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“You’re right. That’s not even a possibility at this point.” He cupped her cold cheek with his hand. “But this will work. Trust me.”
“You asked me to trust you when we set out for Vermont.”
“And?” He ran his hand down the length of her hair. “How has that worked out for you?”
“Well, I’m still alive, we’ve been able to tie Spencer to a terrorist plot and Prospero is about to foil that plot, so I guess it was a smart move on my part.” Her bottom lip trembled. “But now they have Ethan.”
“I’m going to get him back for you, Claire, and when this is over, we can start fresh—both of us.”
“You’ll head off into the sunset of your retirement, and I’ll take Ethan back to Florida and a normal life.” The corner of her mouth turned down.
Was it the thought of going their separate ways that made her sad...or something else? He had to find out, not that her answer would change his current plan to rescue Ethan.
“Will that normal life for you and Ethan include that shrine to Shane?” He sucked in a breath and held it.
She jerked her head toward him, her lips forming an o. “I—I’m free of that now. As soon as Yousef is captured, I can put that to rest.”
“And what if he’s never captured? There is that possibility. We have terrorists on watch lists for years sometimes.” His jaw ached with tension.
“I’m done, Mike.”
“Good, because if you’re my priority, I’m going to have to be yours—or at least a close second to Ethan.”
“You weren’t just saying that back at the Bennetts’? I was afraid...”
“Afraid of what?” He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger.
“That maybe you’d just gotten carried away with the situation.”
“The only thing I’m carried away with is you. I love you, Claire. I want you in my life, whatever that life looks like after this.”
Covering her mouth with one hand, she closed her eyes. “You don’t know how much I wanted to hear those words from you.”
“Sure I do, because I’ve wanted to hear the same words from you.” He held up his hand. “I’m not putting you on the spot. Your focus right now is getting Ethan back, and that’s my focus, too, that’s my commitment to you.”
“I believe you, Mike. I believe you’ll get him back.”
And that was what he wanted to hear even more than her pronouncements of love. He needed her confidence and faith in him that he could do this. He’d let his Prospero team members bask in the glory of disrupting the Christmas Day plot.
He wanted to rescue Ethan and bask in the glory of a pair of violet eyes.
Almost an hour later, when they turned up the mountain road that led to the Chadwicks’, Mike spotted the police car parked on the side of one of the cabins.
He pointed it out to Claire. “I’m guessing that’s their place.”
“It is. How are we going to play this?”
“You’re not going to play anything. You head straight to the Chadwicks and the rest of the family and talk to the police. Leave the rest in my hands.”
She nodded. “Got it.”
He parked the rental car down the road from the cabin. No need to give Lori a head start.
Their boots crunched on the ground up to the front door and a sheriff’s deputy greeted them. “Can I help you?”
A woman with a long gray braid over one shoulder peered around the officer. “This is Ethan’s mother. Claire, we didn’t expect you so soon.”
Claire brushed past the deputy and embraced the older woman in a hug. “Where else would I be?”
The rest of a very large family crowded around Claire, and Mike looked over their heads and locked eyes with Lori.
She nodded, her face flushed, and stayed in the background.
He kept her in his peripheral vision as Claire made the introductions to about twenty family members. It didn’t take long for Lori to shuffle toward the back of the cabin and a side door.
Mike broke away from the group hug and followed Lori outside into the chilly afternoon.
She already had her phone in her hand.
In two long strides, Mike was beside her, snatching the phone from her hand. “I don’t think so.”
