AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So? That doesn’t give you the right to interfere in her life.” He said the words harsher than he’d meant to, but in their line of work it was important to distinguish the personal from the professional, and Vivian Bennett had crossed that line. It wasn’t that the women had anything to hide from authorities, except they both had paranormal gifts that Blake and his friends were adamant that no one ever found out about for their own safety.
When he looked in Vivian’s direction again, he caught her staring at him like she was sizing up her prey and he wished he could take back the harshness of his words. If she picked up on his overprotectiveness toward his friends, Blake had a feeling it would only make her dig deeper into their lives. And that was the last thing he wanted.
A set of headlights rounded the corner, alerting them to the arrival of a dark van with tinted windows. Blake took out his small camera and carefully snapped several photos of the approaching vehicle as it stopped in the alley behind Madigan’s. This was it. Blake was about to get confirmation that Skyla was the one involved with the Deathly Hollow MC. He waited about a minute that felt more like it lasted an hour, and then Ellie came out the back door wearing a Madigan’s tank top, dark skinny jeans that hugged every curve like a second skin, and knee-high black leather boots that were tight enough around her calf to show every muscle. She slipped into the van on the front passenger seat, and a soft laugh traveled through the dark, cool alley just before she shut the door.
Blake’s cell phone rang and he snatched it off the dash. “Ellie just came out to meet the van.”
“Ellie’s not our guy.” Caden said, irritation filling his voice. “Arlo J made us. I think he ditched the cell phone.”
“Dammit,” Blake ground out. He ended the call and tossed his phone back on the dash, considering his options. What were the odds whoever was in that van didn’t know Arlo J or hadn’t been sent here as a decoy. Maybe Ellie knew the guy, or maybe someone had told her to come out and sit in that damn van to throw Blake off. Either way, he needed to get closer and find out for himself.
Adjusting his side piece, Blake moved to open his door but Vivian put a hand on his arm. “Don’t. We’re only here for recon and we need to see what they do.”
Blake was just pissed off enough tonight to rip her a new one. “Let’s get something straight. You don’t get to give me orders. You may not like what I do, and for all I care you can report my ass to your superior if narking on your fellow agents helps you sleep at night. But all you can do right now is sit there and wait until I actually do something your boss would care about.”
Vivian stared at him, confusion and alarm written all over her voice. “What are you talking about?”
Her question caught Blake off guard. “I’m talking about you telling me not to go out there and bust their asses for possible possession with intent to distribute. I’m talking about you going to your boss and telling him that Agent Blake O’Connell was once again incapable of following a direct order.”
Vivian gawked. “My boss? He doesn’t care what you do or if you follow orders.” She pushed a stray hair behind her ear.
It was Blake’s turn to be surprised. Genuinely so. “You do remember that you’re I.A.?” Blake’s question landed heavily between them, but Vivian just smiled and waved him off like a silly child.
“Of course. That’s why I’m here. Your previous case -”
“Right,” Blake interrupted, not wanting to hear all about how he’d been shot after disobeying a direct order. “I went off and got my ass shot. I get it -”
“No.” Vivian put her hand up to silence him. “I don’t think you do. I’m not here because of anything you did. I’m here because of the tip the FBI received on your behalf.”
Blake’s heartbeat nearly doubled at her words. “The tip?” He needed her to elaborate. “I thought you said you were I.A.” Tension coursed through Blake’s veins at the implication of her words. “Why does Internal Affairs care about a random tip? Aren’t they happy I’m alive? Because that’s all that should really matter.”
Vivian chuckled, and the sound grated like nails on a chalkboard. “People always make that mistake. I am I.A. Intuitive Affairs.”
“Excuse me?” Blake asked, sure he hadn’t heard her right. What the hell kind of joke was this?
“I’m from Intuitive Affairs, not Internal Affairs,” Vivian explained. “It’s a lesser-known division that studies people with paranormal abilities. We assess them, and their behavior, for scientific purposes. Our main objective though is to determine their threat level. Most are a danger to themselves and those around them, and can’t be allowed the same freedoms we mere mortals enjoy.”
“A danger?” Blake choked out, his oh shit meter skyrocketing. This was so much worse than he’d originally thought. Vivian wasn’t here for him. She was gunning for the woman that had saved his life.
“Take whoever sent that tip,” Vivian said, completely oblivious to his sheer panic at her words. “Don’t you find it strange that everything about the suspect, including the tip itself has been deleted from our database? I mean I can’t seem to find anything about it except that it was sent and delivered to the FBI. Either the sender has some ability to make their communications disappear from our world or whoever cleaned it up is in the FBI and knew exactly what they were doing. Thankfully, they missed something.”
Blake forced himself to stay quiet and keep breathing. He and Caden had done some fancy footwork to make sure nothing could ever be traced back to Hallie. What the hell had they missed?
“But I’m not just going to find out who tried to sweep this under the rug, I’m going to figure out who sent that message and bring everyone involved to justice. Hopefully, he or she is in some way connected to you. That’s our best way in.”
The way Vivian used the word “our” made Blake recoil with pure anger. How dare she include him in her witch hunt? She didn’t know the first thing about Hallie, or even Orly, for that matter. But he was a professional and he’d keep his composure. For Caden. Hell, for Hallie. The woman had saved not only his life, but the lives of dozens of kids when a hand grenade almost went off in the bomb shelter below a preschool in a nearby church. And then over Christmas…
Blake swallowed, his words lodging in his throat. If Vivian or anyone in the Intuitive Affairs division tried to lay a hand on Hallie, or Orly for that matter, the only ones who were going to see justice would be Vivian Bennett and her stupid division. And Blake would see to that personally. Not to mention Caden… Fuck, he had to tell him about this.
The passenger door of the black van opened and Ellie emerged exactly fourteen minutes after she’d gone in. He snapped several more pictures of her going back inside Madigan’s and once again she didn’t appear to be carrying any money or drugs. And oddly enough, she looked happy.
That didn’t mean something wasn’t up with Skyla Madigan, but Blake’s mind was still reeling from the realization of the woman sitting next to him. To make matters worse, Vivian had just been inside Madigan’s talking to Hallie and Orly. She’d gotten close, too close.
Blake couldn’t let that happen again.
Chapter 5
“I’m being watched, so we have to be careful. If I go down, you better believe I’ll take you down with me. So, don’t get any bright ideas.” AJ’s words echoed in her mind as she reached the back door of Madigan’s.
