Once, in a different lifetime, I’d seen man after man ring a bell and walk away from BUD/S and SEAL qualification training, from SERE and sniper school. I’d thought then, and every single moment since then, that there was nothing in this world that would make me ring those bells or any other. But as I lay there, with Dani tucked up against me, I realized I would.
There was no question about it. There was no choice to make. I would have rung the bell for her. I would have rung any bell there was to ring, thrown in the towel, and sprinted away if it meant she was safe for eternity.
And I knew what I needed to do. I’d thought it would be impossible, the hardest thing ever, to turn in my Trident and walk away. But it was quite the opposite; it was the easiest thing to do because it meant a life at her side.
My phone buzzing from the pocket of the jacket I’d thrown on the floor never stopped. Dani stirred next to me, and I looked down, noticing her grimace as she swallowed.
“Ibuprofen?” I asked quietly.
She nodded. I left her side to dig in my bag for the pain meds, handing her several. She choked a little, trying to get them down, and my worry ratcheted up a notch.
“Do you want to go to the hospital?” I asked her.
She shook her head.
The incessant buzzing reminded me others needed to reassure themselves that she was safe. That I was being a selfish asshole. I retrieved my phone and saw a string of messages from Garner, Brady, Lee, and Malone. All checking in, all asking for a status. Some demanding we contact them. I was surprised no one had knocked on the door.
“Can we just get it over with?” she asked.
I looked up at her in surprise. “What?”
“Whatever it is they need us to do. Can we just do it and be done? I want to leave. I want to go home.”
I nodded. I went to her suitcases in the closet and pulled out yoga pants and a sweatshirt, showing them to her. She nodded and pulled them on over the sexy underwear.
I found the earpiece and microphone, putting them both back on. “Owl on the way to the penthouse. Debrief will happen there.”
We passed a range of agents and Garner’s men on our way to the elevator and up to the penthouse, but the crowd in the actual space was small. Just Brady, Lee, Alice, Malone, and the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the L.A. office whom I’d met briefly earlier. Brady and Alice rushed forward to wrap Dani in a hug, and she let them.
“Did you win?” Dani asked.
Brady looked at her for a moment and then chuckled. “Video of the year, but not artist.”
“Well, next year, we’ll make sure it’s in the bag,” she responded, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. Dani was okay. Other than the rasp in her voice and the welt on her neck, she was almost back to the confident, in-charge, ready-to-set-the-world-on-fire Dani we all knew.
I loved her. More than anything I’d loved in my entire life.
There was a first aid kit on the table, and I wrapped Dani’s open wounds on her hand while Alice made her a cup of tea from the penthouse’s supplies, and the SAC debriefed us. Dani drank the tea and then more water, grimacing every time she swallowed.
After listening to what Tanner had said, Brady stood, twisting the leather on his wrist in a nonstop tell of stress. “So, Tanner and Fiona were in on it together?”
No one responded.
“This is all because I didn’t give them enough money?” His voice was sad, full of self-condemnation.
“Stop blaming yourself,” Lee said, landing a hand on Brady’s shoulder.
Malone shook his head. “It wouldn’t have mattered what you gave them. It would never have been enough to people like them.”
“Did they have screwed-up pasts that I should have known about? I would have helped…” Brady’s voice trailed away. As if he could have been able to fix everything had he only known what was driving them.
“Guess what? Some people can have a great childhood and still turn into shitty people who think they deserve something from the world,” the SAC said.
There was nothing on paper to explain it. Neither Fiona nor Tanner had anything in their backgrounds that would have flagged anyone. But as I knew firsthand, greed was enough.
Malone handed Dani her phone which must have been left in the mess next to Fiona’s body.
“Thanks,” she said and then turned to Alice. “Can you book us a flight back to Delaware?”
Alice’s eyes went wide. “Sure. You want to leave tonight or in the morning?”
“Now. As soon as you can get us on a plane.”
“Dani,” I said quietly, wanting her to rest, wanting her to take the time to recover her strength. But she shook her head at me.
“I don’t want to stay. I want to go home. I want to sleep in my own bed.”
♫ ♫ ♫
It was nearly midnight by the time we got back to LAX and were ushered directly to a redeye flight on its way to D.C. We were in first-class seats again, and I wasted no time in pulling her into me. The hooded sweatshirt she wore hid most of the red welt on her neck, but if you knew it was there, like I did, it was obvious. I hated it.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes,” I told her, and it was true. I was okay. “Let’s just not make a habit of this.”
She tried to chuckle but winced.
“Yeah, I have no desire to repeat it,” she said.
“It was my very worst moment,” I told her, and her body stilled. I’d had lots of terrible moments. Some she knew about, and others she only knew
