Page 96 of Love at First Rep

“Bathroom, clear.”

One hiding place at a time, the group cleared the apartment. They searched until Garrett heard the words he dreaded.

Rafe’s dejected voice hit him square in the gut. “Apartment’s clear. He’s gone.”

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Once everyone returned to headquarters, Garrett cozied up next to Rafe on one of the tables in the command center. It didn’t take them long to figure out what happened. Well, it didn’t take Carson long.

“That son of a bitch,” Carson said as he threw Cheryl’s burner phone onto his desk in the command center. “This phone has been recording the whole time and transmitting the audio to a secondary device that listens for keywords. The second McHugh mentioned Timber Creek Detention Center, George likely got the hell out of there way before you guys arrived.”

The team at George and Cheryl’s apartment found the television on and a half-eaten meal on the coffee table. George must have rushed out of there with a go bag before they even arrived on the scene.

“Other than that, I’ve got good news, bad news, worse news and horrible news,” Carson said to the group, and Garrett steeled himself for whatever came next. That was a lot of bad news. “The good news is that I was able to track the packages to the company that shipped them. The bad news is it’s a shell company and the names attached to it are bogus, so we don’t have enough for me to figure out who the supplier is. And the Aunt Vika contact is a burner phone that I traced to somewhere in Europe, but I haven’t been able to pinpoint it. Yet.”

“So we have nothing? After all of this?” Garrett asked.

“Wait, what’s the worse news?” McHugh asked.

“I was able to track George—” The disgust in Carson’s voice over the guy’s name was clear. “—using facial recognition on CCTV. He arrived at Philadelphia International Airport and boarded a last-minute flight to Moscow under an assumed identity. I have a program running to see if I can get anything from the alias.”

Anatoly grimaced and muttered something in Russian.

“Fucking coward! Fly to a country with extradition like a real man!” Carson shouted.

“Dammit,” McHugh said. “And the horrible news?”

“My stupid family is expecting me to bring my amazing boyfriend to my brother’s wedding in a couple months. The only problem is I don’t have a boyfriend. I only told them I did to get them off my back. So now I need to find a boyfriend. Any takers?”

Both Garrett and Rafe quickly raised their index fingers to the tips of their noses, the universal gesture for not it, and laughed at each other.

“Maybe we should focus on the mission before we begin Operation Boyfriend,” McHugh said. “We have to figure out our next step. At least we cleaned up Cherrywood. Cheryl’s phone and information at their apartment gave us a list of all the facilities she infiltrated so we can spend the next few days recovering those drugs. We have to figure out if George chose Russia for a specific reason or if it was just the first nonextradition country that had a flight out when he got to the airport. If he left the country, he probably doesn’t care about Mick or Cheryl, but we’ll keep an eye on them for now in case they try to tie up loose ends. Cheryl is in holding while we get her processed. Did we get anything else we can use?”

“I took one of the bottles of drugs to study and run some tests on,” Miguel said with a shrug. “Maybe there’s a way I can reverse engineer it to see where it’s coming from.”

“There is another lead, but I don’t know if you’re gonna like it,” Rafe said with a wince.

Garrett studied Rafe and the emotions running across his face. The only one that confused him was guilt. What was he guilty about now?

“Out with it,” McHugh said. “There’s what’s left of the Zlodei in Russia. Nikolai Volkov may want me dead, but he took over the operations, so he’ll know where those drugs are coming from.”

“No fucking way you’re going back there while there’s a contract out on your head,” Garrett said, fear filling him. That explained Rafe’s guilt, at least.

“Going back there might be the only way to get rid of that contract,” McHugh said. “Don’t worry, Garrett. All of us have had contracts out against us, and I’m sure we’ll rack up some more as we go. We’ve handled worse. Let’s dig into it and see if there’s a way to do it quietly without risking Rafe’s life.”

That reassured Garrett for now, but he had a feeling Rafe’s past would be the gift that kept on giving.

“In the meantime, I think what we need to do is discuss our new recruit,” McHugh said, turning Garrett’s way. “What are you thinking, Garrett? Do you want to join us on the road, kicking ass and saving lives? Want to stay here and keep protecting Cherrywood?”

Garrett blinked at him, wondering how he wanted to phrase his next words. This guy was technically already his boss as police captain. Did he want to be on his secret team? Did he want to travel the world? Did he want to fight alongside Rafe? He had about a million questions and no answers. They’d have to come later.

“With all due respect, sir, in the last week, my entire life has been turned upside down, beginning with finding out Rafe is still alive after all this time. I have no idea what day it is, nor do I remember the last time I ate. In fact, I’m not sure of the last time I got a full night’s sleep, so I’m gonna have to get back to you on that.”

The entire room sat silently, staring at him expectantly.

“Give me a couple days to wrap my head around this. I’d love to hear all my options, but not right now. Right now, I need food, a shower and Rafe, not necessarily in that order, and I don’t have the brainpower or energy for anything else.”

“I suppose that won’t be a problem,” McHugh said with a sympathetic smile. “Everything else can wait for now.”