“Ben, there are other people here,” Mai said.
“Sorry, I can’t see any of you.” I squinted, but the blurriness persisted. “You should probably step away if you don’t want to hear the racy stuff. Doc, I promise to lie still and speak softly.”
“I promise to use a really big needle to administer the sedative if you don’t,” Bond answered.
I heard shuffling.
“You’ve cleared the room,” Savannah said.
“About time. I thought I’d never get you alone. You’ll have to undress me and do all the work, but—”
“Wheeler’s right, you are a laugh-riot.”
“You wound me, saying the Aussie asshole’s name at a time like this.”
She wrapped both her hands around mine and kissed my bruised knuckles ever so gently. “A time like what?”
“This could be the head wound talking, and I know it’s only been three weeks, plus the summer we dated for three months.” I tried to grip her hand, but my fingers barely moved because I was using most of my energy to stay conscious.
“I think you’re straining yourself.”
“I am, but Sav, one thing, then I’ll let the paramedics take me away. Will you marry me?”
She laughed. “You nearly died three times today, and you’re thinking about a wedding?”
“A wedding, an elopement, a commitment ceremony in the apartment over my parents’ garage. Just marry me.”
“Ask me again when you don’t have a concussion.” She kissed me. “But spoiler alert, the answer will be yes.”
40
SAVANNAH
Kat stood at the front of the conference room and clicked through slides, reviewing the team’s final after-action report. The last part of the presentation was the saddest for me because justice hadn’t fully been served.
Devlin Masters was in a psychiatric hospital. After his arrest, he’d been diagnosed with brief reactive psychosis. He’d had a psychotic break.
“He already had mental health issues, as evidenced by months’-long behavior and his confessions to the WCI staff,” Bond said, diplomatically avoiding mention of the pivotal role I’d played in his delusions. “With each higher level he joined within the organization, he was subjected to more coercive control, including food and sleep deprivation, demands to provide more money for Anson’s coffers, accusations of ruining WCI’s mission with his failures.”
“Unfortunately,” Kat said, “while we can connect the dots, that’s not the way Devlin is phrasing his confession, so we don’t have enough actionable evidence to pursue WCI for those abuses.”
Thus far, Devlin refused to implicate the organization or Anson in anything that had happened to Ben, me, or L&M, either. Thus, once his doctors declared him fit to stand trial,he and he alone would be charged with embezzlement, kidnapping, attempted murder, and a whole host of other crimes.
Ben kissed my hand. “At least he admitted you had nothing to do with it, so he won’t take you and the company down with him.”
That was cold comfort when Taylor Stewart was in the wind, and Howard Anson was on the lecture circuit. And the money Devlin had siphoned out of the company was gone for good, disappeared into the deep pockets of Anson and his cronies, although I’d never be able to prove it.
In better news, Ben’s preliminary testimony about Anson, Stewart, the bomb, and their part in his kidnapping had lit a fire under someone at the Department of Justice, and X was already finding it easier to get warrants to dive deeply but quietly into WCI. Pasco was a happy man.
After the debrief, the team moved into the lounge. Jason Jensen was behind the bar with Pasco, concocting something no one wanted but everyone would drink. I would partake, too, because I’d come to realize this was a team bonding exercise. And although my anxiety stomach plus total lack of applicable skill sets meant I would never be an official HEAT agent, I would always be an unofficial member of this team.
Mai introduced me to both her partners, her work wife, Cynthia, who was a badass blonde agent, and Chase, who was a hot blond businessman. “You have a type,” I told her, and immediately began swapping embarrassing Mai stories with them. When X walked into the lounge with a hunky dark-haired man, I learned he was Cynthia’s significant other, Derek, a master spy who was still a legend at HEAT. He was also Chase’s brother.
“Proof that siblings can work together,” Mai told Ben, who pretended not to hear her.
Kat entered the room with another unofficial team member, Gage. From her closed office, Mr. WhiskerbottomFuzzypants and Miss Whisperbottom Fancypants made it known that they enjoyed a good party, too.
“I think that’s everyone,” X announced. “Can everyone gather around?” When we were quiet, she continued. “First, I want to congratulate all of you on the successful rescue of Ben Hayes.”
