffee?” Davis asked.

“No thanks,” Baz said.

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