“Then—” she shrugs “—the FBI would’ve had no part of it, of course. You and your team would’ve been arrested for obstruction, and you would’ve probably lost your badge for good.”
Fucking Feds. “Fine. Then I’m done here.”
“You’ll thank me tomorrow, detective.” She touches my arm gently. “When you sit behind your desk instead of the inside of a cell.” My nostrils flare, and I move away from her touch. “Go home, Quinn. Sleep. Get some perspective. We’ll take it from here.”
Agent Bell starts to walk off, but then pivots around. She tucks the phone inside my pocket. “You still might need a friend. Or maybe I will one day.” She winks and then sets off toward the Alpha. Dorian McGregor. Whoever he is, he’s no longer my concern.
All I want this second is to take Avery away from here.
There’s the matter of debriefing first, however. Making sure all parties are on the same page before we’re released from the scene. When Agent Bell attempts to pull me into the questioning, I turn my back on her and head toward my car. I’ve heard enough. While the others are debriefed, I lean against the hood, arms crossed over my chest. I don’t mind waiting alone.
Carson is the first to be released. Unfortunate for him. I push off the hood as he strides away from the group.
To his credit, he walks directly toward me, even though he should be running in the opposite direction. He does stop a good distance away, though. He definitely should do that. Smart bastard.
“I just wanted to say…” he starts, driving a hand through his hair. His whole body is tense. “What happened back there. In The Firm…I didn’t mean—”
I step up to him and cup the back of his neck, bringing his head next to mine. “I owe you a dick punch. But it’s not happening tonight.” I pat him on the shoulder. Hard.
I want Carson sweating just when that punch is going to come for a good, long while.
“Avery’s safe.” My gaze wanders to where she and Sadie are wrapping up with Bell. “For now, that’s all that matters. You protected her.” I meet his eyes. “For that…thank you.”
His shoulders deflate, the fear still evident but dissipating. “I’ll take that punch like a man when it comes.”
Yes, he will.
Once Bell releases the rest of our team from debriefing, they meet us at my car. Sadie still has an arm anchored around Avery, shielding her from the chaos.
I’m acutely jealous of that touch, that protection she’s offering her, and I don’t hesitate as I steal Avery away and wrap both arms around her, tucking her close to my body.
She shivers against me. “I still don’t understand what happened,” she says.
I stare at Sadie from over the top of Avery’s head. “We got made.”
Sadie inhales a deep breath. “Not the first time the Feds swooped in to steal the show.” But I see it in those green eyes; the doubt. The skepticism. The question she won’t voice but is simmering—whether or not I actually informed Agent Bell.
She’ll probably always wonder, always question if she can trust me—fully trust me now. I guess that makes us even, then.
“I’m taking Avery home.” I gather her under my arm. “We’ll lay low tomorrow. Let the Feds have their glory. Then, play it by ear. Discuss what we need to. No one makes a statement until then.”
With a nod, Sadie gives me one last guarded look, then her and Colton climb into the back of the car. Carson follows them. Avery sits up front with me, and it’s a tense drive back to the city, where we all allow each other the privacy of our own thoughts.
In a way, we succeeded. And we failed.
The true fallout of our actions lingers at the edge, where darkness and certainty still hang in the balance.
17
Carnal
Avery
I haven’t yet processed the events of tonight. During the drive into the city, I purposely kept my thoughts void of the Alpha. Trying not to place him, to match his voice with the one I heard over the intercom in the warehouse lab. Not to picture his face beneath the plain white mask of the man who stuck me with a syringe and drugged me.
Not to feel the cold intrusion of steel from the gun inside me…
Was he any of them? It’s hard to correlate the mastermind villain we thought him to be with the man—just a man—we brought down tonight.