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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Bishop had the phone pressed to his ear. With each ring, he wanted to rip apart a man he didn’t know. Heaven help the bastard, because when Bishop got his hands on the man, it would be game over.
The elevator doors remained wide open, and Ella’s confetti face covered the floor.
“Someone’s going to pay.” He wanted to punch the wall and crush his phone. Screw that. Bishop wanted tohunt. He wanted to scour thegreen, green earththat Ella so desperately wanted to protect. But for the moment, he waited for somebody at Titan HQ to answer the phone.
An automated voice picked up, irritatingly offering a variety of options. He punched the one that would process this headache and return the most amount of intel in record speed.
Parker answered. “Whatcha got for me, buddy?”
“A problem.” Bishop seethed, staring at the cutouts. “The police aren’t doing anything. The FBI isn’t doing a damn thing. And I don’t know what to do. I can’t protect her from her goddamnmail.”
“Whoa, all right. Slow down, man. What’s going on?”
Bishop couldn’t slow his roll. This wasn’t bodyguard work. This was personal, both for Ellaand for him. A complete mindfuck. “I can save her from bullets. I can take out fuckers with slime bombs. I can do a whole hell of a lot. This is…” He stared at the tortured animal and eyeless pictures. “It’s fucked up.”
“Start with what’s happening.”
Bishop took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Parker, man. Ella opened her mail, andconfettimade out of her face and dead animals fell out of the envelope.”
“Damn.”
“The eyes have been gouged. The animals…” Bishop dropped to a knee, and his stomach turned. “Sick stuff. That’s not the kind of thing I can protect her from; that’s the kind of thing that law enforcement, the investigators have to find the fucker for. To make this stop.”
Parker blew deep into the phone. “Shit.”
“It came right after someone tried to throw crap at her.” Bishop pulled his phone from his ear and quickly snapped a few pictures, texting them to Parker’s cell phone. “Check your phone. It’s messed up. She’s in a bad place, and this isn’t helping.”
Immediately, Parker whistled. “That’s screwed up.”
“Can you pull the video surveillance outside her building? You’ll get the incident before we came inside. Then send it over to her FBI point of contact?” And if her POC didn’t have a fire lit under his ass after two instances, Bishop wanted heads to roll.
“Yeah, right now. We’ll get them out there ASAP.”
“What do we have on the stalker?” Bishop pushed.
“Nothing, man. We’re not an investigative arm. Whatever we see, we’re sending their way.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“We’re not contracted for it.” Parker sighed. “She’s got you and Locke to keep her safe. FBI’ll figure it out. Hang tight a minute.”
Bishop stared at the mindscrew on the floor, his rage only building.
A minute later, Parker came back on the phone. “All right, wait there. Someone from the Bureau will be there ASAP.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll relay it to Rocco too. Call back if you need anything.”
Bishop ended the call and called Ella.
She answered on the first ring. “Caught the bad guy?”
He shut his eyes, wishing like hell he could tell her yes. “Hang tight. I’m going to call your doorman and wait for the crime scene team to arrive.”
Her good-bye was soft and sad, a gut shot that made him hurt. The FBI techs arrived thirty minutes later, which was apparently their version of ASAP. It was probably a reasonable amount of time. He was just being a dick.