Page 81 of Deep Cover

Cannon didn’t answer right away. He folded his arms, bringing one fist to his lips in the kind of pause that told her what came next wasn’t going to be simple.

“It’s not just supplies,” he said finally. “There’s a leak, Lane. In the Blackout secure network. I don’t suppose Rivers told you the order to move the girls came through that line? A fake call got Rivers shot and Jolie and Stina kidnapped.”

Shocked, she shook her head. She’d been so absorbed by the possibility that she could have really lost him that she never questioned how it all went down.

He nodded in response to her silence. “O and Dante from the Charlie team built a secret network. We’ve been moving intel between us through this new channel because whoever’s behind the leak doesn’t only know what Echo had in its armory. They know how Blackout operates. It could be a partner agency.”

Like the FBI.

“It could be one of our own ranks.”

She ingested all this, aware most of all that Cannon had handed her Blackout secrets, trusting her not to run to Doyle with it.

“There’s still so much work to be done,” she said.

“You’re stuck here under our protection for a while. You’ve got time to work through it.”

“I’m frustrated that I don’t have that name yet. But we do know Bill was no longer useful to whoever was in charge. Someone killed him to cover their tracks. Someone burned the Portland warehouse to destroy evidence and emptied the East Coast warehouse before the team got there. They used military personnel lookalikes to cover their moves.”

As she recapped the things they knew about the case, it only opened up a whole world of what was left to uncover. What she could uncover.

Excitement to get started ran through her.

As if he saw it on her face, he nodded again. “Exactly. We need you here. Whatever pace you can manage while you’re healing is good. But faster’s better.”

The full weight of everything that was still unresolved settled in her.

“Cannon.” She paused, then pushed through anyway. “Why keep me here at all? I can go into WITSEC and work with Sierra remotely.”

He studied her for a long moment, arms still crossed. “You want the honest answer?”

“Yes.”

“Jolie’s got Monk smiling like an idiot most of the day. If you saw how he was when he first got here, you’d understand how big that is. Stina’s always the comic relief around here, and this base doesn’t feel like a tomb anymore. Between the curtains and that ridiculous painting and baked goods, Sierra’s morale is better than it’s been in years.” He uncrossed his arms and dropped them to his sides. “You add to that. Whatever else you bring to this case—and you bring plenty—you’re part of why this team’s holding together right now.”

Her throat was tight, and warmth spread through her chest with a fierce, unexpected wave.

She cocked her head. “Cannon. Was that a compliment?”

“Don’t get used to it.” His jaw twitched, almost a smile. “And if you ever repeat what I just said, I’ll deny every word of it.”

A startled laugh bubbled out of her, and he looked pleased with himself as he walked out.

After he left, she sat on the edge of the bed again, running through her conversations with both leaders—Doyle, her boss in a different world, and Cannon here. She would do her best job for both of them.

Her career was secure. She still had valuable work to do. The best part of all…

She could do it right here with Reid.

She rushed out and searched his room first. Finding it empty, she hurried through the tunnels, past the cute desk and the “window” at the far end. She discovered him in the gym, kneeling in front of her partly assembled treadmill, muttering at an instruction manual.

She froze in the doorway, heart throbbing in her throat with joy and love and so many other emotions she couldn’t put into words.

She must have made some noise because he turned his head and saw her. A grin spread over his face and he pushed to his feet.

“Come see.” He waved her over.

She moved toward him, her pulse thundering with all the things she wanted to say.