Touching Silver (9 page)

She led the way back to his desk, but instead of sitting, Isaac stopped at the corner. Reaching past her, he picked up a large yellow envelope, turning it over in his hands. Nothing was written on it except for his name in clear, block print across the front.

“Hey.” He looked at the young detective at the next desk and held up the envelope. “Did someone just drop this off?”

“They sent it up from downstairs. Some woman dropped it off at the front desk and said it was for your current investigation.” He grinned. “Don’t worry, they scanned it. Nobody wants to blow you up today.”

Isaac waved him off with a wry shake of his head and slid his finger beneath the seal. “Kahl probably got something new. Or if you’re right, she’s passing me love notes across the precinct.”

She chuckled. “Dear Detective McGuire, you’re so handsome by firelight…” She stopped as the smile faded from his face. His forehead knitted in a frown, and his eyes turned hard. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer, his gaze fixed on the contents of the envelope. She craned her neck to see what it was.

Not it. They. Photographs, a stack almost an inch thick. The first seemed innocent enough but as he flipped through them, their subject became increasingly clear.

Isaac was in every single one. At the arson the night before. Walking out of Scramblers. Getting out of his car in the police station parking lot. Standing on the balcony outside of what Olivia recognized as Nathan’s apartment. There was even one inside Isaac’s apartment, capturing him asleep on his couch.

Olivia stared for several seconds, her skin running hot and cold. She didn’t know how many cases of stalking Isaac dealt with in his division, but Cold Cases had a sickening number of murders that began with just this sort of thing.

She took the envelope by the corner with the tips of her fingers and plucked it out of his hands. “It’s probably been handled quite a bit at this point, but we might be able to pick up some prints or fibers on this.” She pulled on a pair of rubber gloves from her purse and reached for the photographs.

“You’ll be wasting the department’s time.” With a growl, Isaac tossed the pictures onto his desk. “Gabriel’s just trying to rattle my cage.”

“Isaac, look at these.” She picked up the one of him asleep and waved it in his face. “Whoever sent this has been in your home. More than once. Does this sort of behavior fit with Gabriel’s MO or his profile?”

“It fits with what he did to my damn fish.”

Olivia shook her head. “There’s probably more evidence that
I
harmed your damn fish.” Whatever block he had in his head about Gabriel needed to get hauled out of there, because every instinct told her he was wrong. “Besides timing and coincidence, what proof do you have Gabriel is interested in playing this sort of game with you?”

“I don’t need proof. I’ve got years of dogging his ass. There’s nobody else who’d go to such lengths to try and get to me.” He tossed her a smirk as he went behind his desk to gather up the mug shots, but it was a shallow attempt that didn’t fool either of them. “I’ve locked everybody else up.”

“Well, if it’s all the same to you, I’m getting these analyzed. If the report comes back and I’m wrong, then I’ll owe you a Coke.” She carefully replaced the photos in the envelope. “I’ll run this to the lab. Then I’m taking you back to your place, and you can pack a bag.”

He frowned. “I’m not staying at a hotel.”

“No, you’re staying where Tiberius and I can keep an eye on you.”

Some of his tension eased, though his eyes narrowed in amused contemplation. “That better not be the doghouse.”

“You’ll have to sleep in Tibby’s bedroom, but he probably won’t mind too much.” She leaned over his desk. “Isaac, I think you’re wrong not to take this seriously. You don’t know how many times I’ve seen this.”

“And you don’t know how many times I’ve pissed Gabriel off.” He cut off her continued argument by holding his hand up. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll put the order to get the locks changed on my apartment again.”

That didn’t make her feel better. Again? How many times had he needed to get his personal security redone? And why did he seem so cavalier about his own safety when he was so damn militant about everybody else’s? Whatever it was, she had no intention of letting this go. She would investigate it herself if he was going to be an idiot.

“It’s a start, but if he got in once, he can do it again.” Olivia frowned. “Has there been anything other than the photos and the fish?”

Scooping up the mug shots, Isaac grabbed his coat and brushed past her for the stairs. “Nothing worth talking about. Come on. Let’s go see if Stacy can end this all today.”

Isaac had arrested other of Gabriel’s men before, but it had been a long time since he’d been so excited about getting a collar. Stacy had picked out shots of Nando Tamez and Tomas Butron without hesitation, even when he’d tried to trick her by putting in pictures of other of Gabriel’s men that looked very similar. He didn’t even need her to give any more information on where she’d been held. The last known address for the two men fit the profile.

His anger about the photographs added to the adrenalin rush. Isaac could tolerate a few pranks, even as much as he’d loved Sonny and Cher. But going after Nathan and Remy was a step too far, and the pictures—while mildly on the creepy side—had Olivia thoroughly freaked out. The end result might work in his favor, but right now it rattled her to the point of sidetracking her from their case. She’d insisted on dropping the pictures and envelope with forensics before following him back to his apartment and hovering in his doorway, her gaze jumping from him to the hall and then back to the living room again as if she expected the boogeyman to jump out at any moment.

Isaac didn’t like it. Gabriel was going to pay.

His phone rang as he zipped his garment bag with his spare suit and shirts. Olivia was in his bedroom doorway in a shot, her eyes wide and luminous as she listened to his half of the conversation.

“Our warrant’s waiting for us,” he said when he disconnected. “Are you okay if we go do the arrest first, then get dinner?” He grinned, trying to dispel some of her tense mood. “That betters my odds at us not getting interrupted before dessert.”

“That’s a good plan. I’m surprised you haven’t been promoted to captain yet.” She gripped his shirt and straightened to press a short kiss against his lips. “For luck.”

When she tried to escape, his arm shot out, curling around her waist to yank her back against his body. “I haven’t been promoted to captain yet because I don’t play well with others.” Memories of what she’d smelled like, how she’d tasted when he’d had her cornered in the conference room, made his cock start to harden, and he bent his head again to breathe in her scent. “Last chance to get dinner delivered instead. More privacy, more freedom to celebrate getting this much closer to Gabriel…”

“You get us closer to collaring Gabriel, and we can have dinner wherever you want.”

Isaac pulled back to see her intent eyes fixed on him. It had been a long time since anybody had looked at him like he had the power to make almost anything possible. Olivia had doubted his efficacy in the beginning, but he could see now the doubt had fled. For whatever reason, she trusted in his ability to do what he promised.

It was the headiest feeling he had ever experienced.

“I should stop groping you like we’re in the back of my dad’s station wagon.” Letting her go, he picked up the garment bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Warrant, arrests, dinner,
then
groping.”

Gabriel’s cell phone and pager erupted at the same time, rudely pulling him from his daydreams of the Silver Maiden. What would she look like? What would she sound like? Would she thank him for finding her? What power did she hold? He might not have answered at all, but the phone kept ringing. When he saw the incoming number, however, he couldn’t answer fast enough. The safe house on Wilshire where the girls had been kept.

“They were here. They took Tomas,” Nando blurted as soon as Gabriel pressed the talk button.

His hand curled around the phone. “What was that?”

“They took Tomas.”

“Who?”

“The cops! Who the fuck do you think? They came here with a warrant and they tried to get both of us, but I ran.”

The words were like dozens of ice picks drilling into his brain. “How long ago was this?”

“It just happened. They also had a warrant to search the house.”

“You cleaned it out, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah. Yesterday. It was all set to go on the market. There’s nothing to find, I don’t care if they send a hundred cops in to comb the place.”

“Get out of town. Go to Vegas for now and lay low.” Gabriel dropped his voice. “If they find you, there won’t be enough police in this state to keep you out of my reach. Do you understand me?”

“Loud and clear.”

“Good. Oh, and Nando?”

“What?”

“Don’t be a fool. They have a warrant for your arrest. That means no speeding, no girls, no drugs. Drive like your little old grandma until you get there, and then
lay low
.”

“Whatever you say.”

Gabriel disconnected the call and closed his eyes. Only two people outside the organization could finger Nando and Tomas. Only two people in this world would dare it. One was the girl, Stacy. The one who’d gotten away. The police had her. That was good to know. He would be able to find her now.

The other was Rico.

There hadn’t been any hard feelings when Rico decided to leave the gang. Gabriel understood a man had to do what he felt was right, and Rico felt it was right to preach Jesus to the children, to lie to them and tell them salvation was not only coming, it was coming for them. Gabriel had tolerated his church. He had even tolerated Rico playing the snitch to keep the cops off his back. But this was not acceptable. There was honor among thieves. A code Rico had agreed to live by.

A code Rico had now violated.

Tomas would be a great loss to the organization. He was a smart kid, and he had been moving up in the ranks. Gabriel had even briefly considered naming him as a replacement.
Que sera sera
.

“Hope that little shit is right with Jesus,” Gabriel murmured.

Once upon a time, Gabriel would have taken care of the unpleasant business himself. A visit to the precinct, followed by a visit to Rico. He still could. He was fast enough. He was still a young man. But the thought of leaving the coin pained him. The act of walking out of the room caused him literal, physical pain, like his heart had been ripped out and nailed to a wall.

But his inability to leave was okay. They were living in a global age. He had a hundred people at his fingertips, all of them waiting for his call.

Still, Gabriel hesitated to make it. He wasn’t the sort to hide in a dark office and pull all the strings, like some deranged puppeteer. He liked the smell of gunpowder, the satisfaction of knowing a job was done, the vibrancy of a kill.

He hadn’t seen the sun in a week. Or the moon.

Who is she? She’s waiting for you. Waiting for you to find her and save her. She wants you.

But thinking about the Maiden didn’t bring him any solace. He still did not possess the second half of the coin. Kirsten’s half. That cunt had died without telling him where she hid it. Gabriel couldn’t help but smile. She thought she was so clever. She never saw the writing on the wall, even in that split second between the time he pointed the gun at her and when he pulled the trigger.

But the key they’d retrieved from Kirsten’s corpse had led them nowhere. They couldn’t search every storage facility in the city, so he’d tried to get the police to do the work for him. Yet, the fires had been unsuccessful. The coin was still lost. The last girl was gone. Pierce and that little firecracker were doing God knows what in Argentina. McGuire was making arrests. Rico had turned on him.

“Things fall apart. The center cannot hold,” Gabriel murmured, running his thumb over the phone. He picked a number, dialed, listened to it ring. “And what beast slouches toward Bethlehem?”

“What’s that?” Wolf’s rough voice. Wolf wouldn’t recognize Yeats if it bit him in the ass.

“Nothing. I have a job for you tonight. Two, actually. Discreet.”

“I can do discreet. What’s the location?”

“Two. LAPD and a church.”

Anybody else would have hung up the phone. Wolf merely asked, with a grin in his voice, “When?”

Olivia knew Isaac was annoyed that Nando had outrun him, but she didn’t hold Nando’s escape against her partner. They got Tomas. On his own, he didn’t mean much. But she was confident Tomas would do anything he could to plead down, to make a deal. And Tomas wasn’t stupid. He would know he was just a means to an end. But Nando would have given them more leverage, and she knew that’s what Isaac was thinking about.

They planned to make Tomas sweat overnight, give him a taste of what he could look forward to if he didn’t flip and give them what they needed to arrest Gabriel. The next morning, while Isaac conducted the interrogation, she would move Stacy to a safe place. Now that they’d made their first move, Olivia wanted to put the girl far out of Gabriel’s reach. She was their only witness and Gabriel knew it.

As Isaac parked behind the cruiser transporting Tomas, Olivia snuck another look at him. It was unprofessional, but she had never been more attracted to him. He’d been magnificent tonight. He’d led the way with the warrants, and then when Nando rabbited, gave chase without hesitation. Not even his suit could hide his athletic prowess, those long legs eating up the distance between him and his prey. If it wasn’t for the darkness and Nando’s ratlike ability to scurry into the smallest of holes, she was sure Isaac would have caught him.

Even if she knew it violated her own rules, she was ready to have a private dinner—and a private dessert—with him to celebrate. Nipping it in the bud might’ve been the smart move, but this time, she was listening to her gut, not her head.

She slipped out of the car, ready to tell him they’d get Nando.

A single gunshot splintered the air.

Everything happened at once. Isaac whipped his head around in the direction of the sound. Someone shouted, “Take cover!” Cops scattered.

And Tomas Butron fell face-forward to the concrete, pieces of skull, brain matter, and blood splattering across the parking lot.

One of the two uniforms escorting Tomas inside fell down from the sudden weight, while the other dove to the side, seeking out the protection of a nearby Mazda. Olivia started to race forward to check Tomas out when a powerful grip jerked her back. She turned to see Isaac’s flashing eyes in the second before he dragged her to the safety of his car.

“Stay down.” He crouched at her side, jerking his head toward the building across the street. “The shot came from up there. Keep your head down, keep your eyes open. I need you to keep things under control here and make sure whoever it is doesn’t take anybody else out.”

There were several more shots, but they all came from the police. Before she said anything, Isaac disappeared. Despite the shouting and the return fire, there wasn’t another shot from the building. She peered over the car, but she couldn’t see anybody. Of course not, she thought, looking over to Tomas’ prone body, the bastard got who he was looking for.

It was an execution.

“Oh shit!” Olivia ducked behind the car once again. She reached for her cell phone with slick fingers. There might still be time. Rico’s church was several miles away, and the sniper, whoever he was, might have been a crack shot, but he couldn’t fly.

The phone rang several times before his voicemail picked up. Olivia’s heart lodged in her throat. What if the sniper had gone to the church first? What if it was already too late? “Rico, it’s Olivia. You’re in danger. You need to get some place safe right now. Somewhere Gabriel doesn’t know about. Call me when you get this message.”

Shouts were followed by running footsteps, and she looked up in time to see the flux of cops pouring from the station. Cries of
who’s hurt
and
where’d he go
dissipated with Isaac’s return, but his dark eyes were intent on Olivia even as he barked orders at the others.

“Suspect took off in a black RX-7. Headed west. Only one man, but he’s armed with at least a rifle. We found the casing from the shot he took at Butron.” Without warning, he tossed his keys at Olivia, and though she caught them on reflex, she didn’t move as he walked around to the passenger side of his car. “You’re driving. Get in.”

“I know where he’s going,” she announced. “Children of the Lamb. Radio for back-up. We’re going to beat him there.”

Isaac’s face was grim as she got into the car. “I’m betting you know short cuts.”

“Several.” Olivia threw the car into reverse.

But her knowledge of the city wasn’t her strongest asset. Her strongest asset was her love for speed. Everybody in her family thought she’d become a cop to avoid getting speeding tickets. She flipped the switch to turn on the strobing lights, but the sirens remained silent.

Isaac didn’t say a word until she nearly clipped a minivan that didn’t get over as fast as it should have. “A woman after my own heart.” He flashed her a tight grin.

Olivia gunned it through an intersection, narrowly missing the red light. She cut through alleys and parking lots, avoiding the late evening traffic as much as she could. If this had all happened just an hour later, the streets would have been nearly empty, but people were still getting off work, coming back from errands, driving to restaurants and movies.

They were outside the white church in just under ten minutes. Bright Christmas lights covered the block, and festive music spilled from the house next door. Everything seemed normal.

A car pulled into the street, two blocks ahead of them. At her side, Isaac growled.

“That’s him.” His gun was in his hand as he pushed open the door, his jaw so tight she saw the muscles twitching, even in the dusky light. “Get Rico and get out of here. We need him too badly to lose him now.”

Olivia exited the car, her gun pulled, before Isaac finished speaking. Rico had become her top priority as soon as Tomas lost half his head, but she very much hoped the minister wasn’t in his church. She hoped he’d gotten her message and was already out of town. She’d like nothing more than to find an empty building.

But the building was far from empty. Rico had an open door policy. Sometimes teenagers and even adults with nowhere to sleep would find a bed there. She looked over her shoulder, but Isaac was already out of speaking distance.

A freckled girl who couldn’t have been more than fifteen saw Olivia’s gun and screeched. “Pastor Rico! Pastor Rico!”