“This is a waste of time,” McElroy said as Alex and Cooper climbed into the ring.
“No one said you needed to stay,” Cooper told him.
Alex stifled a smile. She couldn’t help liking the fact that Cooper had talked back to McElroy. His willingness to speak his mind even in front of superiors was one of the traits she’d always appreciated. It was good to see he hadn’t lost that.
“Four rounds. One minute each,” Emerick said.
“Two minutes,” Alex told him.
Emerick frowned. “Ninety seconds. Remember, liebchen, this is my gym.”
Alex pounded her gloved fists together and nodded. Ninety seconds it was.
They went through the ritual of a quick glove tap in the center of the ring, then separated. Once they were ready, Emerick rang the bell.
Typically, the first several seconds would be spent circling and jabbing, testing each other’s defenses. But Alex wasn’t in the mood for that. She moved to the middle, making it look like she was going to do the expected, then as soon as Cooper was in range, she let loose a surprise left hook.
He saw it at the last second, and pivoted his right arm to block it, but he was too late. Her blow landed solidly against the head pad that lay across his cheek.
As he staggered sideways, she knew she should move in for the kill, but she held back, not wanting to end it so quickly.
He laughed. “So that’s how you want it, huh?” He raised his gloves again. “All right. Let’s go.”
Through the rest of the first round and all of the second, neither was able to land anything more than glancing blows.
In the third, however, Cooper snuck in a shot to her ribs that nearly knocked the air out of her. But Alex refused to show any weakness, and came at him with a flurry of punches that forced him back against the ropes. If the bell hadn’t rung, she was sure she would have had him.
Both fighters were breathing deeply as the final round started. Clothes drenched in sweat, they met in the middle again, their fists held at the ready.
Jabs one way, and the other, all harmlessly knocked away.
As Alex searched for an opening that would allow her to make solid contact, she could sense the seconds ticking off the clock. She didn’t want the fight to end this way, not dancing around like this.
She feinted a punch to his stomach, then pulled back, ready to swing at his head, but he’d anticipated the move and left no clear shot. She tried it again, and had the same results.
On her third attempt, she didn’t fake a stomach punch, but instead jabbed straight at Cooper’s face with her right, and swung another left hook at the side of his head.
Right before her blow landed, he shot a fist up at her now unprotected torso. She hit him a split second before he hit her. Cooper’s blow sent Alex backpedaling several feet, while hers knocked him to the mat.
She winced in pain, her ribs undoubtedly bruised, and looked over at Cooper.
“Get up.”
He slowly pushed himself up. “That felt good, didn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, ignoring the pain radiating from her ribs.
“You still pack a pretty good punch. I was worried maybe you’d dropped off a bit.”
“Nope.”
“This is the part where you compliment my skills.”
A smirk. “I know.”
“Still Alex, I see.” He took a breath. “Again? Or are we done?”
“If you’re worn out, we can be done.”
“Oh, I’m not worn out at all.”
But as they raised their gloves, the bell rang.
“You’re done,” Emerick said. “Both of you.”
Cooper held the ropes open so Alex could climb out first. She contemplated letting herself out on another side, but decided to accept the offer. Cooper wasn’t a bad guy. There were just some things that were hard to forget.
With Emerick’s help, she removed her gloves and pulled off her headgear as McElroy stepped toward her. “So, can we talk now?”
“Don’t need to,” she said. “Whatever you’re asking, my answer’s no.”
“Ms. Poe, I have some information I’m pretty sure you’ll want to hear.”
“And I’m pretty sure I don’t. But thanks for bringing Cooper by. Haven’t had a workout like that in a while.”
She started for the women’s locker room.
“It’s about your father.”
She stopped, and slowly turned back. “Don’t you dare screw with me, asshole, or I will put you in the ground.”
“We have news about him.”
“What news?”
McElroy smiled. “We know where he is.”
Chapter Four
Bay City Coffee and Treats was one of the recent additions to the neighborhood. It was half a block down the street from the gym in a building that, until recently, had been abandoned for years. Now, the upper floors had been turned into lofts, while a flower shop and a candle store rounded out the businesses on the ground level.
Once they took a table outside, Cooper went in to order their coffee, leaving McElroy and Alex alone.
She said, “All right, you’ve got me here. Where is he?”
McElroy glanced at the front door. “Maybe we should wait until—”
“Where is he?”
A slight hesitation, then, “Yalta.”
“Yalta? Ukraine Yalta?”
“Yes,” McElroy said with a nod. “At least he was a week ago.”
“A week ago.”
“Right.”
“So he’s not there now.”
McElroy hesitated again. “We can’t confirm that.”
“So you lied to me when you told me you knew where he was.” She got to her feet. “I should have figured as much.”
McElroy jumped up.
“Not lied,” he said quickly. He was trying for a smile but it came off more like a desperate grimace. “Stretched the truth a bit. But we know where he has been. And recently, at that.”
Alex was tempted to walk away right then, but the truth was, even if it had been a week since her father was last seen, that was more information than she’d had in over a decade.
She remained standing. “What was he doing there?”
“Meeting with someone.”
“Stonewell?”
McElroy scoffed. “No, of course not. We don’t meet with…” The words died on his lips as he seemed to realize what he was about to say.
“With who?”
“It’s not important.”
“I think it is. You were going to say traitors, weren’t you?”
He remained silent, confirming what she thought.
She studied him a moment then sat back down. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I assume it’s something you’d like to know,” he said, sinking into his chair.
“Don’t even pretend this is a gesture of goodwill. What do you want from me?”
A bell tinkled as the shop door opened and Cooper exited holding three cups of coffee. He placed two on the table and kept one for himself as he sat in the empty seat.
When the others didn’t pick up their drinks, he glanced between them. “I take it you’ve been talking about Raven?”
Alex’s brow furrowed. “Raven?”
“Stonewell’s code name for your father.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’s cute.”
Cooper shrugged. “I tried to get them to call you Corvus Mellori, but nobody would bite.”
“Corvus what?”
“Little Raven.”
She eyed him dully. “I think I may puke.”
He gestured to her coffee. “So drink up. It’ll do you good.”
During this exchange, McElroy leaned down, opened his briefcase, and pulled out a white, nine-by-twelve envelope. From inside he slid out a photo and set it on the table in front of Alex.