Under Pressure by Sara Driscoll

Author:Sara Driscoll [Driscoll, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Plotting Diagram: A map of a diamond’s inclusions.

Friday, August 9, 1:21 PM

Philadelphia FBI field office

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pierce came in holding an ice pack against the side of his nose. Above it, his left eye was darkening to a muddy purple.

Addison looked up from his phone at Pierce’s entrance and winced. “Ouch.”

Pierce pulled out a chair and sat, removing the pack from his nose to lay it on the table. His face had been cleansed of blood, but his nose was puffy and bruised. “I appreciate the fact you didn’t want to leave Bruno with any question about my allegiance to the family, but did you have to be so enthusiastic?”

Addison’s cheeks flushed a ruddy hue. “Sorry, man. I didn’t see that painting when I was turning to slam you into the wall.”

“It would have been fine if I hadn’t caught the corner of it with my face.” With a frown Pierce glanced down at the trails of dried blood that trickled down his shirt. “But it certainly convinced Bruno. Before they split us up, it was clear he considered us on the same side. How long are you going to ‘detain’ us?” He made air quotes around the word “detain.”

“Another hour or so, and then you’ll all be transferred to federal holding until the lawyers arrive. We’ll get you released on bail in the next day or two and you can be back in business. But in the meantime, we wanted to get your intel on the drop.”

Rustling at the door attracted their attention and Brian sprung to his feet to relieve Kate of several of the brown paper bags she carried. He flashed her a smile. “See? I told you, you’d get lunch someday.”

“Hopefully, I got everyone’s order correct.” Her gaze circled the table until it landed on Pierce and she grimaced. “Ow. You okay?”

“Yeah. Hurts some, but will look great to Bruno and the lawyers they send in. I’ll tell them I want to argue police brutality.”

“You were resisting arrest,” Addison protested.

“Sure I was. It’ll go nowhere, but they’d expect me to push for it, so I will.”

“That’ll look authentic. You don’t think you’ll have any trouble taking part in the next drop? This whole effort falls apart without you.”

“I expect they’ll look at me. They know that Bartholomew was arrested. Now this drop goes south. So they’re going to search for a leak.”

“That puts you in jeopardy.”

“The only physical evidence is the burner phone, which you now have in custody and it can stay there. They have no way to track the custom app. And they can search me as much as they like for a wire, but they’re never going to find one.” He studied Hawk, who lay beside Meg’s chair. “They’ll never suspect we’re doing this old school and in a completely untraceable fashion by technological means.” He looked up to meet Kate’s gaze. “I didn’t think this would work. Even after the test run, I doubted you’d make this work. I was wrong.”

“Credit where credit is due—it’s all about the dogs.

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