Set Me Free (A Fugitive #2)(24)

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "Something's popped and our boss wanted us to come and collect. Might be able to reopen the case and solve this puppy." Alex grinned, making Margery chuckle.

"I'll just go and get it for you." She stood, smoothing down her skirt and enjoying the way Alex's eyes lingered over her body as she slowly turned.

The caged door clicked shut behind her and I turned to Alex with a droll frown. "You've had a lot of sex in your life, haven't you?"

He gave me a coy smile and a little shrug that made my eyes roll.

I stepped back from the counter, shoving my hands into my pockets, nerves rounding over me again. I hoped she was quick as I paced away from the counter, keeping my head down so the cameras couldn't get a full view of my face.

The door clicked and I spun to see the lady return with a slight frown.

"Sorry about this, but it's not there."

My heart didn't just sink, it plummeted. I tried to even out my expression and look curious rather than heart broken.

"Let me just recheck this case number and see if I can find some history."

Alex's smile was encouraging as she slipped into her seat. Her gaze kept flicking back to his flirty expression, her cheeks growing redder by the second. I found it irritating, yet knew it was the right move. She'd do a better job for us if she liked him.

It took three centuries of keystrokes and tutting from Margery, but finally she nodded. "Here it is." She cleared her throat. "Okay, so those files were damaged in a flood. I wonder why that wasn't flagged properly. I don't usually have to dig for information like this," she mumbled before squinting at the screen again, obviously not wanting to use the glasses sitting next to her keyboard. "The room the cold case files used to be stored in had a leak in the roof and a bunch of evidence boxes were damaged, so they had to be discarded."

"So there's nothing?" I swallowed my clipped tone and forced a grin. "Nothing was salvaged?"

"According to this, it was all lost."

"Well, that is a shame." Alex tapped the counter. "But not the end of the world. We'll still pursue this lead. Something else will pop, don't you worry, Wilcox. There'll still be photos and digital reports, so we're not left empty-handed." He threw a sideways glance at Margery and whispered, "You gotta love the zest of these newbies though, right?"

She chuckled.

Reaching over the counter, he held his hand out to her and winked. "It was very nice to meet you. In no way was this a wasted trip today."

His enigmatic smile lit the room, as did her blush. She gave a soft titter as she shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too, Agent Green."

Alex turned to me and flicked his head towards the exit. I gave Margery a close-mouthed smile as I left the room, knowing I needed to hold myself together until we were off site.

I couldn't stop my shoulders from slumping just a little as we stepped out into the sun.

There was nothing. The files were destroyed just as my gut knew they would be. Elliot's little hack had given me hope. Why hadn't he found the information about the destroyed files? We had risked this all for nothing!

I thought this would be over soon, but now we were back to square one. I didn't know if I had the guts or the energy to take it any further.

"I know it's a set back, but we'll find something else." Alex slid on his shades, still looking cool and charming. I wanted to punch him.

"No, we won't." I stopped at the car door. "Tenner would have covered all his tracks. We both know that flood was no accident."

"There's got to be something though. The guy's not perfect."

"No, but he's powerful and he could flatten us all. We need to step away from this."

"What, so you can spend the rest of your life in hiding?" He snapped, yanking the keys out of his pocket and pointing them at the car.

I ignored his sour tone and shrugged. "If I have to."

"Well, I'm not cool with that." The car beeped, the locks clicking open in unison.

I reached for the door handle. "Well, it's not your decision to make. It's not your life!"

Alex pointed at me across the roof of the car. "If you let the threat of him continue to control you like this, it's not your life either."

I was about to cross my arms and swivel away from him when I noticed the security guard approaching us. The sun was shining off his bald head, but it was the way his bushy eyebrows were bunched together that made my shoulders ping back into place.

"Excuse me, Agent Green." The guard approached on swift feet. "Can I please take one more look at that ID card of yours? There seems to be a glitch in the system."

"A glitch?" Alex tipped his head, reaching into his jacket pocket for the ID.

Nerves skittered sideways through my stomach.

"Yeah." The guard shrugged, taking the card. "Something about your name sounded familiar for some reason and when I punched in your ID number it said that you no longer work for the FBI."

My eyes bulged while a tendon in Alex's neck pinged tight. How could we have missed that? We just chose two names from the website. Damn thing must have not been updated recently. I should have made Elliot hunt through the site meticulously, not just grab two random names! Shorty would be rolling in his grave right now. I was off my game and my causal oversight had put us both in danger.