Page 65 of Hunted in the Silence

She almost smiled. Then it faded and she looked at the lot again, at Devlin’s sedan still against the rear wall with two evidence technicians working around it. “He’s going to prison.”

Cole nodded. “For a very long time.”

“And the network.”

“Patricia Voss’s cooperation, plus the ledger, plus every piece of evidence we’ve built over the last few weeks. The Chicago connection, the Barton Industrial records, the Meridian and Harlan locations, the testimony from the four girls.” He paused. “It’s not just Devlin. It’s the whole structure. Prosecutors will be working this for a year.” Probably more, if he was honest. The law was notorious for moving painfully slow, but he didn’t want to add any more weight to an already heavy moment.

Brynn nodded slowly. The thermal blanket shifted. He adjusted it back over her shoulder then kept his arm around her, holding her close to his side.

“Cole,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“What you did tonight. Coming in without authorization, without the full team in position, without—”

“I know.”

She breathed deep and let it out slowly. “Olivia’s going to have to report it.”

He stared down at the ground, trying to find a reason to care about the consequences more than he did. “I know that too.”

She looked up at him. “Are you worried about it?”

He thought about it honestly. He’d gone into that building without waiting for Carson’s full team because the alternative was standing in a parking lot while Devlin held Brynn prisoner, and there was no version of that that would have changed what he did. He’d broken protocol. He’d do it again without hesitation, and that was God’s honest truth.

“No,” he said.

She searched his eyes. “It could cost you your job.”

“I know.” He looked at her steadily. “I also know what waiting would have cost.” He paused. “That’s not a hard calculation, Brynn.”

She held his gaze for a long moment with the openness she’d been giving him since the night she’d told him she was glad it was him, and he returned it.

With everything he had.

Across the lot, Olivia appeared from around the corner of the building and walked toward them with a brisk, purposeful stride. She stopped in front of Cole with pinched expression, and he knew instantly she’d come bearing bad news.

“Pearson called,” she said. His supervisor. “He wants a full debrief. Tomorrow morning, nine a.m., field office.” She paused, and he could feel the weight of what was coming next. “He used the word protocol three times, which I think we can all say means something big.”

“Understood.” Cole blew out a breath.

Olivia’s attention flickered to Brynn, and something in her expression softened fractionally, allowing a brief moment of her true self to come through. “You did good tonight,” she said. “Both of you.” She looked back at Cole. “I’ll handle the initial paperwork tonight. You have until nine.” She turned and walked back toward the building without waiting for a response, which was Olivia Delgado in a nutshell.

Cole glanced at his phone after she left, noting he’d missed the text from Pearson. He opened it, read the short, curt message detailing having been woken up early and not being happy about what he’d heard, followed by the demand Olivia had already relayed. Then he tucked the phone back in his pocket. He’d deal with that later.

Brynn was watching him. “Tomorrow,” she said.

“Tomorrow,” he agreed. “Tonight is tonight.”

She looked at him for a moment. Then she slid off the hood of the car and stood in front of him, the thermal blanket falling from her shoulders. She was close, and her brown eyes were steady and dark and entirely focused on him, as if she’d reached an important decision.

“I want to go somewhere quiet,” she said, her hand coming to rest on his thigh. “Not the safe house. Somewhere that isn’t part of any of this.” She paused, her eyes filled with something he dared not name. “Will you take me somewhere quiet?”

He stared at her. At the cut on her cheekbone and the scrape on her arm and the marks on her wrists and the dark hair hanging loose around her face and the steadiness he’d always admired about her. And he wondered if she was saying what he thought she was saying.

And then he stopped wondering.

“Yes,” he said.