Page 91 of Tied Over

When Chris Becker walked into the room, everyone shut up to hear him.

“Kage wants the following people to go home and go to bed,” he said, and listed the names, Bodhi and I being on the list. “The rest of you need to report to the office now, to be relieved by two in the afternoon.”

Everyone moved quickly.

“You have two guys from Judicial Support on the door,” Becker told Ian, “and CPD officers are walking this floor. Go to sleep, because I’m going to need your brain later.”

Ian nodded.

“He”—Becker pointed at Miro—“stays here with you, because while I respect the hell out of Kage, we are going to protect all our families until this is over. The press release goes wide in ten minutes, listing Brodie as armed and dangerous and for the public to not approach him. It’s a manhunt now, so we need to be ready.”

It was a nightmare, was what it was.

“Go home,” Becker ordered me, and I reached for Ian’s hand. He took mine and squeezed. He did the same with Bodhi, and then we were waiting by the elevators with everyone else.

“Kage didn’t even tell his family,” Cho said as we all entered the elevator. “They’re gonna see it on the news and worry about him when he’s worried about them.”

Bodhi scoffed.

“No?” Lopez asked him. “You think different?”

“They’re not going to be worried about him because all they’re going to see on the news is that a former marshal is wanted for questioning in conjunction with the attack on Kohn yesterday,” Bodhi explained. “There won’t be any mention of Doyle or the explosives—nothing. That’ll come out much later, much quieter, downplayed to something barely notable. Right now, what we know is a manhunt, the public at large will be led to think is merely routine.”

“I agree,” Yamane chimed in. “Kage and the Feds and Homeland, they don’t want to cause a panic, so it will be one of those press bulletins where this individual is a person of interest and that’s it.”

“I love how it’s true but not at the same time,” Pazzi said, then grinned at Bodhi. “And by the way, when Redeker was my partner, he never got shot.”

It took a second for what came out of his mouth to sink in, and then a few more for me to realize he was trying to be funny.

“Holy shit,” I murmured. “Have you got a death wish or what?”

I had to give Yamane credit, he moved really fast to intercept Bodhi. With my bum shoulder, there was no way I could have kept him from killing Pazzi.

“What did you just say?” Bodhi roared as Yamane, with the quick help of Cho, shoved him up against the wall of the elevator.

“Wait, I was kidding!” Pazzi shouted.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

Oh, he was mad, like seeing-red-in-a-rage mad, and he was moving around, trying to get free but not wanting to hurt Cho or Yamane. His regard for them was the only reason he didn’t punch Pazzi through the steel wall of the elevator.

“Oh my God, Eric!” Lopez yelled at him. “Are you insane?”

“That was an evacuation protocol, you stupid sonofabitch!” Cho barked at him as she held on to the man I loved. “Do you even think before words come out of your mouth?”

“I was kidding!” Pazzi protested loudly.

“When I tell Doyle, he’s going to murder you,” Lopez stated with absolute certainty.

“No, don’t do that,” he begged her.

When the elevator stopped, Lopez shoved him off, even though we had ten floors to go.

“Come on, man,” he made his plea to Bodhi, “I’m sorry. It was funny and—”

“It wasn’t funny,” Yamane assured his partner, hitting the button to close the door before turning to Bodhi. “I’m sorry. He’s an idiot, but I also know he didn’t mean it in a bad way. Not at all. He was just trying to make us laugh.”

“Between his comment and the broken earpiece,” Bodhi told him, “I will beat the shit out of him, and no one’s going to stop me.”