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“No way. I’m not having some goon chase me away from my work.”
“But—”
She didn’t even let me finish. “We talked about this. No change to my schedule. That’s the rule. You got one thing right, though, you’re taking me back to my house tonight.”
I didn’t argue, because what was the point? Reluctantly, I handed her off to the marshals to see that she got back into the building safely. My phone rang.
“What the hell happened?” came Lucas’s voice.
I explained the sequence of events.
“He hit her? Who is he?”
“No idea who the big guy is. We don’t have video for facial rec. Spinelli was the second man.”
“When you find the big guy, I want to be the one to make him pay.”
Lucas was serious when it came to violence against women. Once overseas, he’d detoured a mission for two hours to visit a drug kingpin running a rape house. Hassan Fazel and four of his lieutenants had ended up buried under a pile of rubble.
“I’ll take care of him myself.”
“Why wasn’t Constance with her?”
“They got separated in the evacuation.”
“Where is Serena now?”
I explained Serena’s insistence on going back to work, and that I’d let the marshals escort her.
Instead of a dressing down for almost losing our client, I got, “Figures. She’s tough. She’s been through a lot more than people realize. Keep her safe.”
It wasn’t the time to tell Lucas I knew what Serena had been through, so I just agreed. “Tough is right,” I told him. Surviving a kidnapping and having another’s death on her hands madetoughtoo gentle a word.
Serena
“It’s ruined,”Katelyn complained again as we reentered the building. “It’s genuine, not a knockoff. I can’t afford to replace it now.”
When we reached our floor, I let her go first and turned in the opposite direction.Unbelievable.I’d almost been snatched off the street, and all she could focus on was her fucking bag. I needed a moment to cool down.
Less than an hour later, Powell called me into his office.
When Katelyn joined us, I shifted to create space between us.
“Ms. Connor, I want you to take Benson here under your wing and show her how we do things, including coming back with data.”
I kept my mouth shut instead of yelling,Fuck you too, Dr. Powell, and by the way, somebody tried to knock me off like they did Leo and Sophia.
“Yes, sir,” she said with zero enthusiasm. “I’d love to. Maybe?—”
Powell didn’t let her finish. “Set up meetings by the day after tomorrow with the two companies she had trouble with last week.”
Her open mouth said that rattled her. “I’d rather start with easier, closer companies if that’s all right with?—”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “I want to get back on track with the two Ms. Benson didn’t collect data from… Centaur…uh…” He looked at me and waved his hand.
“Excalibur Plating and Knife Creek Chemical,” I filled in.
“Yes, those.”
