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She lifted her chin and said, “I love him. Thank you for making this happen.”
“Again, Astraea…” He smiled. “Tell me something I don’t know.” He gestured to the open door. “Better get moving before the doc throws all our asses out of here.” He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “He’s pretty banged up, so be prepared for that.”
She nodded, fortifying herself before she walked into the dimly lit room. Easy was on his back, hooked up to an IV. She walked closer to the bed. His face was so swollen, she barely recognized him.
“Easy?” she whispered, and he opened his eyes. They were still impossibly blue, dazed and glassy, but he still smiled softly. “Hey, sailor, you looking for a good time?” She smiled back at him.
With a long-suffering sigh, he said, “I would, but I have this woman who’s a handful, with a mouth you wouldn’t believe.”
“Always such a Prince Charming,” she said wryly, her voice extra hoarse. She should be tougher than that. She wanted to tell him so much more, but there wasn’t going to be an opportunity. He was injured and out of it. No need to press him now.
He chuckled. Easy’s eyes closed, and Astraea thought he was going back under. Yet when she eased back from the bed, Easy said, “Ow, don’t make me laugh.”
She clasped the back of his hand and she squeezed hard, as if she might be able to pass her feelings to him through her touch. He weakly squeezed her fingers, his eyes softening.
“Maybe I need to work on all my skills.” Easy struggled to keep his eyes open. “Maybe I should have ducked and weaved a little more?” he slurred, then gave up, sliding into sleep.
Tears brimmed her eyes and, in her throat, thickening her voice. “Yeah, tough guy, maybe,” she murmured. A nurse appeared at the entrance to the room, and Astraea knew it was time to go. She smoothed his hair back just to touch him and feel his warmth. She pressed a gentle kiss to his temple and his lips. “You get well, and we’ll talk,” she said, her voice breaking. “I need to tell you that I love you when you’re aware and can understand every word I say, you beautiful man.”
The nurse stepped inside and with one more fleeting look at Easy, she left the room. She tracked down Tex and said, “How can I find out how Easy is doing? Talk to him when he’s better, keep in touch? He lost his cell phone in Venezuela, and I don’t have any way to contact him.”
Tex asked her to bring up her contact list on her new phone. When she did, he entered a number and said, “That’s my private cell. Any time you want to get in touch with our boy, just call me. I’ll fill you in on how he’s doing and get you together with him when he’s better. I suspect you two have a lot to talk about.”
Everything after that was a whirlwind. She attended Brian Cole’s service, a private ceremony. She sat in the back with Rosa holding her hand, the widow, a woman with warm beige skin, her tawny hair in coils touching her swan-like neck sat in the front row with two small children. Kade “Dagger” Hollis sat next to her, his teammates in the pews behind them. Her muffled sobs tore at Astraea’s heart. If Easy had…she couldn’t finish the thought. But seeing the grief and loss in the woman’s face drove it home that Easy was still alive and mending.
When the service was over and she’d watched every one of Easy’s teammates pound a trident into the casket with their fists, except Tex who pounded in two, one for him, and she was sure the second one was for Easy, Brian’s widow came down the church aisle. Dagger stopped at her pew, and she stood up.
“Quinn, this is Astraea Devers, the woman Brian was trying to save,” Dagger murmured.
Quinn was even more stunning up close, her features elegantly delicate, her teeth flashing white as she spoke. Astraea said, “I’m so sorry about your husband.”
Tears running down her cheeks, Quinn said, “I’m so very glad you’re home safe. My husband dedicated his life to keeping us all safe. Thank you for coming.”
She met with the State Department and the attorney general one last time to wrap everything up. “Good luck with everything Astraea and stay safe.”
After that, she packed up her meager belongings and boarded a plane for Dallas, with Rosa, who’d been such a comfort through it all. She immediately went to her parents’ house. Her dad hugged her so hard when she came in the door, but her mother just grilled her about her job, like that was more important than Astraea standing here after almost being brutally ravaged and killed by a savage man in a foreign country.
After telling her mother for the third time that she didn’t want to be referred to as Jack anymore, and not only was she quitting her job but she was going to sue them for the way they treated her, she turned to her sister, telling her that she was sick of their contentious, competitive squabbling and that ifGeorgiawanted a real relationship with her, to call her and they could talk about it.
Later on, she took a private moment to apologize to her father about the way she’d treated him when she’d been younger and that the advice he’d given her was spot on. There was kindness in the world, and she’d been lucky to have been on the receiving end of it when she needed it the most. In his kind way, he told her not to judge her mom too harshly. She was who she was.
Astraea agreed with him, but the person that had tried to pretend to be Jack was gone. In her place was someone who wanted to experience everything with her eyes and her heart wide open.
After her trip to her parents’, the attorney general asked if she would like to be present when they arrested her coworkers. Did she ever. He told her when they were going, and she walked into PAY-TV with Department of Justice agents like she owned the place. People watched her as she made her way to both Kyle and Ray’s offices and they emerged in handcuffs. The looks on their faces were priceless—pale and oh-my-God scared.
Her final stop was Mitchum’s office. When she pushed the double doors wide with the heel of her hand, Mitchum looked up, his face contorting in disgust. “What are you doing here? You’re going to ruin this company and then barge in here like this. I won’t stand for this outrage.”
“I didn’t ruin this company, Mitchum, you did.” She’d waited for this moment for a long time. She remembered every single thing that had happened to her in Caracas, her and Easy’s struggle to stay alive and ahead of the man Mitchum had paid to brutalize her. The moment she saw his face, it was clear to her that no one here had ever had her back. “You committed treason, Mitchum, when you sicced Ramos on me and the SEAL who came to save me. He suffered untold pain for me. He would have died for me. His name is Matthew Hitchcock. He’s twice the man you could ever be. He and his team were put in danger when Kyle ferreted out information from Rosa about where I was hiding. You and your flunkies put a whole team in danger, and the DSS agent who came to pull me out of there was murdered.”
“I had nothing to do with that.”
“It’s called guilt by association, accessory to murder of a federal agent. If you don’t get sentenced to death, I hope you rot in prison. It will surely be a better place than you sent me to die.”
“It wasn’t personal, Jack. It was business.”
She scoffed, itching to slap him stupid. “Oh, Mitchum, you piece of shit. It was completely personal.”
She watched as one of the agents walked behind his desk, gestured for him to rise, gathered his wrists behind his back, and clicked on the cuffs. The gray tinge to his face gave her satisfaction.
