on her cell phone, her face pale, and Alyssa was still nowhere in sight.
“Get Ash and Ms. Bonavita back in the office and lock the door behind you,” Sam ordered Izzy. “Open the window in there if you have to. Lopez, you’re with me. We’re going to open every door on this floor, I don’t care if it’s locked, kick it down.”
“What’s going on?”
Alyssa.
Sam exhaled hard as he turned, and there she was, coming out of the stairwell with Vlachic on her heels.
She was whole, in one piece, no gaping hole in her chest where her heart had once been.
The relief that flooded him mixed badly with the god-awful smell of death and rot that clung to the insides of his nostrils. Rationally, he knew that the thing in Jenn’s desk drawer couldn’t have come from his wife, but his vivid imagination was linked to his inner caveman, and it often took the less-rational path.
“She was out front,” Vlachic reported. “Talking to the President.”
Izzy, who hadn’t yet gotten to the close-and-lock-the-door part of his order, said, “That sounds like some kind of rockin’ euphemism.
Stop banging on the bathroom door, homes, I’m talking to the President.”
“No,” Vlachic told the taller man. “I mean, yeah, that does sound like … But… She was actually talking.
To
the President.”
Jenn appeared beside Izzy in the doorway. “NYPD’s on their way.”
“What,” Alyssa asked Sam again, as she took Ash from Izzy’s arms, “is going on?”
C HAPTER
S IX
A lyssa got in the police detective’s face. “I am
not
the problem here.”
“Maybe not, but you’re also not the solution
I
would have chosen,” he retorted, and across the room, she sensed more than saw Sam shift his weight.
Oh, yeah. Good idea. Start a brawl with this fool. That would help.
But to Sam’s credit, he didn’t move more than that one little weight-change, and he certainly didn’t speak. Even though Alyssa knew how badly he wanted to.
Before the police had arrived, they’d sent Ash and Izzy back to Savannah’s pied-à-terre where Sam and Alyssa were staying. Izzy Zanella apparently had the wonder-touch when it came to the diaper-wearing set. It was pretty impressive. Alyssa had known that the SEAL babysat, all the time, for Troubleshooters CO Tom Paoletti and his wife Kelly, but she hadn’t really thought about what that meant until today.
But not only did Ash take to Izzy immediately and quite warmly, it was also clear that the SEAL petty officer was unafraid of spending an undetermined number of hours alone with the baby. He actually seemed as if he were going to enjoy the opportunity.
“I became an uncle when I was barely out of diapers myself,” Izzy told her as he gathered up Ash’s bag. “I speak baby at a high level of expertise, so we’ll be fine. My cell phone’s on. I won’t be insulted when you call to check in, so do what you need to do. Call every five minutes, if you want. If I don’t answer, it’s because I’m dealing with a two-handed diaper of doom. I’ll call you right back if that happens.”
Izzy was known in SEAL Team Sixteen as being something of a wise-ass but he leaned in close before he left, and told Alyssa quietly, “Feel free to stop on your way back to the condo and buy your husband there a drink. FYI, the whole heart-in-the-drawer, you-going-AWOL thing weirded him out way more than he’s letting on. And I have no plans for any extracurricular carousing tonight, because, you know, I’m married.”
Alyssa did know that he was married. To Dan Gillman’s sister, Eden, no less. Who’d lost her baby six months into her pregnancy, after which she’d run off to Germany.
All of which had to suck for Izzy. But that was neither here nor there, as Alyssa stood now, facing down NYPD Detective Mick Callahan, who’d lingered after the uniformed officers had left. He didn’t like the fact that she and her team were here and he wasn’t afraid to let her know that.
When Callahan had
“Get Ash and Ms. Bonavita back in the office and lock the door behind you,” Sam ordered Izzy. “Open the window in there if you have to. Lopez, you’re with me. We’re going to open every door on this floor, I don’t care if it’s locked, kick it down.”
“What’s going on?”
Alyssa.
Sam exhaled hard as he turned, and there she was, coming out of the stairwell with Vlachic on her heels.
She was whole, in one piece, no gaping hole in her chest where her heart had once been.
The relief that flooded him mixed badly with the god-awful smell of death and rot that clung to the insides of his nostrils. Rationally, he knew that the thing in Jenn’s desk drawer couldn’t have come from his wife, but his vivid imagination was linked to his inner caveman, and it often took the less-rational path.
“She was out front,” Vlachic reported. “Talking to the President.”
Izzy, who hadn’t yet gotten to the close-and-lock-the-door part of his order, said, “That sounds like some kind of rockin’ euphemism.
Stop banging on the bathroom door, homes, I’m talking to the President.”
“No,” Vlachic told the taller man. “I mean, yeah, that does sound like … But… She was actually talking.
To
the President.”
Jenn appeared beside Izzy in the doorway. “NYPD’s on their way.”
“What,” Alyssa asked Sam again, as she took Ash from Izzy’s arms, “is going on?”
C HAPTER
S IX
A lyssa got in the police detective’s face. “I am
not
the problem here.”
“Maybe not, but you’re also not the solution
I
would have chosen,” he retorted, and across the room, she sensed more than saw Sam shift his weight.
Oh, yeah. Good idea. Start a brawl with this fool. That would help.
But to Sam’s credit, he didn’t move more than that one little weight-change, and he certainly didn’t speak. Even though Alyssa knew how badly he wanted to.
Before the police had arrived, they’d sent Ash and Izzy back to Savannah’s pied-à-terre where Sam and Alyssa were staying. Izzy Zanella apparently had the wonder-touch when it came to the diaper-wearing set. It was pretty impressive. Alyssa had known that the SEAL babysat, all the time, for Troubleshooters CO Tom Paoletti and his wife Kelly, but she hadn’t really thought about what that meant until today.
But not only did Ash take to Izzy immediately and quite warmly, it was also clear that the SEAL petty officer was unafraid of spending an undetermined number of hours alone with the baby. He actually seemed as if he were going to enjoy the opportunity.
“I became an uncle when I was barely out of diapers myself,” Izzy told her as he gathered up Ash’s bag. “I speak baby at a high level of expertise, so we’ll be fine. My cell phone’s on. I won’t be insulted when you call to check in, so do what you need to do. Call every five minutes, if you want. If I don’t answer, it’s because I’m dealing with a two-handed diaper of doom. I’ll call you right back if that happens.”
Izzy was known in SEAL Team Sixteen as being something of a wise-ass but he leaned in close before he left, and told Alyssa quietly, “Feel free to stop on your way back to the condo and buy your husband there a drink. FYI, the whole heart-in-the-drawer, you-going-AWOL thing weirded him out way more than he’s letting on. And I have no plans for any extracurricular carousing tonight, because, you know, I’m married.”
Alyssa did know that he was married. To Dan Gillman’s sister, Eden, no less. Who’d lost her baby six months into her pregnancy, after which she’d run off to Germany.
All of which had to suck for Izzy. But that was neither here nor there, as Alyssa stood now, facing down NYPD Detective Mick Callahan, who’d lingered after the uniformed officers had left. He didn’t like the fact that she and her team were here and he wasn’t afraid to let her know that.
When Callahan had
Similar Books
