Page 7 of Made of Steele
A good thing, maybe. With Christmas just ahead, he could resume his life, and his mother wouldn’t have to be alone for another holiday.
All of that didn’t matter at the moment. Teagan Steele could end things before then. Before he got results. Problem was, despite thinking about the situation non-stop, he didn’t have an answer on what to do about her.
Harris looked him in the eye. “What if I met with Steele? Tell her that she stumbled on something she needs to forget about. Play on her former law enforcement experience. Hope she’ll cooperate and not tell anyone.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said. “One I think you need to carry out as soon as possible. Can’t afford for her to bring me up on charges when my days on this op are already numbered.”
Two hours after leaving WOC headquarters, Teagan opened the front door of the Steele Guardians offices to let Clay Byrd inside. He entered and slowed, his gaze going over the space.
Not surprising. His expression held the same interest that most people had when they saw the converted fire station for the first time. Her family had left the brass fire pole in the back, the concrete floors unfinished, large metal stairs climbing to a second story, and the original truck doors so the space still felt very much like an operational firehouse.
She’d hated to wake Clay at this time of the morning, but she needed an expert’s opinion on what Patrick had discovered. She’d heard Clay tell stories of his former days as an ICE agent, stories that had included stolen antiquities.
She closed and locked the door. “Thanks for coming, and sorry to get you up at this time of the morning.”
“You said it was urgent.” He planted his feet, looking alert even at three a.m.
She stood back so he could access the truck bay where her sisters sat at a large conference table. He strode with purpose across the space, his tactical boots thudding on the concrete. He wore black tactical pants and a polo shirt with the Nighthawk Security logo embroidered on his broad chest.
“You know my sisters,” Teagan said, though she knew he did. Especially since his wife Toni was an FBI agent and worked with Ryleigh at the Portland field office. “Go ahead and have a seat.”
He dropped into a chair across from her sisters, a shock of hair falling over his forehead, and he swiped it back.
Teagan sat next to him and explained what had happened at the WOC warehouse. “I don’t know if I have a leg to stand on here, but I can’t let it go. So I thought I’d get an unofficial opinion from you.”
Clay frowned. “I agree that the men were acting suspiciously, and you being restrained further cements that in my mind. But you didn’t actually see any items and your guard only saw them from a distance. So honestly, the only thing I think you can do is report the physical attack.”
“That’s what we were thinking too,” Mackenzie said.
Teagan resisted firing an angry look at her sister. She had a right to her opinion, even if it wasn’t what Teagan wanted to hear. But for now, she’d keep her attention on Clay. “You’re sure ICE wouldn’t at least look into this?”
“I can’t speak for Agent Harris—she’s the Special Agent in Charge of the local office—but unless she’s changed, she’s a facts only kind of person, and you don’t have any real facts.”
Teagan didn’t like that answer either. “What if I went to see her anyway?”
Clay rested his hands on the table, staring at them for a long moment as if he was trying to find the right words. He looked up. “Honestly, I don’t know if she would even take the meeting. Unless you had someone who could bypass intake, you’d have to talk to an agent first. They won’t likely recommend she see you. At least, I wouldn’t have if I were the one you came to. Not with her personality.”
The wrong answers just kept coming, but she could still feel Dylan’s arms restraining her, and she would keep pushing. “Could you bypass the intake? Call her for me?”
Clay took a long breath and reclined his chair back to put his hands behind his head. “Honestly, I’d rather not, but if I were in your shoes, I would want someone to help me. So yeah, I can call her in the morning.”
She gave him her most thankful smile. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Whatever you do, don’t take any action until after I talk to Harris.” Clay looked her straight in the face. “The last thing I want to have to tell Harris is that you let your emotions get to you and you did something stupid.”
“I wouldn’t.”
Her sisters snorted, and she fired them a sharp look.
Clay snapped his chair forward. “Every law enforcement officer or former LEO would want to pay back a person who forcibly restrained them. It’s in the law enforcement DNA. We may leave the field but we never leave that behind. Never.”
“He’s right,” Ryleigh said.
Of course he was. She didn’t like it, or like Ryleigh pointing it out, but Teagan knew she had to follow his suggestions.
He stood. “I’ll give Harris a call first thing and get back to you after I talk to her.”
She got up too. “Thanks, Clay, I owe you.”
