Page 138 of Hard Heart

“As your father, my advice to you is to buy shares in a popcorn manufacturer.” He kissed her hair and stepped back. “And rest up. You don’t need to be Superwoman every day.”

A part of Jez wanted to grab his hand, to beg him to stay, to plead with him not to leave her again. And a part of her wanted to break his damn nose.

“Why didn’t you help Levi? You knew he wasn’t guilty of murder. He was my friend, and he’s been in prison for ten years.”

“I tried. I leaned on Judge Rubin.”

Judge Rubin… “The old dude who died before the jury was sworn?”

“That was unfortunate, and nothing to do with us.”

Jez was her father’s daughter, and she understood why he felt compelled to put his job first because she did the same thing. Over the past several years, she’d found friendship in the Choir and a partner in Cole, but they all understood what drove her.

Justice.

But there had been no justice for Levi.

Not yet.

Jericho lifted Flora out of the back seat and set her down beside Jez, and then he was gone, taillights fading into the darkness as the pinprick of headlights appeared from the other direction. Adrenaline gave way to cortisol, and Jez lay back and focused on breathing through the pain. In and out. In and out. Deep breaths were impossible.

The light blinked out as a point team went dark and prepared for insertion. She knew they’d been watching; the distinct buzz of a drone overhead had given their presence away. Two minutes later, Weston Draper, codename Ketchup, former SEAL and member of the Bugs, loomed over her with a gun in his hand.

“Clean up on aisle three?”

“Get me a fucking stretcher.”

He poked Fisk with a toe. “Nice work. That the missing girl?”

“Someone needs to tell her sister she’s okay. My comms unit burned up.”

“Dice and Spider are with the sister. They’re half a mile out.”

“Fuck, don’t bring her here. She isn’t a person who tolerates stress well.”

“Yeah, I realised that when Spider said she was having a panic attack in the car.”

“Find her a medic.”

“Will do. We watched one vehicle leave the scene, and we’re tracking it. Do you want an intercept?”

She had so many questions for Jeremy Pope. She wanted to get to know him, to understand him, because maybe then she’d come closer to understanding herself. But she had to respect his wishes. Respect his job.

“It wasn’t a hostile. Let them…let them go.”

Talking was becoming harder now. Every word was a struggle.

“You sure? If it’s a civilian needing a debrief…”

“Not required. It was an associate of mine, and he stopped to help.” And the last thing she needed tonight was her dad getting blasted out of existence on a quiet country road with the whole incident written off as an unfortunate “electrical system malfunction.” “Just bring the damn stretcher.”

“Understood. I’ll call off the drone.”

Running footsteps approached, and Dice’s and Spider’s blurry faces hovered in view.

“You scared the shit out of us, you dumbass bitch,” Dice said. “You want drugs?”

“Already flying high, but I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to oxygen.” Jez tried to smile, but her face hurt, and why were her eyes leaking? “Good…good to see you too.”