Colin gave a soft, tired laugh. “We spent three hours in the file room because you didn’t trust the stairwell.”
“Hell, no, I didn’t! Doors and stairwells, that’s where they get you!”
Colin grinned as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on his desk. “You kept pacing like a caged wolf, muttering legal code under your breath. I figured if I had to die in a municipal basement, at least I’d do it with someone I liked.”
He chuckled, then sobered. “You’ve had my back from the beginning.”
“And you’ve had mine,” she said. Then she jabbed a finger at him. “Which means I get to tell you when you’re running on fumes. And right now? You are.”
Colin tilted back in his chair, stretching. “I just need a little more time. Just enough to get this right.”
She studied him, her gaze sharper now. “Is that what this is? Or are you going mad trying to keep the world from touching him?”
Colin leaned forward, his eyes locking with Sarah’s––silent, thoughtful. Then he sighed.
“He doesn’t say anything,” he said at last. “But I can feel it. Every time I leave the house, it gets a little harder for him. I’m dragging this home with me, Sarah. And I promised him?—”
“That you’d protect him?”
His jaw clenched.
“I know what that promise costs,” she said softly. “We all make it. But you can’t carry it all, Colin. You can’t throw yourselfin front of every danger like it’s noble and expect the people who love you to just… watch.”
He looked away. “If anything happens to him?—”
“It won’t be because you didn’t try hard enough. Or care enough. He knows that. We all do. Besides,” she added with a quick grin, “Josh is no pushover. I’d hate to be the one who had to sethimdown.”
She reached into her pocket and withdrew a small object, setting it gently on the edge of his desk — a weathered penny.
Colin blinked. “Youkeptit!”
“Of course I did,” she said. “You flipped this the day you took the job. Said if it landed heads-up, you’d try to believe you could still do some good. Remember?”
He stared at it. The same dull coin, its edges smoothed with age. “That was a long time ago.”
“Not to me.” She nudged it forward. “We’ve been through a lot of fire together, Campbell. And you never once stopped showing up. Buddy, thatisthe good!”
He swallowed hard.
Sarah stood, her tone quiet. “Let the rest of us carry some of the load. That’s how we protect the people we love. By surviving it together.”
Colin reached out and curled his fingers around the penny, pressing it tight in his palm. Then looked up.
“I’m glad it’s you,” he said. “Walking into the fire with us.”
She smiled—quick, fierce, loyal. “Damn right!”
He held the penny out to her, but she shook her head and moved toward the door. “You carry it for a while. Bring you luck.”
Colin nodded, tension easing just slightly. “Thanks, Sarah.” He exhaled slowly as she left, the quiet returning, then he shoved the penny into his pocket, and went back to Moreno’s file.
They had drawn the line. Now, they had to hold it.
He spentthe next two hours going over the preliminary plans for the dismantling of the sex trafficking ring and the provisions that Joshua had helped set up to protect and assist the young victims. At exactly eight-thirty, Esther’s voice echoed down the hallway: “Conference room, everyone.”
Colin rose, picking up Moreno’s file, and joined Norm Clayton, who nodded silently from his office doorway. Jason Aldridge, Colin’s young protégé, hurried behind them, still organizing papers as he walked. Adilynn Clemmons trailed the group, a coffee cup balanced atop a stack of misdemeanor files. Two legal interns hovered at the outskirts of the room, notepads in hand.
Esther stood waiting, arms crossed. Her gaze moved around the room as they settled into their seats, lingering on Colin. “Let’s get to it,” she began. “Elias Moreno’s deal with the Department of Justice means a significant workload shift. We need clarity on assignments, and quickly.”
