Page 66 of Thin Ice

Nolan laughed. "He said he's lost almost the entire day. He remembers hoisting the Cup with the rest of the team, but that's about it."

I could have sat there all night watching him, the way I had since the day we met. I didn't say so. It would risk closing the gap and complicate the last nights before the biggest game of Nolan's life.

At ten he rolled the mat and gathered himself off the floor. He said goodnight from the hall, and his bedroom door clicked shut.

I looked at my phone. I'd run out of time and excuses.

After taking a deep breath, I called Mac. He'd given me his personal cell number for emergencies. This wasn't life or death, but it was something other than a daily report.

"Ward. Something wrong?"

"Not exactly, but I need ten minutes, and this isn't about Nolan. I mean, it is, but it's not exactly work. It's a disclosure."

A chair creaked, and I heard a door close. "Go."

I gave it to him complete and in order. I did my best to give the version I'd have demanded from anyone who worked for me. No preamble and no framing.

"It's about a policy. I've—there's an attachment to the principal. To Nolan. It's not one-sided. It's a relationship."

I realized I was speaking for Nolan and making assumptions, but I made myself keep going.

"It should've been disclosed over a week ago. That's when I stopped being able to say it wasn't affecting the work. There've been two—my attention split during live coverage, twice, and I logged both. I told myself logging them was the same as reporting to you, but I know it wasn't."

I stopped and took a breath.

"The protection's held. The investigation's moved. I'm not offering that as cover. It's just true."

Silence on his end.

"I wrote it all out once," I said. "It was on a flight back from Boston. Then I deleted it and told myself I needed to say it face to face. That would delay until after the Cup Final." I let that sit. "I manufactured the need. I just didn't want to send it."

When Mac spoke, I heard no emotion in his voice. He didn't sound angry. It might have been easier if he had been.

"Walk me through why you sat on it."

"Because reporting it meant having this conversation," I said. "And I knew how this conversation could end."

"Reassignment."

"Yes."

"Have you done the math on reassignment?"

"Mid-series, new operator, and no rapport. Nolan's a principal who has had multiple bodyguards, but he rarely trusts them. He told me that." I stopped. "There's something else."

"More?" he asked.

"Yeah." I started into the hardest part. "A few nights ago, Nolan opened my work bag looking for a phone charger. He found the engagement folder in the side pocket and read the summary page, seeing that he's an investigation subject, not just a security principal." I stood and walked to the window. "He knows everything now: Halloran, Hawkins, and Tierney. I briefed him in full. I know that's a massive violation without discussing it with you first. The cover's blown, and this is the first time you're hearing about it."

The tone of his voice didn't change. "Here's what's not going to happen tonight," he said. "I'm not pulling you at midnight two nights before a Game Seven with an active threat on the principal. That's not absolving you of anything, Elias. It's logistics."

"Understood."

"When this is all over, you are going to have a long conversation with Eamon and me. You probably won't like any of that."

"I understand that, too."

"Is the relationship holding after the cover's blown?"