Tymber Dalton - Safe Harbor

“Digital pictures aren’t as good as film, defense can claim Photoshopping went on. I brought the pictures and copies of the negatives of the ones I took when you arrived. Those were a few days old, but they will be consistent enough with what Raquel took to lend credence. And she can testify. Jason will swear an affidavit and come testify if we need him. We might have to hire an attorney in Columbus to pursue this if we can’t get it resolved through the state attorney’s office.”

She gasped. “I can’t afford that!” When both men looked at her, she realized what their looks meant. “I can’t let you do that, spend that kind of money on me.”

“There’s no ‘let’ involved here, Clarisse,” Sully said. He pointed at his bag as it emerged onto the luggage carrousel. Mac grabbed it, then shouldered the laptop case and led the way to the parking garage.

Sully helped her into the backseat. Mac opened and held the passenger door for Sully before he slid behind the wheel. Bart sat on her lap, his tail still wiggling, vainly trying to see over the seats to look at the men. Two new friends for him.

“I’m sorry you’re going to miss your conference,” Clarisse said.

“Thank you for coming.”

“I’m not missing it,” he said. “I sent another bag to New York already. It’ll be waiting for me at the hotel. That’ll give me at least two days here if I need it. You guys will drive home, and I’ll stay in touch with the detectives. If it’s not resolved by then, I’ll fly back here next week from New York and work on it with an attorney.”

She tried to absorb that. He’d said it in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, as if planning arrangements for a small dinner party.

“But…I can’t ask you to do that!”

Sully turned to look at her over the seat. “Bryan is not going to skate on this if I have anything to say about it.” The dark, dangerous tone of his voice didn’t scare her. It made her want to lean forward and kiss him. He settled back in his seat, breaking the spell. “As I told you, all I ask is you do what we say when it comes to this. I don’t want you spending the rest of your life looking over your shoulder.”

At the hotel she thought she might not be able to get back to sleep, but she found herself drifting. Sully lay next to Mac, on his side, his arm draped possessively over Mac the way Mac’s had been draped over her. She’d never seen them exactly like this before.

What would it feel like to be the one cuddled with Sully? Or better, between the men? Like the night of her nightmare, to sleep feeling safe and protected?

* * *

The next morning, Clarisse’s nerves had stretched to the breaking point before they even left the room. She set Bart’s crate on the bed.

After they’d all had showers and dressed, Mac hung the Do Not Disturb card on the doorknob before they walked across the street to a restaurant.

When she insisted she wasn’t hungry, Sully ordered for her anyway. Sully talked with Mac about what had happened and how he planned to approach things. When their order arrived, hers a small meal of scrambled eggs and toast, Sully looked across the table at her.

“Eat,” he softly, firmly commanded. “I don’t expect you to finish it, but pick at it, at least. You’ll get sick if you don’t.”

She thought she wouldn’t be able to get through more than two or three bites, but by the time the men had finished eating, she was surprised to realize she’d finished most of hers, too.

Sully paid for their meal and they rode to the station in silence. He scanned the parking lot as they pulled in and directed Mac where to park.

“Do you see his personal car anywhere?” Sully asked Clarisse.

“No, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“True.”

Mac walked around and opened Sully’s door, then hers. The men flanked her as they walked into the station. Mac wore his suit. Sully was also well-dressed in slacks, a dress shirt, and tie. Between the two of them, she felt fat and frumpish even in the nice dress Mac had purchased for her.

The detective immediately ushered them back to his office where Sully took over. Clarisse quietly sat between the two men, nervously twisting her hands together in her lap. Mac reached over and took one of her hands, gently stroked the back of her knuckles with his thumb.

She gave up trying to listen to the detective. It was all she could do not to cry. Bryan would try to kill her, hurt her men, and her life was basically over. That’s what it boiled down to.

The detective’s phone rang. He excused himself and answered, then asked the caller to hold on.

“It’s IT. They’ve got the data retrieved. They’re restoring it and printing a hard copy for me.”

Sully nodded. “Excellent.”

Clarisse burst into tears.

Sully grabbed her hand. “Detective, do you have a private room?”

“There’s an empty conference room, take a left out the door, fourth door on the right.”

Sully looked at Mac. “Take her and calm her down. Stay with her.”

Mac immediately stood, pulled Clarisse with him, and led her out of the office.

* * *

Bryan stood at the end of the hall, talking with his cousin, Ed.

When he saw the guy walk out of Calvert’s office, holding Clarisse’s hand, it was all he could do to not beat the shit out of her and him both. The guy was big, but he knew he could take him. When the guy glanced his way, Bryan got a good look at the son of a bitch’s face.

He wouldn’t forget him.

She never looked his way, didn’t see him.

Ed noticed the direction of his gaze and forced him back into the break room. “Don’t do it,” he warned. “Don’t go there. You’re in enough fucking trouble if they figure out what happened to the damn files,” he whispered.

“That bitch owes me ten-k.”

“Yeah, well she didn’t break the law by taking it. Joint account.

You, however, will end up in fucking prison if they find out you tampered with evidence, which they probably will. I am not going to jail for you, asshole. If I were you, I’d strongly suggest getting your affairs in order, because those two guys she’s got with her look like no-nonsense kind of guys.”

“Who the fuck are they? She can’t afford an attorney.”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. The blond one came in with her yesterday. The other guy I saw, the one still in Calvert’s office, he wasn’t here.” He got in Bryan’s face, no easy feat considering Bryan stood three inches taller.

“I always warned you your fucking temper would get you into trouble, asshole. Your first mistake was hitting her, you stupid fuck.

Your second was to leave her like nothing happened and then lie about it. Don’t give me any bullshit about she was fine when you left.

You and I both know you hit her. You should have apologized and groveled, fuckhead, and maybe she wouldn’t have pressed charges.

Go home. Get the hell out of here.”

Bryan shoved him out of his way and stormed out the back door.

He got in his car, pulled out, and parked across the street from the public lot.

And waited.

* * *

Ed fought a battle of conscience—and a surge of adrenaline—as he watched Bryan leave. He couldn’t believe he stood up to the fuckwad.

No, what had happened in the system couldn’t be traced directly back to him. He used an open terminal on someone else’s desk to log in to the system. Thank God for their old and archaic computer system. It was due to be upgraded in three months. Otherwise, there’s no way he could have pulled it off. Bryan giving him a back-end access code didn’t hurt either. He’d stuck the physical file in a stack of other files heading to archives. It probably wouldn’t be found anytime soon. But he didn’t want to see Clarisse get hurt. Again.

After more deliberation, he stuck his head in Calvert’s office.

“Hey, Bryan Jackson was just here.” He looked at the dark-haired man talking with Calvert. Ex-cop immediately flashed through his mind.

The man frowned. “Is he gone?”

“Yeah.”

“Mr. Nicoletto,” Calvert said, “we’ll make sure she safely gets out of the station, but we obviously can’t give you an armed escort back to Florida.”

“Don’t say anything to her about him being here,” the man said.

“She’s upset enough as it is.”

Ed left them and walked out to his patrol car. He’d been thinking about moving to Texas, his brother said the department he worked for there was hiring. He could be close to his brother, away from Bryan.

Maybe it was time to take him up on the offer.

* * *

Sully opened the conference room door and tilted his head to Mac, indicating he wanted him to step out for a moment. Clarisse still sniffled, a handful of used tissues piled on the table next to her.

Sully closed the door behind Mac and whispered into his ear what happened. “Keep her here until I come back for you. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

He grimly nodded. “Let the fucker try something.”

Sully returned to Detective Calvert’s office. The reconstructed file was brought in and they discussed the case. A half-hour later, they were able to leave. Sully’s mind raced. He needed to get her out of the station safely and without Bryan following them back to the hotel.

Bryan was on administrative leave, so he shouldn’t have access to any resources to track them.

Theoretically. Depending on how loyal his buddies were.

Calvert walked with him. “I don’t know Bryan Jackson well, but I’ve heard he’s got a vicious temper. IA’s looking into him too, now.”

“He tries to mess with us, he’ll find he’s got a fight on his hands.

How do we get out the back door?” The detective gave him instructions. He left the detective in the hallway and got Clarisse and Mac. The detective had shown him a picture of Bryan, so he knew what he looked like, but had Bryan seen him with Clarisse?

He got the keys from Mac. “Wait with her by the back door. I’ll bring the car around. Be ready to jump into the backseat with her and get down,” he whispered.

Clarisse was too out of it to pay attention, her fear in control, flight instincts ready to trigger at any second.

Sully paused at the front entrance before walking out the door. He scanned the parking lot, noticed no other cars nearby with people in them. Walking quickly, he got in the rental and pulled out of the parking lot. He drove a few blocks away from the station, noticed no one following him, then doubled-back from a different direction and pulled into the official lot. Mac and Clarisse hurried out and jumped into the backseat. Mac pushed her down while Sully quickly headed in the opposite direction of the hotel.

They were two miles from the station when he told them to sit up.

Clarisse looked near tears again. “He was there, wasn’t he? He saw us?”

Sully glanced in the rearview mirror. “I don’t think he saw us.”

“But he was there?” she asked again, near hysterics, her voice tight.

Mac pulled her close. “Honey, listen. He’s not getting you. Don’t worry.”

“You guys are leaving,” Sully said. “As soon as we get back to the hotel. I want you to take the long way home.”

* * *

Two hours later, Bryan realized they’d managed to leave without him seeing. He swore and hit his steering wheel.

Fuck it.

He returned to the station and entered through the back door.

Calvert frowned when he saw him.

“What are you doing here, Jackson? You’re on leave.”

“I have a right to know what’s going on.”

“You get your ass out of here before I find something to throw you in jail for. You want to know what’s going on? Have your attorney find out.” He glared. “I don’t know what happened to the original file, but thankfully we retrieved the data. I’m sure you and your cousins had something to do with that. Believe me, once this case is handled, we will be looking into that. I personally don’t give a shit who your father is.”

Bryan fought the urge to slug the guy. He’d been a cop for ten years. This guy had only been with the department for two years after moving from Pittsburgh. A goody-two-shoes who did everything by the rules.

He turned and left. Now he had to find out where she was. He called his attorney.

They packed fast. Clarisse’s heart raced, terrified. Mac went to use the bathroom, leaving her alone with Sully. He caught her hand and pulled her to him.