Page 39 of Fast Justice

Rowan glanced away, her stomach knotting as blood rushed to her face. He hadn’t shot her down, but his reaction hadn’t seemed that positive, either.

She was saved from further mortification by the nurse from earlier coming in. The petite woman gave her and Malcolm another gentle smile before checking Kevin’s vitals and adding more medication into his line. Nick returned a few minutes later with a plate of food and a cup of coffee. “It’s like funky-tasting dishwater, but it’s hot and it has caffeine, so I’m going for it.”

Rowan chuckled. “I’d offer to get you the real deal from down the street, but I’m already kind of bending the protection rules here, so…”

“It’s okay.” He plopped down into his seat and talked with her about logistics of what would happen once Kevin was discharged. A few minutes in, Malcolm pulled his phone from his pocket, glanced at the screen and slipped out the door.

The door opened a few minutes later and Malcolm only poked his head in. “We need to go,” he said to her.

Alarmed, she shot to her feet. “Is everything okay?” What had the phone call been about?

He softened his demeanor at once. “Yes, everything’s fine. But we should go now.”

After saying goodbye to Nick and making him promise to call and update her on Kevin, she stepped out into the hall with Malcolm and followed him toward the elevator. “What happened?” she said in a low voice, tension pulling tighter and tighter in her stomach.

“Got a call from my team leader. Apparently they found a cell phone hidden in Oceane’s room this morning. Her mother smuggled in the disassembled parts in the lining of her suitcase, and it was sophisticated enough that the X-ray machine missed it.”

What?

“Turns out she’s been in contact with one of her former bodyguards after she met with you the first time.”

Rowan stopped dead. Arturo? Had to be. Oceane had made it clear how much she trusted him, that the bond was stronger than merely respect for and reliance on the man who kept her safe. It was almost like she saw him as an older brother or something. “So he knew her location this whole time?”

“Not the whole time, and for sure not the WITSEC facility, but he definitely knew she and her mom were at your office.”

Disbelief hit her, followed by a red-hot wave of fury. “Fuck,” she snapped and turned to face Malcolm fully, her heart thudding. It was public knowledge that she and her boss were the main attorneys working on the case. Nieto’s network would have known it as well. “So her bodyguard could have planted the bomb that almost killed my brother.”

“Him or anyone skilled enough to pull it off. They’re questioning her and her mom now.”

“Where?”

“Headquarters.”

Rowan hitched the strap of her purse up higher on her shoulder. She wanted answers. She wanted justice. And she would see that she got it. “I’m going there.”

“We’rebothgoing there,” he answered, and hit the elevator call button on the wall.

Rowan pulled in a calming breath, her mind spinning. If Oceane or Anya had anything to do with the bombing, there was gonna be hell to pay.

Chapter Thirteen

Oceane struggled to stay calm and not allow her anxiety to show. From an early age she’d been taught many things that she had assumed all kids learned, like the need to mask her emotions, never display any kind of fear, because predators sensed it and preyed upon it.

But it turned out not all kids learned those things. And she’d learned them long before she’d discovered that her entire life was a lie and her father was the most dangerous predator of them all.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked the man behind the wheel who was acting as her new bodyguard. DEA Special Agent Lockhart. From her position in the back seat where the doors wouldn’t open from the inside, all she could see was the back of his head, and his military-short dirty blond hair.

Rowan had said he was qualified to guard her, but Oceane didn’t know him. While she hadn’t expected the American authorities to treat her with much kindness, she certainly had expected to be treated with respect and that was definitely lacking. Being treated like a criminal, a pariah, was a shock to her system that made her feel small and helpless. She would have given anything to talk to Arturo, ask for advice. He’d been there for her through hard times before, always kept her safe, even when her father’s enemies had stormed her home.

Did no one here understand that she hadn’t asked for any of this to happen? That she hadn’t even known the reality of who her father was until she’d been forced to run for her life when the bullets had started flying outside her bedroom window? She’d bet none of the people assigned to her case had had their life ripped apart, only to find that everything they thought they knew was a total lie.

That hard truth bubbled like a pool of battery acid in her stomach.

Lockhart had been totally remote, curt and unfriendly since the moment he’d been assigned to her. She’d had bodyguards all her life in addition to Arturo, and they’d all warmed up to her within the first few days. But no matter how hard she tried to get Lockhart to thaw a little or try to engage him in a polite conversation, he wouldn’t budge. Although to be fair, her former bodyguards had all been on her father’s payroll. Lockhart wasn’t.

“In for questioning,” was all he said, not bothering to glance over at her as he answered, and there was a definite edge to his voice.

She didn’t appreciate the attitude, or being kept in the dark. Not only that, the DEA bodyguards had split her and her mother up again.

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