“Nic,” Veena called.
I turned back.
“Please don’t go far.” Her voice trembled.
“I won’t.”
“You got this?” Brown asked the man outside the door after it closed on us. The skeptical note in my chief’s voice said what his words didn’t. The guy answered that he did.
Brown turned to Bart and me. “I’m in 317. Get yourselves cleaned up and come down.”
Veena’s room was across the hall from her parents, but my key was in the pocket of my coat, which she had. Bart let me in with his. “Wash that cut, and I’ll dress it when you come down.”
Cut? I remembered the dripping blood on the laundry bag. I touched the spot on the back of my head where I’d butted the guy in the face. Blood caked it.
The hotel room was warm and still. I undressed and stood in the shower with rusty water pooling around my feet, willing my heart rate to slow and my still-twitching muscles to relax.
I went through every decision, every move, from when I received the alarm to when coffee man showed up. I relived every kick, punch, and jab I’d given and received. Flinching, I felt myself drop without Veena when the shot rang out. I should be unconditionally fired for that. Except only the bad guys, and Veena, had seen it.
I rested my chin on my chest and let the water clean out the cut. The game had changed today from vague threats to active danger. But I’d been very lucky. Veena was alive, despite my massive error. And for now, that was enough.
Forty-five minutes later, I stood inside Brown’s suite. This one had the same basics as the Eagle’s Nest Inn, kitchenette and all. Without a word, Bart handed me my baton, which he must have found in the street, and motioned me to a chair at the table. He pulled out a first aid kit and, quickly and professionally, cleaned and bandaged my scalp and the cuts on my hands. Brown set a fresh cup of coffee in front of me.
Outside, snowflakes floated by the window instead of being dashed against the pane. I could finally see the mountain. Brown took a seat beside me.
“Tell me what happened from the beginning,” he said. “Where were you when Veena pushed the panic button—and how did you find her?”
I considered telling him about lunch with Connor and decided it was none of his business; I’d been off duty. I also didn’t mention hitting the floor of the truck without Veena. But everything I did tell him was true.
I was eating lunch when the alarm sounded, and I took off running, scared the hell out of a family, found The Continental Divide, and spotted the laundry truck. I suppressed a shiver when I relived hearing Veena’s faint cry. If I hadn’t heard it, the kidnappers would have her in hand right now. Brown asked clarifying questions while Bart took notes. I finished with coffee guy showing up and scaring the kidnappers away.
Brown and Bart exchanged glances. Chief asked, “This was the man from the Vail club that you asked me to check out?”
I nod. “Any idea how he’s involved?”
He puffed out a breath. “Wish I did. There are already too many wild cards in this game.”
Only . . . his expression was too blank. I turned to Bart. His face was empty, too. My eyes narrowed. If they knew who the man was, why wouldn’t they tell me?
I sat back in my chair, too tired to figure out their angle right now, and winced as the movement made the wound on the back of my head throb.
“You did good, Green.” Brown’s voice was unusually soft. “You threw a wrench in their plans and bought time for us to get there. I heard one of the kidnappers was gimpy. That was you, right?”
“Yeah.” My lips twisted upwards. After all my mistakes, I really needed to hear some encouraging words from my chief. “But—”
“But nothing. You found her. You were with her. You did your job. Take the win. God knows they don’t always come.” Brown’s phone rang, and he picked up and listened, his gaze growing stony. “Uh huh, I understand. Right.”
“What is it?” Bart asked when Brown hung up. I could tell it wasn’t good news from the chief’s expression.
“Local PD lost the Escalade. Blamed the snowstorm. They said they were stretched thin with all the accidents on the highway, and road conditions were too dangerous to chase them down. Unbelievable. These clowns live here, drive in storms all the time.” His jaw clenched.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and find the Caddy in a ditch,” Bart said.
My shoulders drooped. Without the kidnappers in custody, Veena wasn’t safe yet. Not by a mile. “What now?”
“Now, we see what our clients want to do,” Brown said.
I squinted at him. “What do you mean?”
“What would you do if Veena was your daughter? Would you let her stay at school after a kidnapping attempt?” He let that sink in. “If she were mine, I’d take her back to that nice, sunny compound in California until the FBI got a handle on whoever’s behind this. This plan was bad from minute one. Letting her train at a public ski resort with who knows who having access to her…” Brown was muttering by the end.
I stared at a growing patch of blue in the sky while emotions paraded through me. My boss was right; Veena would be safer at home. I’d told her that myself before we came to Copper.
Was this it, then? Would Veena go back with her parents? Would today be my last day as her CPO? Setting my disappointment aside, I thought of how devastated she’d be. Missing out on the Olympics. A gold medal. All her dreams. But there was nothing I could do to stop the Venkatesans from putting an end to it.
“Do you have kids, Chief?” I asked.
Brown stared, and Bart looked up from his notes.
“We
