Now he and Ivy got to watch everything unfold from a safe distance on video feeds. There was a low murmur of voices in the hotel suite, with one man and one woman monitoring the live feeds from the SWAT guys who were currently directly outside the Green brothers’ hotel suite. One of the feeds showed the team leader holding up a hand and counting down from four. Then he moved quickly, sliding the hotel key into the door and they infiltrated.
Suddenly noise filled the room from the feeds.
“Miami PD! Get down on the ground now! Down on the ground!” Multiple orders were shouted and one of the techs watching the screen turned the volume down slightly.
Ivy went tense next to Nash as they watched the SWAT team cuff one brother, then two…and Luka looked as if he was out of it. He was mumbling something too low for Nash to make out.
“Call for a medic,” someone ordered. “His heart rate is too low and his eyes are too dilated.” One of the SWAT men was checking his pulse as he shouted.
There was a whole lot of action then, but Nash started to tune it out as Ivy leaned into him.
Breathing in her sweet scent, he focused on her for a long moment. He hated that she wouldn’t get her full fee but they’d done the right thing. And they both knew it.
Now he wanted to talk about their future. He’d screwed up before but that was nothing they couldn’t talk through. He hadn’t been trying to use sex to get her to quit the job…or he didn’t think he had been. He’d just wanted her safe, but she was right. She’d never once said anything to him about the dangers of his job. She’d always simply told him to be safe or to take care of himself. She’d always been supportive. A good damn friend.
And after experiencing the raw chemistry between them… There was no way they were going back to being just friends. He would always want more and he knew it. Being just friends was a special form of torture he was not interested in putting himself through, not when they could have everything together. And he was going to see about helping her come up with the rest of the money she needed for the shelter. Between him and her family, maybe they could work something out.
Still watching the feeds, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she slid her arm around his waist, cuddling up against him perfectly. Yeah, he had to believe things were going to be okay between them.
The SWAT commander, Aaron Flores, strode into the hotel room then, and started talking quietly to one of the officers who’d been guarding the door. Pushing fifty, the man with salt-and-pepper hair had clearly been military at one time. Nash would bet money on it. He had that typical bearing and the high and tight haircut.
Once Flores was done, he made his way over to Ivy and Nash.
Letting go of Ivy, Nash held out a hand. “It looked like a good operation. Your guys are pros.” It wasn’t like the man needed his affirmation, but it was true and Nash was impressed by how they’d operated. It had been efficient and professional, the way it was supposed to be.
“Thank you. No loss of life, and they gave up fairly quickly. These are the kinds of jobs I live for. Everyone is going home today. No art has been retrieved yet, however.” The commander looked at Ivy, his expression softening slightly.
She shifted next to Nash, though her expression remained neutral. “They would have hidden it very close to here, if not here. My instinct says it’ll be in the hotel. An empty room, likely. You probably can’t tell us, but has the hotel owner given you anything? Because he might know.”
Flores’s mouth pulled into a thin line. “He’s a fu…” He cleared his throat. “He’s a liar because he rolled over fast. Too fast. Told us it was stashed in a room on the same floor as the brothers. One listed as under construction, but it wasn’t there. Either he’s lying or they moved it on him. We’re doing a full grid search right now. And there’s a team of Feds on the way. These guys have a whole lot of warrants out for their arrest.”
Ivy’s eyes widened. “I didn’t realize that.”
“Something tells me your bosses didn’t tell you. Otherwise you likely would have reported them earlier?” He formed it as a question because it was clear that Ivy and Nash had been following these guys for days.
“Honestly, I didn’t realize they had warrants until tonight. I was told they were considered dangerous, but it was my understanding that they were simply wanted for questioning. I mean, I had no doubt they were guilty, but there was no actual proof.” Her jaw clenched at that and he knew she was angry that her bosses might have lied to her.
The insurance company had simply wanted the merchandise retrieved so they wouldn’t have to pay the full claim. And they’d known how damn good Ivy was at tracking people so they’d lied. He’d bet money on that too.
The commander lifted a shoulder. “All these warrants are stateside. And they’re pretty old. I’m going to let the Feds intervene and take over because I don’t care what happens to these guys as long as they go away for a long time. Less paperwork for me that way.”
Ivy smiled slightly. “I really appreciate you letting us watch everything. I know it’s out of the norm.”
“Well, you have some friends in high places at Red Stone,” he said, looking between the two of them, his gaze lingering on Ivy a tad too long for Nash’s liking.
Feeling stupidly possessive, he wrapped his arm around Ivy’s shoulders again.
The commander arched his eyebrow slightly.
“I know the answer will likely be no, but I was curious if we could get a look at the security feeds from the hotel?” Ivy pushed hopefully. “Maybe just scan through the last few hours.”
The commander paused and looked at the two of them, then over at his people. “We’ve got our techs looking at them now but if you guys want to sit in and help out, I don’t see why that would be a problem. You’re both witnesses to finding these guys anyway, so yeah, it’s fine. Plus now Grant will owe me.” The man grinned slightly at that.
Nash knew the Grant reference was to Grant Caldwell, one of the owners of Red Stone Security—also a former detective with the Miami PD.
“I didn’t see a woman arrested in the feeds,” Ivy continued, clearly wanting to get all she could from this guy.
“It was just the brothers,” he said, then pulled out his radio and started talking into it after he got pinged. He frowned at what he heard, then glanced up at Nash and Ivy. “One of our techs reported seeing her leave—with only her purse. She didn’t take the painting, but we’ve got someone looking for her now. The city’s big, but we’ll find her.” He listened to something on his radio again, then said, “Security is on the sixth floor. They’ve got a couple extra seats for you to look at their video feeds. Head up there now and I’ll let them know you’re on the way. I’ve got to go, but it was nice to meet you both.” Then he nodded once at Nash and hurried out.
“So she’s still out there,” Ivy murmured, frowning up at him. Her mouth pulled into a tight little bow that was adorable. “I want to see for myself that she didn’t leave with the painting.”
Nash didn’t like that the woman who’d attacked Ivy with a sword was still out there, but right now, that was up to the cops to deal with. If she was smart, she’d be on her way out of the state by now. “Let’s go check out the feeds and then I want to get you out of here. When’s the last time you ate?” He’d been with her since they’d left Genesis’s place this morning and she’d been too stressed to eat—so he already knew the answer.