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CHAPTER 7

Atlas

“ Goddamnit! Where did they go?” Derek stormed into the warehouse behind me, gun drawn, and stared down at the lifeless body tied to the chair in the center of the room. “The fuck did they do to him?”

He pointed his gun at the body before turning to face me. I thought he had been on a few of these scenes already, but by his initial reaction, I don’t think he has.

“My best guess—they questioned him, and when he didn’t give them the information they wanted, they killed him.” I shrugged it off and holstered my gun, Derek doing the same.

I know I should care more; it’s another victim added to their ever-growing list and a family that has lost a loved one. But I needed to keep my head clear if I was going to end their killing spree and this case. Panicking over another dead body wasn’t going to help anyone .

After our briefing this morning, I contacted the old security company that installed the system at this warehouse, hoping that the suspects we were hunting would attempt to use it again. My intuition was correct.

While we were back at the nightclub, an alert came across my phone that this warehouse’s security cameras detected movement around the backside of the building. I was able to see a brief snapshot of the video and noticed the three of them dragging a lifeless body inside.

When I knew we had finally gotten our chance, I grabbed the guys, and we left the nightclub immediately to get here. Unfortunately, we were just seconds too late.

“All clear, aside from an old computer monitor that looks like it's been here for a while. They left nothing behind.” Dean said as he and Marcus approached us after completing their perimeter search.

“Well, except for this guy.” Marcus blew out a breath. We split into pairs when we arrived, hoping to cover more ground and catch the suspects before they ran.

“Hey, I saw this guy back at the club.” Dean leaned over the body to get a better look at his face. His neck had been sliced open, and his head lolled all the way back from it.

“Where did you see him?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and watching him inspect the body.

“He was in one of the VIP Suites, drinking with a couple of other guys in suits; he had a briefcase with him, though,” Dean added .

“I didn’t see a briefcase anywhere in my search of the area.” Marcus looked at us and then back at the body.

“Damnit.” I let out a frustrated sigh, running my hands through my hair. We missed the suspects, and they took whatever he had brought with him. I was desperate, hoping for something, anything to come to mind.

“So, where do we go from here, AJ?” Derek asked, rubbing his brow with the back of his thumb, then placing both hands in his pockets. He was just as lost for an idea as I was.

“We need to find out who this guy is and what he was doing at The Landing tonight. We can assume that they were after whatever was in that briefcase, and they got it.” I said. If that briefcase weren’t important, they would have left it behind. I don’t see any other reason why they would bother taking it with them.

“Marcus, contact the club owner in the morning and get us a list of VIP Suite guests from tonight,” Derek ordered.

Marcus gave him a single nod and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“And while you’re at it, let’s get a list of the employees that were working tonight, too,” I added.

Derek raised a brow at me and chuckled lightly, “Looking to get more information on your favorite bartender?” He nudged my arm. I wasn't going to let him have the satisfaction of being right, but I did want more information about her. She abandoned me in that restroom, and I never saw her again.

The sex was incredible; I had never met someone who was so responsive to me, and it only made me crave her more; she was consuming my thoughts, even now. When I returned to the bar after checking in with Derek, she was gone.

“Yes, and no. I’m pretty sure someone on the staff was involved in this. He didn’t just leave the club and end up in this warehouse by himself.” I stated.

If he had brought his briefcase to the nightclub, he would have done business there instead of here.

“You’re right; I don’t see why a guy like him would be here alone. I’m going to go call clean-up and get this body taken care of.” Derek pulled out his phone and stepped away from the group, moving towards the doors for some fresh air. I could use some myself.

Taking one last glimpse at the body, I heard a door slam at the back of the room and turned my head to look in its direction. I hummed and made my way across the floor to the door that was swinging open and slamming against the wall due to the wind.

I noticed fresh tire tracks in the mud and several footprints as I stepped outside. I quickly grabbed my phone and started taking photos of the tire marks and footprints before they were either washed away by the rain or accidentally covered up by someone else.

I went back inside and stopped next to Dean.

“Dean, I sent you some photos. Get those analyzed as soon as possible and find out what kind of vehicle they were driving.” I gestured toward his phone, and he nodded. Then, I moved over to Derek by the doors.

“You found something?” Derek asked as I stood beside him .

“Tracks and footprints out back. That’s how we missed them.” I exhaled and rubbed the back of my neck.

Seconds. We missed them by fucking seconds.

“We’ll get them. The cameras were a good call to look into, and hopefully, this guy will lead us to even more answers.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder to the bloody mess of a body.

“Hopefully.” I echoed his words, breathed, and gazed out into the rainy night. It was our first day on the case, and we had come so close to catching them, only to miss them by mere seconds.

Something tells me they will be all too easy to catch now due to their overconfidence in their work, or we are in for a lot worse than just the body in that chair.

I barely remember getting back to my apartment last night. We waited an hour until clean-up arrived, and by the time they finished, it was already two in the morning. I didn’t even plan to be at the nightclub that late.

Dragging my ass out of bed, I still managed to squeeze in my morning run before heading into the office.

While I was out for a run, I decided to take a break at a coffee shop located across from the sculpture park. It was a cloudy morning, and a gentle breeze helped to cool me down as I rested. I pulled out a chair from one of the empty tables, sat down, took out my phone, and unlocked the screen .

Going straight to my contact list, I saw the number for the bartender the waitress added to my phone under the name Chaser, and I was tempted to send her a message. When I returned last night, all I could think about was her. The feel of her lips on mine—the taste of her on my tongue. I could feel myself growing hard at just the mere memory of it all.

I opened my messages and selected her number, beginning to type something—anything—before I lost my nerve.

Me: Hey, this is Atlas. From last night…

Feeling incredibly stupid about my choice of first message, I sat there for a few moments, then placed my phone on the table and looked up at the sky, inhaling deeply. She’s not going to respond.

It wouldn’t have surprised me if she just blocked my number as soon as she saw the message pop up. After a few more minutes passed, a chime came from my phone, and I picked it up, my heart pounding in my chest. It was her.

Chaser: Who gave you this number?

Me: Your waitress friend.

There was a long pause between my reply and her following message. It felt like minutes before her name popped back up on my screen.

Chaser: Of course she did… Let me guess. Do you want to take me to dinner?

She was right, and I could tell I wasn't the first to ever ask her that question. It took me a moment to decide how to respond. If she ran from me, I would do exactly as her friend wanted and chase her. I would do anything to feel her come around me one more time, to breathe in her warm vanilla and sandalwood scent.

Me: I’d like to do that eventually, but I’m happy with starting small. Coffee?

Another pause that felt like an eternity.

Chaser: When and where?

She didn’t seem excited with her short and clipped reply, but it was better than a “no.”

Me: Tomorrow morning, the coffee shop across from the sculpture garden. Does nine work for you ?

She didn't reply, and after a few more minutes of waiting, I gave up and put my phone in my pocket. Then, I headed back to my apartment. Once I returned, I took a long, hot shower to soothe my muscles and unwind.

After last night's events and this morning's run, I was feeling more tired than usual. After showering and brushing my teeth, I went to my closet and picked out my work clothes: dark jeans and a black T-shirt. I then styled my hair as usual and went to the kitchen to have a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

Leaning over the kitchen counter, I read a news article on my phone while eating a bowl of cereal when a notification popped up on the screen. It was a message from Chaser . Without hesitating, I quickly opened her message.

Chaser: I’ll see you tomorrow at nine.

She confirmed our coffee date, and I couldn’t help but grin. It wasn’t dinner, but at this point, I would take what I could get and consider it a win. Taking Stella out for coffee was all I needed right now—just the ability to spend more time with her and get her to want me as badly as I wanted her.

I was going to make her beg for me.

I was going to claim her for myself.

Shrugging on my black leather jacket, I grabbed my keys and wallet and left for the office with a smug smile on my face and thoughts of all the things I wanted to do to her.

Stepping off the elevator, I headed directly to my office; Derek and Dean flanked me as I entered the room and walked behind my desk. I turned to face them, and they both had grim looks on their faces. This already wasn’t going well.

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers and sighed.

“I’m assuming from the looks on your faces that we have no good news from last night?” Not how I had intended to start my day.

“The vehicle they were driving was just a standard SUV; nothing from the tire prints left behind that could possibly give us anything to narrow it down to a specific make or model. They were just standard, generic tires.” Dean shrugged, handing me the report.

“And the footprints?” I looked back up at him after reading the paper he handed me.

“Nothing back on those yet, but it looked like at least one of them was wearing heels. It was an odd choice of footwear for what they were doing. Do you think they were prosti—”

“I reached out to the security company to get footage of their vehicle, maybe even a glimpse of their license plate, but they were smart enough to park out of range of the cameras. Also, Conrad wants to see us in his office—all of us. He has questions regarding last night.” Derek cut Dean off, running a hand through his hair. He looked just as exhausted as I felt .

“Great.” I sighed. “Well, let’s go share all of the information we don’t have with Conrad then,” I mumbled. At least I had my date to look forward to tomorrow. I was going to need it after today.

Derek and Dean both turned to leave my office. I took off my jacket and tossed it on my desk, rolling my shoulders and neck; I stepped around it and followed them out and down the hall to Conrad’s office.

We entered the room to find Marcus already seated in front of Conrad’s desk. Derek took the empty seat beside him while Dean and I stood between the two.

“You guys want to explain to me what happened last night?” Conrad was composed and collected, but there was an authoritative quality to his tone.

“We got an alert from the warehouse security camera that motion had been detected. When I checked the feed, it showed the three suspects dragging a man out of a black SUV and into the warehouse. The four of us made our way there immediately after confirming it was who we were looking for.” I answered, detailing the event that led us to the warehouse.

“Upon arrival, we searched the area’s perimeter, but they were too quick and too prepared. By the time we busted through the doors, they were gone; just the body was left behind.” Derek added.

“Do we know who the deceased was?” Conrad gave me a pointed look.

“Tyler Florentine. He was a lab technician for Atwater and was working closely with his new drug, Ataraxia. I’m still trying to get a hold of someone who was in his suite last night.” Marcus answered.

“Damnit, what is it with this group and these lab technicians,” Conrad grumbled, rubbing his hand over his face. “Do we have any leads? Developments? Anything to point us in the right direction here?” His tone was growing impatient.

“At this time, no. Everything we thought we had has led us to a dead end. We need to wait for them to make another move.” I frowned and bit my cheek.

Another move would result in another casualty, but they were adept at covering their tracks, leaving us with no leads. I hated losing, and this felt like a complete loss to me.

When we received the notification that directed us to the warehouse, I was hopeful that this would be the significant lead the CIA had been anticipating, allowing us to apprehend them finally. Unfortunately, my hopes were shattered upon our arrival.

Nothing found at that warehouse had helped us.

Not even Tyler’s body.

“ Christ-almighty ...” Conrad ground out. “You four, get back out there and see if you can dig anything else up. Maybe look a little deeper into this, Tyler Florentine. See if there is more to his story and why they might have targeted him last night.” Conrad dismissed us from his office, and we left the room.

I spent the rest of the morning going over the events of last night, trying to avoid thinking of Stella and the mind-blowing sex we had in that restroom. I didn’t expect her to be so promiscuous with me, but I wasn’t about to deny her what she so clearly wanted—what I wanted.

Fuck , she had me obsessing over her, and it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since I had her last. I wanted that employee list from last night so I could look into her more. She definitely sparked a primal urge and need in me last night. I had never wanted a woman more in my entire life, and if I am being honest with myself, I have never felt as possessive over one, either.

Just the thought of her with another man had me chewing the inside of my cheek in frustration. I know she isn’t mine—yet, and I knew she wasn’t last night, but after having my cock inside of her, an innate part of me had claimed her for its own.

A knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts, and I looked up to see Derek poking his head through the door.

“Hey, you good?” He asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“You just seem a little frustrated this morning. I know the news we got was bad, but this is how it's been with this case for the past few months. That’s why they brought you in for this.” He pushed the door open more and entered the room.

I exhaled a deep breath. “I don’t particularly enjoy losing, that’s all. Last night, seeing how close we were to them and they still got away, pissed me off.”

“I hear that; no one does. Feel like talking about it over lunch? A couple of the guys and I are going to the country bar down the street. You’re welcome to join us.” He offered .

Normally, I would join the guys for lunch, but I had other things I needed to deal with today.

“No thanks, I’m good. I think I’ll just take a walk and see what’s out there.”

“Alright, if you change your mind, you know where to find us.” He opened the door to leave and shut it behind him.

I ran a hand over my face and turned my head to look out the window at the city, my thoughts returning back to where they were before Derek interrupted.