Cold & Deadly (Cold Justice: Crossfire #1)(79)

Standard procedure.

“Including Milo Andris?”

“Especially Milo. His attachment to the warden could turn ugly. He could feel she owes him now. She might feel she owes him. It’s better if everyone starts from scratch. So,” Savage was clearly striving for casual, “Ava Kanas was in WitSec?”

“I think officially she still is.” Dominic looked up and spotted a pharmacy nearby. Through the window he noted his lunch order hadn’t arrived yet. He headed for the pharmacy, still talking on the phone.

“Don’t worry,” Savage offered, “the information about her full identity has been left out of the official records of the incident. We called her a trainee negotiator and as there is no record of her at CNU, there’s no mention of her name.”

Dominic blew out a breath of relief.

“Did you know?” Savage pressed.

Dominic might have lied to Charlotte and Eban, but he couldn’t lie to Savage.

“No, but looking back I didn’t give her much chance to tell me. I was so focused on the siege that every time she tried to talk to me, I assumed it was about the UNSUB killing agents and told her to wait until the siege was finished. She didn’t even open her mouth in the negotiation room until Gino was seconds away from raping the warden.”

Dominic picked up a packet of condoms and some headache pills. He didn’t know whether to be disgusted by his lack of self-control, or impressed by his planning-for-anything mentality.

“I had no idea about her past, but it explains her relationship with Van Stamos. I do know that without Kanas’s intervention the siege would not have ended so well for the hostages.”

He paid cash and slipped the merchandise into his pocket. Headed back to the restaurant.

“Always expect the unexpected.” Savage laughed.

“Don’t ever forget it. Keep safe on your travels, Quentin.”

The man swore. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to Jakarta?”

“Hell, no.” Dominic had been there plenty of times and never on vacation. “You’ll do great.”

“Watch your back, Dom. Someone has a hard-on to put you in the ground.”

He thought of Caroline Perry. “That someone might be dead.” God, he hoped so.

“And they might not be. The good news is even if they are alive, I doubt they know where you are right now, but that won’t last long once the press hears about Galveston’s missing corpse. Until we confirm the UNSUB was Perry, and was definitely working alone, do not do anything stupid and keep Kanas close.”

Dominic grunted. Keeping Kanas close meant he was definitely going to do something stupid. And that wasn’t even what bothered him about the whole thing. Keeping her close didn’t seem like a problem, and that was in of itself becoming a major issue for him.

“When will you be back at Quantico?” Savage asked.

Dominic crossed his fingers. “Tomorrow. I’ll be in touch if anything new turns up.”

“Do that. Charlotte and Eban are on their way back here right now. There’s some sort of standoff developing in Oregon again.”

Fucking Freemen.

“So, everything is normal?” Dominic joked.

Savage grunted. “Some days it feels like no matter how hard or fast we work, there are still a bunch of whackos ready to come out of the woodwork and cause havoc and pain for others.”

Dominic thought about Peter Galveston’s missing corpse, which hadn’t crawled out of that coffin on its own.

“Which is why we’re here, I suppose.”

Dominic watched a plate of food being delivered to the table where Ava sat talking to Agent Pine.

His mouth watered. He was starving, but even more than his hunger for food was his completely inappropriate hunger for the agent who was smiling across the table at another man.

She was a goddamn rookie. What was he doing? He didn’t know. He really didn’t know. But he wasn’t ready to give her up yet.

He said goodbye to his boss, hung up and pushed back inside the front door.

*

After lunch, Jerry Pine dropped them at the nearest vehicle rental place. Dominic had been insistent about having their own transportation but had forgotten he wasn’t medically cleared to drive. Ava hadn’t argued with the guy. Whatever their personal relationship, he was still a Supervisory Special Agent and way above her on the pay grade. Instead, she took the keys off the desk and got behind the wheel.

“What?” she asked when he finally slung his bag in the trunk and climbed in beside her. They both needed to do laundry but neither wanted to waste a few hours on something so mundane when people’s lives were in danger.

He shot her a resentful look.

“Where to, Boss?” She smiled determinedly. The fact she was still on the job made her feel grateful enough to ignore his bad mood.

His eyes narrowed further, and he lowered his sunglasses. The bruises were fading fast and the superiority complex was back full force. Rather than replying, he programmed an address into the GPS and then sat back, adjusting the seat so he could stretch out his long legs.

She checked her mirrors and pulled away. This was work, and he was the boss. Don’t screw it up, Ava.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Gino?” he asked after a few minutes of peace.

She blew out a long breath. She’d been anticipating the inquisition now they were on their own, but the question still took her by surprise.