“Okay, Flynn,” she exhaled, her voice shaky.  “But that’s all.  You stay away from me afterward.” When she stalked past him, he stood rooted to the ground, as he allowed her scent to die away and her words to penetrate.

His request to officially join the task force had been denied, which meant, once he handed her over to the task force, there would be no official need for him to see her. The thought of that didn’t sit well with him.

As she moved to the passenger side of the car, and he still hadn’t moved, she turned to look at him.  “Do I have to drive myself?”

Shaking his head, he said, “No way.” And headed toward her.

As she slid into the car and got situated, Flynn closed the door behind her.  Get her in and out, then take her home and get the hell out of Dodge.

As he put the key into the ignition, she shot him a questioning look.  “No way as in you don’t think I could drive this baby, or no way, I’m ego man so I have to drive?”

“No way, as in you don’t have a driver’s license.”

“How’d you know that?”

He grinned.  “FBI.”

“You looked me up!”

Putting the car into gear, he backed up, made a sharp turn, and headed for the street.  “Of course I did.  That’s my job.”

“Your job is to look up every woman you have sex with?”

“No, my job is to look up every woman who tries to drug me for blackmail purposes.”

Folding her arms across her chest, she huffed back into the seat.

“You Googled me,” he said calling her out. “Turnabout is fair play.”

“Whatever.”

Flynn grinned again, happy they were back to a more amicable tone.  “You look cute when you pout.”

“Shut up.”

He laughed and turned onto O’Farrell.

“Who are these people we’re going to see at the Federal Building?”

“All you need to know is that I’m introducing you to a group of individuals who, through their efforts in another arena, may be able to help you locate your sister.”

“Your FBI buddies?”

“I can’t tell you too much, Pink, so don’t ask.”

“Why not?  I admitted trying to drug you and why. I told you about my sister.”

He glanced at her, all humor gone.  “Because if you were tortured or beaten into revealing sensitive information, lives could be lost.”

“Who would torture or beat me?” she asked, her voice shaking.

“No one, if I have anything to do about it.”  He meant it, too.  Her continued association with the club was bullshit. “I told you, you’re working for dangerous people. I wasn’t lying.  You need to allow the authorities to handle what’s going on there and stay clear of  Surf’s Up.”

She shook her head vehemently.

Damn stubborn woman.

“I told you, I have an in the authorities don’t have. I won’t give up until I have Alex home safe and sound. Besides, the ‘authorities’ don’t even know to care about Alex because she hasn’t been reported missing!”

There was that.  Again, it made no sense to Flynn.  “Why would your father not report her missing?”

She shrugged, but answered candidly. “Probably because she’s become a blight on the Chastain name.  He’s probably happy she’s not working the strip club anymore.”

“Maybe he made sure she didn’t resurface?”

Pink gasped and looked over at him, wide-eyed. “He’s up for reelection next year!”  She chewed her bottom lip and shook her head.  “But he loves Alex.  I could understand him wanting to get rid of me, but not Alex.”  As soon as she said the words, he saw the color leach from her face.

“What is it?” he urged.  Something had triggered in her mind and she was obviously unwilling to share it. That meant trouble.

“I—um, I’m not sure.”

They entered an underground parking lot.  Flynn badged the guard, then slid his ID card through the terminal.  The metal gates swung slowly open. Driving through and up to the second level, Flynn parked in his usual spot, reserved for when he had business in the city.

As he helped Pink out of the car, her hand was trembling.  The urge to pull her into his arms and tell her it was going to be okay was strong.  When her body naturally gravitated to his, he reached for her.  But she shook whatever it was off and pushed away from him.

“Tell me what you’re not sure about,” he quietly urged.

Her face scrunched as indecision and fear played out across her features.

“Trust me to help you,” he said softly.

Nodding, as if coming to a decision, she looked up at him, determination written all over her lovely face. “This morning at the bus stop, a white van came racing around the corner from my house, it drove up on the sidewalk, and gunned straight for me. I jumped out of the way. Right after that the bus pulled up. By then the van had circled and drove by the bus.”

With a calm he did not feel, Flynn asked, “Did you report it to the bus river?”

“Yes, he didn’t see anything.  I called nine-one-one, but it just rang. By the time we got to BART, it was still ringing. I hung up and just as I did the van pulled up facing us.  I made a run for the train, hoping to find a cop. But there wasn’t one to be found.”

“Did the driver come after you?”

“No, thank God.”

“Did you get a license plate?  A description of the driver and the van?”

Nodding, she took her phone from her purse and showed him the pictures she’d taken from the BART train.  They weren’t great, but they were good enough to determine the make and possibly the model and year.  “There was no license plate, and the driver was wearing a ball cap and sunglasses.”

“Forward that to me as well as the bus route. I can have BART PD check the cameras.  I think they store footage for more than twenty-four hours.”  After she texted him the photo, he asked, “Has anything like this happened before?”

When she told him about the motorcycle incident and being followed home, his anger mushroomed.

Flynn said very slowly, “Did you report either of those incidents?”

“No, I just figured the motorcycle incident was bad timing on my part.  As far as the guy following me, I told Andre. He said he’d keep an eye out when I left each night.  It hasn’t happened again.”

“And yet, despite all of that, you went to the club today?”

“I needed my tips and I thought it might be a good chance to get into Boris’s office.”

Flynn stopped her in their tracks.  Grabbed her by the arms and lowered his face to hers. “You’re a target now.  If you want to stay alive, you don’t invite trouble.”

“Target?”

“Yes.  Especially now that Andre lured you into committing a crime with the promise of information.”

“But I don’t have a video.  He can’t prove anything.”

“He doesn’t have to, Pink. Don’t think for one minute he’s going to let you off the hook.  You made a video once, he’s going to find a way to force you to make another one if you go back.”

“I have to go back. I can’t just stop what I’ve started.”

Taking her elbow, Flynn steered her toward an elevator.  “We’ll see about that.”

Chapter Eighteen

As they entered a conference room on the thirteenth floor, Flynn braced himself.  Justin looked up from his laptop and grinned as Pink preceded him into the room. If he made one comment about her tits, Flynn was going to flatten him.

“Nice to see you again, Miss—?” he said, extending his hand as he stood.

“Fuentes,” Pink replied, extending her hand and firmly shaking his.  The other men and one woman in the room looked up the minute she spoke. Her sweet breathless voice tugged at Flynn’s gut and made his dick throb.  “It’s nice to see you again, too, Justin.”

Justin grinned like an idiot, looking everywhere but Pink’s chest.  Inwardly, Flynn shook his head.  Releasing her hand, Justin stepped back and glanced around the room. As he did, Pink stood quietly, chin up, and with a soft smile said, “Hello, boys.” Then nodded to Sonia Jackson, the only female on the task force.  “Ma’am.”