Page 51 of Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad World

“You bet your life we are.” Johnson swept back his navy suit jacket and planted his hands on his hips. He had a good few inches on them all, but his frame was mainly skin and bone. Didn’t mean there wasn’t muscle in there somewhere. He just hid it well.

“This can’t go on,” Johnson said. “You know that.” He glanced at the warehouse. “Your safe house is falling apart. The smart move is to get Ms. Simmons out of there before things get worse.”

“Worse how?” Rochelle demanded. “So far, they’ve broken in to shoot at her, and now they’ve tried to burn her out. They’re running out of options—and gang members. Plus, you know we can’t move her. As much as I’d like to get her out of here.”

“Maybe you can get one of the guys you picked up last night to turn on their boss,” Noah said, knowing it was a long shot.

McMillan scoffed. “I’d say the chances of that are about the same as you getting your client to leave the warehouse.”

“Surely there’s something you can use for leverage,” Rochelle said. “Some way you can put the pressure on. There must be somebody inside the Demon Brothers who wants out and is happy to snitch on Eddie Hanson to do it.”

“We know how to do our job,” McMillan barked.

Johnson pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you two need a time-out? We’re all on the same side here, remember?”

“Yet someone inside the police department called off our support.” Rochelle was clearly angrier than Noah had realized.

McMillan bristled again, closing the distance between him and Rochelle. “Are you calling us crooked?”

He’d picked the wrong woman to try to intimidate. “No. I’m asking you outright. Are you in Eddie Hanson’s pocket?”

At this point, Noah and Johnson wedged themselves between the pair, breaking them apart. Noah stood in front of Rochelle. Not to protect her, more to stop her from punching the older cop.

“This isn’t achieving anything,” he said to Johnson.

“No kidding.” Johnson had a hand on his partner’s arm. “I get why you might think we’re dirty in this situation, but we aren’t. All I can tell you is that we’ll find out what happened last night, and in the meantime, we’ll double the patrols. This time, we’ll make it clear that the only order they follow to stop driving by here comes from us in person. Does that help?”

“Yeah,” Noah said quickly, before Rochelle could lose her cool again.

“Come on.” Johnson clapped his partner on the shoulder and turned him toward their car. “Let’s go interview some of those Demon Brothers.”

“You think we can be trusted with that?” McMillan called over his shoulder to Rochelle.

Thankfully, she didn’t reply.

They watched as the two men got into their sedan and drove away.

Noah turned to face his boss. “Okay, why were you prodding those guys?”

“I needed to see how they reacted,” she said, looking weary.

“And did it tell you anything?”

“Yeah. I don’t think either of them is in on this.”

“Then perhaps they can help.”

“Maybe.” She didn’t look convinced.

“I’ll get this place secured,” Noah said.

Rochelle nodded. “I need to have a word with the triplets. There’s using your brain and improvising, and then there’s making a laughingstock of Benson Security. I mean, the beanbags I can buy. But a megaphone? Not to mention, we’re facing a bill for the damage Harris caused when he blew up the bikes.”

“It helped, though. All of it did.”

“This time. Who knows what they’ll do next time.”

She had a point.