Page 24 of Come For Me
“What about you, Boss?”
“Hey, I’m the one that’s gonna keep your asses out of jail…maybe. What do I get?”
“Our undying gratitude.” She smirked at King, who winked.
A nod sealed the deal between them. They both turned to face Officers Wakeland and Ford at the same exact moment.
“You have a plan once you’re inside?” Saint muttered in her ear as she followed King’s silent stalk toward the officers.
“Do I ever?”
Not totally true. She did have a plan: wing it.
King threw her a suspicious glance. Elliot shrugged.
“You better watch her reckless ass, King,” Saint muttered.
King lifted his sunglasses just enough to show narrowed blue eyes. “You’re lucky we love you, little Otter.”
He rushed the door while she was still gaping.
Wakeland took the brunt of King’s charge. He’d no sooner brought his hands up and pursed his lips around a warning to stop than King barreled into the officer, who barely managed to stay on his feet. He whipped King around, but her teammate maneuvered so that his hands were just out of reach when Ford made a grab for them. In seconds King had two officers hanging on him like he was a quarterback trying to reach the end zone. Or a civilian trying to enter a crime scene without permission. Luckily his leeches were so busy struggling to subdue him that they didn’t notice Elliot until it was too late.
She slipped inside, throwing a smug smile over her shoulder as the door closed. Poor King. If he didn’t end up arrested—if they all didn’t end up arrested, and that was a bigifknowing Commander Hedlon—she’d have to add kissing his boo-boos to the scotch he’d requested. And judging from the grappling going on, he’d have plenty.
She made quick work of the stairs. At the top she assessed her six, saw no one following, and entered the fourth-floor door quietly but quickly. The empty hall stretched in front of her, doors closed on both sides. The quiet scuff of her boots on the carpeted floor echoed her easy breathing as she jogged the length of the corridor. At the turn into what she knew from Saint’s intel was the main room, she paused.
A glance at the thick black watch dwarfing her wrist showed five minutes had passed since Dain and Olivia and Cecil had hatched their plan. After Cecil’s revelation about the pass codes, Kelly had separated the CEO and Olivia from Dain, leaving the team in the dark as to what was happening with Dain’s wife. Presumably they would be taking her to get the codes.
Cooperate, Livie. Don’t give them a reason to get antsy.
Elliot could hear Dain organizing the other hostages in the conference room. He would take them out through the front doors of the office suite while Livie gave Kelly what he sought. Though Dain couldn’t communicate directly to them, he knew they’d be listening. Did he know they were guarding Olivia? Did he know they would protect her with their lives if it became necessary?
He had to know.
A faint murmur of voices came not from her earpiece, but from the main room. Too low for her to make out actual words, but by process of elimination she knew it had to be Olivia’s little group. She steeled herself for a quick peek around the corner.
The grisly scene at the head of the hall made her grimace. Raising her focus from the body to the room beyond, she saw Cecil Derrick, the man’s striped dress shirt and slacks an odd contrast to the blood blocking the entry to the main room. He was walking toward an office along the back wall, directly in her line of sight. Behind him, Kelly marched Livie across the room at gunpoint. Elliot braced herself to move forward if needed.
