Lace and Bullets(51)
“You’ll be the only one.”
“No. The FBI will believe it, too.”
“What?” Damien pulled back and Mia let her hand fall.
“You asked what we needed to do next. That’s it. We need to go to the FBI. Tell them what we know and finish what Melanie started.”
“No. It’s too risky. You’re pregnant, Mia. If something happened to you…”
“I’ll be careful. It’s our only option, Damien. Think about the baby. What kind of future will she have if her father’s on the run?”
He blinked. “You think it’s a girl?”
Mia blushed. “It’s just a feeling.”
Damien’s hand went to the locket still hanging from his neck. In another life, his sister would have made a great mom. “Then let’s go.”
Mia beamed as she darted back over the console to kiss his lips. She might not fully understand it, but Damien would go to the ends of the earth to keep her and their baby safe. If she wanted to go to the FBI to clear his name and give their child a father, he couldn’t say no.
He owed it to all the women in his life to try.
23
MIA
She checked her makeup one last time in the mirror.
“I can go in alone, Mia. You don’t have to go with me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’re in this together and I’m going to get us in front of someone who matters. They aren’t going to give us the runaround today.”
“What if it doesn’t work? Even I can’t punch my way out of the FBI.”
Mia smiled. It was the first time Damien hadn’t been confident he could handle something. But he hadn’t seen her in action yet. She might not be a lawyer, but she’d been around enough of them and been through enough school to handle herself.
“It’ll work. It has to.” She pushed open the car door and stepped out into the bright morning sun.
After running from the ADA and the mess they had left behind in the warehouse, they both needed a night’s sleep and a shower. It was risky, but they hadn’t been caught yet. Another few hours wouldn’t matter.
Damien walked around the car and slipped his fingers through hers. “They won’t trust me, you know that.”
“They don’t have to trust you, they have to trust me. Come on.” She tugged his hand and together they walked up to the unassuming office building.
The movies always made the FBI look so glamorous and sexy. Mia knew better. Half of the agents looked like they worked in a generic electronics store with their navy polo shirts and khakis.
Damien held the door open and Mia stepped inside. The only sign it wasn’t a temp agency or a staffing company was the bullet-proof glass separating the waiting room from the rest of the building.
She plastered on a friendly smile and walked up to the receptionist. The woman couldn’t have been much older than Mia, with short blonde hair and a cheerful grin.
Mia spoke through the holes in the glass. “Hello, my name is Mia Davenport and I need to speak with the agent in charge of the Melanie Rogers matter.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, it’s kind of an emergency.”
“Just a moment.” The receptionist stood up and made her way through a door to the back.
Damien shifted his weight back and forth on his feet by her side.
“Relax. This is going to take a while.”
“They’ve got cameras all over this place. They’ve probably already run us through the system.”
“It will be fine.”
The door opened again a few minutes later and a man in a suit appeared. Average height and build, a few years older than Mia. Not the man in charge. She forced herself not to frown as he stepped up to the glass. “Agent Clausen isn’t available. I’m Agent Duncan. Kate says you are here about a Melanie Rogers?”
Mia smiled. “Yes. If you would look her up, you’ll see that she was a confidential informant. We have information regarding her involvement with the Marcelo cartel and the District Attorney’s office.”
The agent raised an eyebrow. “You expect me to believe you two just walked in here with information on the most lethal criminals in the state?” He put his hands on his hips. “Why don’t you tell me what this is really about? Trying to get out of some jail time?”
Oh, no he didn’t. Mia knew it would take some convincing to get someone to talk to them, but she didn’t expect they’d be dismissed. What kind of idiot didn’t look up her file?
She stepped forward until her breath fogged the glass. “My name is Mia Davenport. I’m the late District Attorney Davenport’s daughter. I was in the house when my father was murdered. I watched the whole thing. It wasn’t a robbery. Anthony Marcelo ordered the hit. Now the ADA is in bed with him.”