“We aren’t going to just hide and wait for the cops to catch Jagger, right?” Noah asked, the disgust filling his voice making it clear that he didn’t even see that as an option. The former Ranger wasn’t the type to sit idly by, which made him dating Rowe so fucking dangerous because Rowe never sat still.
All eyes in the room turned to the cop. He flashed them a wide grin as he sat back, releasing Ian’s hand.
“What? Are we going to suddenly pretend that you don’t have your own little hackers digging into private databases and accessing police records? Or that one of you here didn’t disappear the man who put Andrei in the hospital? Or the endless amount of other shady shit that you’re all so tight-lipped about?”
“Stop. It’s me,” Ian said, jerking Hollis’s narrowed gaze from Lucas to Ian’s pale face. “Me. They’ve done it all to protect me. I’m the one who forced them onto the wrong side of Jagger and Dwight Gratton.”
“Anything we’ve done that might be…questionable,” Lucas hedged, “we did it to protect our family.”
Hollis nodded. “Yeah, I get that.”
“And what?” Snow snapped. “That’s it?”
“What did you expect, Mr. ‘I need a ride to get my car’?” Hollis taunted, referring to the time Snow had convinced him to check out a place that just happened to have the car that Dwight Gratton ditched. The same car that had caused the wreck that killed Rowe’s wife and nearly killed Ian. Hollis snorted and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s it,” he said but didn’t sound happy about it. “I’ve tried playing by the rules. I’m a good cop. An honest cop. But honest might not be enough to keep people safe, and that’s not good enough for me.”
“Then you’re with us?” Lucas asked. He knew he sounded shocked, but there was no helping it. He knew Hollis was a good cop because he’d asked Rowe to do some digging on the man. If he was going to get anywhere near Ian, they had to know the man wasn’t a total bastard. He just hadn’t expected him to offer to help them possibly cross some lines. Lucas’s gaze shifted to Ian who was staring at the hand that was once again holding Hollis’s. Then again, maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised.
“I’ve learned that’s better than being against you.”
“Really? You’ll help us take down Jagger and free the kids?” Ian asked.
“Kids?” Jude stepped around Snow, drawing closer to Ian. “What kids?”
Ian motioned toward Hollis with his free hand. “He said they got Jagger on drugs. That means you didn’t get his latest batch of kids, right?”
“How do you know he’s got kids hidden somewhere?” Hollis asked. “We haven’t managed to find evidence to prove it.”
Ian took a step away from Hollis, suddenly looking anywhere but at the cop. “I…I thought…”
“No, we think he does, but we can’t find shit.” Hollis took Ian’s hand in both of his and Lucas fought the urge to grab the cop. “We can’t break his codes. And because I’ve obviously lost my mind, I’m going to share some key information. We know he was working something with colors—white, golden, blue, and red. But we don’t know what it means.”
“I don’t know about the colors, but between auctions, I know that he always held the kids in a secret location as he lined up buyers and other details. But I never knew where he kept them. I just know they’re out there.” Ian looked over his shoulder at Lucas. “I’m not leaving anyone behind when we get Jagger. Not this time.”
Snow stepped up behind Ian and wrapped his arms around the young man’s shoulders from behind. “We’re not. I promise.”
“I’ll call Gidget,” Rowe said, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “I know she wouldn’t mind seeing Jagger permanently put out of business, particularly after what happened to her son. I’ll get her looking into this color code and anything else she can dig up. If anyone can find those kids, it’s Gidget.”
“But wouldn’t it be better if she’s using her skills to track him down?” Noah asked.
“No,” Andrei said before Rowe could reply. “We don’t need Gidget looking for him because he’s going to come to us.”
Hollis closed his eyes and shook his head. “Damn, ponytail. I’m getting a really bad feeling about whatever you’re thinking.” Lucas really didn’t want to agree with the cop, but in this instance, he had to.
“Banner thinks Jagger is going to stay in town to kill you guys off rather than run,” Andrei began. He pushed away from the window and stepped farther into the room with his hands shoved into his pockets. “Then if we’re going to get a shot at Jagger, we need to control his opportunities to make an attempt. The more of you that remain in town, the more opportunities he has.”