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DECKER
We got her.
I got her. Isabelle is in my arms.
Thank fucking Christ.
“Anyone got any holes in them?” Mack asks.
Nate is driving and lets out a laugh.
“Zero holes,” he replies, ducking to stare out the windscreen. “This one?”
“Yup,” I say, knowing he’s looking for directions.
Isabelle lifts her head as Mack pulls off his mask, and Nate does the same. Both of them tossing them in the back by our feet.
“Hello, Miss Isabelle,” Mack grins at her.
“Mack?” she asks, her voice raspy from the smoke.
“We got you, girl.” He smiles some more, reaching out his hand. She takes it, but I can feel her shaking in my arms, so it’s a tentative squeeze.
I wish he wouldn’t touch her. It’s making me even more edgy than I already am, and that’s not safe for any of us.
Mack could still do his job with one arm, I figure.
I tug her arm away and wrap her tighter in my arms. Isabelle lifts her eyes to me knowingly. She settles against my chest.
“We’re taking you to the airport where Connor’s jet will fly us home,” Mack tells her, lifting his phone to his ear to arrange the pilots. “We’ll be there in just over an hour. In the air five minutes after that.”
“Thank you,” she says with such gratitude, my heart cracks a little.
Mack was right. Isabelle trusts him.
I’m not a man she can trust. No matter how I feel about her, I will always be the person who got her into this mess in the first place. I might not have been the first domino to fall in her story, but I will always be the reminder of the horror and nightmare she endured.
Knowing that, I hold her tight and steal the last moments I can with her.
Because soon, I will have to let her go.
And hand her over.
A little further into our drive, I make good on my promise. I tug my phone out of my jacket and dial Ana.
“Dex? Is that you?” she says, and it seems odd to hear that name now. It’s only been a few days that I’ve shed the skin of my undercover identity.
I’m ready to go home.
“Ana,” I say as Isabelle places a hand on my chest and tucks her fingers around the zipper on my jacket. As I speak, my eyes drop to hers, and I cover her hand with mine.
