Page 18 of Catch Me
“On it.”
Just as Javier would have crossed the street and made his way to the next block, a patrol car zoomed past him and turned down the street, sirens blaring. A second one followed shortly, coming from the direction of the major intersection. They pulled up short at the package store and came out with guns drawn. Javier turned around, eyes wide with panic, and watched as the officers entered the store with raised voices and shouted orders. Then he quickly broke out into a run, booking his way down a small alley between a row of dilapidated houses. I took off after him.
“Here he comes, Rue.”
Tires squealed as Rue brought the sedan to a screeching halt at the end of the alley. Javier stopped short, tripping over himself in his panic and fell to waste covered ground. He scrambled, trying to regain his footing in the sludge.
I didn’t have time to think about what was rotting beneath us as I slammed my knee into his back, driving him further into the dark filth. He grunted, a string of curses echoing off the narrow walls of the alley, and struggled to regain his footing even as I was wrenching one of his arms behind his back. He flopped around like a fish in the muck with me straddling his back like I was caught in some weird fish bucking rodeo. The oily slick that now covered most of his body caused me to slip to the side and ended up half on my side, one leg thrown over his back to maintain my seat. I was sure rodeo clowns had it easier than me at this point. Javier bucked hard and now it was my turn to curse as I felt the sludge splatter across my face.
“Listen here, asshole, stop flopping like a dead fish or I’m going to shove your face so far deep under this mud you’ll grow gills.”
That didn’t seem to calm him down and instead he began flopping harder. But by this point, I’d regained some control and dislodged his other arm from beneath him. Wrenching it back to meet the other end of my cuffs, I snapped them in place and then slammed him hard into the ground, his head making a sick crack against the brick before he went limp beneath me. I took half a second to check and make sure he was still breathing before I got to my feet and looked down at my ruined Converse with a frown and resisted the urge to kick the unconscious man in the ribs. “My shoes are ruined now, asshole.”
Rue called from the car, “I popped the trunk, let’s get the package delivered and out of here Hannah.”
“Yeah, yeah I’m coming. Next time we do this I’m sitting in the car and you’re doing the chasing down shit filled alleyways.”
She snorted, “Please, mon chéri, I saw the way you ran him down. You enjoyed that more than you’re letting on.”
I grinned and looped an arm under Javier, who was coming around and mumbling groggily in Spanish, hauling him to his feet before guiding him to the open trunk just to shove him inside and slam it closed as he began to shout once more. “Maybe, but I’m still going to complain about it. And I’m putting a new pair of shoes on your tab.”
She chuckled and then wrinkled her nose as I slid into the seat next to her. “Mon Diou, put it on Simon’s tab. And not just the shoes. You need a whole new outfit now. You stink.”
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
Hannah
I tapped the tall fresh pour of Guinness that sat in front of me and sighed. After Rue and I had brought our haul into the penthouse garage, a furious Michael had greeted us. But once I’d let him in on some of the information that Abrams had shared with me and popped the trunk to reveal Javier inside, he’d changed his tune and gave me a begrudgingly respectful, “Nice work.”
As much as I’d wanted to head upstairs to shower and burn my clothes and shoes, there was still work to be done. After several hours of interrogation where I got to see firsthand just how creative Michael could get with his techniques, and was splashed with a few more pints of bodily fluid, I finally slipped away with the answers I needed. Answers that, no matter how much I’d scrubbed and cleaned my skin, still left me feeling sick and dirty with the knowledge I now carried.
Moisture beaded on the outside of the glass and I watched it slip down the side of the pint glass as I let thoughts that were as dark as the ale it held carry me away. I didn’t even notice when a dark shadow slipped onto the bar stool next to me until a silky voice rumbled low in my ear.
“Aye, lass, that’s a fine pint you’re letting go to waste.”
I whipped my head around, startled to see Simon’s dark gray orbs twinkling in the low lighting of the local Irish pub of the Buckhead Village district. It had been just a short walk from the penthouse to the bar that was a popular hangout for locals. I’d messaged for Abrams to meet me here to go over what I’d learned, so seeing Simon in his place was a complete surprise. But a pleasant one and it took everything in me not to launch myself at him in relief.
“What are you doing here?” My voice must have held some of the emotion I was trying to contain, because he frowned slightly and leaned forward to cup my jaw.
“What’s happened, Hannah? Are you ok? Are you hurt, lass?”
His concern and the way he scanned me, assessing every inch of me, made me melt, and I gave him a soft smile. “I’m fine, Si. Should probably get an updated tetanus shot but, I promise, I’m not hurt.”
He cocked his head, the frown not leaving his face. “Ok, what’s the problem, then? Why are you meeting Abrams?”
I couldn’t tell if he was jealous or just asking an innocent question. “What are you doing here, Simon? I thought you were away on a mission for Abrams.”
He signaled the bartender and ordered a pint for himself. “Aye, Abrams had some meeting with a Senator and sent me in his stead.”
I arched a brow. “Want to try that again, Mr. Gallagher?” I could smell the bullshit just as clearly as I could still smell the stench from the alleyway on my skin.
He glared at me for a moment, and then his lips twitched into a half-cocked smirk. “Ok fine, Jon doesn’t know I’m here. I had a break in my assignment and Rue told me you were here meeting Abrams.” He leaned forward then, the grin slipping from his face as he leveled me with a look that teased dark thoughts, and my breath caught as I felt a hand slip up my thigh. “And here I find you. Fucking hell Hannah, give me one good reason I shouldn’t haul you off to the bathroom, peel those jeans off your body, and fuck you until you can’t see straight for going off on a half-cocked mission today for some low-level intel.”
I swallowed thickly as a heady wave of lust flooded through my body at his words and the images they created in my mind. My voice dropped to a husky whisper, and I licked my lips, noting how his eyes flicked to watch. “You know damn well that wouldn’t be a punishment.”
His white teeth flashed a predatory smile, and he leaned in closer, the heat of his body and his scent enveloping me. “It would be if I didn’t let you come.”
My eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”
