Scarlett and Xander paused after they parked in the Capitol Building parking lot in a different car they’d boosted. Scarlett looked to Xander with an arched brow. “Any idea how we’re going to break into the Capitol Building without getting our asses shot?”
“Not a clue. Still working on that minor detail.”
“Work faster.”
Instead, Xander wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and hauled her in for a kiss. Their tongues danced and twined against one another and even though there wasn’t time for messing around, he wanted to drag her into the back seat and screw her senseless.
He pulled away slowly, both breathing hard. “It must be that whole impending-death thing that gets the blood moving,” he said with a crooked smile. “Or you’re incredibly hot and I’m ridiculously horny.”
She laughed and kissed him again. “You’re impossible.”
Just then her burner phone rang and it was Zak.
“Hey, still alive?” he said, joking.
“Barely,” Scarlett replied, quickly recounting what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. At the news of Conrad’s death, Zak quieted and it revived all the feelings she was trying to stuff down. She swallowed and shared a quick look with Xander. “Where are you?” she asked.
“At the Capitol. Where are you?”
“Same.” She twisted around in her seat, looking for Zak and CJ. Of course, the odds of finding them were slim. “What are you doing here?”
“Following up like you asked me to. But I’ve done you a solid that you’re totally going to owe me for. I got you some credentials. Fake name for Xander, of course, because he’s still on the run but your name hasn’t been flagged yet so we’re good to go.”
“I could kiss you,” she said, smiling. “Good job. Meet us at the service entrance. No sense in drawing unnecessary attention,” and then she hung up. To Xander, she said, “Zak has solved our problem on how to get in. He has credentials for us. We’re going to meet him at the service entrance.”
“By the time this is over, I’m going to owe Zak and CJ my firstborn.”
Scarlett chuckled. “Let’s go.”
They met Zak and CJ, and she was momentarily struck by how emotional the guys’ meeting was. They’d all been close but it took a screwed-up frame job to realize that they were truly bonded at the hip.
Zak handed out their credentials, but then CJ pointed out that she had some blood spatter on her shirt.
“Crap,” she said, knowing she couldn’t walk into a Senate hearing with blood as an accessory. Or could she? If they were going to crash the party, maybe the blood was appropriate. “Screw it,” she muttered, pushing forward. “Let’s do this.”
They made their way past security and headed toward the hearing. They received some curious stares but otherwise they were left alone—so much for the security of our nation—and after flashing their credentials, made it onto the floor.
“Ready for nothing?” Scarlett asked, a bit apprehensive that everything was going to blow up in their faces.
“It’s now or never.”
“Here we go.” She looked to CJ and nodded. Do your thing, tech wiz. Suddenly, the large screen used for projections began flashing, catching everyone’s attention. Members of Congress began to shift, confused by the interruption and Xander took the opportunity to jump to center stage.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if I can have your attention...we are going to take a small break from your regularly scheduled programming of passing laws and shit to bring you a conspiracy worth paying attention to. If you please, direct your attention to the screen.”
CJ had put together a tidy little show, starting with big pictures of Senator Carl Sheffton and the Secretary of Defense, Mark Bettis, in a tight embrace. Granted the pictures were a little grainy, but it was clearly the senator and the secretary. The ripple of gasps through the crowd echoed through the room. “I know, right? Naughty, naughty,” Xander commented. “But that’s only a tiny part of this story and you might ask why I’m coming to you instead of the authorities and that’s an interesting story, too. I’m here because here is the safest place for me right now.”
Sheffton, florid in the face, tried to edge his way out of the room but Zak barred his exit and forcefully redirected the man to his seat, saying, “You don’t want to leave yet, Senator. Things are just getting juicy.”
“Get this man out of here!” the secretary roared but everyone seemed frozen in place. Everyone loved a good conspiracy and it was probably the most excitement they’d had in years.
“Hold on, Mr. Secretary, this is important stuff,” Xander called out, holding sway with the crowd like a charismatic master of ceremonies. More pictures of Bettis and Sheffton clearly being more than colleagues flashed on the screen and both the secretary and Sheffton looked ready to vomit. But then the transcripts popped on the screen, showing the conversations between Platt and Sheffton and the crowd gasped again; nervous shuffling followed as people whispered.
Scarlett joined Xander. “Senator Sheffton was blackmailing Senior Director Paul Platt into framing Xander Scott, a decorated military war hero for the Tulsa City bombing, which took the life of Senator Ken McQuarry. Platt changed the forensics saying Xander’s DNA was found on the explosives, which wasn’t true.” She drew a deep breath before saying, “We have recovered video surveillance footage from the south side of the amphitheater that previously was believed lost that proves Xander couldn’t have set that bomb.”
That last part was a total bluff. It was too early to tell if Williams could find the camera or the footage, but no one else knew that. Just watching Sheffton sweat was worth the lie.
“Platt killed Special Agent Conrad Griggs—” her voice caught and she had to clear her throat before she could continue “—when Griggs found out Platt’s secret. Then Sheffton had Platt killed to cut loose ends. We’ve given all of our evidence to someone we trust and right this minute he is packaging all of our collected evidence and sending it to the authorities and the press.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with this,” protested Bettis as Capitol police entered the room.
The Speaker of the House gestured for the police to escort Sheffton and Bettis out of the building and said, “Thank you for your information. If you wouldn’t mind releasing our feed, we’ll take it from here.”
Xander gave the Speaker a thumbs-up and watched as Sheffton and Bettis were removed, both squabbling at each other and promising legal action against the Senate for this embarrassment and obvious gross level of slander.
Scarlett, Zak, CJ and Xander looked at each other and Xander asked, “Am I in the clear?”
“Well, we just proved you didn’t kill McQuarry, so I think you are,” Scarlett said.
“Good. I’m ready to go home. I’ve missed my damn bed.”
He slung his arm around her shoulders and they began to walk from the building. And then they were promptly arrested.
Sitting in lockup, Xander, CJ and Zak were in one cell while Scarlett was on the other side of the building where the women prisoners were kept.
“Do you think we’re going to prison?” CJ asked.
Xander thought about it for a minute before answering, “Well, depends on what they decide to charge y’all with. Aiding and abetting a federal fugitive is generally frowned upon.”
“Even when the fugitive is innocent?” CJ asked with a wink.
“Yeah, not sure about that just yet. I mean, I lied through my teeth about the camera footage. We have no idea if any of it was actually salvageable and honestly, that was my best bet for getting off on the murder charges.”
“Sounds like shitty odds,” CJ said, shaking his head, then looked apologetically to Xander saying, “Sorry, buddy. You might be screwed.”
Xander chuckled, “Yeah, you think?” It’d been several hours since they were hauled into custody and they hadn’t received any word. No one had called them into questioning or taken their statements. They were just sitting, like ducks waiting for the shotgun blast and it wasn’t a great feeling.
His back started to protest his position and he tried to shift to relieve the pressure. Zak noticed and commented.
“Why didn’t you say something, man?”
The question was real, no joking around, and Xander answered with the same seriousness. “I thought I could handle it. My ego got the better of me. I was embarrassed.”
“We could’ve been there for you,” CJ said.
“I know.”
“So what are going to do about it?” Zak asked.
He sighed. “Assuming we get out of here? I’m going to check myself into rehab and get clean.”
CJ sat up and said, “You know, if you’d trusted us, or at least trusted me because I’m less judgy than that guy over there—” he gestured to Zak with a grin “—I could’ve told you that I know a guy who’s doing some cool stuff with stem cell shit. It’s the real deal. You remember my shoulder injury when I jacked it up during that Iraq mission? Well, I didn’t want no narcotics so I went the alternative route. Bam, stem cell rejuvenation therapy. Good as new.” He flexed to demonstrate. “Hell, I think it’s in better shape than before. This is serious sci-fi futuristic stuff, you know? But it works. You could do that with your back injury and get off that shit.”
Xander nodded, touched that his buddies had his six even though he’d shut them out. “I’ll check it out. Thanks, man.”
CJ nodded, leaning back against the wall, sighing with boredom. “Someone either needs to book us or let us go. This is bullshit. We’ve got rights. Right?”
Zak ignored CJ’s whining and said, “So what are you going to do with Scarlett?”
“What do you mean?” Xander asked, on guard. He didn’t want to reveal anything that Scarlett wasn’t ready to share.
“You guys have been practically living together under stressful circumstances. That can create a false sense of connection. I just wondered how you guys got through it.”
“It was fine.” A beat of silence followed and then CJ shared a knowing look with Zak, prompting Xander to ask defensively, “What was that look about?”
“You guys are banging. We can tell. But it’s cool, man. You two have had chemistry since day one and frankly, we’re glad you finally got it over with,” Zak said.
Xander started to protest but it was stupid to even try; they already knew. He let out a long exhale and admitted to it. “Yeah, she’s special. I like her. I mean, I think I love her. Shit, yeah, no, I love her. I didn’t mean to but it just sort of happened and before you start spouting psychology babble, I felt this way before all this crap happened.”
“Like I said, what are you going to do about it?” Zak repeated, staring him down. “You know, nothing will ever be the same after this. You have to make a choice.”
Xander knew Zak was right but he didn’t have an answer just yet. He had to get the drugs out of his system first. “My head’s not on straight yet. I don’t have the right to be thinking past getting clean.”
Zak nodded, seeming to agree but they both knew the situation was far more complicated. Xander couldn’t remain with Red Wolf and date Scarlett if Scarlett was his TL. Scarlett had worked her ass off to get her position within Red Wolf and Xander would never ask her to step down for him.
Which meant he would have to leave, but if he left...what chance did they have of making it work?
Hell, he was jumping the gun. He didn’t know if Scarlett wanted to be with him—if they managed to get their asses out of jail.
The jailer, a stout, stern man with a permanent scowl, gestured to the three men and said, “You’re being released.”
Surprised but not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, they happily left the cell behind to find Joshua Handler, owner of Red Wolf, standing there waiting for them.
Ahh, shit. The real boss man. They rarely interacted with Joshua but they knew who he was.
To CJ and Zak he said, “I trust you can find your way home?” They nodded and thanked him for his intervention on their behalf and then cut out of there like they were on fire. To Xander, he said, “Ride with me.”
Either he was about to be fired or... No, that was probably it.
They climbed into the sleek dark town car and Xander had no idea where they were going.
“I’m impressed with how you handled yourself,” Joshua said in one breath but ended with, “But you screwed up big-time and gave Red Wolf a black eye in front of some very important people.”
Xander wouldn’t make excuses, not anymore. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I screwed up.”
“Yes, you did.” Xander waited for him to say the words but Joshua didn’t. Instead, he said, “You’re a good man. We’ve all made mistakes in life. You’re going to go to rehab.” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement of fact that left no room for arguing. “Red Wolf will take care of it.” He paused and looked to Xander, his pale blue eyes intense. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“I’m in love with Scarlett.”
There, he let it drop.
Joshua nodded, absorbing the information. “Does she feel the same?”
“I don’t know. I hope so, but I don’t know. She’s dedicated to Red Wolf and I would never ask her to change that.”
“Good.”
And that was all he said for the rest of the ride, which ended up being to his hotel. As Joshua exited the car, he said, “The car will take you to the airport where you’ll go straight to a private Red Wolf facility to detox. When you finish, I’ll be in touch.”
Before Xander could say anything, Joshua closed the door, and he was on his way to the airport.
He didn’t even get a chance to talk to Scarlett first, but he supposed that was the way it had to be.
Maybe it was even better this way. Guess it didn’t matter, because that’s what was happening.