Galilee Rising(67)

"What the hell are you--"

I stand. "There are three I know of inside, probably more. I definitely saw Acevedo."

"You shouldn't be here," he hisses as he approaches.

"Well, I am." I give him the rundown on everything I've learned from Ryder to Matt Lucas. With each sentence, the sides of his mouth move lower until he's downright frowning.

"Have you lost your senses? What were you thinking conversing with that psychopath? What if everything Ryder told you was to lead you into a trap?"

"Oh, come on. Give me a little damn credit."

"You came here. Alone. You're exposed."

"I took every precaution. Look, can we please stop fighting and figure out what we're going to do?"

"We aren't doing anything. You are going home."

"I'm not leaving you here alone. You need back-up," I insist.

"Tempest will be here when he can."

I shrug. "Then I'll wait until he gets here."

Nightingale takes an angry stride toward me, and instinctively I move back a little. "I don't need you." Something about those words unnerves him. His lips twitch. "Here. I don't need you here. Please. Just go. Please," he pleads.

Part of me wants to go. To get away from the anger and disapproval I sense from his every pore. But no. This was my lead, my investigation. I refuse to be dismissed like some flunkie. And I sure as hell am not leaving him alone here across from a warehouse full of goons no matter what he says. I fold my arms across my chest. "Do you think I'm weak?"

"What?"

"Do you view me as some weak damsel in distress who faints at the first sign of danger?"

"What? Of course not."

"Then stop fucking treating me like one," I say through gritted teeth. "I have been taking care of myself practically since the cradle, and I will till the grave. And I know you…care about me. You don't want anything happen to me, and I do appreciate that more than you can imagine. But I do not need or want a knight in shining armor shielding me from the big bad world. I'm a smart woman. I know my limitations, and I sure as hell know when to cut and run when I'm in over my head. So I'm telling you, this stops now. I almost lost my life because someone close to me was trying to protect me and didn't give me the chance to do it myself. I know the risks. My eyes are wide open to the dangers, but I'm in this. I am in this fight. All the way." I move toward him. "So you can avoid me, even order me to leave until you're blue in the face, but catching your psycho brother takes precedence over your chivalry streak or anything going on between us. The job comes first. I think we can both agree on that." I plop down in my original position on the floor near the laptop. "I'm staying until Tempest gets here. You don't have to talk to me, but I am not leaving. Get over it."

He stares down at me, I can't see his eyes behind the mask but I know they're not filled with kindness or approval judging from the balled up fists. I don't think anyone's challenged him like this in a long time. He could pick me up and fly me out of here, but we both know he won't dare lay a hand on me. All he can do is suck it up and let me be. After a sigh, he slowly walks over to me and sits down against the wall near me, leaving a few feet between us. I gaze at the monitor at the quiet warehouse for a full minute. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch my partner shift uncomfortably beside me.

"Ants in your pants already?" I ask. "I hate surveillance work too. Hours of nothing with no guarantee anything will come of it. I've gone through entire Sudoku and crossword puzzle books on one shift. I brought microphones. If you want, you can place them on the warehouse for something to do."

"No. I don't want to…I'll wait for Tempest. Just in case."

"Not confident with your stealth skills?"

"No, just better safe than sorry." We return to silence. Even though he's probably pissed at me, the quiet isn't uncomfortable. I'm quite happy to see that hasn't changed between us. "So, is this footage transmitted back to Doris?"

"Yeah."

"What about the other location? By the docks? Did you check that one out as well?" he asks.

"Not yet. There were also a couple others that had potential too, but this was a goldmine." I smile. "Your brother sure does love To Kill a Mockingbird, that's for sure."

"Our um, governess gave it to him for Christmas when we were six. He devoured it. We lost count of how many times we read it. The movie as well. I can quote the entire thing."

"Let me guess. He's the one who christened you 'Jem'?"

"Yeah. I'm older by ten minutes, so he thought it fitting."

"I can see it."