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“I’m Elias’ chosen representative. You had no right to act without my knowledge or consent.” Instead of the fire he’d expected, Molly was pure ice. This must be the face she showed to opponents at trial.
“We do, and we did. Listen, you did well getting him out of Firelight Ridge. The agency appreciates that. But your involvement is no longer needed. You aren’t even licensed in Alaska. If you try to intervene, you’ll be putting yourself on the wrong side of the FBI. You’re a lawyer. You know that’s a bad move.”
Sam clamped his hand on Molly’s shoulder, fearing she was about to explode at Bradley. But she kept her tone icy and precise.
“He bonded with me. He trusted me. This is a complete betrayal of a child.”
“Elias is in good hands. He’ll be safe.”
“You’d better hope so, because the lawsuits I will bring if?—”
Sam interrupted before she really pissed off the agent in charge of this case. “Keep me in the loop about the raid and let me know if I can help.”
“Will do.”
“Wait.” Molly shook Sam’s hand off her shoulder. “Can I talk to Elias? I want him to know I didn’t abandon him.”
“I’m sorry, he’s in transit right now.”
“Can you give him a message?”
“I’ll try,” said Bradley grudgingly. “But I’ll be busy for the next few hours until this raid is over.”
“Tell him…tell him he’s no rabbit.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s it. Say, ‘Molly said to tell you you’re no rabbit.’ He’ll know what it means. It’s a pep talk.”
The agent ended the call with a snort.
As Sam tucked the phone back in his pocket, Molly wheeled on him. “Traitor. Why didn’t you push back more? Couldn’t you have stood up for Elias for at least a minute or two?”
“No point. It’s done. I’d just be burning bridges.”
Molly threw up her hands. “I feel like burning down the whole FBI. Poor Elias, can you imagine getting picked up in the middle of the night by total strangers? Why didn’t we hear anything?”
“Trucker hotels have good soundproofing.”
“How can you be so calm?”
He shifted to another subject. “What did your message mean?”
“I’m trying to speak his language. It means he’s not trapped. He’ll do with that whatever he wants.”
Fair enough.
While Sam was furious at Agent Bradley too, in some ways, his unilateral action had made things simpler. Bradley had essentially cut him out of this case, believing it was solved. But it wasn’t. And now that Sam was essentially kicked to the curb, he could do it his way.
Molly was pacing back and forth, nibbling at her thumbnail.
“Elias isn’t in danger,” he reminded her. “He’s with Children’s Services, which is where he would have ended up anyway. He’ll be fine.”
“You don’t know that. You don’t know what it’s like to feel helpless and out of control, and at the mercy of idiot adults who only want what’s best for themselves, and don’t give a shit about you?—”
“Molly,” he said gently. “I can see this hit a chord, and at some point I want to know all about the trauma that makes you feel so connected to Elias. But right now I have a more important question for you.”
“What?”
