“What?” Everly said, excitement edging her voice. “What did you find?”
“Comin’ down,” Roman said before skipping the steps and dropping to the floor beside Ian. He took one look and broke into excited laughter. “Holy shit is right.”
“What?” she asked again. “What is it?”
Liam and Sam pushed their way into the basement, and together, the team scanned the space with shock and awe. Fully finished and meticulously clean and organized, the room was an upscale, state-of-the-art workspace, complete with three industrial printers, half a dozen computers, and twice as many monitors set up around two huge commercial desks. Shelves and workbenches lined the walls holding equipment, paper, plates, ink, and other supplies.
“A top-of-the-line counterfeiting setup,” Roman answered Everly, sauntering toward a line of presses and steel printing plates. “That’s what.”
Misty would be going away for a very long time. Which meant Savannah was going to lose her best and only friend.
And if she had aided Misty in any way, Savannah would be criminally responsible under the aiding and abetting laws. And that would land her in federal prison. She could kiss Jamison goodbye—literally.
The excitement coursing through Ian’s veins cooled. He picked up a bottle of ink from the dozens lining the shelves.
“What have you got there?” Sam asked.
“Thermochromic and optically variable security ink,” Ian said.
“I’ve seen my share of counterfeit material,” Liam said. “But never anything this sophisticated.” He picked up a piece of paper from a stack sitting beside a commercial printer and took a close look, tilting it back and forth under the light. “She’s using intaglio methods.”
“English, please,” Everly complained.
“It’s an ancient printing technique still used for passports today,” Liam said. “Complex, twisting patterns on the inside pages of a passport created using multiple plates and presses.”
“Hologram plates too,” Sam said, picking up one of dozens of engraved steel plates. “Look at the detail.” He huffed a laugh as he ran his gloved fingers over the metal. “This is intense.”
Ian picked up a piece of dark blue plastic used for passport covers. “I thought she might have picked up some passports on the darknet, doctored them, and passed them on to Bishop, but this…” He shook his head. “I never imagined she was capable of this.”
Which made him second-guess what he believed Savannah capable of—including covering up her friend’s illegal activity.
“You either need to contemplate all this elsewhere,” Everly said. “Or you’d better get ready to take her down. She’s going to pull into the ranch in about fifteen minutes.”
“If we arrest Misty now, we’ll tip off Hank and Lyle. There’s no telling whether Misty kept a record of the passports she’s created, but we know Lyle did.”
“Hotfoot it, boys,” Roman said. “We’ll come back for this once we have the ledger. Ian, fix that chain so she doesn’t know we were here.”
The men filed up the stairs. Sam mulled over an old desk in the corner. At the door, Ian waited as the other’s exited. Before Roman passed through the door, he planted a hand on Ian’s shoulder.
“You need to prep Savannah for what’s coming,” he told Ian. “We’re going to need her cooperation.”
His gut clenched, but he nodded as if he had everything under control. “We’ll have it. Sam, get your ass out before I lock you in.”
Once Sam cleared the barn, Ian removed the bro
ken link in the chain and locked up the door, then followed his teammates toward their vehicles parked on the main road.
This was a no-win situation for Savannah. She didn’t know it yet, but her life just took another turn in its downward spiral.
Savannah slid her hand over Jamison’s brow and pushed his hair off his forehead, then leaned down to kiss him there. She breathed in his fresh-from-the-bath scent and smiled.
Easing back, she took in every detail of his sleeping face, from the freckles across his nose to the way his lips twitched as he dreamt. She’d never imagined she could love this way—so deeply, so completely, so unconditionally.
She would—without any doubt—do anything she had to do to keep Jamison from being ruined by Hank and Lyle. Her love for Jamison was all-encompassing, making her understand the concept of giving her life to save someone else.
Her phone chimed, and Savannah sat back, pulling it from her pocket.
As she suspected, it was from Ian. I’m home.