The Intelligence Unit Series

Xander sat back in his seat at the Intelligence Unit's usual table and felt like one lucky son of a bitch. He'd known bringing Tara here was a gamble-the guarded way she'd always listened to him talk about his big, loud found family spoke volumes about her hesitation to let anyone get too close. But she'd seemed so in need of support, of people who'd care that she'd had a shit week and do their level best to lift her spirits, and, God, Xander didn't know any better group for the job. These people always had his back. And he wanted to always have Tara's back. Bringing her here had just felt right.

There was just one thing left to do.

"I'm going to head to the bar and grab a drink," he said to Tara, gesturing to the back of the restaurant. "Do you want to come with me and see if Kennedy can take a break?" God love her, she didn't hesitate. "Sure."

Tara said a quick goodbye to Garza, who she'd been quietly chatting up for a little while as Xander had hung out with the rest of the group. Reaching down low for her hand, Xander headed for the bar. His heart thumped out a reminder of Kennedy's reservations about Tara, and even though the charges against him were ancient history now, he knew better than to mess with fate.

"So, um, my sister can be a little...protective," he said, selecting his words with care.

Tara laughed. "She practically raised you, Xander. That's hardly shocking."

"Right. It's just that Kennedy can kind of take it to a whole new level from time to time, and you and I didn't exactly have the smoothest start two years ago."

"Ah." Tara stopped, turning toward him. "So, she's worried I might hurt you."

Shit. "To be fair, she worries about a lot when it comes to me. But, yeah. That's probably accurate."

"It's totally okay if she's tough on me," Tara said, and wait... "What?"

Tara's smile was so wide-open and beautiful, Xander nearly lost his f*****g breath. "First of all, I face people who are tough on me every time I go to court. It's literally what I do for a living. But, more importantly, if Kennedy needs me to earn her trust, I'm okay with that. She's wary because she loves you, and I'm more than happy to show her I care about you, too."

For a heartbeat, Xander was stuck in place, trying like hell to name the feeling flying through his chest. But Tara was right here in front of him, and suddenly that was all that mattered.

"Okay," he said, pulling her close and kissing her even though they were in the middle of a crowded bar full of his family and friends. "Then let's go."

They finished the trip to the bar in less than a dozen steps, heading toward the spot at the bend in the L-shaped bar, where Gamble always-yep, there he was, the big bruiser-parked himself whenever he was in the house. Kennedy was on the business end of the bar, popping the caps off a pair of beers for a couple of the guys on Station Seventeen's Rescue Squad, and she met his gaze with a smile as he approached.

"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten your way back here," she said, because, of course, it was her birthright to give him shit whenever possible. "Although I guess now that you're part of the Intelligence crew, hanging at their table is going to be your new normal."

"It's one case, Ken," Xander murmured, even though he couldn't help but like the idea of being part of the Intelligence Unit one day. "And we're not talking about it, remember?"

She lifted her hands in apology. "Nope. It seems we have other things to talk about."

Her eyes landed on Tara, and yeah, that was his cue to just rip off the Band-Aid. "Kennedy, this is Tara Kingston. Tara, meet my sister, Kennedy, and her husband, lan."

Gamble was closer, so he extended a hand first. "Gamble," he said. "No one really calls me lan unless they're serving me with a summons or something."

"You're safe with me on that end, for sure," Tara said with a smile. Turning toward Kennedy, she said, "It's really nice to officially meet you. I've been enjoying carry-out from this place for weeks now, and I have to say, the food is every bit as good as Xander brags." Kennedy's dark brows winged up, but only for a second before her expression softened at the words. "We do our best. It's good to see you under better circumstances than last time."

Xander's pulse sped up at the reference to the case two years ago, but Tara didn't blink. "I'm dedicated to my job, just like I know you're dedicated to your brother. I'm really glad it all worked out for the best. The RPD is certainly the better for it with Xander in their ranks."

"That's the truth," Gamble said, eyeing Kennedy, who-thank f**k-nodded.

"I'm still not wild about you potentially being in harm's way, but if I can be married to a guy who runs into burning buildings"-she cracked what Xander would bet was an involuntary smile as she looked over the bar at Gamble-"I guess I can figure out how to deal with it."

"So, how did you two meet, anyway?" Tara asked, and Kennedy's smile became a full-on laugh.

"Would you believe he hauled me out of here when the bar was on fire?"

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but I met this guy while trying to prosecute him," Tara said, tilting her head in Xander's direction. "So, yep. I would absolutely believe that's how you met."

Tara took a seat at the bar with Xander beside her on one side and Gamble on the other as Kennedy launched into the story. He knew it by heart, of course-for Chrissake, he'd been there, at least for the PG-13 parts of it. But listening to his sister tell the story, with Gamble popping in a few well-placed flourishes and reminders ("I'd like the record to show that I made it out of that building without a scratch. Not one, and she was still mad.") made Xander realize once again how perfectly suited for each other they were. With each genuine question Tara asked and each moment she listened, Kennedy softened further. The conversation swung around to Tara and Xander, and even though they couldn't really talk about the case they were working, they still had plenty to say ("did you know he calmed me down with a story about 28,000 rubber ducks?" Tara had asked, only to have Kennedy laugh and reply, "That sounds like something he'd do."). Sitting there with Tara beside him felt like the most natural thing in the world, to the point that Xander would've laughed at the reminder that he'd been so wary of being with her in the first place.

It felt right. She felt right, beside him.

Finally, after her beer was long gone and the laughter dwindled down, Tara said, "Okay, if I don't excuse myself to the ladies room, I may float away."

"It's down the hall, to the left," Gamble said, pointing. "Actually, I need to ask McCullough a question before she and Capelli get out of here for the night, and she's over by the pool table. It's on the way, so I can walk you."

"Perfect," Tara said. Sliding to her feet, she turned to follow Gamble, swinging back at the last second to press a kiss over Xander's cheek and murmur, "Be back in a minute," before following Gamble into the thinning crowd.

"I never thought I'd say this," Kennedy said as soon as Tara was out of earshot, and God, it should've been warning enough. "But a) I really like her, and b) you are f*****g smitten."

"I'm not smitten," Xander argued, although his laugh kind of killed the seriousness he'd wanted to stick to the delivery.

Kennedy, being Kennedy, snorted. "Oh, look. You're smitten and full of shit. Also, crazy about that woman."

Aw, hell. He couldn't exactly deny what his sister had said. But still... "Do you really think a woman like her and a guy like me can make something work in the long run?"

Pressing her forearms over the bar, Kennedy leaned toward him, so close that he had no choice but to meet her stare or be called out for dodging her. "What I think is that it's far past time for you to realize you're not the same man you were two years ago." "It's not that easy," Xander said, but Kennedy wasn't having it.

"It is that easy. Xander, everybody f***s up, and people like me and you? We have walls. They're there for a reason," she added, because she had to know he'd say so. They never would have survived without them. "But it's okay to let people past them." "You say that like it's easy," Xander said, his voice low.

Kennedy's laugh in reply, however? Rang halfway across the bar. "And you say that like I don't know it. You think that story of how Gamble and I met was all hearts and flowers?"

And now Xander wanted to laugh. "You're hardly the type. Either of you."

"And you think I didn't fight it like a heavyweight once I realized I was breaking all my cardinal rules of survival by actually falling for him?"

Xander was her brother. Of course they'd never really talked about her and Gamble like that. But that still couldn't stop him from saying, "No. But-"

"No 'buts"," Kennedy said, her voice going soft over the words as she reached out to squeeze his arm. "You can still be beautiful even if you're a little broken, and the look on Tara's face says she wants you, exactly as you are. Falling for someone is scary-trust me, I know. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, Xander."

Of course, she was too late, because Xander knew that despite his defenses and his past and all the darkness that went with it, he'd already fallen truly, wildly in love with Tara.

***

Tara had never realized that sheer, bone-breaking exhaustion could be coupled with so much bliss. The exhaustion came from having worked twelve to fourteen hour days over the last week and a half, prepping Amour and the Intelligence detectives for their testimony and making sure every single case detail was exactly as it should be, locked and loaded and ready to nail Ricky Sansone to the wall.

The bliss, she blamed on Xander. Not that she was mad about it. In fact, between the days they'd spent working on the case and the nights they'd spent tangled in both amazing conversation and each other's arms (not to mention a few other, more provocative body parts), Tara was actually the opposite of mad about it.

And the whole thing felt too right, too purely, perfectly good, for that to scare her.

"Hey," came a voice from beside her, and speak of the sweet and sexy devil. "Am I late?"

"Nope. You're right on time," Tara said, her smile involuntary and huge. She fought the urge to kiss him-not that she didn't want to, because Xander + that uniform = so, so hot. But since they were standing less than ten feet away from the Intelligence Unit's main office, and the doors leading in to said space were made of glass (bulletproof, naturally, but super-duper see-through all the same), she figured she should at least try to remain professional and hope that she still had a tiny bit of game in the poker face department.

One corner of Xander's mouth kicked up into a smile, and yep, so much for that. "How was the meeting with Judge Waters today?" he asked, pulling the door open for her and following her lead into the open space. "Interesting. I'll fill everyone in as soon as we get started," Tara said. Thankfully, Isabella, Capelli, Garza, and Sinclair were already waiting. This was definitely something they were all going to want to hear.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite dynamic duo." Isabella shot them a grin from behind her desk, making Capelli tilt his head in thought.

"That's quite a clever play on words, actually. Linking Xander and Tara together now that they're a couple."

Garza shook his head as Xander flushed and Tara studied the case board with laser-like focus. "Subtle, dude. So very subtle."

"What?" Capelli asked. "Are we not supposed to know they're a couple? I mean, they're not making it all that hard to figure out. Plus, there aren't any rules against it, in this case. Article Nine, Section One Twenty-Seven of the city of Remington's Code of Ethics and Business Conduct specifically states-"

"Capelli," Sinclair interrupted smoothly, saving Tara and Xander from the hot seat. "Maybe we could stick to a more relevant topic of conversation? Just for now?"

"Oh. Right." Capelli dipped his head in apology. "Sorry, my brain just...anyway. Let me patch Amour in through the secure line."

"Great. Thank you," Sinclair said. Seconds later, Amour's face popped up on one of the digital screens. "Hi, Amour. This is Sergeant Sinclair. How are you doing over there?"

"Okay, I guess," she said. With her hair pulled back and her face washed clean of makeup, she looked even younger than her eighteen years, and Tara wanted nothing more than to crawl through the screen and hug the poor girl. "I kind of just want this over with. No offense." "None taken, kid," Garza said, sending his stare in Tara's direction. "What've we got from the judge?"

Tara's thoughts fell back to a few hours ago. "Sansone's lawyer argued against Amour testifying via closed circuit with her identity hidden. He said there's no credible threat against her, his client would never hurt anyone, pulled out all the theatrics." She paused to roll her eyes. "I argued that due to the nature of the charges and the testimony she was going to deliver, not to mention the attack and its accompanying threat, there was every reason for her to fear for her life. Judge Waters agreed that even though there's no evidence that Sansone was behind the attack, our fears are reasonable. Sansone didn't like it one bit, though."

"How do you know?" Sinclair asked, and Tara suppressed a shiver.

"I saw the two of them talking in the hallway at the courthouse after the meeting. Sansone must've been waiting." Isabella's brows popped. "That's interesting."

"It's telling," Garza countered. "He must be pretty worried to show up in person."

"Well, he looked furious. He even gave me a menacing look on my way out," Tara said. Dirty looks were far from abnormal in her line of work, and her creep-o-meter had a pretty high threshold, but Sansone? Ugh, he unnerved her.

Xander's shoulders tensed beneath his crisp blue uniform shirt. "Did he say anything to you?" he asked, and wait, why were Capelli and Sinclair leaning in to hear her answer?

"No." That awful, dead-eyed stare had been plenty. "Why?"

Capelli's pause lasted for less than a beat. "We've caught some suspicious activity around the safe house this week. Nothing definitive," he added, and only then did Tara notice that both she and Xander had jerked to attention. "There's no overt threat, and Amour's just fine. Right?"

"Yeah." Amour nodded on screen, looking apologetically at both Xander and Tara. "They just told me this morning, otherwise I'd have said something when you guys were here last night. But I'm okay."

The way she chewed her bottom lip said otherwise, but that was a hair Tara would have to split later. "What kind of suspicious activity are we talking about, exactly?"

Garza exchanged a look with Sinclair, then Capelli, before gesturing to the case board on the screen next to Amour's video feed. "We're tracking everyone who goes in and out of the building. Because all of the residents have key cards and all guests have to be buzzed in, it's been pretty easy to do, for the most part. And nearly everyone has a pattern of some kind."

"That makes sense," Xander said. "Work schedules, takeout on Friday nights. The gym, church, even the grocery store-people usually do all those things on a schedule."

Isabella nodded. "So, when we noticed one resident's card being used when she's normally at work, it tripped our notice. Or, more specifically, Capelli's notice."

Okay, wow. Tara knew the guy was good, but... "You noticed one deviation among hundreds of residents and thousands of comings and goings?"

"I have an eidetic memory," he said with a shrug. "I notice everything. If I'm being honest, it's not as great as you might think. But in this case, it proved useful, because Yolanda Martinez's key card was being used by someone who is definitely not her." A grainy image appeared on the case board screen. "Yolanda's card was used to access the building three times two days ago, and none of them were by her. The first was at ten thirty AM, the second at eleven forty-two, and the third at one fifteen."

The screen shot of a man built like a linebacker-lumberjack hybrid made Tara's heart pound. His hoodie, coupled with a baseball cap pulled low over his face, made it impossible to get a good look at any identifying features, but it was easy to see that the guy was just plain huge.

Also, not Yolanda. "Let me guess. Ms. Martinez doesn't know this man."

"She reported her card missing three hours after its last use," Garza confirmed.

"Does he look familiar to you?" Tara asked Amour hopefully.

She shook her head. "No. I mean, he looks like the right size, but I never saw his face in the first place. I only heard his voice. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Xander said quickly. "We're still going to keep you safe."

At that, Sinclair nodded. "We've got a heightened alert on the building surveillance. Hale and Maxwell are there now. Our guy is smart enough to know where the building's security cameras are."

"He avoided them whenever he could," Garza added, and Capelli brought up a quick loop of footage on the screen. "But he couldn't dodge the one in the elevator. He never looks up, but every time, he gets off on the fourth floor, stays for about ten minutes, then leaves."

Confusion sent Tara's brows downward. "Okay, but Amour is on the fifth floor."

"There are no cameras in the stairwells," Xander said, realization in his voice. "He could've easily walked up a flight, just to throw off anyone watching." Isabella sent him a look that read I'm impressed. "That's our theory, too. It's all just a little too suspicious to be someone casing the building for robberies."

"So, what's the plan, then? We still have a couple weeks before the trial," Tara said. "We have to make sure Amour stays safe."

"We'll keep doing what we're doing," Sinclair said, gesturing to the case board. "Hollister teamed up with Dade for a canvas of the building on the off chance that someone remembers seeing this guy. Once residents find out there was a suspicious person in the building, they'll lean toward being hypervigilant, which also works in our favor."

"Sansone is starting to get desperate, just like we wanted him to," Isabella said, splitting her gaze between Tara and Amour. "And while I know that sounds frightening, it's actually a good thing. Desperate means impulsive, and impulsive means sloppy." "It's still not without risk." Reaching into one of his desk drawers, Capelli pulled out a necklace, then looked at Tara. "We'd like you to wear this tracker as a precaution."

Shock rippled through her. "Me? Wouldn't it be smarter for Amour to have one?"

"She does," Capelli said. "But as we get closer to the trial, you two are going to be together quite a bit. If we can track you, we can also keep tabs on her. It's essentially a failsafe."

Oh. That did seem smart. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. But it still seems kind of over the top."

"It's not over the top if it keeps you safe," Xander said, a strange intensity flashing through his eyes so quickly, she couldn't be certain she'd seen it, let alone name it.

"Trust me." Isabella gave up a knowing smile. "They're not so over the top. Those little babies can save your life."

Before Tara could ask for the story behind her comment-and there was totally a story there-Amour let out a gasp, stealing everyone's attention, along with Tara's composure.

"Oh, my God," she said, her eyes wide with fear even as they were glued to the burner phone Capelli had given her.

"What?" Xander asked, his body on full alert, muscles coiled tight. "What's the matter?"

"This."

She turned the phone toward the camera, and Tara's blood froze in her veins.

I KNOW WHERE YOU'RE HIDING.