Cold & Deadly (Cold Justice: Crossfire #1)(56)
“Think they’d want to talk to a woman?” Charlotte asked.
Dominic pressed his lips together, considering. “I think at this stage Eban should try to keep the continuity Joe had going. Keep reassuring them we want to help them, want a peaceful resolution and don’t want anyone to get hurt. They keep asking for a chopper. See if you can get Milo to agree not to hurt anyone and then we can start to talk about a chopper.”
“Might be the best way of getting them out of there,” Charlotte agreed.
“But not until we have Milo saying he won’t hurt the hostages,” Dominic emphasized.
“Got it, Dom,” Eban assured him. “You two go get some rest.”
Dominic let out a long breath. He was so keyed up but knew that he needed rest to stay sharp. “I’ll see you at eight.”
He stopped briefly to talk to the tactical commander in the hallway. HRT had a team in place should they need to move fast, another team resting and a third team practicing an assault.
The hostage-takers had stored water in containers and had enough food to last for weeks in those big refrigerators. Dominic had a horrible feeling that these prisoners had so little to lose—especially Milo—that the tactical response might be the only way to end this thing.
He hoped not. The chances of hostages dying in those circumstances increased greatly.
Finally, he headed outside the prison building to the trailer. Tension buzzed through the air from the huge numbers of heavily armed personnel milling around, having low, murmured conversations.
He ignored the curious looks and walked around the corner to where the trailer was situated. He opened the door, relieved it appeared clean, had a working air conditioner, and small kitchenette. Compared to some places he’d stayed in over the years this was a palace.
“Rooney identified a body pulled out of the Rappahannock this morning as that of the waitress from the Mule & Pitcher.” Ava pulled the door shut behind her and dumped her bags on the bench seat.
He stopped and turned, immediately too close to the woman in this enclosed space. He hadn’t thought about the fact they’d be stuck in here together. Alone. Hadn’t had to time to think about anything except getting those hostages to safety.
He was sweaty and dirty, and his body ached from the car accident, but mostly he was starving and determined not to be attracted to Kanas. He grabbed the cartons of Chinese food out of the fridge and threw them all in the microwave. “What else?”
He found two beers in the fridge and popped the lids off both and handed her one. For once she didn’t argue with him about drinking it.
“Caroline Perry’s shoe size is comparable to those we found outside Van’s window. A man’s seven or woman’s size nine.”
“They run Perry’s DNA next to any found at any of the other scenes?”
“It’s being done but the lab is backed up.”
He scratched his forehead and caught sight of his black eyes in the microwave door. “The lab is always backed up. How’d the waitress die?”
“ME hasn’t said yet.”
“Any sign of a gun at her place?”
Ava shook her head. “Mallory was going to visit Karl Feldman with the sketch artist this afternoon. I assume we’ll get a sketch in the morning.” She sounded dubious.
“Except…” he encouraged.
“Except if he was in cahoots with the waitress, he’s hardly likely to admit it so we’ll have no idea if the image is real or an attempt to throw us off the scent.”
“I assume someone is retracing Caroline Perry’s steps to see where she was during Van’s funeral, and at other key times when agents died?”
Ava nodded. “Rooney said they were also tracing her background to see if there were any connections to any of the NYFO cases you guys worked.”
“All the other agents who worked in the squad have protection?”
Ava undid the band that kept her hair tied up and ran her fingers through the long tresses as they fell around her shoulders. He tried not to watch.
“Bunting and his wife went to a safe house. Gil Reiz in San Antonio has an agent assigned with him at all times to act as backup. Fernando Chavez has a team assigned to him and his family.”
Dominic wondered if Reiz’s bodyguard was half as attractive as Ava Kanas. He tried to push the thought away. The fact that he was even thinking it made him feel like a lecherous, old goat. And even though the age difference was less than a decade, his superior rank made the situation ethically wrong. He didn’t want to take advantage of anyone and could only imagine how bad a relationship between the two of them would look on paper.
Relationship?
Shit!
Desire was not a basis for anything except sex. He did not do relationships in general, and he definitely didn’t do them with fellow agents. He had to stop thinking of Ava as anything except a colleague.
He grabbed disposable chopsticks and divided the food equally onto plates. Then he started shoveling food into his mouth like a starving man.
Ava ate more delicately. He just needed enough fuel to get him into the shower and then collapse into bed for a few hours’ sleep and hope no one interrupted him in the meantime.
“Alex Parker get anything from the DEA?” he said between bites of Kung Pao chicken.
“He said the DEA isn’t storing the surveillance online. Lincoln Frazer put in a formal request to see the footage. Parker had better luck with the camera on the ATM across the street but he said the footage was grainy as hell.”