“Well, hell,” Chief Blake muttered. “Don’t kill him; the paperwork will take me days to fill out.”
“I want the keys to that room, and I want them now,” Fin said slowly. “And if she’s hurt in any way, I’m coming back and putting that bullet into your heart.”
“No!” Linda screamed as Noel pointed to his trousers at the end of the bed.
Fin grabbed them and found a key ring. He was at the door in seconds. His hands shook as he tried the keys until he got the right one. Swinging the door slowly open, he saw her.
“Maggie,” her name was a rasp. “God, Maggie.” She ran at him, throwing herself into his arms, sobbing loudly.
“Sssh now, I have you, baby. You’re safe.”
“Th-they killed Simon.”
“I figured that much.”
“They were going to kill me.”
“But now they’re not. What they are going to do is spend a long time in jail.”
He held her while they removed Noel and Linda, held her until the tears dried up and she’d stopped shaking.
“We need to go now, Fin. Take her back to Ryker. She’s cold, and the doctor should probably check her over,” Joe said.
“I-I’m okay.” She lifted her head from his chest. “I’m okay now you’re here.” Her eyes were bloodshot, face smeared with dirt, red curls in a tangled mess, and she’d never looked more beautiful to Fin.
“That’s my girl.” Joe ran a hand over her head. Jack came next, then Luke. Dylan had gone with Chief Blake.
“I’m pleased you’re unharmed, Maggie.”
“Thanks, Mr. Hudson.”
“I think that will be dad-in-law one day, but for now, Jonathan will do.”
Wrapping a blanket around her, Fin led her out of the bunker. She pressed to his side, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close. Fin wasn’t sure he’d ever let her go. They’d talk, and there would be questions asked, but for now she was in his arms, and that was enough.
…
Joe drove them through Ryker and straight to Maggie’s house because she said that was where she wanted to be. The streets looked the same, but to Fin everything seemed different now. Love, fear—he’d run through so many emotions in the last twenty-four hours, he couldn’t name them all.
She sat resting against him as they drove, and slept. Fin didn’t have sleep in him yet. He was still wired.
Her family were there when they pulled up outside her little place, and Nash opened the door. Grabbing his sister, he crushed her into his chest.
Fin stood watching, telling himself again she was now safe.
“Everything will be all right now, Fin.”
He let his father hug him again and even held on.
“I never knew what love really was until Maggie, Dad. If this is how you felt about Mom, then I’m sorry all over again for how I acted.”
“That’s the past now. Let’s leave that there and move forward.”
“I’d like that.”
His father left with a promise they would see the family tomorrow, and then after some persuasion, Maggie’s family left too, after she’d told them that Fin would stay the night with her.
He let her shower while he made her toast and tea. She then sat curled on the sofa beside him with a thick blanket over her legs. Her eyes were on the twinkling lights of her Christmas tree while she silently ate what he gave her.
