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He still looked skeptical. “Thanks,” he murmured.
I nodded. “No problem. Anything else you need?”
He shook his head. “No.” Then he smiled, making my stomach feel all weird. “But thank you. Really.”
I shrugged. “Sure. I’m glad we got it all worked out.”
He shifted, looking up at me from under his thick lashes, brown-and-white eyes uncertain. “Seriously, Hart. I—I don’t know how to pay you back. Or how long it will take—”
“Please don’t,” I told him sincerely.
“But the vet bills alone—”
“Don’t,” I said again, deeply uncomfortable. “I—it’s fine. I don’t need the money, and you needed the help. I’m glad I could do it.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out, rushing in my excitement to have a possible way to escape this incredibly awkward conversation. It was Raj.
“What happened now, Tony?” I asked him.
“You’re going to want to see this, Keebler,” he replied, sounding positively cheerful.
“Be right there,” I told him, more than happy to escape my own awkwardness.
I couldn’t tell if Taavi’s expression was pleased or disappointed.
“I have to—”
“Go,” he finished.
“Yeah. Work.” It was convenient. I’m such a fucking chicken. “I’ll come by tomorrow?”
He gave me a small smile. “I’d like that.”
And then I fled.
At least I managed not to run.
* * *
“So what amI going to want to see?” I asked Raj when he met me downstairs at the federal building.
He grinned at me. “Jeremiah Oldham cry?”
“Seriously?”
He nodded. “Enough of his little list-cronies rolled on him that he finally crumbled. I thought his lawyer was literally going to vomit, he turned so green.”
I barked out a laugh. “You recorded this?”
Raj nodded. “The rest of the team hasn’t seen it yet, either,” he said. “Kurtz was in the viewing room, but Drew and Cass haven’t yet had the pleasure. They wanted to wait for you.”
Well, now I felt all warm and fuzzy. “Aw, gee, Raj. Now I feel all gooey inside.”
He laughed. “Yeah, well. Come on.”
We commandeered a conference room, and Raj shut the door. Drew had brought in snacks, and since it was just a handful of Nids with Cass as the lone human, she took off her mask and joined us in eating Cheetos and Oreos—because we are totally health-conscious adults.
Raj put the recorded interrogation on the room’s projection screen as the rest of us settled in for a very fucked-up movie night.
