“Hell, no.”
She grabbed his hand and tried to tug him to a stop, but he kept walking and she ended up looking like a child tugging at their parent’s hand. She let him go and followed him out to the car. Colm watched his surroundings carefully, his gaze alert. He opened the passenger door for her, shielding her body as she climbed into the car.
“Why not?” she asked as he started the car. “If you know where this place is, why can’t we go there now?”
He gaped down at her in disbelief. “You cannot be that naïve.”
Tilly ran her fingers through her hair, tugging at it lightly. “Who knows what Miller is going through? We can’t just leave her there.”
“We won’t,” Colm said grimly. “But we’re not going to just barge in there and insist they hand her over. That’s just asking for trouble, and I like my head without a bullet hole in it.”
She gaped at him. “They’d shoot us?”
“There has to be a reason why they lied about your friend. I don’t see them just handing her over with a smile, do you?”
Tilly rubbed her head. “So what do we do?”
“Wait for Rogan to get home and tell him what’s going on.”
“That could be hours!” she protested.
“Call Dylan,” Colm ordered.
“My phone is back at the house.”
Colm sent her a look of disbelief. “Don’t ever leave the house without your cell phone again, understand?”
“You know, you can be really bossy.”
“And you can be naïve and foolish,” he snapped back.
The rest of the drive was in silence. As soon as he parked the car in the garage, she opened the door and jumped out.
“Tilly, wait.” He gently grasped hold of her shoulder. She shrugged him off. “Please.”
She paused.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you. But it’s my job to keep you safe and I take that seriously.”
Tilly turned to look at him. “I know I’m out of my league and I don’t really know what I’m doing. But Miller is in trouble and I need to help her. No matter what she’s done, she’s still my friend.”
“I know, and I admire your loyalty even if I think it’s wasted on your friend. But you can’t just go jumping into things you know nothing about. You can’t say anything about this to anyone else.”
“Why not?” she asked in confusion.
“Because there is more to this than just your friend. Iker lied to Rogan. Rogan’s going to want this handled a certain way and we need to wait for him.”
“Crap.”
“Let’s go inside and call Rogan and Dylan then we’ll know what to do.”
“All right. I’ll wait.” For the moment.
***
Dylan turned off his phone and handed it over to Cillian, who took it with a nod before they walked toward the restaurant. Cillian had parked at the rear of the parking lot.
“This place needs better lighting out here,” Dylan commented.