Dream Chaser (Dream Team, #2)(60)

“Okay, be safe.”

“You too. Later.”

“Later.”

They hung up and Boone turned the conversation with Cisco and Mamá around in his head the rest of the way to the office.

He thought he had something by the time he got through the door and was keen to talk it out with Hawk and do that immediately, because if he was right, they had another problem.

A big one.

And what he meant in that “they” included Cisco.

And now, Mamá Nana.

But mostly, it involved Kathryn.

However, he did not talk it out immediately with Hawk.

This was because Mag and Auggie were already there, he knew Axl was right behind him, caught at a light that Boone made, but also Jorge was huddled with them standing outside the conference room.

And so were Hank Nightingale and Eddie Chavez.

This wasn’t bad, as such.

What was bad was that expressions weren’t annoyed, frustrated and alert.

They were annoyed, frustrated, alert, wary, troubled.

And pissed.

“What’s happening?” he asked, joining the huddle.

Hawk, as usual, didn’t sugarcoat it.

“We got bad news and no good news.”

Boone nodded and did it bracing.

“They got an ID on the dead guy. Sex offender. A collar of Mueller and Bogart when they were partnering for the DPD,” Hawk said. “Paroled two months ago.”

Boone heard the door open behind him but didn’t turn to look at Axl as he walked in.

Sex offender.

They hadn’t picked someone to go in and scare her or beat her or even kill her.

They’d picked someone to go in and rape her.

Boone had tripped Bogart’s trigger, and maybe Ryn had too.

This was payback.

“Boone.”

Boone didn’t move because now his skin wasn’t itching, it was so tight all over his body, it felt like if he moved, he’d shatter.

“Boone!” Hawk clipped.

He came to and focused on his boss.

“Keep your shit,” Hawk ordered.

“I’m keeping my shit,” Boone lied.

“No, you’re not,” Hawk returned.

No, he wasn’t.

He wanted to kill somebody.

And he had two targets.

Boone stared into the man’s eyes and he did this for several long beats.

When he got his shit together, he jerked up his chin.

Hawk relaxed.

He heard Aug getting Axl up to date, but he kept his eyes on Hawk because he sensed his boss wasn’t done.

So he prompted, “And?”

“And Eddie and Hank went to go talk to Tony Crowley’s widow. She’s a vise.”

Slowly, Boone’s gaze went to Eddie and Hank.

“They got to her,” Eddie said. “She’s got kids. She was twitchy as fuck. Terrified we were there. Terrified we were asking about Tony. Terrified we were asking about Tony maybe investigating someone off the books.”

Hank picked it up. “Hawk called it in on his way from Mamá’s, and we made a call too. Cisco’s sister described her stalker to a sketch artist. Fits to a T a con Bogart nailed, but he alibied out on every incident she reported. So they couldn’t do anything.”

“Or the cops investigating didn’t want anything done,” Boone offered an alternate scenario.

Hank’s lips thinned.

“This doesn’t seem smart to me,” Mag stated. “Something’s wrong with it, because if they keep picking perps that Mueller and Bogart brought down, somewhere along the line, someone is going to connect the dots, say, like we just did.”

“It’d be a good way for the higher-ups to keep them in line,” Hawk noted.

“But they’re fools to allow it,” Boone replied.

“They might have no choice,” Hawk said. “It might not be them making those selections. It might be others making those selections, so in turn, Mueller and Bogart are puppets.”

That was true.

Boone decided to share what he put together on the way there because if he was right, it was crucial steps were taken…now.

“I think Cisco has a rat in his crew,” he stated.

“Worked that out, did you?” Hawk muttered.

And yeah.

Of course Hawk had already come to that conclusion.

“I called Mamá on the way here too,” Hawk shared. “She was pondering this same situation, how Ryn was suddenly a target, and the only person we know who knew Cisco spoke to her, how long he spoke to her, and how that might have gone down was Corinne Morton, and guys from his crew. It could have been Corinne who shared. But from what you reported happened when Mueller and Bogart questioned Ryn, they wouldn’t have jumped to that conclusion.”

Boone nodded.

Hawk continued, “Mamá is going to have a chat with Cisco.”

Mag had told him that when Ryn left Cisco after he’d kidnapped her, Cisco had hugged her.

And the wrong eyes saw it.

Boone was really going to have to have a talk with Ryn about befriending bad guys.

But this wasn’t the end to that, Mamá having a chat with Cisco.

He just couldn’t push it with Hank and Eddie standing there.