The Intelligence Unit Series

Addison knew she should be concentrating on the brick of heroin in front of her. There was a nasty gang attached to it, brimming over with just the sort of criminals she and her unit-mates needed to put behind bars, and she wasn't going to be able to contribute diddly squat to getting that done if she didn't stop thinking about the absolute inferno of a kiss she'd shared with Ryan last night.

How hot his mouth had felt on hers. How deliciously good. How right.

How she'd wanted to do so much more than kiss him, and oh God, she was screwed.

Not even in the fun way.

Okay, she thought, pretending to listen to what Maxwell was saying. But it wasn't entirely her fault that she'd gotten so caught up in the moment. Ryan had been freakishly easy to talk to, telling her about his great, big family like it was no big deal. The happiness on his face had been so genuine as he'd gone on about his parents and siblings-not the Norman Rockwell kind of thing that was always for show, but real, true caring. Addison hadn't meant to blab about Master Ah-lam or the way the woman had taken Addison under her wing all those years ago, but Ryan had been so comfortable talking about his own family that she'd just blurted it out. Even weirder was that, despite the fact that she'd barely ever talked about the origin of her martial arts training or her closeness to Master Ah-lam with her unit-mates, divulging that personal information to Ryan hadn't been a big deal at all. He'd simply listened.

No. That wasn't quite right. He'd understood. And hell if that hadn't been sexy enough to make her want him again. And again. And-

"...so we can start there, if you want," Maxwell said, snapping Addison back to the Intelligence office without ceremony.

Shit."Mmm hmm. Yep!" Addison nodded emphatically, her ponytail bouncing off the shoulders of her dark gray sweater. She'd have to sneak a good, long peek at the case file to catch up as soon as Maxwell turned his big, brawny back. "Sounds great." His dark brows creased. "Okay. What's with you?"

"What? Nothing." She smiled, the picture of innocence.

Maxwell dismissed her bullshit with a single snort. "Tell me one thing I've said in the last five minutes."

Addison's panic lasted for a nanosecond before she landed on her feet. "That we need to get this brick of heroin to the lab to see if it matches anything we've pulled off the street recently and check with Narcotics on any chatter they've heard about a big deal going down in North Point this week?"

"Mmm." Maxwell folded his arms over the vast expanse of his chest, and okay, with his full-sleeve tattoos and that piercing dark-blue stare, he was pretty good at the whole grumpy cop/interrogation thing. "Try again." "You didn't say any of that?" she asked, shocked.

"Of course I said all of that." He rolled his eyes, and she realized, too late, that she'd just pretty much admitted to not paying attention in the slightest. "Not that you heard it. Seriously, Hale. What's got you so distracted?"

For one tiny shred of a second, Addison nearly told him. But she'd already gotten far too gabby with Ryan last night about Master Ah-lam, and God, what was wrong with her lately?

"I'm not distracted. I'm perfectly fine," she said, turning toward her monitor to pull up the case details she'd clearly spaced on. "Nothing to see here. Nothing to worry about. Mkay, move along, big guy."

"Holy shit, you are acting weird," Maxwell grumbled.

"Not weird," Addison flipped back, grateful as hell that they were the only two in the office right now so no one else could call her bluff. "This is me, not being weird and getting to work. Here I go."

Addison focused on her fingers, even though they were typing God-only-knew-what right now. But this thing with Ryan was not weird, or out of the ordinary in any way. Last night's kiss had just been an extension of their flaming-hot fling. It was physical. No intimacy, no starry-eyed feelings, no one saying "no, I love you more!". Those things were great for people like Maxwell and Frankie and Garza and Delia, and...well, fine, nearly everyone in her unit. But Addison didn't do repeats, and she didn't do distractions. The sooner she forgot about kissing Ryan Dempsey, the better.

Not keeping her distance was dangerous.

Aiming her attention at the monitor in front of her, Addison got to work in earnest. Hollister returned from a meet-up with one of his Cls, with Isabella and Garza not far behind him, and the office hummed with all the usual sounds of cases unfolding and work getting done. Fully up to speed on the heroin a patrol officer had been lucky enough to stumble upon during a traffic stop, Addison and Maxwell did a thorough background check on the dealer who had been busted, made calls to Narcotics and the lab, and dug into possible connections and sources. By the time lunch rolled around, they had a handful of solid leads to follow up on, and Addison grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair.

"We need to stop at the Burrito Bus on the way to the Fifty-Ninth," she said, ducking beneath Maxwell's tree trunk of an arm to whip around him and grab the keys to the Charger from the pegboard by the door. "I'm driving, you're buying, my friend." Maxwell's curse only made her smile bigger. "Why are we stopping at the Burrito Bus, exactly?"

"Um, A) because I will never not need their pulled pork street tacos in my belly, and B) because if we want to bribe Tank Hollis into letting us swipe this case from his unit, we are going to have to come prepared."

"You might have a point about the tacos," Maxwell said. "But maybe, just once, you could let me drive."

Addison snort-laughed. "You're so cute." She opened her mouth to tell him that Satan would be handing out free Popsicles in hell before that ever happened, but her cell phone buzzed from the back pocket of her jeans. "Saved by the bell," she said, her gut taking a tumble toward her boots as she saw the name on the screen.

Calm. "Hey, Chloe," Addison said, keeping her voice entirely level. "Are you calling to check-"

"Addison! Oh, my God, Addison, I saw Myles," Chloe said in a frantic rush. "I saw him. I think he was watching me. Or following me? I don't know."

Addison lifted a hand to halt Maxwell's movement down the hall, her own feet coming to a sloppy stop. "Okay. Where are you?"

"I'm...oh, God. I'm at Montgomery Park. I was tired of being all cooped up and came to have lunch with Grace since it's so pretty out. Ryan is on shift today, and I didn't know who else to call. I'm sorry."

"No, no. You were smart to call me, Chloe. Is Grace still with you?" Addison asked, jerking her head in the direction of the doorway and tossing Maxwell the keys. "Detour," she said from the side of her mouth. "Montgomery Park. Fast." "Y-yes," Chloe said.

"Good." Addison flew down the stairs with Maxwell at her hip. "Can you see Myles right now? Is he still there?"

A muffled sound came over the line, as if she was moving her gaze around to be sure. Then, "No. But I swear it was him."

Relief surged through Addison's chest, but it was short-lived. "Okay, here's what I want you to do, Chloe. You know the fountain in the park? Right by the entrance?"

"Uh huh," Chloe murmured shakily. The fear in her voice threatened Addison's composure, but she muscled past it. She had to stay calm, no matter how scared Chloe was.

"I want you and Grace to go sit there. If you see Myles at all, even from a distance, try to snap a picture of him, if you can. I'm calling a patrol unit, who will get there faster than I will, but I'm on my way, too, okay? Can you get to the fountain?" "I think so," Chloe whispered, then a second later, another voice came over the line.

"This is Chloe's sister, Grace. I'll get her to the fountain, Detective. Believe me, I'm not going to let this bastard anywhere near her."

Addison threw herself into the Charger's passenger seat, mouthing thank you at Maxwell, who had not only already put the car in Drive, but had also palmed the radio to let dispatch know where they were headed and that they needed backup. "Just stay in a well- populated area and do your best to keep Chloe calm, okay? My partner and I will meet you there as fast as we can. I'll stay on the line with you until the patrol officers get there."

it turned out, she probably should've let Maxwell drive more often. They got to Montgomery Park in near-record time. Addison's pulse tripped back to its steady rhythm of go-go-go as soon as the Charger came to a stop just outside the park's entrance, and she and Maxwell got out simultaneously, both of their heads on a swivel as they moved swiftly to the fountain.

"Detective Hale!" Chloe cried out, launching herself into Addison's arms. Addison took in the scene over Chloe's shoulder-after all, she was a cop-but didn't shy away from offering the comfort Chloe clearly needed. Two patrol officers stood a few paces from them, both moving toward Maxwell, who had flashed his badge and intro'd himself and Addison quietly. A tall Black woman wearing jeans, a light sweater, and an incredibly worried look on her face hovered near Chloe. While there were dozens of people milling through the park, most of them now staring with blatant curiosity, none of them looked like Bishop.

"I'm so sorry. I know this all sounds so crazy," Chloe said, letting go of Addison.

Addison shook her head. "It doesn't." Gesturing to Maxwell, she said, "This is my partner, Detective Shawn Maxwell. Why don't you walk the two of us through what happened?"

Chloe let go of a broken nod, and Grace led her to a bench a few steps away so she could sit down, then sat right beside her, holding her hand. "Well, I've been staying in a lot, just to be on the safe side. But I haven't seen Myles at all, so I thought, you know. That he got the message to stay away."

"And you haven't seen him since that night that he followed you home from your class?" Maxwell asked.

Chloe's brows creased. "No. Detective Hale knows. She and Ryan have been coming by all week to check on my place at night."

Annnnnd crap. "We did some precautionary walk-bys off-book," she said to Maxwell, whose brows were sky-high. "Bishop has been a ghost."

His expression, which likely looked normal to everyone else, told Addison that she'd be giving him the scoop in detail as soon as they didn't have an audience. "Copy that." Turning back to Chloe, he asked, "Can you tell us what happened today?"

"I've been a little stir crazy, only going out for work and classes, so when Grace asked me if I wanted to meet her for lunch, I said yes. It's the first warm day since last fall, and I just...I wanted to feel normal again. I called for a Lyft and I met Gracie here at, what?" "About twelve fifteen," Grace said. "We met by the gate and picked up some sandwiches from one of the deli carts over there." She pointed toward the middle of the park, where a dozen street vendors set up on a daily basis.

"Everything was fine," Chloe continued. "We sat at one of the picnic tables to eat. But then, when I went to go throw my trash away, I saw a guy by the tree line, kind of hovering. He was wearing a baseball hat, and he was kind of far away, but the way he just stood there, watching me, it just...I know it was him."

Dread perked in Addison's chest. Maxwell must have read her mind, because he asked, "Did you get a good look at his face? Either of you?"

Grace shook her head, and Chloe said, "Not exactly. His baseball hat was pulled down low, but I'm telling you. It was Myles." "Okay. What happened after you spotted him?" Addison asked.

"I...I froze," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. "I just stood there and stared at him. Which was really dumb, I know. I was just...paralyzed, I guess. Then, he waved at me and disappeared into that wooded part of the park, where the walking trails are. That was when I ran back to Grace and called you."

Addison nodded. "That was smart, Chloe. You did the right thing. Detective Maxwell and I are going to talk to the patrol officers for a minute, okay?"

Grace put a protective arm around Chloe, who was shivering despite the unseasonably warm March weather. "I've got her, Detective. No worries."

Moving a handful of paces away to take them out of earshot of both Chloe and Grace, Addison turned toward the patrol officers, whose ID plates read Officers Travis and Breckman. "What have you got?"

Breckman shook her head, swinging one last look over their surroundings as she said, "Not much. Chloe was obviously upset when we got here, insisting she saw this guy who had previously harassed her over by the tree line. Officer Travis kept her and the sister secure by the fountain while I did a sweep of the area, but I didn't see anyone matching his description. Nothing out of the ordinary at all."

Shit."Okay, thanks. We'll take it from here," Addison said.

Maxwell waited until the officers had started up the path toward the gate before he said, "Off-book walk-bys with Dempsey, huh?"

"It made her feel safe." Addison shrugged to pin the words with nonchalance she didn't quite feel. "All we did was check things out, make sure Bishop wasn't lurking around."

She dodged around the "also, he makes me feel so good that I told him things no one knows and we made out like horny teenagers in my car" that her subconscious had just inappropriately coughed up. God, what had she been thinking?

Maxwell tilted his head, bringing her back to the moment. "And he wasn't."

"No."

"And today, Chloe thinks she saw him."

Something that felt oddly like irritation prickled through Addison. "She seems very sure to me," she said, and Maxwell took a step toward her, making sure he held on to her stare.

"I get it, Hale. You believe her, and that goes far with me. I'm just trying to spin it the way Sinclair or Tara or any judge would."

Addison let her frustration sizzle through her for a beat before stuffing it down. "I know. We need evidence. But we also need to keep Chloe safe. You were with me last week when we did the knock and talk at Bishop's. Can you really tell me you didn't get a vibe off of him? That his answers weren't just a little too well-packaged?"

"Oh, he's definitely a d**k weasel," Maxwell said. "Sadly, that's not illegal."

"No, but stalking is," Addison pointed out. "Even if it's difficult to prove."

He must've sensed that she wasn't going to stand down, because he said, "Okay. Let's see if there are any cams that might've picked him up. But Hale"-he softened his tone, darting a glance at Chloe before returning his eyes to hers-"even if he was here and we can prove it, you know there's a good chance we can't do anything about it. Especially if he didn't even get within fifty feet of her."

She pulled in a breath, letting it turn her anger into resolve even though it took all of her effort. Addison did know that. But she also knew what it was like to be scared, to be at the mercy of a predator who did nothing more than feed on that fear. So she said, "That isn't going to stop me from trying."

And then, she turned on her heels, praying like hell that she could break this case before Ryan tried to do it for her.