Mine to Crave (Mine #4)(61)
***
“We need to be out there!” Drake snarled as he paced the small confines of the interrogation room at the NOPD. “This is bullshit.” He stopped to glare at Trace and Noah. “If it were Claire or Skye, you two bastards would be ripping apart the town.” Instead, they were standing in his way.
And they were in the police station of all places.
“You shouldn’t have told Taggert anything.” Drake wanted to punch and destroy. Maxwell could be hurting Jasmine right then. “You shouldn’t—”
“She already knew everything.” Noah’s voice was quiet. His expression appeared worried as he stared at Drake. “Man, you have to get your control back—”
“The way you had yours when Claire was in danger?” He couldn’t look at Noah, not too long, because the guilt knifed through him every time he peered into Noah’s eyes. His sister. “You don’t know how important Jasmine is!”
“Easy,” Trace told him as he put a hand on Drake’s shoulder. The guy almost lost that hand, friend or no. “We get that she matters to you.”
“She—” She does. And when had that happened? When had she gotten beneath his skin?
“Taggert had intel she shouldn’t have possessed,” Trace continued in his annoyingly calm voice. “The detective contained the scene at the airport.”
He wasn’t about to jump on the Taggert bandwagon. “She’s a cop. She’s just going to slow me down—”
The door opened. Taggert stood there. Only Taggert wasn’t alone. FBI Agent Victor Monroe was right behind her. Taggert advanced into the room. Using crutches, Victor followed her. The door shut behind them, sealing their group inside.
“I briefed Detective Taggert on the Maxwell Case situation,” Victor said. The guy looked like shit. His face was bruised and scratched and a cast covered most of his right leg. “She’s working under my authority now.”
“Who the hell are you?” Noah wanted to know.
“FBI Special Agent Victor Monroe.”
Noah didn’t look impressed. He never did.
“Noah York.” Victor nodded toward him. “Trace Weston…Weston, I’ve certainly admired your work.”
Trace lifted his brows.
“Fantastic.” Drake’s fury erupted. “How about you all just stand here and shoot the breeze all day while Jasmine dies.” Drake stormed toward Victor. “Maxwell has her. She betrayed him. Just how long do you think he’ll let her keep living now?”
“Hopefully, long enough…”
When Drake lunged for the FBI Agent, Trace leapt forward. Trace’s arms locked around Drake before he could do more damage to that FBI prick.
Amusement flashed over Victor’s battered face. “Relax, Archer.”
Screw that. “Cops should be out searching for her!” He fired a glare at Taggert. “I should be searching for her!” Instead, he’d been dragged in for questioning. “Make those bozos you took into custody talk.” Back at the cabin, a few had been left—conscious enough—to talk. The police had swarmed on them before they’d all had a chance to clear the scene.
Victor shook his head. “Those men won’t turn on Maxwell Case. They’re too afraid of him and of what he’ll do.”
Drake could make them talk.
“But we don’t need them,” Victor said as he leaned forward on his crutches. “I already know exactly where Jasmine is.”
“And we’re just standing here?” Drake gritted through clenched teeth. “What. The. Hell? Do you want her to die?”
Victor’s face hardened. “I have a man on the inside. He’ll make certain that Jasmine survives.”
As surprise hit him, Drake’s jaw dropped. “An inside man?”
“Um…the FBI has been working to take down Maxwell Case for a very long time.” He glared at Drake. “And you almost screwed up that takedown.”
***
Jasmine’s breath came out in hard, heaving gulps as she stared up at Saxon and Max.
“What are you doing, Saxon?” Maxwell demanded, voice silky with menace.
“You keep hitting her, boss, and you’ll just get your DNA all over Jasmine. If the cops find it, they’ll tie her death to you.”
Max’s eyes narrowed. “There’s not going to be a body to find, so DNA evidence doesn’t matter to me.”
Saxon dropped his hold. “My mistake.”
Maxwell crossed his hands over his chest. “Was it?”
Saxon stared back at him.
“You never like it when the women get hurt, do you, Saxon?” Maxwell pushed. “Noticed that about you. A weakness, for a man who should have none.”
Maxwell’s attention was shifting too much to Saxon. In another moment or two, Jasmine knew that Maxwell would be totally turning on the guard. And if he turned on Saxon…Saxon would die.
“I don’t think she loved you,” Jasmine blurted.
There. Those words had Maxwell’s furious stare swinging back to her.
“Your Anna Jean. The woman who caused this whole hell.” She licked her lips and tasted blood once more. “I don’t think she loved you or Drake…or anyone.”