Excerpt
“I have to go back.”

“Back? To Massachusetts?” she asked, he nodded. The look in his eyes said the rest. She knew exactly what this was about, her stomach twisted. Storm’s big regret. The one thing that still haunted him and occasionally gave him nightmares. Something important enough for him to leave without a word. “What happened?” Storm frowned. That meant he wasn’t answering the question, so she took a different approach. “How long will you be gone?”

“Don’t know. We’ll work as fast as we can.”

“Chuck?” she surmised, confirmed by his slight wince. “He sent the Code Blue?”

Storm nodded.

“How can you be sure you can trust him with this? And for that matter, why can’t you tell me, it’s not like we haven’t talked about it before.”

“He was my superior and former partner…he knows the details, and if I tell you more now you’ll just become a target too.”

“Target?”

“Fuck,” he spat and covered his face. “Stop asking me questions, Veronica. I’m begging you.”

Conflicted, but determined to get through to him, she approached, ran her fingers through his hair and waited for him to look up. He didn’t meet her eyes so she tipped his chin. “Tell me.”

“The stolen evidence that I was charged with taking? It was taken by this cop, Todd Jackson. He was ready to turn himself in…clear my name just like that and wham! Dead.”

“Oh, God.” She stepped back, watched Storm’s face harden, felt shudders climb up her spine. Way more serious than she imagined. After surviving a kidnapping—or three, she thought she had nerves of steel. Not quite. She’d be a fool not to fear someone slick enough to manipulate then take out a dirty cop and make Storm run for the hills.