Page 9 of In The Trenches (Owens Protective Services)

After multiple calls, checking in with other teams, and finishing off some paperwork, I was just about to head down to see Sinner off. He should be back at the office soon. But then I got another call, this one from Red.

“Yeah?”

“She’s at the friend’s apartment, but it looks like someone’s headed inside.”

“Friendly?”

“I don’t think so. Do you want us to intercept?”

“Follow and see what happens. If she’s in danger, you step in and take him out.”

“Got it.”

I rushed out of the room, hanging up as I made my way to the garage. Eli was in there, finishing up the SUV. “Ready?”

“Good to go. What’s going on?”

“Red just called. He’s got a visitor.”

“Who—”

My phone rang again and I quickly answered, “What have you got?”

“She climbed out the window. Kavanaugh has the suspect restrained, but there was a second guy that must have slipped inside. He followed her out the window. Her friend was working with Adams.”

“Where is she now?”

“She took off on foot. I’m going after her now.”

“Don’t let her disappear. We need eyes on her.”

“I’m on it.”

I hung up and dialed Sinner. My heart pumped with adrenaline, but this was what I did. I lived for this shit, for an operation to go off without a hitch. But when it went off the rails and the energy ramped up, I was in my element.

“Cash, I’m on my way back—”

“She just ran out of the friend’s apartment. Where are you?”

“About three minutes from that location.”

“Get over there and pick her up. She’s got company. Don’t come back here. Head for Reed Security and call when you’re clear. We’ll set up to switch vehicles.”

“On it.”

I turned to Eli, who stood waiting for orders. “I need you to grab one of the guys and get this vehicle to a secure location. Sinner’s picking up now. He’ll have to ditch his truck. When he calls, we’ll get his truck and bring it back here.”

“What if they follow him?”

It was always a possibility, but if we were going to pull this off without letting Adams know that we weren’t on his side, we had to put our faith in Sinner. “He’s trained for this. We don’t intervene unless he specifically asks for it.”

“You’re sure about that? He doesn’t know his way around the city. Don’t you think—”

“What I think is that we’ll put Vanessa in more danger if we chase her down. Red has eyes on her. He’ll make sure Sinner has this under control. In the meantime, let’s make sure everything is set for him to get back to Pennsylvania. I’ll work our contacts and have some vehicles arranged for him on the road back.”

I knew he didn’t like my plan, but this was what we had to do. It was a risk either way, but if Red and Kavanaugh intercepted to help, we’d risk the whole fucking operation. And right now, Adams needed to believe that we were on his side.

I headed back up to my office, but I didn’t even get there before my phone rang again.

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