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I stepped out the door and into Jake's arms.
"Were you listening?" I asked accusingly.
"Of course not," he said. "I was waiting patiently for you." He squeezed me like he had no intention of ever, ever letting go. He looked exhausted but he smelt like home.
I pressed my head against his chest and exhaled softly. "I wasn't sure if I would ever see you again."
"Of course you would," he said. "You can't get rid of me that easily. I would follow you to the bottom of the seven hells if I had to."
"So would I," Cooper said. He looked like he hadn't slept for two weeks either. He stepped over and gave us both a hug.
"Me too." Ben joined us on the other side.
Hutton cleared his throat.
When I looked over at him, he shrugged. "Just give me a chance? I did almost die for you."
Jake sighed loudly.
"Hutton did help us a lot," Cooper said. "Even you said so, Jake. We wouldn't have found her if it wasn't for him."
"You would have found me," I said. But it would have been too late for Ben. Too late for Hutton. Too late to prevent me from being violated further. Maybe too late to prevent me from being broken.
"Hutton did lead us right to you," Jake said grudgingly. "But I still want to reserve judgement until I see the rest of the information. And make sure there's not a virus in the message you sent."
"If there is, I didn't put it there," Hutton said.
"I can ask Freddie to have a look for you," Harmony said. "He's a genius with computers. If there's anything funny in there, he'll find it."
It was Jake who nodded. "I've heard that about him. I'll have our people look at it, but it wouldn't hurt to have a second set of eyes."
Harmony nodded. "Of course, he'll be happy to help. And if you meant what you said about pitting Dagen against Zeta, we'll help with that too."
"Anything to bring down those assholes," Paxton agreed.
I would have to see what they could do to help. I wasn't going to let their agenda get in the way of mine. My target was Dagen and the Onyx Ridge pack. Zeta would be collateral damage at best. They didn't need to know that though. They just needed to do what I asked when I asked them to do it. And they would, I would make sure of that.
10
"At least thisplace is still standing," I said as we pulled into the garage underneath Crimson. Jake pulled the SUV into the space beside my Cobra. "You drove her here?"
"I did," Cooper said. "Jake can't drive a manual."
Jake looked over his shoulder and scowled at Cooper. "I can drive one, I just let you drive that time because we had two cars and two of us." After a moment he admitted, "And if there was a bomb in the car, it would blow up Cooper, not me."
Cooper put a hand around his mouth and loudly whispered, "Jake can't drive a manual."
I knew very well Jake could, and this little display was just to cheer me up.
I managed a smile. "Maybe not, but it's always sensible to let someone else drive a car that might explode."
"That's usually my job," Ben said. "Thanks for taking one for the team, Coop."
Cooper grinned. "Any time." His smile faded into a frown. "I don't actually want to get blown up though."
"Me either," Ben said. "The risk is just part of the job. It's what keeps it exciting." He gave me a faint smile and a nod. Exciting didn't accurately describe the last couple of weeks, but we got through it. More or less sane.
"I could use a bit of boredom for a while." I followed Ben out of the car and stepped over to inspect my Cobra. She didn't seem to be damaged, lucky for Cooper and Dagen. She was even parked inside the lines.
