Bodyguard (Den of Thieves, #2)

by A. M. Cosgrove

  “Fine,” the detective huffed.

  He turned to Olivia.

  “Fine with me. The sooner I am done here, the better,” Olivia said, clearly done with the situation.

  “Good.” Stan nodded at them, “Now, did you get a good look at the driver at all?”

  “No, the windows were tinted and no matter what angle I was at, I couldn’t get more than a silhouette. Could have been male or female, but based on head shape, I am leaning towards male.

  “That’s a start,” Stan said, making notes.

  “No license plate on the front and I never managed to get around behind them to see about the back, but I can tell you it was a four door sedan, silver, older model.”

  “Okay, that should make it somewhat easier to track down. Not too many like that that will have fresh damage to them. I’ll have all the body shops in the area notified, and pray that it shows up,” Stan said, making more notes. “I’ll get the techs to get some samples and pictures of your Jeep. That way, if and when we get the silver car, we have something to compare it to.”

  “Don’t sound so hopeful about the whole thing.” Bo sounded more sarcastic than he’d intended.

  “What did you expect?” the other detective replied, crossing her arms, clearly still irritated. “You didn’t think that we could catch the bastard with that amount of information, did you? You should know better than that. Hell, anyone who watches CSI would know better than that.”

  “Easy, Jane,” Stan said, before Bo had a chance to answer. “Look Bo—”

  “Stan, I get it. I will take Olivia home and you guys do what you gotta do to the Jeep.” he invited, tossing his keys on Stan’s desk.

  “Thank you.” Stan picked them up, and looked at them a moment before putting them back down, “I will have one of the patrol cars take you guys home.”

  “Thank you.” Olivia was still revved up and Bo knew that the best thing was to pull her out of this and take her home where she could come down from the adrenaline still racing through her system.

  “If you guys just want to go back to the main desk, I will send someone to get you sorted out.” Stan stood up and waved them towards the door of his office.

  They were dismissed.

  Chapter 8

  Bo was very careful to check each and every corner as they went back upstairs to Olivia’s apartment. His nerves were on edge. He didn’t like the feeling that someone had gotten the jump on him. He knew the people who were responsible were not done with Olivia and they would stop at nothing to get at her.

  It would help him immensely to know what the hell he was looking for, but that wasn’t the way that it was going to work for him.

  “All clear, Olivia,” he announced, and headed to the door of her apartment to open it.

  He took a slow step inside. His senses were on fire. He looked around as he stepped further inside. He peered around the corners as he went.

  Taking a deep breath, he made his way around the apartment, checking in every closet and behind every door. You could never be too careful, people tended to be very resourceful when they wanted to be. While he hadn’t decided whether the people after Olivia were professionals, he was certain that they were determined to see harm come to her.

  Sometimes that was worse than any professional: a person who would stop at nothing to see their plan through to the end was a far mightier foe.

  He finished clearing the apartment; he found nothing out of place and no sign that someone had been in the apartment since they had left.

  Definitely a good sign.

  He went back to the door and let Olivia in.

  “I didn’t see anything that looked out of place.” He escorted her into the living room.

  “Good. I hope those bastards, whomever they are, haven’t found out where I live...”

  “Well, they did follow us, so I am assuming that they do know at least the building,” he pointed out absently and then when he saw the look on her face he continued, “But I am pretty sure they haven’t figured out what floor or apartment. It isn’t like there is a directory or anything that they could just walk in and look at. Besides, there is Alfred and the night watchman, both of whom are under orders not to give out any information about you to anyone.”

  “That doesn’t mean dink to me. I deal with assholes like this all the time. Believe me, if they want to know something badly enough, they will find out.”

  “You’re right but with all of the surveillance I have set up, you don’t have to worry, we can be on the phone with the PD before they get anywhere near the apartment.” He leaned against the back of the couch, “Besides, even if they do make it up here, I have more than enough fire power to hold them off until help arrives.”

  Olivia looked at him a moment but said nothing.

  “I know you probably don’t like the idea of weapons being in your house, but the reality is that is what we need to keep you safe and I wont have anything stopping me from doing the job I have to do.”

  “You’re right about the whole gun thing. I don’t like the idea, but I agree. For now, it is the best option and I wont complain about it.”

  “Good, I am glad that is one thing that we are not going to have to argue about... for now anyway. I would rather not have to think of a different way to ward off the bad guys should they come knocking.”

  “Just don’t get any blood on my carpet, okay?” She laughed nervously and then proceeded to burst into tears.

  The adrenaline had finally dropped off and the reality of her situation had sunk in.

  “Hey now,” Bo said, sitting down beside her on the couch and putting an arm gently around her.

  He held her to him and her sobs got harder. Bo didn’t know what to say. How did you comfort someone when their reality was that they might not ever get to live a normal life ever again?

  What did you say to them to make them feel alright again? There were no words. The only thing Bo could think of was that she didn’t deserve to be treated like this. No one did, but especially not her. She had spent her life seeing that justice was done for everyone and here she was fighting to have justice served for her.

  Anger swelled up in his veins. It wasn’t fair. He wanted nothing more than to go out and hunt the people responsible down. He didn’t care for a second what danger that idea held, but he knew that they should pay and pay dearly for what they had done to this innocent woman.

  He took a deep breath trying to calm the fire in his veins. Running off all half-cocked would not get him anywhere. It wasn’t going to keep Olivia safe and he certainly would become no better than the men hunting her.

  Bo held Olivia closer and stroked her hair as she cried. Her perfume was making his head spin again, and it wasn’t helping to quell the fires in his blood, but rather shifted their target.

  God, what was this woman doing to him.

  A few moments later, once her tears had subsided, she pulled away from him.

  “Thank you for that,” she said, wiping the last of the tears from her face with her shirt sleeve.

  “You’re welcome. I am just glad I was here for you.”

  “I am so incredibly frustrated with everything. For the first time in my life, I am actually afraid and I don’t like that feeling one bit.”

  “No one likes to be afraid.”

  “You know what I mean. I can’t stand the fact that I am allowing myself to be afraid. I haven’t got time to be afraid of anything.” She clenched her good hand in anger as she spoke.

  “You are human, Olivia, there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever,” Bo said softly. “You know that as well as I do. No matter how you think you should feel, it is what it is. You deserve to allow yourself that release whenever you feel you have to. I certainly am not one to judge you. Nor is anyone else.”

  She sniffled and nodded and leaned back against the couch cushions.

  “I am just grateful that you feel comfortable enough to let your guard down with me. To let me see that you are hu
man and that you are afraid. Not everyone can say that about you.”

  She looked at him. Their eyes met, and his heart raced.

  “I know,” she whispered.

  The air between them crackled with electricity as they held each other’s gaze.

  “I think I am going to go have that nap now,” she said, quietly getting up.

  Bo sat there and watched her walk down the short hallway towards her room. It took every ounce of his willpower to not get up and follow her.

  *****

  She lay there in bed, still between the nightmare that she had just woken up from and the nightmare that she was living. She let the tears slowly slide down her cheeks. The whole thing had her mind reeling. She had spent the minutes before sleep had taken her, trying to run her mind through any one and everyone that could have enough of a grudge against her want to do her harm.

  After all the years that she had spent locking up the scourge that threatened the citizens of Lake City, the list was a long one. No one stood out as being particularly aggressive to her, but then who knew what might have been rolling through the mind of someone she put away years ago. They might have decided to lay the blame for their misery on her feet.

  Had one of the cons she put away recently gotten out? No one had warned her that it was happening, but then there were so many it was hard to discern who would be a threat to her life. There were so many.

  Why was this happening to her? Why now? What had she done to deserve all of this?

  She punched her pillow with her good hand. She was angry and scared. And she was going to do something about this.

  Olivia was done being the victim. But how was she going to do anything? She was barely able to dress herself without help, there was no chance that she was going to be able to do anything all on her own.

  She needed help.

  Bo.

  He was going to have to help her. No one else was going to help her. He wasn’t going to like the idea, but she was going to tell him in no uncertain terms that he was going to help her to figure out what in hell’s name was going on or else she was going to do it all on her own.

  He could do his job and protect her or he could sit back and let her do what she needed to get done. There was not going to be any two ways around it. She took a deep breath and slowly sat up and got out of bed.

  She took another deep breath and put on what she thought was her best game face. She strode out into the living room, all ready to tell him what she had mentally prepared herself for and instead of being on the couch where she had expected, she found him at the dining room table working away on his laptop.

  “Hello there, Sleepyhead. How are you feeling?” He smiled up at her from his chair.

  “Bo, we need to talk.”

  “Uh Oh. Why does that sound like you are about to break up with me?” He feigned concern, “I didn’t even know you felt that way about me.”

  “Bo, I am serious, please listen to me.” She pulled out a chair and sat down across from him.

  “Alright, you have my full and undivided attention.” Bo closed his laptop and clasped his hands on top of it.

  “Good.”

  “So?”

  “You aren’t going to like this,” she started.

  “I sort of figured that when you walked out here all serious. I never seem to like it when you are serious like that.” He sighed, “So spill your beans. What have you got going on in your melon?”

  “I want to try and find out who in the hell is responsible for this.”

  “What? You can’t be serious!”

  “I can and I am. I am tired of being the victim. I don’t want to hide in the shadows for the rest of my life and I know that they only way that I am going to be able to get out from under all of this is to find the person responsible.”

  “Olivia, that is why they have the best police detectives in the city taking care of your case. No one in this city wants to see harm come to you. You know that law enforcement takes care of its own. That includes the lawyers and judges that finish the job that they start.”

  “I know that, Bo, believe me I do. I have full faith in the men and women who are out there doing their jobs to try and help me, and the rest of the city, but please, I hope you can understand that I can’t just sit here waiting for them to find the person or persons responsible anymore. I need to do something. I don’t want to be hiding away for the rest of my life.”

  “Olivia, it’s only been a few days. These things take time.”

  “I can’t wait any longer, Bo. I am sorry. I have to do something.”

  “I can’t let you do that.” He closed his eyes and rubbed them with the palms of his hands.

  She hated seeing him so torn. She knew he was only doing his job but she hoped that he would see the light before she gave him the ultimatum.

  “I have to,” she said quietly, taking his hand.

  Bo opened his eyes and stared directly into hers. His eyes searched hers and she had to wonder if he was trying to see just how serious she was about what she was saying.

  “Bo? Please tell me you understand. Please tell me that you will help me. I don’t want to do this alone but I will if I have to.”

  He closed his eyes one more time, took a deep breath and then looked right into her eyes as he spoke.

  “I will help you.”

  Her heart raced, and she had to refrain from jumping up and running around the table to give him a big kiss on the cheek.

  “Thank you.” She squeezed his hand.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” he said, opening his laptop up. “Come around here and have a look at this.”

  She got up and walked around the table to sit beside him.

  “While you were sleeping, I tried to see if I could get into the cameras down on the streets we were on when that car tried to run us off the road.”

  “And?” She was instantly hopeful. The images she was seeing on the screen were blurry and she couldn’t make out much more than the fact that there were cars speeding down the street.

  “Put it this way: I need more help than I have here. I can only see the live feed, which of course, does us no good unless our friends in the silver car are willing to drive back down the same road again.” He shook his head, “And even if they were so kind as to drive down it again we would never know the difference between the car that was chasing us and some random look alike car.”

  “So what are we going to do?” All the hope from moments earlier had suddenly been drained out of her, and she slumped back in her chair.

  “We are going to visit my friends down at D.O.T. I know one way or another, they are going to be the ones who can help us identify these people.”

  “Are you sure?” She was skeptical.

  “Only thing we are missing is a vehicle. Then we are good to roll out.” He held up his hands.

  “I think I can be of assistance there. As long as you don’t scratch her up, you can use my girl.”

  “I would never do harm to a vehicle I am driving.” He held up his hand as if to say ‘Scout’s honor’.

  “Yeah right. I have seen you drive, remember?” She headed to the hall to get her shoes and jacket while Bo packed up his gear and got ready to leave the apartment.

  *****

  The sports car that Olivia drove was almost brand new. He could still smell the leather interior when he got in.

  “What year model is this?” He asked, as they got to her parking space.

  “2015 edition,” she said, smiling proudly as he looked it over.

  “Well, you certainly do have a nice taste in cars. Now how about we get in and I will see what this baby can do.”

  “Again, I feel the need to remind you: please do not mess with my vehicle.”

  “Don’t worry, I am hoping that whomever is behind all of this shit does not decide to come out to play a second time today.”

  “I hope you are right. I don’t know if I can handle any more action of that sort today.” Her sm
iled belittled the emotions that he knew she was feeling.

  It had been a rough day and even he with all his years of experience was burned out by the emotional rollercoaster he had been on all day.

  The drive over to D.O.T. was thankfully a short and uneventful one. The reception he got when he got in the front door with Olivia at his side was not what he was expecting.

  “Bo, what in the hell are you doing here?” Jake came out from behind his desk as Bo and Olivia crossed into the center of the room where the main table sat.

  “We need your help,” he said shortly, opening his bag and pulling out his laptop.

  “Help? Help for what?” Cat’s ears perked up as she came out of the weapons room, to see what the commotion was all about.

  “I was just about to say. Aren’t you supposed to be keeping Miss Woods safe and comfortable at her residence?” Jake asked.

  “Yeah, well, after they tried to run us off the road earlier, it has sort of become personal,” Bo grumbled powering up his laptop, willing it to go faster as he gave a brief rundown of what happened and where his Jeep was.

  “What the hell are you talking about? You were supposed to be at Olivia’s home. What the hell were you doing out of it?!”

  Bo looked blankly at Jake for a moment. In his mind, he was playing the whole conversation he had had with Olivia earlier over and over. It sounded sad and pathetic. Not something that Jake was going to want to hear.

  “It was my fault.” Olivia spoke quietly and everyone standing around the table turned to look at her. “I was being a pain in the ass. I wanted to go get some files to work on while I was stuck at home, and I wouldn’t leave him alone until he took me. He did try to stop me, but I told him that I was going with or without him. I didn’t leave him much of a choice.”

  “Great. Just fucking great,” Jake muttered, throwing his hands up in the air and giving Bo a look that said he was pissed beyond belief.

  “Okay, I get it.” Bo tried to calm him down.

  “Do you?” Jake spat, “Do you really? All due respect, Miss Woods, you don’t have a choice in this. Our job is to keep you safe, and the best way we can do that is to keep you in one place with surveillance and let the police do their jobs.”