“I don’t know. Things have been…weird. She’s pissed about being locked inside all the time. Frustrated we haven’t made any progress on the case. Annoyed with pretty much everything right now. Mostly me, I think.”
He nods. “Understandable. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know you can’t keep her locked up forever.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” He stops just outside the entrance and forces me to look at him. “This is me, man. I know you. You’re protective of the people you love—to a fault. Eventually, something has to give. Wehaveto make a move or they will and we don’t want them to catch us with our pants down.”
“I fucking know!” I throw up my hands.
“Don’t you trust me to have your back? And hers?”
“I do. I just—fuck.” I put my hands on my hips and stare up at the sky. “She’s important to me, Elliott.” I rarely use his given name so he understands the power behind the fact that I’m using it now.
He smiles. “I know she is. That’s why we have to find these guys and make this problem go away. Whatever we have to do.”
He’s right.
No doubt about it.
But for the first time in a very long time, I’m scared. The thought of those guys taking her, hurting her—it terrifies me more than anything I ever felt in combat or anywhere else.
“Let’s go make a plan for New York,” he says gently. “And if they don’t move while we’re there, we come back and make it happen here.”
I swallow.
“Right. Let me go smooth things over with her and I’ll meet you in the conference room.”
“See you there.”
I find Allora at the reception desk.
“Luna needed a bathroom break,” she says, not looking up from something she’s writing on a pad.
“We’re, uh, getting ready for the meeting about security for New York. And beyond.”
“I know.”
“You want to be included, right?”
“Of course.”
I want to remind her that she’s bowed out of the last couple of meetings about her safety, but that’s probably not a good idea.
“Are you mad at me, honey?”
She finally looks up and lifts one shoulder in a mini shrug. “No.”
“But you’re disappointed about something.”
“I guess that’s one word for it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know.”
