Page 171 of Lau Ahi
Christopher blinked his eyes and they looked unfocused. I wondered if he’d taken something to calm his nerves in case they requested he do something as archaic as take a polygraph test.
Christopher looked at me, and his body almost vibrated before he coughed. “Is it supposed to hurt?”
It was the last thing he said before his body jerked violently and tumbled out of his chair.
I jumped up but Ori was already across the table and Alec was on the phone calling for a medic. I knew I could help and went around the table to see pink-tinged foam coming out of his mouth.
“Get back!” Ori’s eyes were panicked as I came into his line of sight.
“I can hel—”
Ori jumped up from the floor and grabbed me before walking me back out the door. I was battling to get back inside because we didn’t have everything that we needed and the suspect was drugged.
“Ori!”
Ori set me on my feet and held my head still, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “He’s gone, Asha. You didn’t smell it but I did. He took cyanide.”
I stopped fighting my body almost going limp. “He what?”
Ori paused before standing straight up and reinforcing what he’d said with a nod. “It wouldn’t have mattered and if you had gotten too close to him and tried to resuscitate him you could’ve been poisoned too.” That explanation forced him to inhale sharply unable to catch his breath.
“What the hell happened?” Anderson had come out of the observation room demanding an explanation just as Alec walked out of the room and shook his head at us. The suspect was dead.
Ori swung so fast I didn’t even notice that he’d made a move to do anything. His fist connected with Agent Anderson’sjaw and the man’s head snapped at an angle that had to be unnatural.
“Ori!” Agent Cochran was walking down the hall in no hurry to stop Ori’s second hit. Anderson seemed to want the violence so he could play victim. Ori didn’t care about the way any of this looked and stood tall as he straightened his jacket.
“You had one fucking job and that was to keep her out of that fucking room. One! And you failed. I don’t give a fuck what sanctions I face or write-up I get, he deserves more than that. You know how these muthafuckers can get fixated on people. That’s a risk we take every time we do something but it’s not what she signed up for. It’s why we made sure her involvement was kept off the record. But your wanting to buck the system has now put her in the middle of this shit. And another thing, if I catch your eyes on any part of her body that ain’t her fucking face you’ll wish that a cracked jaw was the extent of your injuries. I might not say shit but I see it all, don’t get your career cut short over a woman that wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.”
He put a hand on my arm and it was everything I could do not to snatch away from him in front of everyone.
I was furious with him and couldn’t explain the emotions running through me.
Your pussy would like to have a word.
Ignoring my inner thoughts I frowned at him openly displaying my displeasure, since he had truly crossed a line by trying to assert his dominance over me.
Cochran looked to Alec who was waiting in the door to see if he needed to jump in between the men.
“Because he couldn’t keep a consultant in the room she witnessed a man violently end his life. We would’ve been held responsible for anything that happened to her in there. You’re so eager to look good that you don’t care who gets hurt and that’s why this shit ain’t in you.”
“Dr. Avery, are you okay?”
“Yes, Agent Cochran.”
“Are you up to being debriefed? The room is wired but we just want to hear any insights on what you might have seen before he expired.”
“That’s not a problem.” My nod was curt, as I was happy to lend a hand. The massive hand on my arm tightened slightly before it tugged me slightly down the hall away from where everyone was standing.
“What is it?”
“Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Yes. And while we’re at it, why in the world would you think he was attracted to me? That man feels that all of us are inferior to him, which is how I got in the room. He didn’t think I could be of any service and he assumed I would fall on my face. I’m sure he was more shocked that I could contribute than anything else.”
He stalked closer to me, his height towering over me in a way that would intimidate most but only aroused me.
“I understand that you hate all men and see most of us as useless. That’s something that I can agree with.”
