“You Thelma or Louise?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
He smirked. “Never mind. Don’t answer. It’s more fun if I figure it out myself.”
Before I could ask who the hell he thought he was, someone shouted my name. I turned.
By the time I looked back.
He was gone.
I scanned the crowd, the sidewalks, the street corners.
Nothing.
Not even a shadow.
Jack found me a few minutes later, holding a coffee he’d clearly just strong-armed someone into handing over. He looked exhausted. Focused.
“We need a central spot,” he said without preamble.
“For what?”
“For organizing. Coordinating press. For me to meet with Remi once we get bail figured out. The apartment’s too small. The clinics still wrecked.”
I nodded slowly. “I’ll find something. One of our donors might have an empty rental or a house that hasn’t sold.”
“Good.” He sipped, eyes scanning the crowd like he was looking for weak points. “This is going to move fast now.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”
He looked at me. “We’re going to clear her name.”
I looked back at the building. “And if the system doesn’t care?”
“Then we burn the system.”
I didn’t answer.
Because I wasn’t sure anymore if what we were doing was protest… or something else.
It had a life now. Its own heartbeat. Its own rage.
But I’d promised I would do anything to get her out...
And I wasn’t backing down.
Not until she was free and Erin Voss was the one behind bars.
CHAPTER 51
HARLAN - LIFELINE
It had been five days since the shit show.
A tension had settled so tight it felt as if anyone spoke too loudly, the walls might finally give in.
The failed transfer had blown a crater into our operational stability. I’d never seen something like it in my life. The press. The crowd. Jack Callahan, a city prosecutor-turned-defence, stood on the precinct steps like he was staging a revolution. Erin was unravelling by the hour. Officers were asking questions in hushed voices. And now, the State Bureau had sent an internal oversight team breathing down our necks.
