CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Mike glanced up when someone stopped next to his table. When he realized exactly who it was, he sighed and slowly lowered the knife and fork. He sighed loudly as he leaned back in the chair.

“I told her to cancel my lunch appointment,” Mike muttered. “That meant that I wanted to enjoy my lunch alone.”

“She told me, but she also told me where I would be able to find you.” Parker dropped the file onto the table before sinking into the chair across from him. “It couldn’t wait until you felt like seeing me again.”

Mike frowned at him. Picking up a serviette, he wiped his mouth and then crumbled it up. Throwing it onto the table, he reached for the file. At first he wasn’t sure what he was looking at but slowly it cleared. His heart dropped to his stomach and the food he had eaten threatened to rise up his throat. It has been years since he’s seen these papers. This took place when Mike had started out in the criminal world.

“Where did you get this?” he demanded harshly.

Parker smiled. He reached over and grabbed a piece of bread from the plate in the center of the table. After taking a bite, chewing and swallowing, he finally looked up at Mike. “Andrew.”

“He sent it to you?”

“No,” he muttered. “I went to meet him.”

Anger tightened Mike’s futures. “You had him and you let him walk away?”

Parker frowned. He sat up and dropped the piece of bread onto the table. How was he going to explain it to him without making him explode? His eyes darted around the restaurant. The place was packed with people. There was no way Mike would kill him in front of all these people, but he could order his men to grab him when he left. Mike knew a lot of people who knew some more people. He was a well-known man in a criminal world.

“I had no choice,” Parker finally answered him. “He pointed out the fact that he had a lot more evidence on you. It wasn’t a risk I wanted to take. Since he had called the meeting, I was sure that he had an escape plan if I tried to take him into custody.”

“What did he want?” Mike asked after a few minutes of silence. “He wouldn’t have called you otherwise.”

“He wants me to put him in protective custody. In return he will hand over all the evidence he had on you. Andrew had assured me that he had a lot, including witnesses.”

“Witnesses.” Mike stared down at the file unseeingly.

How can he have witnesses? I took care of them all. Unless someone was missed. Mike only took care of four witnesses himself. He ordered his men to kill the others. Had one of them messed up? Was there someone out there waiting for the right time to take him down? But Andrew had said witnesses so that meant there was more than one witness alive. How many more evidence was there?

Parker seemed to be reading his mind. “He talked about copies of files and a few USB-drives. He didn’t go into any details at all.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That I needed to talk with my boss first before I could make any decision.”

“Have you talked to your boss?”

He gave Mike a small smile. “You’re my boss, aren’t you?”

Mike returned the smile but it quickly faded when his eyes fell on the file. If this got out. . .he would be sent away for life. Everything he had built would crash down. All the sacrifices he had made would’ve all been for nothing. Mike closed the file and leaned back in his chair.

Detective Parker wasn’t the only man he had inside the precinct. A lot of cops needed a little extra income. If Parker decided to hand him in, he had someone that would be ready to plate evidence on Parker. He would be arrested instead of Mike.

“I have a plan to kill Andrew.”

Mike ignored him. “What about the daughter?”

Parker licked his lips, feeling nervous all of the sudden. “We haven’t located her yet. I have Officer O’Neil working on tracing them. We have a location but—”

“Where?” Mike interrupted.

“A small gas station about 300 miles out of town,” he answered. “Cameras caught them pulling up in an old Chevy truck. The bodyguard was with her. We got no clue as to where they were headed. There are about five towns around that area. It will take months to search through it.”

“If we can get Andrew then she doesn’t matter,” Mike muttered.

“What if she knows where all the other evidence is?” He leaned forward. “If something happens to her father then she might bring more evidence forward. It’s better we take them both out together than taking that risk.”

Mike rubbed his forefinger across his lips. The thought had never crossed his mind. Andrew loved his daughter. He had talked about her a lot whenever they met. She meant a lot to him. If only they knew where she had disappeared to. He signaled the waiter and pulled out his wallet. After settling the bill, Mike stood with the file in his hand.

“Keep me up to date on your plans. I need to be the first to know when you have Andrew.”

Parker stood as well. “Of course.”



“Where have you been?”

Parker glanced at O’Neil with a deep frown. Without answering her, he took a seat and rolled the chair to face his computer. He unlocked it and opened the files where all the forms were. It would be easier to go through the proper channels. Once Andrew was in their custody, he would make him have a little. . .accident.

“Is the Chief back yet?” he asked the officer.

“I’m not sure,” O’Neil muttered absentmindedly. “I haven’t seen him.”

“Are there anymore witnesses? Have there been any more reports on Cora Weber and Vlad De Luca?”

“No.” She said nothing more.

He stared at her bowed head for a few more seconds before turning his attention back to his computer. Parker found the right forms and printed them. Standing, he collected them and then returned back to his desk. He quickly filled it in and mentally made a reminder to file it. His eyes darted up to the officer sitting at the desk across from his.

He needed to get rid of her. She would spoil all his plans. Maybe he could convince her to come over to the dark side. He could bribe her. If things go wrong then he could blame it all on her. Yes, that could work.

“Do you want to have dinner with me tonight?”

Her head shot up. She stared at him with wide eyes before narrowing them. Suspension shone in her gaze as she watched him. Play it cool, Parker. He swallowed and gave her a small, nervous smile. It was hard to find something to say to her. He was just a little out of practice, that’s all.

“You’re new here, right? Have you been out sightseeing?” he asked softly.

She licked her lips, and leaned forward with her elbows on the table. Her eyes trailed over his face. Parker tried to keep his face blank. Her intense stare unnerved him a little. Was she seeing right through him?

“I don’t know,” she said softly. “My partner is a little of an ass. He makes me work overtime a lot.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Well, I guess I’ll have to have a serious talk with him.”

“You do that,” she muttered as she stood. “Let me know what he says.”

Parker’s eyes dropped to her ass as she walked away. Maybe playing with her for a little while wouldn’t be so bad. He could have some fun in the process. Parker pulled out his phone and drew up Mike’s number. He typed and retyped the message for a few times before finally settling on something simple.

I have a plan. Might be able to get to Cora before Andrew.

He locked his phone and leaned back in his chair. A chuckle fell from his lips after a glance at his watched. Only an hour before the fun would begin.



“Have you always wanted to be a cop?”

O’Neil licked her lips as she glanced up at Parker. She still felt a little shocked because of his invitation. Parker always made sure that she knew that she was a piece of gum underneath his shoe. Her suspension rose. Why had he suddenly decided to ask her out? She didn’t trust him, not after everything she had found out about him.

Parker had enough reason to accept money from Mike. He had a lot of bills to pay. O’Neil knew that he was also married and had three kids. Why was he drinking at a bar with her rather than going home to his wife and sick kid?

She knew that he was suddenly showing interest in her because he had an ulterior motive. If he wanted to use her then she could use him too. She just had to play her cards exactly right. Maybe he would fall in his own trap. All she had to do was keep her guard up.

“Since I was old enough to understand what kind of job my father did.” A little lie never hurt anyone.

“So your father was a cop?”

She nodded. “My grandfather, my father, my uncle, my brothers and now me.”

“So it runs in the family,” he muttered.

“Yup.” She gave him a small smile. “Except for my mother. She likes being her own boss.”

“Yeah?” He leaned forward in interest. “What does she do?”

O’Neil took a sip of her drink and glance around. The place was packed with a lot of familiar faces. It seemed like the place where everyone hanged out after work. Why hadn’t she ever heard of this place? Nobody had ever invited her out before. In fact she barely knew anyone.

“She’s a designer.”

“Wow.”

She rolled her eyes when she saw the look in his eyes. It always seemed to surprise people when they heard about the cops in the family and then her mother being a designer. She was the only odd one in the family.

“How many brothers do you have?”

Was he fishing for information? All he had to do was ask for her file and he would have all the information he needed. If he already knew about everything, why was he asking so many questions?

“I have four older brothers.” She didn’t mention the fact that one had died on the job and that she barely saw her other three siblings. “How about you? How many siblings do you have?”

“None, actually.” He leaned his elbow on the table and glanced down at the drink in his hand. “I’m the only child. Shortly after I was born my mother passed away.”

“I’m sorry.”

Parker shook her apology away and quickly changed the subject. He had already said too much. Parker was supposed to be doing the questioning. He needed to find out what her weakness was. If this goes wrong, he needed something to use against her.

For the next hour they talked about the weather, the city and any other thing that came up in conversation. O’Neil and Parker were both surprised when they realized how much they actually liked each other’s company. The crowd was growing thinner and thinner by the minute. In the end they left shortly after midnight and decided to look for a twenty-four hour dinner to get something to eat.

They spent another hour laughing and joking around before she wanted to head home. O’Neil allowed him to walk her back to her apartment. She never expected him to kiss her or for things to go further than that innocent kiss.