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“Guess not.”
They shared a lingering smile. Things felt good between them now. Maybe they weren’t the best friends in the world, but Nicky had respect for him, and he had respect for her.
And Nicky would be happy to keep working with Ken at her side.
They’d won this case, but there were way more girls out there who had never been found.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
"Well, you three really did it," Senator Amara Gregory said as she paced the front of the briefing room back in Jacksonville. Feeling proud, Nicky sat at the table with Ken, Grace, and Chief Franco.
"Told you they were fine agents," Chief Franco said.
"Agent Lyons and Agent Walker did all the hard work," Grace said, her cheeks flushed.
"No way," Nicky said. "Without your help, we would've taken way longer to figure out where we needed to be. Thanks, Grace."
"Well, I'm glad you all get along," Amara said. "You really came through. Meghan Salinger is safe and alive, back with her family. I went and visited them yesterday. They can't believe their daughter is home. I offered to cover all of the therapy Meghan will need to recover from this horrible kidnapping."
Nicky smiled. Senator Gregory was a good woman. Nicky just wished she'd been able to save her daughter too. But Amara was strong; she was looking forward, not backwards, and Nicky admired that. Sometimes she needed to do that too.
"I have to admit," Chief Franco said, looking at Nicky and Ken, "I had some doubts about pairing you two together. But Senator Gregory wanted our best field agents on the job. Clearly, that was a good call."
Nicky felt her face heat. "Agent Walker's not so bad when you get to know him."
Ken just sat in the chair with his arms crossed, saying nothing, but Nicky knew they'd come to the same mutual respect.
"One thing doesn't quite make sense to me, though," Franco said. "How'd you find the warehouse in the first place?"
Nicky thought back to Bernard Brown, to the eerie words he'd said."All roads lead to home."
"It was a hunch, sir," Nicky said.
"Hell of a hunch," Franco added. "Well, either way, I'm glad you nailed it." He faced Amara. "Senator Gregory, I think there was something you wanted to ask these three."
"Yes." Amara smiled at them, clasping her hands together over her terracotta dress-suit. "As we discussed before, Meghan Salinger was only the first of several missing women in the county. It's an alarming number of them. I'd like to ask Agent Walker and Agent Lyons, with the help of Grace here, to take on the rest of the cases. A permanent position as my task force specifically dedicated to finding these missing girls."
Not long ago, Nicky would have been afraid of the commitment. Afraid that she might fail. But she'd saved Meghan. She'd won.
"I'll definitely think about it," Nicky said.
"Same," said Ken.
"Well, you can count me in!" Grace replied.
"Perfect," Amara said. "That's all I can ask. If it were up to me, every missing girl would be found. We can only focus on one at a time, but I have so much confidence in you all."
"It's an honor, Senator," Nicky said.
Amara walked over to stand in the middle of the room. "We're so lucky to have such excellent agents in our midst." She looked at Grace. "And you've certainly proven yourself to be one of the best techs around. I'm glad you're leveraging your skill to our advantage."
Grace blushed and gave Amara a nod. The senator nodded back, and then headed to the door. “Think about what I said, Agents,” Amara said. “I’ll be in touch soon.” With that, Amara left the room.
"She's a good woman," Chief Franco said. "We should be proud to work with her.”
Nicky nodded. A solemn silence filled the room. She and Ken sat there, thinking of all the women who'd gone missing. Of Meghan. Of all the lives she'd saved.
"Hey."
