“You are full of questions, aren’t you? Thought that would have been beat out of you by now.” The driver laughed at the bald man’s statement. “Oh well, I suppose there’s still time for that to happen.”
“What do you mean by that?” She feared his answer, but knew that if she didn’t keep talking, she was going to find herself on the wrong end of a panic attack, and this wasn’t the time nor the place for it.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“Then why not just tell me now?”
The bald man snorted. “You hear her back here trying to negotiate?”
The driver let out a laugh. “You won’t get anything out of us, might as well sit back there and shut that pretty mouth of yours.”
Norah pressed her lips together and focused on trying to see where they were taking her. The windows were so dark she could hardly see out of them. She took a deep breath and did her best to steady her breathing. In and out, she thought to herself as she breathed carefully, in and out.
* * *
“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND, I have to get out of here!” Harley yelled at the officers as they hauled him into an interrogation room. He had been lucky; seven stitches and a mild concussion were his only souvenirs of the accident. He knew Norah had been okay, but he wasn’t sure how long it had been since the men took her from the accident.
He was angry, and his fucking head hurt. He needed to find her. There was no telling where they had taken her, and now he was going to be stuck in jail while she was going through who the hell knew what.
The door opened behind him, and Harley crossed his arms when he saw who came through. “Zach.”
“Hey Harley.” He set files down on the desk between them and looked at his watch. “We have about three minutes, so let’s get started, shall we? You’ve made quite a mess of things, haven’t you?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? I was framed.”
“No need to plead your innocence to me,” his old friend, now the lieutenant of Seattle PD, said, “I know you aren’t guilty.”
“Then why the hell am I here? They have Norah McNamara. I should be out there looking for her, and you’re telling me that you brought me in knowing I was innocent?” The bands around his anger began to snap.
“Easy, Harley. You aren’t going anywhere.”
“Do you have any fucking idea who we are dealing with? What they are capable of?” Harley asked, ready to fight his way out if necessary.
He’d sparred with Zach in the past and knew he could beat him. It was the other officers surely in the hall he wasn’t so sure about.
“Actually, I do.” Zach leaned back in his chair. “It’s the whole reason we are where we are now and the same reason as to why I said what I did when I came in. You have royally fucked things up, Harley.”
“And how exactly is that?” He began to pace.
“Right around two years ago, we got a tip about what Hewitt and Hewitt was actually about. After doing some digging, we learned there were quite a few cops on his payroll. We knew about the relationship your father and he had.”
“Tom wasn’t dirty then,” Harley shot back, defensive. He wouldn’t have Zach trashing his dad’s reputation before they knew all the facts.
“Actually, he was.” Zach opened the file he had set on the desk. Pictures of Harley’s dad with Tom spilled out on the table. “Your father tried to stop him. He went in acting as if he wanted in on the action, trying to get any kind of confession so we could move in on Tom. The bastard was tipped off and sent someone into that bank, Harley.”
Harley’s jaw set as what Zach was saying sank in. “That son of a bitch killed my dad. He came to the funeral. Hugged my mother afterwards.” He threw a picture of Tom across the room and tried to steady his breathing. Now the bastard had Norah.
“There’s more.”
“Excuse me?”
“When you went after that jackass your mom was dating, the captain and I met and formed a plan. We knew Tom would reach out and offer you a job, or rather we had hoped he would. So instead of suspending you, you were fired, and we had hoped that once you learned about what was going on you would bring him to us, or at least the evidence.”
“You fucking used me?”
“And that is how you royally fucked up. We had no control over your photo being leaked to the press. Truth be told, our department had nothing to do with it. The FBI pushed it out, so were guessing the corruption goes somewhere into there as well. We’re collaborating with an agent about it now.”
“I need to get to Norah,” he said, and turned around.
“That leads me to the worst news.” Zach opened another file on the table and Harley found himself staring at Clayton Matthews. The photo was date stamped a week ago.
“That’s not possible. I watched him die, Zach.”
“He survived. Not sure how, but he did.”
Harley’s eyes widened as panic flooded his senses. Tom was one thing, but if Matthews truly was alive, then chances were that he had Norah now, and that majorly changed things.
“I really have to go.”
Zach nodded and closed his file. “Bring us Clayton and Tom. Tell us what you know and I’ll make sure you get out of here to get Miss McNamara back.”
“You’re a coward,” Harley growled at Zach.
“No, I’m just smart. His people are everywhere, Harley. I can’t take a damn piss without it being reported. Why do you think everything went down the way it did, huh? I’ll tell you why. Tom wanted you. You were fired. Shit, I bet the bastard who smacked your mom around was hired to do so for the simple fact you’d go after him. You are a pawn in a much bigger game, my friend.”
“So tell me again what it is you want me to do? Go in after them and bring the entire organization crumbling to its knees all with what, my optimism?”
“I want you to do what you do best, Harley. Find the evidence and bring it to me.”
“And Norah?”
Zach rubbed his hand over his graying hair. “I honestly am not sure what you’re expecting there. I hope you get to her in time, Harley, I really do, but this is all so much bigger than her.”
“Nothing is more important than her,” Harley growled.
Zach leaned back in his seat. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’re in love with her. That certainly changes things, doesn’t it?”
“Then we understand each other. Now let me the fuck out of here, Zach. And then I will help you.” He refused to budge. Every second was one more that she could be hurting. “Its nonnegotiable, Zach. Get me out, and once I have her I will answer all of your questions.”
“You’re saying I should trust you.”
“I want these bastards dead, Zach. Dead or in prison. You have my word I will help you.”
“All right.” Zach stood. “But you’re on your own. We have to keep quiet about this. We still don’t know who is working with Clayton.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic. Let’s go.” He started towards the door, but Zach put his hand on Harley’s chest to stop him.
“Not that easy. But I do have a plan. The men in the hall are all mine and have taken a coffee break because I’m in here. You can go out through the parking garage. Keys are in my front pocket. But you’re going to have to hit me, make it look good.”