you’re safe here, okay?”
He didn’t let her argue, just picked up his cell. “Scott. What’s going on?”
“You didn’t see that woman—Juliette or Mya or whatever her name is—sneak out, did you?”
“Why?” Andre asked, instead of answering, because he hated lying to family.
“She left before they could question her,” Scott said. “You’re not going to believe this, but she actually managed to get a weapon off of Nadia in the restroom.”
“Is Nadia hurt?” If Juliette had disarmed a weapons training agent who could bring fellow agents to tears using her chokehold techniques on the training mats, then Juliette was much more dangerous than he’d suspected.
“Nah, Nadia’s fine. Mostly embarrassed. Apparently this woman has sticky fingers.”
So, Juliette was a pickpocket. Somehow, that didn’t fit. But then nothing about Juliette had fit so far. Still, taking a wallet from an unsuspecting mark on the street was a lot different from getting an agent’s weapon out of its holster.
“Anyway, there’s a lot more to this story,” Scott continued. “And the FBI thinks the woman’s in danger.”
Andre’s gaze sought Juliette’s. She stared back at him, her eyes wide.
“What did they get from the gunmen? Are they talking yet?”
“Yeah. I spoke to Froggy. Turns out they took an initial payment for grabbing this woman, and they were expecting more when the job was finished.”
“Who paid them?” Was Juliette right? Was it her ex?
“These idiots are claiming they don’t know. Which is either true, or they’d worked out their stories together beforehand. They say they were approached anonymously, that it was supposed to be easy money. Grab her, do the job, then get the other half of the money when the deal was complete.”
“And they didn’t think it was some kind of setup? Or just take the first payment and run?”
Scott sighed. “They both seem to think a cop hired them.”
“A cop?” Andre scoffed. “They think a cop hired a pack of ex-cons to kidnap a marketing employee at gunpoint out of her workplace?” He watched Juliette go pale and frowned. “That makes no sense at all. What kind of cop would send these guys in on such a flawed plan?”
“Well, it wasn’t the original plan,” Scott said. “Right now, because the third guy fired in that office building on FBI agents and they’re all going to face some serious sentences, the two we’ve got in custody are tripping over each other trying to make deals. The case agents have them separated, but they’re getting the same story.”
“What are they saying?”
“The hostage grab out of the office building was the criminals’ plan. They wanted it to hit the news, so their anonymous employer would see it. They were planning to grab her and demand a higher payout for her delivery.”
“Okay,” Andre said slowly. “That does make more sense. So, the original plan was to grab her more quietly, then make the trade in some deserted location? Juliette for the money?”
“I wish that was the case,” Scott answered. “But the plan wasn’t to grab her at all. And apparently the second guy—the one you tackled on the path—was trying to double-cross the other two and get all the money for himself, so there’s no love lost there.”
“So what was the plan?” Andre demanded, a bad feeling settling in his stomach as Juliette’s words came back to him, her fear of taking her ex-husband to court. And suddenly he knew. Her ex-husband was a cop. Her ex-husband was the cop, the one who’d hired three dangerous ex-cons to grab Juliette.
He watched her hands clutch the arms of his chair until her knuckles were bone white. And he could tell she knew the answer to his question without even hearing Scott’s reply.
“They were supposed to kill her, Andre. They were told to snatch her quietly, drive her somewhere secluded, kill her and bury the body.”
“This was never supposed to go public,” Andre said, not taking his eyes off of Juliette.
“No. This woman was supposed to just disappear forever.”
“I need the truth.”
Juliette bristled. “I’m not lying to you.”
“How’d you learn to snatch a weapon off a law enforcement official?” Andre demanded, resting his forearms on his thighs, making all the muscles in his arms tense and reminding her that he wasn’t just strong.
He was also fast.
Juliette scooted to the edge of the chair, in case she needed to make a quick getaway. What had she been thinking, coming here? She glanced at the doorway, gauging the distance.
“Too far,” Andre said.
“What?” Panic hitched her voice.
“You’re thinking of making a run for it. I’m telling you that you won’t make it.”
She put her hand on the gun in her pocket, her heart thudding frantically. What if Andre had given his partner some kind of code word in their conversation? Something to let him know to send the cavalry? If they believed Dylan instead of her...
“I’m trying to help you here,” Andre said, his soft voice laced with frustration. “We just determined these thugs were supposed to kill you.”
She cringed, even though it wasn’t news at all. She’d known the second she’d spotted them holding her picture that Dylan had decided to kill her. That it didn’t matter those years they’d spent dating, falling in love. That it didn’t matter they’d pledged their lives to each other.
“Do you really think it’s your best move to run, alone?” Andre interrupted her angry thoughts. “We can protect you.”
“Against someone else in law enforcement?” Juliette snapped. “I’ve tried before. Who is anyone going to believe, me or another cop?”
He stared directly into her eyes, intense and sincere. “I believe you.”
She stamped down the hope she felt at his words and tried to be logical. “Why?”
“You work in this job long enough and you learn. All the training, all the practice, can only take you so far. At a certain point, you just have to go with your gut. And my gut is telling me you’re innocent.” His gaze went to the gun and then back to her face. “Relatively innocent.”
A smile twitched her lips with a sudden, ridiculous urge to laugh at the predicament she’d gotten herself into. She’d never so much as gotten a parking ticket her whole life, and in one day she’d stolen a gun off one federal agent and taken another one hostage. The truth was, they had more
