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She turned away, walking again, hands in fists. Sanger
sighed.

“You’ve got three more days to get the evidence you want,”
he said. “Then I take King in, whether I have to pull rank to do it or not.”

: : :
: : : : : : :

Elliot heard the door to his room open softly, and he
jumped. Panic – a close companion these last weeks – had his heart thudding
painfully hard. His eyes widened at what he saw. A woman in her mid-twenties,
stood next to the bed. She had long dark hair spilling out from under a red
knit cap, her nose pink from cold.

“Hey,” she said. “Are you Elliot? I’m Indigo.”

Elliot nodded nervously. He didn’t trust anyone anymore. Not
after what’d happened.

Indigo pulled a chair out from the wall, bringing it up next
to the bed.

“Can I?” she asked.

Elliot shrugged and she sat down.

“You used to live with Jude Alden,” she said. “He was a
friend of yours, right?”

Elliot glared at her. So it was
this
again. He’d been
visited by at least five different people the last weeks in the hospital; even
more since he’d been transferred to this floor. Some he actually thought might
be trustworthy. Others, he didn’t have any doubt in his mind were the mob. His
muteness, once a curse, was now a blessing. He never had to speak, and so he
didn’t.

“Jude and I,” Indigo continued. “We um, we used to be…
together
.”
Her voice broke on the last word. “He’s been missing for a couple weeks.”

Elliot made an inadvertent noise of surprise and Indigo
moved closer.

“No one told you?”

Elliot shook his head. His mother had been inexplicably
silent on the matter, and since Elliot refused to talk, there’d been no way to
actually
ask
why Jude no longer visited. The last time he’d been at the
hospital, Elliot had still been in the trauma ward.

“Look,” Indigo said. “I’m sorry to do this.” She pulled her
hat off, staring at it in her hands instead of looking at him as she spoke. “I
was at Jude’s apartment one night, and he got a call from Marq, and he left…”
She glanced up. “And no one’s seen him since.”

“Wha…?” Elliot mumbled. He tried to form his mouth into a
question, but his tongue, swollen and clumsy, wouldn’t work. He made a hissing
sound, gesturing angrily to the side. Indigo stood up, peering across the
cluttered cabinet.

“The iPad?” she asked.

“Unh-hunh,” Elliot mumbled.

She handed it to him, and Elliot flicked it on, fear making
every second of delay feel like an hour. With the text program open, he began
to type. His fingers were no longer splinted, but they were stiff, and
unwieldy. Two stuck out at an odd angle. He tapped out his message, wincing as
one finger began to throb.

Has anyone told the police?

He held the screen out to Indigo.

“Yes!” she said, eyes wide. “I told them last Monday. I’d
texted Jude a couple times on the weekend, and never got an answer. In class on
Monday, he didn’t come to hang out with me at break. After class, Lissa – his
boss – stopped by to ask if I’d seen him. Jude hadn’t come to work that day
either.” She chewed her lower lip. “So I popped by his apartment and it was
still unlocked, the way I left it. So I went to the police.”

What did they say?

“They asked me to file a missing person’s report, and they
told me they’d look into it.” Indigo frowned. “I called a couple times
afterward, but no one would tell me anything other than the case was open. When
I came by the apartment again, it’d been closed up. The super wouldn’t tell me
anything at all.”

Elliot leaned toward Indigo, his hand gesturing in
frustration. He struggled to speak, finally moving back to his tablet.

Does Marq know what happened?

“That’s the thing!” she cried. “Marq’s gone too. No one
seems to know anything, and I just…” She took a ragged breath, blinking
rapidly. “I need to know what’s going on!” Indigo leaned closer, her voice
dropping. “That’s why I came here,” she said. “I… I need you to help me find
him.”

Elliot nodded to the window, his words coming out in a
confusing murmur. Indigo shook her head, and he typed another message, lifting
it toward her. His face was white and terrified.

There’s a black car with tinted windows outside on the
street. It’s been there since the day I came to the trauma ward. When I was
moved to the Rehab Center, the car moved too. There are people watching me.
They might be listening now.

Indigo stood up, her gaze going down to the snowy scene
below. There, as Elliot had said, was the car. Indigo gasped in horror. Elliot
reached out, bumping her with the tablet.

She stared at it for a moment, then reached down, and typed
her question.

Who is it, Elliot?

Elliot shrugged.

I don’t know. But they’re watching me for a reason.

Indigo’s face crumpled. She reached out for the tablet
again, with shaking fingers.

Jude’s dead, isn’t he?

Elliot stared at her words for a long time before answering.

I don’t know. I mean, Jude was messing around in
something illegal. If he got picked up by the police, he’d get a call. He’d
have a lawyer. You’d KNOW.
Elliot’s fingers sat motionless on the tablet
for a few seconds. With a sigh, he typed in the rest.
That means he’s either
dead, or someone’s got him.

He held it out to Indigo, and she surged up from the chair
as if she’d been bitten. Her eyes were wild, her hand pressed up against her
mouth again.

“My god, no!” she yelped, backing away.

She grabbed her hat off the chair, pulling it onto her head
and sprinting toward the door. Elliot struggled to sit up, newly-knitted ribs
twinging.

“Wha..?!” he shouted, the single word, almost clear.

“If that’s true,” Indigo hissed. “I know who has him!”

: : :
: : : : : : :

Fran stood in her office, the phone pressed to her ear.

“What’s the news?” Nathan asked, his voice buzzing on the
secure connection.

Fran had known Nathan since he’d first joined the undercover
unit. It had taken him years to get into a position of trust, and the potential
of losing him bothered Fran more than she cared to consider. But you didn’t
abandon a plan at the last second. If they did that, every officer they’d ever
lost to this cartel would have given their lives for nothing.

She’d seen too many of those in her time in charge.

“We’re getting close,” Fran replied. “Everyone’s in
position. Are you ready to move when I tell you?”

“Ready and waiting, Commissioner,” he said. “You just give
the word.”

Nathan’s voice had lost the scholarly inflection it’d once
had. Now it had the guttural burr of the streets. Fran wondered if he’d ever
really
be the same after this. If any of them would.

 “You have a plan to get out?” she asked.

“Don’t worry about me,” Nathan said with a cold laugh. “But when
your guys come in, tell them to watch for the people around King. They’re just
as guilty as he is.”

Fran’s eyes moved over to the open file on her desk. Images
of Gina Cerritos, Rocco Cerritos, missing and presumed dead, Luca Brin and many
others, cluttered the surface.

“Oh, we’ll be watching them,” she said bitterly. “There’s a
power-shift brewing. Someone’s getting ready to make a move.”

“King doesn’t trust anyone,” Nathan warned. “You’ll need
solid evidence to take him down.”

Fran’s jaw clenched, the argument with Sanger fresh in her
mind.

“Don’t worry about my job,” she growled. “Just do your own
and keep yourself alive!”

Nathan chuckled, and for just a second, he was the cadet she
remembered.

“Yes, Commissioner. I’ll do my best.”

: : :
: : : : : : :

Indigo wore a narrow black dress topped by a velvet jacket,
a string of pearls around her throat. Her hair was loose and long, stiletto
heels adding inches to her height. Luca had a thing for models, and that night as
Indigo walked into The Vault, she knew she looked the part.

Heads turned as she crossed the room, her heavy purse
swinging against her hip, the only thing detracting from her outfit. Indigo
smiled and nodded at the doorman before heading toward the table at the back.
She didn’t know for certain that Luca’d be there, but it was Friday night, and
she figured it was as good a bet as any. Laughter rose from the secluded booth,
and Indigo’s throat tightened. As she’d hoped, Luca and his suits were there, a
gun and a pile of cash on the table between them.

“I
thought
it was you!” one of the waitresses called.
Indigo waved, but didn’t slow, her eyes on Luca. “Great to see you, Indigo!”
someone shouted.

Luca’s eyes jumped up at the sound of Indigo’s name. She
came forward the last few steps, lips curling into a cat’s smile. Luca’s mouth
opened, his gaze dropping down the length of her, and then back up. She raised
an eyebrow as he caught her eyes, her attention entirely on him. Luca liked it
that way.

“Indigo, baby,” he breathed. “You came!”

She swept her hair away from her face, angling her pelvis
forward, hand on hips. Like the blush, and eyeliner, it was done for effect.
Indigo’d practiced this in the mirror for hours when she’d first come to work
at the club. Everything was about sex, and she excelled at the sale of it.

“I told you I would,” she said with a petulant moue, “and I
did.” She reached out, straightening Luca’s collar. “I had to wait ‘til I had a
little time on my hands.” She nodded to the booth. “May I? Or are you boys too
busy?”

“Of course you can sit down!” He shoved sideways and she
slid in next to him. “I’m just surprised to see you tonight.”

“Didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten about you,” Indigo
purred.

Her fingers trailed down the line of his shoulder, and he
caught her hand, biting the pad of her thumb.  Indigo tugged just enough
that he knew she wanted to get away. When he released her, she leaned closer.
Luca liked the chase, and she needed him to want her tonight.

“I’d never forget you,” he growled. “You know that.”

Under the tablecloth, his hand slid up her leg, squeezing
just a little too hard. Indigo giggled and squirmed, fighting a wave of
revulsion.
‘Don’t think about Rocco,
’ her mind screamed.
‘Think about
Jude!’
She glanced at the men at the table; they were staring at the
display, faces flushed with alcohol and anticipation. Indigo leaned closer to
Luca, her hand brushing over his shoulders as she put her mouth to his ear.

“Any chance we could go someplace a little more…
private?”

Luca groaned as his fingers slid past the edge of her dress
and higher, kneading her inner thigh.

“Gimme a minute,” he grunted.

Luca reached out, lifting the gun from the table and
dropping it into his pocket. With the other hand, he scraped up the cash,
tucking it inside his lapel. Indigo stood, her body strung taut with anxiety.
Her eyes moved around the group, pausing on each man. The only one who held her
gaze was Patel. Furious, he glared at her until her gaze moved on.

 “You ready?” Luca asked.

Indigo wiped her sweaty hands, pretending to be smoothing
out her dress.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she drawled, taking his
proffered arm.

If anyone knew where Jude Alden was, it’d be Luca.

Luca’s apartment hadn’t changed. The leather furniture, wood
floors, and framed black and white photographs lent a sense of gentility Luca
himself lacked, but the decor gave Indigo no comfort. Her attention kept
drifting to the spot on the floor where Luca’d finally cut Rocco’s body from
the chair, the corpse falling with a wet thud to the tarp below. She took a
sharp breath through flared nostrils, forcing the image away.

Remembering
that
wasn’t going to help a bit.

 Luca’d been impatient in the car, groping her as he’d driven
home. She was relieved he wasn’t using a driver, or she was certain her plan
would have ended with a quick fuck in the backseat. As it was, Indigo calmly
headed for his bedroom, setting her purse on the floor and leaning down to
unzip the bag. Luca came in behind her, groaning at the sight she presented,
ass in the air. He ran his fingers over the curve of her hip, tracing her
shape, and Indigo stood back up, pulling away from him.

“Patience,” she said with a coy wink. “You’ll like this more
if you relax.”

“I’ll like it just fine like this,” Luca said, watching her
with hooded eyes.

She leaned down again, pulling a narrow riding quirt from
the bag and tossing it onto the four-poster bed. Next she took out a feather
boa and a hand-held vibrator, hoping she’d remembered his particular interests.
From the look on his face, she had. Luca reached out, tugging her against the
hard line of his erection, but she shooed him away.

“Get yourself ready,” she purred, holding still so he could
kiss her and forcing herself
not
to remember Jude. “And I’ll make it
worth your while.”

Luca tugged off his clothes with impatience, flopping down
on the bed like an oversized child, and putting his hands behind his head.
Indigo peeked over at his body, heavily muscled chest leading down to corded
legs, and then back at the bag. She reached out, turning down the lights until
the room was in hazy twilight, setting a few more toys on the side tables, and
then coming back around to the bed where he lay. Luca reached out, grabbing her
by the wrist, and dragging her forward.

“You’re wasting time,” he growled.

Indigo giggled, forcing the fear away.

“I’m getting ready,” she said, pressing a gentle kiss to his
lips. “It’ll be worth it. I promise.”  

He groaned, releasing her and she stood up again, legs
shaking. Indigo reached for the mp3 player next to the bed, flicking through
Luca’s playlists until she found one named ‘Indigo’. She winced. That’d been
one
she’d
put together for him, back when she’d serviced him as often as
anyone else. The playlist was the rest of his fantasy with her: the woman of
the world. She clicked play and the soft lull of classical music filled the
room. Tonight, she left the music playing a little too loud, but if Luca
noticed, he didn’t complain. She stood, backing away from the bed, and began to
undress.