Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(55)

His arm shifted, and she saw the flash of his badge.

“Hell.” Kenton stiffened against her. “Another one?”

But then Kenton’s hip started to vibrate against her. His phone.

“Told Davenport you were busy.” The guy shook his head. “That woman is impatient.”

Kenton yanked out his phone. “Lake.”

Lora eased away from him and kept her eyes on the stranger. “Who are you?”

He flashed a smile, lots of white teeth in the shadows. “Name’s Jon Ramirez, ma’am.”

“What? What the f*ck?” Kenton’s voice blasted.

Oh, that couldn’t be good. Her eyes narrowed as Kenton turned away and began to pace the length of the porch. “So you were just… outside my house, all evening?” Lora asked Ramirez.

His shoulders rose, then dropped in a careless shrug. “Keeping an eye on Lake can be a real pain in the ass.”

Uh, okay. “Why are you watching Kent?”

“They promised to put the f*cker on the air?”

She winced at Kenton’s snarl.

Ramirez just shrugged. “Because pretty boy made himself a target, and we watch our own at the SSD.”

Anger had her tensing. “That interview.”

Ramirez gave a nod, and his eyes cut to Kenton.

“Stop them. Pull the whole show off the air if you have to,” Kenton barked into the phone. His gaze landed on her, and she saw the barely controlled fury lurking in his eyes. “I’ll be there, ten minutes. Do not let them go live. Do whatever you have to in order to stop them, Monica, but, stop them.”

He ended the call and bounded down the steps. Lora grabbed his arm. “What’s going on?”

A muscle flexed along his jaw. “Seems Channel Five got a call from Phoenix. The perp wants them to put him on the air.”

“What?”

“Equal f*cking time, right?” He shook his head. “He’s supposed to call back during the live broadcast tonight, and some prick of a producer gave the okay to put him on the air.”

“Is Monica gonna be able to hold them off?” Ramirez asked, glancing at his watch. “ ’Cuz the broadcast starts in less than half an hour.”

“She’ll stop them, but we’re getting there, now. Follow me, Jon, and we’ll—”

“Not without me.” Lora wasn’t about to be left behind. “I’m coming on this one.”

“You’re not an agent,” Ramirez said. “This is official—”

Her eyes narrowed to slits. “It’s just a phone call. And I’m going.”

The agent’s stare shot to Kenton. He gave a nod. “She’s going.”

Damn straight.


“You can’t tell me what the f*ck to do with my station!” a man’s voice thundered.

“Actually, I can tell you exactly what the f*ck to do,” Monica replied with her voice low. Calm and cold.

Kenton rounded the corner and saw them. The station manager, Harvey Pile, had his short, squat body planted right in front of Monica. His hands were curved into fists, and his face flushed dark red. Reporters stood behind him, watching closely, and the producer—Travis Jenkins—was just steps away. Monica had told him good old Travis was the one who’d approved the idiot plan.

Monica stood with her arms crossed over her chest, her dark brows up. There were two uniforms near her, one man on each side. They looked nervous and tense.

“Let us into the control room,” Harvey shouted. “We’re scheduled to go live in three minutes.”

Ah, so that explained Monica’s strategic placement with the cops. Monica glanced over at Kenton. “About time you showed up.”

Traffic could be a bitch.

Harvey whirled toward him. “You. Look, I did you a favor, let you come on my show—”

“No, I did you a favor.” And Kenton had. “I gave you a ratings boost that I could have given to any other station in town.” He’d just picked Channel Five because it was closest. It was the luck of the draw.

Sweat lined Harvey’s forehead. “If we don’t take his call, he’ll just go to another station. They’ll take him. He’ll get on—”

“No, he won’t.” Monica was certain. “Every station in the city has a police presence right now.” Her hands gestured toward the cops. “He’s not getting on the air.”

Damn right he wasn’t.

“You can’t do this! We’ve got freedom of the damn press. You can’t—”

Lora moved to his side. “You’re seriously gonna put a killer on the air? He’s burned people alive, moron! He’s taken out a firefighter, and you want him on your show?”

She looked as if she might start swinging any minute.

Kenton eased a bit in front of her, the better to keep her from going after old Harvey.

But Harvey was already inching back from her. “Look, it’s not like we want to go on the air.”

“What? Is he twisting your arms? ’Cause I don’t see anybody holding ’em!”

She was fired up.

He thought Monica’s lips curved a bit.

“One minute till air…” came Travis’s panicked voice.