Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

Rising to take its place was lust, simple yet potent.
    She framed his face with her hands. ‘You’re here,’ she said fiercely. ‘Right now, that’s a lot. More than I’ve ever had. And right now, what I need.’
    ‘And later?’
    The way he looked at her gave her the courage to speak when she might otherwise have faltered. ‘You make me greedy, Joseph,’ she whispered. ‘You make me want more than I need.’
    His eyes flashed, hungry, but his movements were slow. Precise. He bent his head, kissing the pulse point of her left wrist, then her right, never taking his gaze from hers. It was simple. And very potent. He took her breath away.
    ‘I think we need to work on your definition of “want” and “need”. And “greed”.’ His voice dipped, each word a feather-light caress that made her skin feel way too tight. ‘And we will. Later.’ He rose in a single powerful movement, capturing her hands in his and tugging her to her feet. ‘Now, we drive.’
    Wednesday, December 4, 8.20 A.M.
    Finally . The Fed was driving Miss Daphne away in his Escalade, another Fed covering his back, while the others waved goodbye. Mitch took one last look at his handiwork on the barn wall before lowering his binoculars.
    He’d expected the message to be discovered by whoever did the morning feeding. He never expected it would be discovered by Daphne herself. Amazing luck, fantastic show, and well worth the loss of one cow.
    The Fed’s black Escalade should be passing this way soon. Once it had, the coast would be clear for him to head back home. Any time now he’d be getting a frantic call from his brother Mutt about the guns that were found in the houses Millhouse and Odum had purchased with Reggie’s defense fund. Mutt and his daddy would soon be very unhappy because they’d do a check on the books and see that somebody had been skimming guns from the deliveries.
    Mutt’s father would be blamed and Mitch doubted his stepfather’s Russian boss would leave the old man alive.
    Mitch would pay good money to see the old man’s face once he realized he’d been set up. He’ll blame me, like he does for everything . Only this time, he’ll be right .
    Of course, what Mitch most wanted to see would be Daphne’s face when Ford gave her his message. I’m back . Did you miss me?
    He heard the low roar of the Fed’s Escalade as it passed by, followed by the quieter unmarked sedan. I’m good to go .
    He walked through the woods to where he’d left his black van. He’d have to retire it now. He’d only planned to store it for a while, once the Feds found the Millhouses’ gun stash. But after that woman he’d had to kill in the parking garage . . .
    Shit . He did hate waste. It was a perfectly good vehicle.
    Hagerstown, Maryland, Wednesday, December 4, 9.55 A.M.
    It was at times like this that Joseph was very happy to have an SUV with four-wheel drive. Western Maryland had received four inches of snow the night before and the roads were slick. It would be even worse once they got to the higher elevations.
    Flying Daphne to West Virginia would have been faster and safer from a security standpoint, but after she hit her head the day before, her doctor friend at the ER had nixed air travel for another twenty-four hours.
    At least he had them covered. Hector drove behind them, watching for any speeding vehicles that came too close. Kate Coppola was leading the investigation at Daphne’s farm, checking out Cooper’s medicine cabinet. When she was done, she would follow them up to West Virginia with Daphne’s mother and Maggie and the dog. Joseph felt better when Daphne had Tasha around.
    He himself was well armed and he’d had the SUV outfitted with bullet-resistant glass when he’d bought the thing. Still, he’d felt nervous until they’d reached the more open road west of Baltimore. Now he wasn’t so much nervous as watchful.
    He’d spent the last hour touching base with each member of his team. He’d started by informing Ciccotelli that Ford had been found and where. Ciccotelli had informed him that the MacGregors had still received no word, no calls, no communication regarding their missing daughters. A search of MacGregor’s veterinary hospital had shown several boxes of missing fentanyl and injectable ketamine, as well as other controlled substances.
    Joseph had called Deacon to West Virginia. He wanted him coordinating with the Pittsburgh office in the investigation. He wanted to know where the hell