The Intelligence Unit Series

Tara triple-checked every last square inch of Amour's apartment before she allowed herself to exhale. "Okay. Everything looks clear."

Amour raised a brow at Tara from the spot where she stood in the bedroom doorway. "You know you're, like, the fourth person to check, right?"

At that, Tara had to eke out a tiny smile. "And you know I'm a perfectionist, right? Plus, we can't be too safe."

Case in point: Maxwell and Hale had arrived at the apartment less than two minutes after the text message had appeared on Amour's phone a few hours ago to scour it from rug to rafters. In the meantime, Capelli had run the ominous text message through every program he had. The message had been delivered to the burner via a source that had-so far-bounced off no less than a dozen cell towers from Norway to North Carolina. Identical texts had gone to several hundred cell phones, all of which had been within a mile of Amour's location at the time.

The message had likely been a scare tactic aimed at a lucky guess, but Tara couldn't deny the truth.

It had f*****g worked.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you tonight in the new safe house?" Tara asked, also for the fourth time. "I really don't mind."

Amour shook her head. "Detective Hale is already crashing with me tonight. Plus, I'm sure Xander would miss you."

Tara's shock must've been Sharpied all over her face, because Amour smirked. "Oh, my God, you guys are so obvious. Of course I know you're all into each other, or whatever."

"I am pretty into him. Or whatever," Tara admitted. Her soft laugh seemed to break the tension, and she stepped toward Amour. "And we'll both still only be one phone call away if you need anything at all. Even if it's late at night. Okay?"

"Yeah." Pulling the sleeve of her sweatshirt over one hand, she fidgeted with the fraying cuff. "So, are we still going to do the practice thing tomorrow for the trial?"

Tara proceeded with extreme caution. Nearly all key witnesses felt jittery as a trial date loomed closer, and she'd had to talk far more than a few off the ledge of indecision. "If you feel like you're up for it."

"Sansone knows it's me, right? I mean, there's no way he doesn't know."

Shit."It certainly seems so. We don't have reports of anyone else from the club being threatened, and he's got to know the person testifying has insider information that only an employee would have."

"So if he knows it's me, what's stopping me from testifying in person? You know, like, in the courtroom with him."

Tara blinked, thoroughly stunned. "It's still risky. There's a chance he could be bluffing. It's probably a small chance," she added. "But we have to take every precaution to keep you safe."

"Okay, but won't it make what I have to say more compelling if I'm there in person and the jury can see me?"

"Compelling?" Tara echoed, and wait a second... "Where did you come up with that idea?"

Amour flushed, her gaze landing on the floor. "I've been stuck in this apartment for weeks. Did you really think I wouldn't surf the Internet? Anyway, it's true, right? In-person testimony is more impactful when a jury can see the witness."

"In most cases, that's true," Tara admitted slowly. She wasn't about to lie to the girl. "But there have been plenty of cases where a witness was very compelling even when their identity was masked."

"Do you think it would be better for the case if I was there?"

"I would never ask you to take that risk."

"You're totally not answering the question," Amour pointed out, and God, she was a lot tougher than Tara had given her credit for.

"I think that I have enough time to prep you for taking the stand in person and making it very, very difficult for Sansone to be acquitted," she said with care. "But you have to understand, it's still very dangerous."

"I do understand, and I don't want him to hurt me. But I also don't want him to get away with what he did. Watching you and seeing how hard you're working on this case...you're showing me not to give up. You'll do whatever it takes to put him away. I want to do whatever it takes, too. I don't want to be scared anymore."

Tara reached out and squeezed Amour's arms gently, her heart beating fast, but full of hope. "I'll talk to my boss and Sergeant Sinclair. If they agree that we can outweigh the risks, we'll talk about it. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough."

And just when Tara didn't think she could be any more surprised by the conversation, Amour reached out to fold her arms around Tara. "Thanks for always having my back."

"Of course," Tara said, hugging her tight. "I'll be right here with you, all the way to the end. I'll keep you safe, no matter what."

***

"Areyou absolutely sure you don't want to go over the plan just one more time?"

Okay, so Tara knew she was bordering on overkill, and the wry look on Xander's face confirmed it. But in mere hours, she'd call Amour to the stand, placing her face to face with Sansone and erasing any doubt of her identity from his evil little mind. Yes, Tara's boss and Sinclair had taken every precaution imaginable to keep the younger woman safe-including a security detail that rivaled those of most pop stars-and more yes, Sansone had been church-mouse quiet ever since Amour had received that text threat, leading Capelli to believe that the message had been more of a lucky guess than a true concern. To top it off, Amour had been unshakably strong even during the most grueling parts of the preparations, when Tara had cross-examined her so meanly, most other people would've crumbled like a sandcastle on a sunny day.

And still, Tara couldn't shake the instinct in the pit of her belly that said Sansone was just biding his time. Waiting to strike. Waiting to hurt Amour again.

Please, please, just keep her and Xander safe.

it.

Xander crossed the kitchen, putting down his coffee mug before cupping her face to kiss her, bringing her back to reality. "You know what? Going over the plan one more time probably won't hurt," he said. She knew he was humoring her, and God, she loved him for Blinking past the shock of the thought-where the hell had that come from?-she cleared her throat and focused on his voice, calm and steady as he said, "Okay. Here's the plan. I'm going to leave in five minutes to meet Garza and Sinclair. We're picking Amour up at the safe house at seven AM."

Tara nodded. Hearing the plan out loud, even though she knew it by heart, smoothed out her nerves, allowing her to breathe deeply as he continued.

"We'll take her to the courthouse, where she'll have a private waiting room. You'll meet us there at eight thirty to make sure everything is set-which it will be, because Isabella and Capelli will make sure of it, down to the very smallest security detail. Then, Judge Waters will start promptly at nine, and you and Amour will stick it to Sansone so thoroughly, he'll never breathe free air again. Did I miss anything?"

"Only the part where you're fantastic," Tara said, pressing up to kiss him.

Xander smiled against her mouth. "You're pretty fantastic, too. But if I don't head out, I'm going to be late and fantastic."

"Not today." She pulled back and pointed at the door with mock seriousness. "Go. Just promise me you'll be careful."

"I will," he said, kissing her one last time before heading for the door. Even though she had a little time before she had to get dressed and head to the courthouse, she had far too much nervous energy to sit around Xander's apartment. After a quick shower, Tara put on her lucky suit, pulling her hair into a twist and slipping into her favorite black heels.

"You've got this," she told her reflection. "After today, this will all be history."

She didn't see the man behind her until it was too late to scream.

***

Tara wokeup with the knowledge of three things. The first was that something odd must have happened to her head, because she couldn't get her thoughts to line up properly. The second was that her arms were equally affected, heavy and useless at her sides. The third was that she had no idea where she was, but it wasn't anywhere familiar, and wait...wasn't she supposed to be-

She sat up in a rush. Or, at least, she tried to. But between the screaming pain reverberating against her skull and the zip ties around both her wrists and her ankles, she didn't get very far.

"Oh, good. You're awake. As you know, I'm on a schedule, and I don't have a whole lot of time."

Tara squinted through the dingy space-a basement, maybe? No, a warehouse of some kind-her glassy gaze landing on Ricky Sansone.

Oh, God. Oh, God, oh, God. "Where's Amour?" she croaked, and Sansone's expression hardened.

"I'd guess that traitorous whore is probably at the courthouse with your little boyfriend and those other f*****g cops. But don't you worry, they'll all get theirs soon enough. After they have the pleasure of having to piece together your body, of course. You'll be amazed at how long it's going to take them to find all of you."

Tara's stomach roiled with the burning urge to vomit. "You have to know you're not going to get away with this."

"Please," he snorted, his footsteps echoing through the space as he circled around her, his suit pristine. "I'm absolutely going to get away with this, just like I'll get away with killing that bitch and everyone else involved in this case. You see, Blaze, here, is going to wait until I'm all settled in, nice and cozy at the courthouse before he starts to t*****e you."

He gestured to a huge man in the shadows, who stepped into the light just enough for Tara to see the tattoo of a Grim Reaper on his forearm, complete with tally marks on an elaborate book underneath, by his wrist. Fresh fear spiked in her chest. "They're going to miss me in court. They'll know something's wrong."

Sansone rolled his eyes as if she were a petulant child. "Of course they will. You not being there is the entire point, you stupid twat. We can't exactly have a trial if the prosecuting attorney's a no-show, now can we?" Realization slammed into Tara, making her temples throb and her skin ice over. "You made it look like you were going after Amour so you could come after me instead."

"Jesus, it's about time you figured it out. I was starting to think that fancy f*****g degree was wasted on you. See, I've known where Amour was for a while now. The trouble is, she was too well guarded for me to do anything about it without getting caught. But I knew she'd have to come out of her hidey-hole to testify, and when she did, you'd be ripe for the picking. For f**k's sake, it took Blaze less than ten seconds to get past that lock. And everyone's so worried about that filthy slut that no one will notice you're missing until it's too late. Blaze is going to gut you like the pig you are. He'll go after Amour next, then that pregnant cop. That'll be a two-for-one."

The excitement in his smile made Tara revisit the urge to be sick, and she bit the inside of her cheek as hard as she could in order to keep hold of her quickly waning calm. "We won't miss a single person who worked this case, and I promise, every last one of you will beg for death before we finally decide to deliver it. We'll save Xander for last, though, so he doesn't miss a single second of watching the rest of you get murdered."

"Please. You can't do this," Tara said, the zip ties biting into her skin as her adrenaline made her struggle in vain. Oh, God, she had to calm down. She had to think. To breathe.

Interesting story. Like, thirty years ago, there was this cargo ship on its way from Hong Kong to the United States...

She was going to get out of this. Xander would find her. He would. He'd find her and they'd keep each other safe and they'd put Sansone away, this time for good. All she had to do was breathe.

"You're hardly in a position to tell me what I can and can't do," Sansone hissed, backhanding her expertly before glaring down into her face. "I'll be in a public courtroom when you finally bleed out, and those cops will all be dead before they can even think of tracing your murder, or any other, back to me. Have a nice life, Ms. Kingston."

He made it all the way to the door before sending a chilling look over his shoulder at her.

"What's left of it, anyway."