I was so proud of her. She did it. She got the money. She beat the house and the FBI. Most importantly, she got out.
Cole pulled strings with a pilot friend of his and had Amelia flown up to Rhode Island, where he had been keeping Joel Hawthorne hidden away. They’d spent the rest of the summer together before she went back to Connecticut to start the next school year.
It took everything in me not to break protocol and go see her. But the last thing I wanted to do was to screw up my “professional responsibilities” investigation or get arrested.
That was the other thing Cole had mentioned when we caught up after my investigation—Amelia waspissed.
I huffed as I turned and sidled up to him. “They might have arrested Valentine and a few of the higher-ups, but they didn’t get everyone. The timeline of the arrests doesn’t match up.”
Cole crossed his arms. “Are you certain that the guys you saw on the train were his associates? I’m just saying—you were tired. You were stressed. Your mind could have been playing tricks on you.”
“I worked with both of them every single day for years. I know what and who I saw.”
“Did you tell that to the big guys up there?” he asked as he tipped his head toward the Javits Building.
“No.”
“Why not?”
I glanced around the plaza to see who was nearby, then lowered my voice. “I think there’s a leak.”
Cole lifted a thick eyebrow. “You said that a while ago. Are you sure?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense—why I was kept under for so long. I tried to wrap up the investigation when the first six months was up. Then again at a year. And every six months after that. I tried to get extracted a month before Amelia showed up, but Valentine got tipped off and tightened things up. He never told me who it was or what spooked him.” I crossed my arms and matched his posture. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that two guys from his inner circle happened to be halfway across the country when Valentine got arrested.”
“So you think the guys you saw on the train are getting information from the Feds?”
“Right before things went sideways, one of them told me that Valentine had him doing a job across state lines.”
“And that’s not normal?”
“No.” I kept my voice quiet. “He rarely had anyone but me do that shit—which worked out well for the investigation and getting people I was supposed to kill over to the Marshals. Valentine preferred dealing within the state of New Jersey rather than making shit federal. That’s why it’s been so hard to pin him down for decades, until I went undercover in the organization.”
Cole stroked his beard. “And if he had someone else doing jobs across state lines, it’s because he didn’t want you to be the one to have that information.”
I let out a dry laugh under my breath. “Except the guy didn’t keep his mouth shut and told me every detail.”
I glanced up at the gleaming building that sat on the southern tip of Manhattan. It was so fucking loud here. I missed the mountains.
I missed Amelia.
“You gonna run it up the chain to see what’s what?”
I shook my head. “Not right now. Not until I know for certain if there’s a leak.”
“What about the girl? You talked to her yet?”
My gut churned and ached at the thought of Amelia. I had been keeping tabs on her, but I hadn’t made contact yet. I hadn’t been allowed to during my hearings, and even now that I was cleared to return to fucking desk duty, I knew I was still being watched.
So I had left her alone. Cole and his team were looking out for Amelia and her brother. There was no imminent threat.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that our ordeal was far from over.
I wasn’t scared of John Valentine or any of the men who worked for him.
But Amelia? I was scared shitless of her.
36
