Page 21 of Final Inning

Dani had some serious digging to do.

And like it or not, she had one Special Agent Dr. Ian Ward to track down. She far wished it was the mysterious, and rugged, and beyond sexy Special Agent Taggart Walker, but…Ward was supposed to already be floating around the building. Miranda had said he had been assigned to go over Archivals. But Knight wanted him ready for Oklahoma now.

Well, Oklahoma was maybe far enough away.

“You are beyond edgy again,” Shayna said behind her. “What’s going on?”

“Just have to go on a mission of my own. Knight wants Ward prepared to head to Oklahoma in a few days, if needed. I’m supposed to deliver the message. I just have to find that man first.” And Ian was not where she expected him to be. That was the problem.

Dani was going to have to go on a manhunt here, damn it. And that could have so many different meanings…

“Oh, to be in your shoes…” Shayna fanned herself quickly. They were just ignoring Michael-the-idiot behind them. He would get so snide when they talked about anything other than what he deemed appropriate. Asshole.

Especially when they talked about men in any way. Women were just not allowed to have those kinds of thoughts or conversations in Michael’s world. It wasn’t decent, womanly, or as she suspected—allowed in his particular religious sect.

Which was the number one reason she and Shayna had those very types of conversations only when Michael was around. They were professionals, after all. With very serious missions here.

Mostly.

Mostly…they were just getting sick and tired of Michael.

That whole not shoving him into the mass spec was probably going to become more and more difficult to do. “This crush you have on Ward is weird.”

“That man is beautiful, Dani. Absolutely beautiful.”

Well, Shayna wasn’t wrong. At all. The man was very beautiful to look at. It was when he looked back at Dani that she…got a little shaky sometimes.

But that was her little secret.

Dani backed up and turned. She was taking the wheels on her hunt for Ian Ward—she did not feel like navigating the halls on crutches today. She’d slept wrong or something—her back was hurting already. Chronic pain—it could be a total bitch sometimes. Ibuprofen was her best friend. “I think you are insane.”

“Well, maybe. But admit it—Lyndon and I both agree, the men in Cold Case…OMG. I’m surprised the bottom of my shoes don’t melt when Knight, Tag, and Ian are all nearby.”

Well, privately, Dani did agree with that assessment. Cold Case had pulled the best of the best. They were all beautiful. Mostly because of the heart they all had for what they were doing. They reminded her good people did exist in this world.

Dani had finally found a team where she truly fit.

She just ignored the pissed off whine from Michael as he said quite loudly that that kind of conversation was inappropriate for young women to have.

Dani looked at him and smirked. “Oh, fuck off, Mikey. Or better yet, go back to where you came from.”

He practically shrieked at the big bad “F” word and took off.

Mission accomplished.

Shayna snickered.

Well, Dani hadn’t been raised to be a doormat. The guy could go shove his own head up his ass. That would be far more appropriate for Michael.

It took her longer than she wanted to think about to actually find that man. Ian, not Michael. First, Ian was not in the small archival conference room on the fifth floor of the PAVAD building. Someone directed her to the cafeteria. Of course, he was not there. And he wasn’t answering his phone. PAVAD was a huge building now. More than five hundred people worked there, too. It was spreading out onto a small second campus across the road soon. Finding Ian was proving too difficult here.

What was the point of having phones if the man she was looking for wasn’t going to answer?

When she finally did see that man-creature meandering up the fourth-floor hallway like he didn’t have a care in the world—Dani was ready to growl. The ibuprofen hadn’t kicked in yet. She had stronger stuff—but she refused to use it when on the clock. And she was allergic to naproxen, so that was out.

“There you are. Why aren’t you answering your phone?” Even Dani could hear the bitchy tone in her voice, but she had things to do right now—and she was hurting. She had a heating pad in her office. And Michael had been texting her and calling her back to the lab for five minutes. He’d lost his own ass again and apparently couldn’t find it.

Again.