God’s beauty. God’s creation. God’s evidence of His all-powerful being.
He could save her today. She could be saved.
She dropped to her knees and raised her face. Flung out her arms and prayed like she never prayed before.
21
Colin paced behind Nick in the small lab where he was still reviewing log files. Reid and Dev had gone out to canvass the areas around the building to see if anyone had seen Brooklyn, and if so, which direction she’d headed.
“Here. This.” Nick jabbed a finger at his screen. “It could be just the thing we’re looking for.”
Colin stopped behind him and stared at the screen. “A bus schedule?”
“She looked it up. Leaves from outside our building, and she could’ve hopped on it.”
“Okay, say she did.” Colin dropped into the chair next to Nick. “Buses have security cameras on them. We need to see the feed from this bus, but I doubt that there’s anyone at TriMet who’ll let us look at it.”
“No problem,” Nick said. “I can access it.”
“How are you going to do that?” Colin stared as he waited for the answer.
“Better you don’t ask, but let’s just say, hypothetically, I could get such information by accessing the TriMet security system.”
“Ah, right. Not exactly legal. It would’ve been problematic when I was an agent, but if it helps us find Brooklyn, I don’t care what records you access.” Colin thought about it for a moment. “But can you do it and not get arrested?”
“I’ve done it before. I can do it again.” Nick’s eyes narrowed. “The arrested part I don’t know, but Brooklyn’s worth the risk.”
Colin couldn’t be more thankful for this guy than right now. He was risking everything for her. “Hey, thanks, man. I’ll owe you big time.”
“Then let me get to it so I have something to hold over your head.” Nick grinned and started typing. “It’s most obvious you have a thing for her.”
“No point in denying it.”
“I’m glad.” He continued to type. “She deserves to have someone in her life.”
“I agree but don’t know if that’s me.” Colin wished he could say it was. With Brooklyn’s sweet goodness in his life he could let go of the vile things he’d seen at the FBI. Even could imagine having children with her, but that wasn’t the only issue standing in his way. “I have my mom to take care of right now, and that’s got to be my top priority.”
“A guy can have more than one priority, and I’m sure she would understand how important it is to you.”
“I couldn’t ask her to take on such a responsibility just to be with me.”
“Have you seen her with your mom? They seem to get along just fine, and Brooklyn has a big heart. Huge.”
“But that was when she was thinking it was a part-time job. I don’t know if she’d feel the same way if it was a till-death-do-us-part kind of thing.”
“I’ve known her for a long time, and I can tell you if she loves you, she will do anything she can to help you. That includes caring for your mother.” Nick glanced up. “She wants a familyof her own, too, and once we have Tarver behind bars for good, she’ll be free to pursue that.”
Could Colin hope it would work out okay? Trust that if God meant it to be, it would happen? Maybe. “We have to find her first.”
Nick changed his focus back to his computer. “Cool your jets. This isn’t an instant thing, as you should well know.” His fingers crawled over his keyboard. “I’m almost in. Give me a minute of quiet so I can finish faster.”
Colin stood back, but it was pure anguish to just wait, so he texted Dev.
Any luck finding someone who saw her?
Not yet.
Another lead that wasn’t panning out. Colin paced. Back and forth. Back and forth. His mind racing with horrible possibilities of what might be happening to Brooklyn if she was with Tarver.
