Scott disagreed that was the worst of Verna’s crimes, but he refused to argue with Wolfe right now. The darkness kept pushing in on him, and he fought it back. “Are you sure you’re unharmed?” he asked Millie.
“I am, but I just can’t believe it.” Her voice softened with sadness. “Alex is going to be devastated.”
“Alex is better off.” Wolfe said what they were all thinking.
The door opened and two police officers rushed in, guns out.
“We’re good,” Scott said. “She’s the one you want.” He gestured with his chin toward Verna.
“No, I’m not.” She put her hands protectively on her belly.
“Don’t even,” Millie retorted, looking at Officer Locum. “She is the one. She shot the chief, killed Clay, and hired a hit squad. The pregnant woman outside is innocent.”
Locum moved toward her, taking out his cuffs. She protested all the way out of the boathouse.
Wolfe murmured to Kat, “Let’s get you some food, buddy. I’ll buy the good tuna fish in a can.” They soon exited as well.
Millie looked up at Scott’s face. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
“Sounds good.” He clenched his back teeth together to keep from snarling with pain. This shooting might lead to more nightmares, but he would no longer play it safe or be bored. Life was too fucking short. “You’re it for me, Millie. I don’t care how long it takes. I was frozen, under water, and you warmed me up. Brought me back to life. We can go slow, we can go fast, but it’s going to be you and me.”
She slid an arm around his waist and started pulling him toward the door. “I can live with that. I’m more than happy for it to be the two of us.” As they walked outside, her gaze caught on Ian standing next to his brother. “Well, and our whole team.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Three days after being kidnapped by Verna, Millie fidgeted on a hardwood bench, once again wearing her boring navy-blue suit. She’d spruced it up with a bright green shirt as well as sparkly pink jewelry borrowed from her great-aunt. She sat at one table with Scott and JT flanking her. While her brother didn’t belong at the hearing, he wouldn’t be deterred.
On the other side sat Special Agent Rutherford.
It was an informal hearing room rather than an actual courtroom, so a three-person panel sat in front of them at a table. Rutherford had finished discussing how badly she and Scott had screwed up the department’s case against Werner Dearth.
Scott sat next to her in a charcoal-gray suit with his arm in a sling. His color remained good and as usual, his remarks reached brilliance, so if he endured pain, he masked it well. His phone buzzed and he glanced down to read the screen.
“What?” Millie asked.
He leaned toward her. “Verna admitted to throwing the Molotov cocktails into your house. She’s trying for some sort of insanity defense.”
Millie sat back. “She’ll still do time, right?”
“Oh yeah,” Scott said.
Her phone dinged and she reached for it on the table to read a text. Relief filled her. “The chief is out of his coma,” she whispered to Scott and her brother. “June is there with him and has already been released with a concussion. They’re both going to be fine.”
“Excuse me,” Agent Rutherford thundered. “Do you mind? I’m finishing my statement.”
“What an ass,” JT muttered, not so quietly.
Rutherford painted a pretty damning picture of not only Millie, but the Deep Ops team. They weren’t exactly conventional, and Tom Rutherford had wanted to get rid of them from the very beginning. He looked polished in a dark brown suit with his perfectly coiffed blond hair combed back from his face, and his argument sounded logical and well thought out.
The back door opened, and she partially turned to see Angus Force stride inside with Nari beside him. While Angus led the team, Nari was their psychologist and overall spiritual advisor, as far as Millie was concerned. Behind them came Malcolm West, their undercover operative, and his fiancée, Pippa, followed up by Wolfe and Dana. Oh, good. Millie was glad to see Dana and knew that Wolfe would sleep better now that she was back within his reach.
Then she caught sight of Wolfe’s hands, which held two overflowing latte carriers with mountains of whipped cream and sprinkles. He grinned. “I found a good latte place down the street. It has been too long for all of us.”
Angus grimaced.
Brigid walked in, gave her a thumbs up, then reached back for the hand of Raider Tanaka, the most buttoned down of all the Deep Ops team. Their British colleague, Jethro Hansen, strode inside next holding the hand of Gemma Falls, his fiancée. Finally, Ian and Oliver Villan stepped inside and flanked the door as if to protect everybody from some sort of infiltration. Angus stomped up, shoved open the barrier between the benches, and set his stance.
“Angus Force, what are you doing here?” Agent Rutherford asked, his voice rising.
