Chapter 24

 

Harry ignored the truck navigating its turn in the yard, trusting the driver not to hit him unless he wanted shooting. He hated having to come here, the trapped feeling it evoked in him, and longed for the slightest excuse to just shoot the bastard. An urge he had to temper, of course. That way led to even more trouble than he was already in, such as a dead body.

Circling around the back of the haulage firm’s complex, he took the rear stairs towards the boss’s office.

Lagrange glared at Harry from behind his desk. ‘Took your time.’

Harry ignored the thug leaning against the wall. He was mainly set dressing, and about as shabby as the rest of the furnishings. Harry’s casually suited appearance might look almost professional in comparison.

‘You want me to draw suspicion?’ asked Harry. He maintained a belligerence. It didn’t do to appear too submissive.

‘I want you to be a good boy and do as you’re told.’

‘I’m here, ain’t I?’ Hardly by choice.

‘You and your partner are getting involved in things that have nothing to do with you.’

‘The Police Department disagrees. I can’t control what we’re assigned to investigate.’

‘You can guide the investigation,’ said Lagrange.

‘Only so far, without drawing the aforementioned suspicion.’

Lagrange’s gaze hardened. ‘Then we have a problem your fancy talk can’t fix. Your partner’s a danger, poking her nose where it’s not wanted. Can she be compromised?’

Had her questions reached the ears of others in the department? Ones who’d made mistakes that had gotten them trapped like him? ‘Doubt it. She’s too straight.’

‘Then you need to deal with her another way.’

Harry maintained a stony expression, forcing down the sudden anger that threatened to erupt. It wouldn’t help. ‘I’ll work out a way to put her off the scent, distract her from your business interests.’

‘Oh, we’re beyond that,’ said Lagrange, not quite smiling. ‘She’s made moves that have pissed off the people I answer to. And they’re clear: she’s either in our pocket, or she’s gone.’

‘And you don’t think doing something to her could bring down worse trouble?’

‘Not if you do it right.’

‘I’m not doing it.’

Lagrange stood and leant over the desk, glowering down at him. ‘Are you forgetting who you belong to? You do what I say.’

‘Some stuff, maybe. But I’m not killing my partner.’

‘Then you both die.’ He sounded sincere.

‘You’d waste an asset within the Department?’ asked Harry.

‘Not like you’re our only one.’

Probably true, though they wouldn’t have so many as to casually drop one. It could be a bluff, but even so, they’d still need to deal with Cassie.

He should have done more to rein her in, for her own good. Not that he could have. She’d just do what she was determined to, anyway. No, there was no way of changing what was. He needed to come up with a way out.

‘I’ll need time,’ he said. ‘To get hold of an untraceable piece.’

‘I can arrange that.’

‘Like I trust you’d give me something untraceable. You’d let me take the fall to tidy up loose ends.’

Lagrange sat again. ‘As you said, you’re an investment. As long as you do what we want, you’re worth something. You wouldn’t be worth much behind bars. We’ll get a piece for you, never used in a crime before, and no record tracing it to us.’

Harry held his gaze a moment, but that brief delay was all he’d get. ‘I’ll need a decent suppressor as well.’

Lagrange nodded.

Harry felt another trap settle itself around him, closing even as he looked desperately for a way out.