Page 88 of Run

Emotion roiling inside him, Callum stepped aside and threw open the door.

A uniformed officer hurried into the room, his face flushed with excitement. “Forensics discovered a hard drive in one of the Benson Security cars. We believe it came from Elle Roberts’ laptop. Detective Sumner thinks she removed it from her computer when their car was struck and stuffed down the back of the seat. This is great news, isn’t it, Commander? The James Syndicate data isn’t lost.”

“Mr. McKay,” Ms. Patel said smoothly, “would that be the same data that includes every officer on the James Syndicate payroll?”

“Aye, that it would.” Callum folded his arms as he watched Tessa pale. “Ms. Patel, who do you know in the Met that can be trusted? I’ve a sudden need to give a statement to someone other than Tessa here.”

“Funny you should ask.” The lawyer reached for her phone. “As it would happen, my uncle’s on the force. I’m sure he would be happy to help. I believe you know him, Commander. Assistant Commissioner Sturgis? Wasn’t he your commanding officer at some point? Isn’t it a small world?”

Rachel took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and pointed at the lawyer. “I like you,” she said before striding from the room. Obviously, she was finished giving Tessa a piece of her mind.

“Harvard”—Callum stopped the man as he went to follow his fiancée—“find out where David is and what he needs. See if you can help. I’ll deal with this.”

“Got it, boss,” he said, even though he barely worked part time for Benson Security anymore.

As Harvard left, Callum studied Tessa, who appeared to be rallying herself in front of her subordinate—a man who appeared more confused than excited. No doubt Tessa was working out another set of lies for the commissioner.

Callum couldn’t stomach any more from her. “Why did you do it? We’ve had drinks together. You celebrated the birth of my daughter. I took you to Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant after you blackmailed me into it. I thought we were…friendly.”

Tessa’s gaze flicked to the lawyer and then to her officer, who wisely picked up on the atmosphere in the room and made a hasty retreat. Once he’d left, Tessa said, “If you think I’ll say anything that might incriminate me further, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. I will say this though, it isn’t easy for a woman to reach my rank. It requires a certain degree of finessing to make it happen.”

“Aye, well, I hope it was worth it.” Callum glanced at their lawyer. “I don’t think she needs to be here for this.”

“Neither do I,” Ms. Patel said. “If you would excuse us, Commander Sharp, we have a meeting with Assistant Commissioner Sturgis.”

Shoulders back and head held high, Tessa strode to meet the officer waiting in the outer office.

Unable to look either of them in the eye while she did so.

33

David’s phone vibrated in his pocket while he crouched behind Tommy James’ pool house. He pulled it out, read a text from Harvard saying he was on his way, and showed it to Abasi, who nodded.

As soon as he’d returned the phone to his jeans, Abasi signaled that the patrol had passed, and it was time to run for the cover of the hedges. Crouched low, gun in hand, both men made it without incident. From there, it didn’t take long to get to the door leading into the mudroom.

Peeking out from the cover of the hedge, Abasi pointed to the camera above the door. “Think you can shoot that out?” he whispered.

“Yeah, but they’ll hear it.”

The other man reached under the back of his shirt and came out with a silencer. He handed it to David.

“You couldn’t have given this to me back in the car?” He screwed it onto his gun while Abasi shrugged.

David didn’t hesitate—he took aim, shot once, and knocked out the camera. They were running as soon as he’d finished.

With their backs pressed to the walls on either side of the door, they waited to see if anyone would investigate. Nothing. Abasi glanced through the window in the door and jerked his head at David. They were clear.

The door was unlocked, but their entry triggered the sensor. Abasi keyed in the code on the pad beside the entrance to disarm it. David fished out his phone again and handed it to Abasi, who typed in the code for the rest of the team. That done, they hurried through the room and down the short hallway to the kitchen door.

The house was eerily silent, even though they could hear at least one person moving around in the kitchen.

Abasi leaned into him. “If they had her in the office, we’d hear voices. Definitely downstairs.”

A measure of relief surged through David. They were heading in the right direction. They’d get her. Every instinct told him to hurry, that Elle was running out of time, but he forced himself to use caution. He couldn’t help her if he was injured or managed to get himself killed.

With another jerk of his head, Abasi signaled for David to open the door while he covered him. Slowly, carefully, he opened it a crack and saw two young women at the kitchen island. One appeared to be poring over a cookbook, the other polishing dishwasher marks from crystal glasses.

David held up two fingers before indicating it was safe to enter.