Page 90 of Rogue Wave

She sat silently with that knowledge, likely working it through her mind for a few minutes before she spoke again. “Is my dad going to be in trouble?”

“He had a reason to intervene when he did, so he should be fine, but I can follow up and keep an eye on his case,” I told her.

I had already confirmed as much when I spoke to his FBI rep earlier.

“I think I’d like to see him,” she said cautiously. “If it’s allowed.”

“We’ll make it happen,” I told her, and I knew I would do everything I could to make that true if it would make her happy.

But the bigger surprise came later.

As the storm finally began to pass outside, I knew her world was about to change forever.

26

“Sharks don’t chase every fish. They wait for the best opportunity.”

—It’s science

Hank

Today had been a good day. A really good day.

Rourke Wesson was currently in jail without bond after being officially charged with stealing animals from the Foggy Ridge Research Aquarium.

It turned out that after Wesson lost his job, he decided he would steal some of the high-value animals they received, after listening to Hazel talk about it on their dates. He started to visit her since he was out of work and watched how the animals were fed, transported, and where orders came and went from.

Through some of his friends, he found buyers, and he was able to use Hazel’s keycard to break in and take the animals.

After she broke up with him, he panicked, having lost his cash cow. He was finally able to snatch her badge from her car, but realized he had no way of knowing what animals were coming and going, which made it impossible to find buyers since he didn’t know the goods. He continued to stalk her and harass her afterward in hopes of getting her to reconcile.

When he had come to her house the day Dougie and I were there with her, it hadn’t been for the reward like we’d initially thought, but rather, he was afraid she would figure out what he’d done and call the cops. When he found out she was dating me, his paranoia only intensified.

“Heaven don’t want them, and hell is afraid of them,” Dougie said next to me.

We had listened in on his confession earlier in the day, and Dougie and I were going over some of the details.

The Navy and Coast Guard assisted with a lot of smuggling cases, as shipments often used boats for transport.

Because Dougie worked for NCIS, he was working on this case with me so he could take it back to his superiors.

“You got everything you need?” I asked him, watching him scoop up the folders in front of him.

“Yeah, but I’m sure I’ll have questions from the brass after I take these in,” he replied.

“You doin’ okay?” I asked, noticing he kept massaging his left leg just above his prosthetic.

“Yeah.” His reply was short and delivered in a way that made it clear that was the end of that conversation.

Because Huxley had died from the shots I fired, Carson was pulled into protective custody for a few days just to be safe.

His injuries had been minimal, thanks to his bulletproof vest. It had taken a while for me to make contact with him, after which he’d requested to talk with Hazel and explain his side of things.

In the weeks since everything went down, Hazel had gone to visit her dad a few times. I knew it was awkward for her to build that relationship back after so many years of feeling a certain way about him.

It turned out that he was the one who asked to have them put into the foster care system instead of them being taken into custody, as the girls had always believed. He knew things were getting serious with the people he owed money to and was worried for their safety.

Even after he got out of prison, as much as he wanted to reach out to his daughters, the plea deal he had taken would still put him, and subsequently them, at risk, so he’d watched from the sidelines.