Thank you all for your patience with the time between chapters! I've been updating my other stories more regularly than this one while I was a little stuck on this chapter. :) I really appreciate the comments and favorites/follows!

Chapter 30

"Don't do this," Kate said, trying not to sound weak. Not to sound scared.

"Don't do what?" Johnny asked, anger evident in every move.

"What's going on with Wes?" she asked, trying to distract him from his anger towards her.

"What's going on with Wes?" Johnny echoed. "He didn't lie to me about being in lock up. He didn't disappear for two days."

"I didn't lie—"

Johnny's fist connected with her face with a thud, Kate staggering backward into the wall. She blinked, trying to get her bearings. The bar spun and she pressed a hand more firmly against the wall, desperate to stay upright.

"I got out in 12 hours. You think I'm going to believe they held you longer than me?"

She should have thought of that. Instead of letting herself be distracted by Carlos. By having a safe place to stay with Frannie. A family around her. She shouldn't have stayed, hiding, at Carlos' parents' home.

"Look, I'm here now," she said. She was there. Back in front of Johnny and paying the price for thinking she could get away for even 48 hours. The unbridled rage on Johnny's face was terrifying. Kate shuffled back a step, but the wall was at her back.

Johnny grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against the wall. Kate cried out and Johnny made a sound of disgust.

"You and Wes both. Liars and traitors. I should have known. Should have known you two would turn on me. The way you look at each other." He spat on the ground.

"Wes doesn't look at me," she said. He hadn't, not since he had been there when she and Johnny had been in a fight and then… Kate swallowed hard, firmed up her jaw, managed to get upright again. Johnny and Wes had both seen her as nothing but a means to an end. Someone to use. To move drugs. To move guns. And then Wes had decided to use her in a different way, to have leverage to hold over Kate. And at the time she had been hurting and lonely and hadn't seen through it.

Johnny lashed out and grabbed her arm in a vise grip. Wheeled her around, away from the wall holding her upright.

Kate bit back a cry of pain.

"You're going to make this up to me," Johnny said. "Prove your loyalty."

Kate swallowed hard, but she didn't agree. Stubborn pride wouldn't let her.

Johnny's fist connected with her face again. Kate fell backward again, her elbow hitting a table on her way to the floor.

Kate pushed herself up, her elbow hurting almost as much as her face.

"I've proven my loyalty for the last four years," she said, not able to keep the snarl from her voice.

"Yeah, to Hux," Johnny said. "To that brat of a kid."

At the reminder of Frannie, Kate stiffened. She forced herself to not push Johnny.

She swallowed hard, even that slight movement hurting her jaw. "What do you want?" she asked. She'd do what she had been doing for four years—whatever Johnny told her.

#

"Sid," Frank said.

Sid paused, letting Abigail and Garret continue out of the office. "Yeah, Boss?"

"Close the door," Frank said. He waited for Gormley to close the door and return to his seat in front of his desk.

Frank tapped a finger idly on his desktop, thinking about what he was about to ask.

"Hey, Boss, if this is about what Baker said, I want you to know—"

"No, nothing like that," Frank said. He looked at the small shadow box on his desk of Joe's badge. He had already permanently lost one child. He stilled his fingers on his desk and met Sid's eyes. "What information do you have on this case the Firearms Investigation Unit is working?"

"Not much. They're keeping this one in house. Playing their cards in close to their vests. They made some arrests a couple nights ago, but they're all out on bail now. No word on what the DA is thinking about the charges."

It wasn't anything that Frank didn't already know. "There was a girl—a young woman—who was caught up with them," Frank said. "What do you know about her?"

Sid's brow knit and he shook his head. "Nothing. I haven't heard a thing about any ladies running with this crew. You want me to find out who she is?"

Frank paused, weighing the situation. He trusted Sid, that was a nonissue. But if he put her name out there, it could open her up to any number of problems. Both from the police, and from the Dimeboys.

"It's going to be important for you to be discreet. For her safety."

"Her safety?" Sid asked.

"No one can know her ties to this department. To her family."

Sid's brow furrowed in confusion. "Who is she?"

Frank took his time, debating saying it out loud. Even though he knew he had really already made the decision. "It's Katie."

Sid's eyebrows lifted nearly to his hairline. "Your Katie?"

She hadn't been his Katie in four years. "My daughter," Frank affirmed.

"Oh wow…"

The gravity of Kate being found, of her being with a gang of gun dealers, and of Frank having to come to Sid for information about her all played across Sid's face, finally settling into resolve.

"You want me to get some information on her? What she's doing?" Sid asked.

Frank appreciated his defacto department chief understanding what Frank needed without it having to be said.

"If she's safe," Frank added. He knew she wasn't. She had already been shot, showed up at the family dinner with bruises. It was clear she wasn't safe. Though, knowing Joe Hill and Carlos Renzulli were undercover with her was a small reassurance. "And make sure her name isn't on any books."

"Sir?" Sid asked.

"She's a CI for a couple of UCs," Frank told him. "But I don't know what name she's using. Or if they have her on the books."

Sid gave a slow nod. "I'll let you know what I find." He stood and left quietly.

Frank sat in the silence of his office. He looked down again at Joe's badge. He couldn't lose Katie. Not again.

#

Carlos pulled into a parking spot down the street from the bar. He and Joe had been waylaid by their sergeant, needing an update on what had happened to throw things off kilter in the gang, why half the men Joe and Carlos had been getting close to had been arrested.

"How's Lacey?" Carlos asked. They hadn't talked, being busy at the precinct filling in their superior. Then silent in the car on the way to the bar.

Joe didn't move to open his door. He shot Carlos a look that said exactly how Lacey was doing. "How about Kate and Frannie?"

Carlos returned the look.

"Yeah," Joe sighed.

Carlos looked at the bar. It never drew a large crowd, and there wasn't any sign of life now, other than the dingy neon over the door.

"We gotta get them out of there," Joe said.

Carlos didn't answer. He knew Joe didn't mean the bar. He meant the life.

"We need to wrap this case up, get ready for arrests that stick. Get Wes and Johnny, Rico—all of them—locked up for good."

"I know," Carlos said. "But we can't rush this," he said, as much for his own benefit as Joe's. "We have to be smart."

Joe heaved a sigh that Carlos felt.

"Let's go get what we need to make it happen," Joe said, yanking open the car door.

Carlos kept an eye out as they approached the bar. Nothing was different. The street was still strewn with garbage, the same homeless man sitting three doors down, wrapped in blankets. Same corner boys down the block.

He let Joe push open the door to the bar first and followed in after him. Like a magnet, his eyes were drawn to the bar. Kate glanced their way in the dim light, then turned away.

The only other person in the bar was a man already half in his cups, hunkered over a bottle in the far corner.

Carlos approached the bar. Kate didn't turn around. Carlos glanced at Joe. Joe's brow furrowed and he shook his head slightly.

"Hey," Carlos said quietly. Kate kept straightening the bottles without acknowledging him.

"I'll go check in with Johnny," Joe said with a last glance at Kate.

Carlos nodded. He looked back over at the patron in the corner. The man didn't look up from his drink.

"Kate," Carlos said quietly, leaning over the bar.

The stiffening of Kate's slim shoulders were the only thing that let Carlos know she heard him.

"Kate," he tried again.

"Do you want something to drink?" she asked without turning.

Carlos would have given anything in that moment to be able to go around the bar and pull Kate to him. Reassure her that what had happened between them—that moment, that kiss—hadn't been a mistake. But he was on the job. The job that was like a wedge between them in that moment.

"The usual," Carlos said.

Kate's movements were jerky, uneven as she made the motions of pouring vodka, then discreetly pouring it out and replacing it with water.

Behind him, Carlos heard the lone customer head out the door without comment, the city sounds coming through the open door, then silence falling again when the door shut.

She slid the shot glass over to Carlos.

Carlos moved his hand just enough to brush hers as she handed the drink over.

Kate stilled, letting his fingers graze hers.

Carlos didn't push, forcing himself to sit in silence with her, until she finally lifted her face to him. Met his eyes and challenged him to say something.

Carlos sucked in a breath. He couldn't stop his hand from lifting to her face.

Her jaw was an ugly shade of purple that even the shadowy lighting couldn't hide. One eye was swollen, a matching purple hue to her jaw.

Carlos stopped before he touched her skin, not wanting to hurt her worse.

"Johnny?" he asked.

"He figured out I wasn't locked up," Kate said succinctly.

The door to the backroom swung open, but the anger towards Johnny, the fear for Kate, had his reflexes dulled and Carlos didn't pull away fast enough. Thankfully Joe was the first one through the door. He shot Carlos a warning look and Carlos dropped his hand down to lift his glass. Kate turned her back on him.

Johnny followed Joe out into the bar.

"We're on for tomorrow," Joe said to Carlos. "The full shipment is ours."

Carlos nodded, forcing himself not to look at Kate again. Kate's phone rang and she picked it up with a quiet hello.

Joe glanced at Kate, but then back at Carlos, keeping up the act. Carlos tried to focus on Joe and Johnny, not the quiet urgency in Kate's voice. But then Kate was shoving her phone in her backpack and slinging the bag over her shoulder as she strode out from behind the bar.

"Where are you going?" Johnny demanded.

Kate's face was stricken when she looked at Carlos, then to Johnny. "I have to go," she said, turning to make good on the words.

Carlos wanted to go to her. To find out what the call was about. But Kate was already heading toward the door, half running.

"You're not going—" Johnny started, but Joe easily stepped in front of him like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Hey, man, are you interested in our business or dealing with your girl? We don't have time to play around."

Carlos could have shook Johnny and thanked Joe right then. But he kept silent, watching Kate leave without a backward glance. He pulled his phone out of his pocket while Joe talked details of their meeting tomorrow with Johnny.

What's wrong? Carlos typed, sending the text to Kate.

"What are you doing?" Johnny asked, his eyes narrowing at the phone in Carlos' hand.

Carlos turned off his phone without seeing if Kate replied. It nearly killed him to cut the connection to her. But Johnny seeing who he was texting wouldn't end well for Kate. He slid his phone back in his pocket. "I've got a date later. Making sure she's ready," he said.

Johnny's face split into a grin. The sudden shift between emotions took away any relief the smile should have brought. Johnny's unpredictability was unsettling.

"Let's hammer out the details for tomorrow," Carlos said.

It turned the attention away from his phone, Kate's exit, and back to what it would take to get this case tied up in a bow for the DA and put an end to all this. Put an end to Kate living like this.

#