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“My money is on the ex-boyfriend,” Bishop volunteered. “Dude’s a gallon short of a full tank.”
Rocco gave Bishop a hyper-questioning look.
Screw that. Bishop’s certainty wasn’t based on his past with Ella. Even if the FBI agent had said that Jay’s schedule was solid and his alibi airtight, Bishop’s gut said that was bullshit.
“The guy is possessive; that’s for sure.” Locke eased their team leader off Bishop a bit.
Roman leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table. “Maybe if the cops took her seriously from the start…”
Around the room, everyone nodded.
“We don’t deal in coulda, woulda bullshit.” Jared cracked a knuckle. “We deal with problems.”
It wasn’t as if Titan wouldn’t continue the protective detail. “We keep at her side,” Bishop said.
Jax laughed. “Bet you’d like that, huh?”
Bishop’s gaze swung to the asshole across the room. “What the fuck is your problem? Lay off the woman.”
“Chill out,” Rocco ordered.
Jared’s ice-cold glare brought the room down a dozen degrees. “Rocco.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Your thoughts?” Boss Man asked.
“They are no closer to figuring out how to end this than they were when we first made contact. We agree with everything they explained: the situation is spiraling. It’s becoming more chaotic.”
Spiraling chaos. That upped Bishop’s anxiety. He rolled his lip into his mouth, having nothing to offer to the conversation and hating that fact.
Jared’s jaw flexed. “Parker is working everything he has to augment their data.”
That should have helped alleviate some stress, but it didn’t.
Jared rubbed a hand over his face. “It’s a matter of time. Mistakes will be made. They’ll figure it out.”
“I think they know,” Beth said. “I think they don’t have shit for evidence, but like Jared said when she left, they aren’t telling us. That was a woman who gave us everything she could show us except for what she couldn’t.”
Boss Man nodded.
“Bishop has a feeling,” Beth continued. “Locke noticed something. We heard the profiles of Jay and Tara, both who give me the heebie-jeebies.” Beth paused. “That agent doesn’t know us from anyone else. But she does know we’re going to sit here and tear apart what she says the second she leaves.” Beth pointed her finger around the room. “Like hell would she tell you guys what her gut says, when not one of you asked her about it.”
Bishop raised an eyebrow. No, they hadn’t.
“We remain the course,” Jared grumbled. Then his intense glower rested on Bishop. “We’re still loyal to the job, to her, to her family for however long this takes. This is our new normal. Bishop, Locke, you’re still primaries. But depending on how this shit show continues to roll, consider yourselves all her white knights, dead set on ensuring her long-term survival. Understood?”
“The Knights of Titan,” Cash murmured.
Good thing Cash could drop humor when it was most needed, because Bishop wasn’t sure how much more of Jared assessing him he could take while staying quiet.
“It’s the boyfriend,” Beth said.
“Or that batshit-crazy publicist,” Winters countered.
“Doesn’t matter. Don’t care.” Jared stood up. “Keep our woman safe. Do what it takes.”