“Dr. Dante, you said yourself, Nash Kelli is dangerous. He’s already killed—”
“Killed people who threatened Luca.” Reese started to sit forward, but the seatbelt held him in place.
“Doesn’t matter. He’s too dangerous to run free.”
“Then contain him.”
“And you think he’ll just walk back into a cell without a fight? I’m not risking any more lives than I have to.” Something like regret flickered through the man’s expression.
“Goddamn it, you should have told me!” Reese kicked the back of the man’s seat.
“And we had no idea what we were going up against.”
“Then you should have said something as soon as you made the decision.” To kill Nash. If Reese was right about some sort of Alpha beta connection, it could kill Luca.
“You’re a smart man, Dr. Dante. Ask yourself, what the hell did you think would happen?”
Anything Reese wanted to say caught in his throat.
Harrington nodded like he had expected Reese’s reaction, then sat back in his seat.
Reese couldn’t let this happen, but he had no idea how to stop it.
Phillips took them over a dozen miles of back roads. They rounded the corner, and the endless stretch of darkness broke under a collage of red and blue police lights and flashlights.
A helicopter sat less than a hundred yards up the road, and a small group of men with dogs waited near one of the patrol cars. Another conglomeration of men wore tactical gear. The cops had collected a few yards away, and the look on their faces said they were not happy.
Phillips pulled up behind a pickup truck and got out.
“Hope you got your galoshes, Dr. Dante.” Harrington opened his door. “’Cause the pissing match is about to begin.”
With any luck, every damn one of them would drown. Reese followed Harrington out.
The military men stood to attention and saluted, and Colonel Harrington returned the gesture.
“Are you the one in charge?” An older cop with wide shoulders stormed over.
“That would be Mrs. Phillips.” Harrington inclined his head at Phillips.
The cop graced her with a look from head to toe, then returned his attention back to Harrington. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but this is our jurisdiction. You have no right—”
Phillips stepped in between the cop and Harrington. With the heels, she had several inches on him. Not that she needed it. “Take your men and leave officer—”
“Sheriff Wilson.”
“Sheriff Wilson, this is now a federal matter.”
“Look, missy, I don’t know—”
She leveled a look at the man. The same look that made Reese’s balls want to crawl into his stomach every time she dropped it on him.
“If you do not get in your cars and leave, I will have you detained under the Homeland Security Act. There will be no trial. There will be no lawyers. And you will remain in a six-by-eight-foot cell that will make your county prison look like the Ritz. Then while you’re rotting away, I will eviscerate every detail of your life, your family, your friends. I will destroy you and everything you hold dear. And there won’t be a fucking thing anyone can do about it.”
Well, there was the answer to Reese’s earlier question.
For a moment, Reese was sure the man was going to open his mouth again. Instead, he stepped out of the way.
Phillips breezed past like he didn’t even exist.