Twisted and Tied (Marshals 4)

“Where’s Cody now?”

“He’s with Ned and his mother,” she explained and then continued on, talking to me using so much legalese that I couldn’t even follow her. Clearly she was speaking to me like I was a colleague and not her friend.

“Min, tell me again and use small words.”

In the midst of her freaking out about Janet, she took a breath. “Okay, sorry, honey, I’m just—you know.”

“I know.”

“Okay, so, I filed for a court order to stop what Ned was doing with Janet at the hospital, and the restraining order had to be approved and served to make the baby legally Janet’s until this gets straightened out. I did that all yesterday, and it was in fact approved, but it was too late to be served by the court, you understand?”

“Yes.”

“So it’s all good, there’s just no one there to serve it on a Saturday.”

“Right. So did you send me a copy?”

“Yes. I emailed it to you, so print it out and get on a plane. I don’t want her in there any longer than she needs to be. She’s probably losing her fucking mind.”

“Course.”

“I’ll be in Chicago tomorrow morning. That’s the quickest I can get there because I’m in goddamn Puerto Vallarta instead of where I should be at home with Jensen!”

There was no time to ask. She was probably doing something for work, meeting a client or something else, but whatever it was, I suspected she wouldn’t ever do it again.

“It’s fine. Try not to worry. I’ll take care of it.”

“I know you will, I know,” she said frantically. “It’s just when Janet called me yesterday, I—she was hysterical, and I—I know she called me because I’m the lawyer, right, and I couldn’t fix it right away, and if she’d called you or Ian, I just—”

“It wouldn’t have been any better,” I assured her. “And there was no way she could have gotten hold of me yesterday. I was dealing with my own shit.”

“Yeah, no, sure—I—”

“Min, sweetie, you’re doin’ awesome.”

She took a quick breath. “Okay, so, listen, Catherine will meet you there at the hospital. She left Manhattan about ten minutes ago.”

“Leaving now.”

“Listen to me,” she said solemnly, and I heard the tears in her voice. “You do not let them keep her or that baby, do you understand me?”

“Yes.”

“Aruna should be there to get you and Ian in twenty minutes. Shower, shave, wear your suits, take your badges, get it done.”

In the middle of something this scary, I was struck by her absolute faith in not only me, but Ian too.

“Min—”

“Put Ian on the phone, please.”

Turning, I found him growling, obviously annoyed at whatever his call had been about.

“So that was my father on the phone, and he doesn’t think that the deal Stafford and I worked out for Lorcan is good enough, and he—Miro? What’s wrong?”

“Min wants to talk to you,” I said, holding my phone out for him.

“What’s wrong?” he repeated gruffly.

I jiggled the phone, and he grabbed it from me.

“Hello?”

He listened while I ran around and got into the shower. Even under the water, I heard him yelling.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

I left the water on so Ian could get in right after, and as soon as I stepped out, he went in, slamming the shower door behind him.

“I’ll fuckin’ kill him.”

Meaning Ned, of course.

The doorbell rang, and I raced downstairs in only a towel to meet Aruna, who was there with Liam, holding Sajani’s hand.

“Minnow!” Sajani greeted me cheerfully, holding up her arms. Miro was not in her vocabulary, but the name of a small fish was.

Frickin’ kid.

Scooping her up, I carried her inside as Chickie barreled around the couch and up to me because I had his prize.

“Chickie!” she squealed, contorting in my arms to get down to be with him.

As soon as I set the tiny bird-boned toddler down, she opened her arms and wrapped them around Chickie’s muzzle. It should have been scary—he could have eaten her in one bite, maybe two—but instead it was sweet because her trust was complete and his protection unlimited. He’d stand between her and anything.

“Why are you not ready?” Aruna asked me irritably. “We’ve got a plane to catch.”

I was surprised. “She bought plane tickets?”

“This is Min,” she reminded me as Ian pounded down the stairs. “Of course she bought plane tickets.”

“Ian!” Sajani announced loudly, almost shrill.

“How come she can say Ian?” I questioned Aruna.

“I’m sure I have no idea,” she answered, clearly bored with the topic.

“Here’s what I think—”

“Hey. You take care of my girl,” Liam said seriously, patting my bare shoulder before hooking the nylon leash, made out of the same stuff people used when they went mountain climbing, to Chickie’s collar. “I’ve got your dog.”

Ian leaned in, hugged Liam, kissed Sajani, and then bolted for the kitchen to grab keys and probably see if he could get one cup of coffee in before we had to go.