Witness in the Dark (Love Under Fire #1)(76)

Angel pulled into the parking lot of a sushi place, and shut off the car. “Do you have a weapon?” she asked.

“Glock.” Sam pointed to her back.

Angel nodded her approval. “Good. Let’s go.”

After they ordered, Angel rested her hands on the table in front of her and leaned in closer. “Can I ask what happened that made Garrett demand to be off your case?” she asked. She must have been hoping Sam would say something, and when she didn’t, her curiosity became unbearable.

Sam had asked her father to make it seem like Garrett wanted out of the arrangement instead of her dismissing him. She knew how people talked. And she didn’t want Garrett taking the brunt.

“Nothing in particular. He just got sick of me.”

Angel gave her a considering look. “Hmm. Weird. He didn’t seem sick of you.”

After their meal, they continued driving in silence. To Sam’s surprise, Angel pulled into an airport. Okay. This should be interesting.

“My gun?” Sam asked as she got out of the car.

“Leave it under the seat,” Angel instructed. “We can’t get it through security.”

Sam felt naked without a gun in the back of her jeans, but Angel assured her they would remedy the situation once they landed in D.C.

There was a fancy SUV waiting at the airport when they got to Dulles, and it was fully stocked. Including a new Glock for Sam. She pulled the clip and ran her finger over the first bullet, snapped it back in place, and tucked it into the glove box in front of her. Better.

From the airport, they made their way through horrendous traffic and parked in an underground parking garage. She had missed D.C., but wondered why she’d been brought back here.

Back where people got shot in alleys.

Angel picked up her phone and called someone. “We’re ready to come up.”

“All set,” said a man’s voice on the other end of the phone.

“Grab your things,” Angel told her. “We’re ready to move.”

Sam reached in the backseat to get her bag. She took her gun from the glove box and tucked it in the waistband of her pants. As soon as she opened the passenger door, she did a visual scan for danger.

Garrett had trained her well. She was ready for anything. If a nun with a lightsaber came riding up on a tricycle, she wouldn’t have been surprised.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

The steel doors of the elevator slid open and she automatically drew her weapon, needing it in her hand.

“Relax. I’ve got you.” Angel led her into the elevator and hit the button for the twenty-seventh floor.

Twenty-seven. Easy to remember. If Sam lived until March, she would turn twenty-seven.

But March seemed too far away to make any promises.

The elevator moved with a speed so fast she worried about getting a nose bleed. She winced when it came to an abrupt stop, and reached out for the rail to steady herself.

The doors opened, and the biggest man she’d ever seen took up the entire space. Holy crap. As if his mass wasn’t intimidating enough, he wore a fierce scowl on his young face. His dark eyes darted over them and then down the hall in both directions.

Shit!

Sam raised her gun in a second.

But he was faster.





Chapter Sixty-One


“Stop it! Both of you.”

Sam and the huge man froze at the same time.

Angel rolled her eyes and stepped off the elevator. “Sam, this is Deputy Marshal Marks, the other man assigned to your detail. Justin, this is Sam.”

“Gun?” he said, glancing at the Glock Sam was still holding on him.

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” She lowered it sheepishly and tucked it away.

Justin gave her a hard look as they walked down the hall. “I heard about what happened to Dane.”

“How’s he doing?”

“Don’t know,” Angel said. “Let’s get you inside.”

Justin put his hand on the panel by the door and it unlocked. He urged her in, and he and Angel followed behind her. She watched in amazement as Justin not only locked the door, but moved some kind of reinforcement panel over it.

“Bombproof,” Angel said at Sam’s raised brow.

Okay, then. Sam looked around the fancy apartment.

“So are the windows,” Angel went on. “This place is called the Bird Cage, because it’s up in the air and completely self-sustained. The president has even used this suite.”

“Lucky me,” Sam said as she took in the white leather sectional in a sunken living room with white carpet and white walls. Good grief.

She missed Garrett’s cabin in the mountains.

“Garrett said you like to read. There’s a library down the hall.” Angel pointed. “Kitchen.” She gestured to a room off the living room, all chrome and black. “Your bedroom is down that way. Second on the left. Go ahead and get comfortable while I let everyone know we made it in one piece.” Angel seemed satisfied by that fact.

So was Sam.

She checked out the library, which had more books in it than she would be able to read in a lifetime. She went to her room, which had a wall of glass that made her feel very exposed. The blinds worked via a remote on the nightstand. There was also a remote for a giant TV hanging on the wall.