Better him than me. “What did he do?” Shawn was the youngest member of Team Ten, the newest hire just a few years older than Jane. She thought of him as an older brother rather than an uncle, like the rest of the guys.
“A little bit too much fun stabbing people. In his defense, those same people had done some terrible things to the children in that village. I’m just making sure he has his head on right. We don’t kill for fun.”
“I know.” She thought about it. “Hold on a minute.” She texted Raine to come to her room.
Her cousin texted,Is the coast clear?
“Go hide behind the door,” she said to her uncle and texted Raine,Yep. Come in.
Once her cousin entered, her uncle shut the door behind her, trapping them all together.
Raine glared at her. “Traitor.”
“We need to talk. All of us.” Jane gave Raine a sad smile, and her cousin’s lower lip quivered.
“Aw, hell.” Uncle Chris sighed and held open his arms. “Come here.”
Raine darted in for a hug.
Jane gave them some time before saying, “Uncle Chris, Raine is on terminal leave. She needs something different in her life. She’s smart enough to know what works for her. She just needs time to find something new to challenge her that will let her look in the mirror and have pride with what she’s doing again.”
To Raine, she said, “Uncle Chris has been where you are. He’s done things he didn’t like but that were necessary in the line of duty. If you won’t go to therapy, then talk to him or Sven about it.” Sven, their resident linguist who looked like a modern-day Viking, was also the team counselor and confidant.
“Honey, you can always talk to me. You know I don’t judge.” Uncle Chris stroked Raine’s hair, then tugged her with him out of the room. “Oh, and one other thing,” he said to Jane, holding onto Raine’s arm—likely so she wouldn’t bolt. “Matthew Scott called. Call him back. You and I will talk about Gunther Rapp later, after I’m done with this one.”
“Talk about Rapp?”
He left, so she called out after him, “Talk about what, exactly?”
There was nothing to talk about. In fact, she had to get back to work before the task force split up permanently. She wanted to at least say goodbye before everyone went somewhere else.
As much as the team had annoyed her, Gina especially, she’d miss working with them.
And Rapp… Well, she’d miss workingwithhim, notforhim.
She smiled and decided to take a nap. She’d talk to Matthew Scott tomorrow.
In person. Right after she finished the sweets Joe and Hal were sure to bring her.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Jane enjoyedher Viking cup more than she’d thought she would. It was like a cinnamon roll but had an open middle filled with cream cheese frosting. Between the yeasty dough, the delightful cream cheese, and the gooey cinnamon, she loved everything about it.
Raine devoured two and a donut shaped like a man, glazed with maple frosting. The rest of the guys continued to give them a hard time about their poor diets.
Raine answered by flipping them off while Jane challenged them all to keep up with her on a cross country run just as soon as her head stopped throbbing so much.
That shut them all up, except for Shawn, who told her to bring it on.
She accepted her uncle’s company when she went to the Seattle field office Thursday afternoon. He needed to talk to some people there, and she let him do the driving, content to relax on her way to work.
Work. Her real job.
She hadn’t been by to see the Code Blue crew and she needed to. But she didn’t want to say goodbye yet, and she didn’tknow why. She didn’t get overly emotional about departures, as change and moving on was a way of life.
But she’d miss Rapp, Gina, and Diego.And that’s okay.
Jane found it difficult to allow herself feelings sometimes. But she already felt vulnerable due to her concussion. So she cut herself some slack.
