Неизвестный - 4. Justice In The Shadows

“Who?” Rebecca’s heart raced. Name. Just give me a name.

“Not who, yet,” Sloan advised. “But I’ve got where. It came from a computer in the District Attorney’s office.”

“A name,” Rebecca said quietly. “I need a name.”

Sloan and Jason spoke simultaneously. “We’ll get you one.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“What’s that?” Sandy mumbled, pulling the thin blanket over her head and burrowing deeper into Mitchell’s side.

“Shit! My beeper.” Mitchell jumped from the bed and almost fell over Sandy’s platform sandals. “Mitchell,” she said after a few seconds. “Uh-huh. Okay…sure.” She put the phone down and stood up, dizzy with fatigue and hunger. “I gotta get over to Sloan’s.”

“Now?” Sandy’s voice was muffled by the pillow over her head.

“First I gotta shower. I smell like I spent the night in the drunk tank.”

Sandy stumbled into the bathroom in Mitchell’s wake and crowded into the tiny shower stall with her. Eyes closed, she put her arms around Mitchell from behind and rested her cheek against her back. “Fuck, Dell, you worked all night.”

“Yeah,” Mitchell muttered as she let the spray hit her in the face. The water was still cold and the warmth of Sandy’s body felt good against hers.

“Frye there?”

“I dunno.” Mitchell doused her whole head in the lukewarm water. “Why?”

“I wanna talk to her.”

“You got something?” Mitchell asked, waking up quickly now.

Sandy stood with her head back, eyes closed, desultorily working up the lather in her short blond hair. “Maybe.”

“You didn’t say anything last night.”

“We were fucking, remember?” Sandy yawned and edged Mitchell aside to stand under the water.

“Yeah.” Mitchell grabbed her around the waist and kissed her neck. “I recall it was spectacular.”

“It was.” Suds-free, Sandy threw her arms around Mitchell’s neck and kissed her, rubbing her wet skin against Mitchell’s. “Mmm, you feel so good.”

Mitchell tightened her hold, running her tongue over Sandy’s lips and into her mouth. Somehow they ended up against the wall, legs entwined, bucking and groaning and groping each other. Mitchell yanked her head back, panting. “I don’t have time!”

“What?” Sandy gasped unbelievingly. She grabbed Mitchell’s hand and tugged it between her own thighs. “You don’t have a minute? Feel me.” She rocked against Mitchell’s palm. “Come on, baby. Touch me.”

Time lost all meaning as Mitchell eased her fingers into the heat and promise of her lover’s desire. “You’re so beautiful,” she whispered, slowly pushing deeper into the welcoming folds.

Sandy arched her back and threaded her fingers into Mitchell’s hair, claiming her mouth with bruising intensity as the sensation of being filled spread though her belly. Never, never had anything—anyone—touched her like this. “You make me feel so alive,” she whimpered, her hips beginning to lift with the first ripple of orgasm.

Stomach taut, legs trembling, Sandy held on to the one solid thing in her world, helpless to do anything but surrender to the desire she both needed and feared. Slowly, the rolling contractions stopped and she could breathe again. “I’m…like…addicted to you or something. I can’t stop wanting you to do that to me.”

“What?” Mitchell murmured. “Make you come?”

“Uh-uh,” Sandy replied, cupping Mitchell’s breast and toying with her nipple. “Making me come out of my mind.”

“Sandy, honey.” Mitchell laughed shakily, easing Sandy out of the stream of water and backing away. “I have to go.”

“What about you?”

“I’m fine.”

“You are?”

Sandy looked just a little worried, and Mitchell shook her head. “No, I’m stone-hard, and I’d probably come if you touched me for ten seconds, but—”

“But work’s more important?” There was more than a bit of ire in Sandy’s voice. “Right?”

“No, I just can’t come while imagining Frye’s face if I’m any later.”

“Oh.” Sandy reached for a towel. “I can see that. So let’s go already. Jeez.”

When Mitchell got off the elevator with Sandy, the first person she saw was Jason.

“Where’s Sloan?” she asked when Jason swiveled in his chair to greet them.

“Rebecca sent her to bed.”

“Lucky her,” Sandy grumbled, squinting in the bright sunlight. “Jesus, it’s not even noon and we—”

Mitchell coughed and Jason grinned.

“Just get to sleep, did we?” Jason asked archly.

“Who said anything about sleeping?” Sandy tossed back.

“Sandy,” Mitchell groaned.

Jason sighed. “Sorry, Dell, but I need help. Frye wants these backgrounds done yesterday, and I can’t run them all myself.”

“I gotta go talk to Frye,” Sandy announced as she walked away.

Jason and Mitchell mumbled goodbyes, then Jason confided, “Sloan traced a worm back to the DA’s office, so we’re looking at the two ADA’s and the judge for being our inside person.”

“Okay.”

“How did Mitch do last night?”

Mitchell glanced across the room to where Sandy stood talking to Frye. “Depends on how you look at it.”

Jason glanced over and raised an eyebrow. “Things looked pretty good with Kennie and the others.”

“That was fine. It was later.” Mitchell stared straight ahead at the monitor. Data scrolled by, and she watched it, automatically shifting through the figures. “This is between us, right?”

Jason’s eyes grew dark. “Dell, what happened?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly. “We went to Ziggies, which is just what we’d hoped for.”

“And?”

“Too soon to tell.” Mitchell forced a grin. “But I’m set to go out again tonight after your show.”

Jason studied her intently, then looked at the group across the room. Watts was talking, Sandy was gesturing emphatically, and Rebecca was shaking her head in a vehement negative motion. He kept his voice low. “Did you sleep with someone. Is that it?”

“No!” Mitchell glanced at Sandy. “But what if…what if something happens, and I have to do…something?”

“Like sex?”

Mitchell nodded.

“No one expects you to do anything you don’t want to do.” He leaned forward, patted her thigh. “Draw a line, Dell. Whatever you can live with.”

“What if I get pushed into a corner, and I have to go along to save my cover?” she asked miserably. “Jesus, Jase—I think Sandy would kill me.”

He laughed. “I think you’re right. Maybe Mitch had better keep that kind of thing just between us boys.” He looked up. “Speaking of Sandy, here comes the team.”

“Time to talk,” Rebecca announced. “Sandy has a proposition.”

Mitchell rose, a question on her lips, but Sandy walked by without looking in her direction.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Finally,” Rebecca said, “we’ve got a direct link to the porn ring, at least the part making the videos. Now, we need to work this angle as hard as we can.”

As Rebecca outlined the newest plan, Mitchell clamped her jaws tightly together and stared straight ahead. Her hands were balled into tight fists beneath the table and bile churned in her gut. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Letting Sandy work a sting on the guys who were running the live sex videos? It would be like sending a cadet into the front lines of a skirmish. It was crazy. And Mitchell was scared. Scared right down to her toes. If something happens to her…

“The first meet will most likely just be for a talk,” Rebecca continued. “Hopefully Sandy will get a location and a time for the video shoot from that.”