Epilogue
Noah Jennings stood outside Colonel Sheppard’s office, grimacing at the wooden door and hesitated to knock.
After the late night text the colonel had sent ordering him—well, maybe it had been more of a request—to be at his office first thing this morning might not bode well for him.
But the clock was ticking and it was almost eight. So, he lifted his fist and?—
The door swung inward, leaving his fist hanging midair.
“Noah,” Solace said—voice husky, eyes widening, cheeks rosy, hair mussed—with her body jerking to a stop in the doorway, as he dropped his hand.
“Um, Duncan, uh, the colonel, I should say, is expecting you.” She gave him a quick smile, then scooted around him, while straightening her shirt as she went.
He didn’t want to think about what might’ve been going on behind closed doors.
With an upcoming marriage and a baby on the way, the two had become pretty open about their relationship—and wasn’t that an interesting development, especially since the colonel had come back from the dead.
So far, they hadn’t been into complete public displays of affection, but his office door stayed closed and locked a lot more than it used to.
So, no, he definitely didn’t want to know what they’d been doing. He couldn’t help how one side of his mouth curved up. This was just one more of the things that hadn’t been part of his time with the FAST office. Or, if there had been, he hadn’t been aware of it.
“Jennings,” the colonel said from his seat behind his desk—his own jaw slightly ruddy. “Please, come in and shut the door.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, doing as the colonel had asked, then moved toward a seat facing the desk, but didn’t take it.
The colonel’s normal, stoic expression was still there.
His boss exuded that whole man in charge personae with very little effort.
But you’d think he might be little more relaxed.
Especially considering he and Solace had probably just been?—
“Take a seat.” Good. He was glad for an interruption to that train of thought. He took a chair, as the colonel continued with, “I understand you haven’t left the detail Cal assigned to you for Mercy Carter.”
“Well, sir…” Noah almost lost his balance as he started to sit, but ended up clumsily managing to get his ass in the chair without making a complete fool of himself.
He’d hoped no one had noticed he hadn’t let go of watching over Mercy.
Although saying that in his head just now, he realized how stupid it sounded.
Of course they’d noticed. The only plausible excuse he could come up with was, “I was never told to leave the detail.”
“Hmm…” The colonel nodded, before he leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms, and gave Noah a look so assessing, he was tempted to bolt. When the other man’s eyes finally met his, Noah swallowed hard at the look filling them.
Does he know something?
It had been a question he’d wondered about since he’d joined the agency. There was no way the man hadn’t done some sort of background check on him. FAST had. In that instance, he’d later found out the judge in his case had heartily vouched for him when they’d run into the sealed court records.
From experience, he doubted the colonel worried about sealed files.
That also begged the question, had Garrett hacked into his records and found out the truth?
Did he know about his history? His sister?
The man didn’t treat him any differently than he did anyone else on the team, but you never knew.
“I believe I’ll keep you on this,” the colonel finally said after moments of silence and intense scrutiny. “I don’t have any direct evidence of a threat to Mercy as of right now, but as the course of her investigation takes her closer to Spivey, I feel like it’s only a matter of time.”
Noah nodded in agreement. He’d thought the same thing. Even though Spivey hadn’t been the one who had put the hit out on the colonel, he was still a danger.
And that didn’t take into account the Russian syndicate involvement.
And Mercy?
She was heading right toward Spivey’s front door. Knowing the kind of woman she was—and Noah had been paying attention to that—she wouldn’t knock. She’d just barge straight inside. The thought of what could happen to her when—not if—she did sent a cold chill down his spine.
Two loose threads in Spivey’s orbit had already been eliminated. First that intern. Then Darius Hamner. His accident had never been proven to be anything more than that. How hard would it be for Mercy or Kara, or both, to find themself in an accident?
Not hard at all if someone had the right connections. And from what the team had discovered, Spivey did. But they couldn’t prove it. Not yet. The new senator had somehow covered his tracks where any illegal associations were concerned.
“Needless to say,” the colonel said, drawing him out of his thoughts, to find a slight curve lifting one side of his mouth.
“The whole Mercy doesn’t need to know about this aspect of your detail still holds true.
She’s a strong, independent woman who knows she can take care of herself.
” The colonel let out a long breath. “Normally I would agree. But this isn’t a normal circumstance.
Chance will remain on the detail with you, mainly for Kara. ”
Noah couldn’t help his low groan, something the colonel unexpectedly snickered about.
“I know you two have this back-and-forth thing going on.”
“It’s mainly Chance doing the back-and-forth. I just ignore him.” The man could be a pain in his ass.
Hmm…
Could be, might be putting it mildly. But in a fight, or in a dangerous situation, he would want Chance standing beside him. Like Noah, he understood duty.
“For right now, keep ignoring, but try to work with each other. Garrett will continue to be backup for both of you. I’ve already spoken with them about this assignment, but I’ll allow you and Chance to decide how you wish to proceed.”
“Thank you, sir,” Noah said, about to stand. “Is that everything?”
“Yes, you can go.” Noah gladly got up and headed for the door, but was stopped in his tracks by the colonel’s, “By the way, Ms. St. James is back in town in a few weeks.” Noah slowly turned at those words, while dread at what was coming next filled him.
He did not want to be on another detail for Ms. St. James.
She’d been nice, but the team had already given him enough of a hard time over her.
He didn’t need more. “She’s asked for you specifically to be on her detail. ”
“Of course, she has,” Noah grumbled under his breath. His words hadn’t been loud at all, but he was certain from the smirk on the colonel’s face he’d heard them. He cleared his throat, saying louder, “Sir, I’d rather stay where I am.”
“I agree. This thing with Spivey will determine how we split duties.” The colonel stood and leaned forward with his fists on his desk. “You’ll keep Mercy Carter.”
“Yes sir, I’d like to keep her.”
The Colonel raised a brow. Noah hadn’t intended for that to come out the way it did.
Thankfully, his boss didn’t delve any deeper, only nodding.
Of course, he ignored how the man’s blue eyes held more speculation—almost knowing—than they had before.
It was a look Noah chose not to address as he averted his gaze and turned again to head for the door.
It wouldn’t do for the colonel to see anything else. Mainly the last word of that statement he hadn’t said aloud—the one he’d longed to say. The one that said he wanted to keep Mercy…
Forever.
THE END