Epilogue
Kellen
The walk from Adam’s new house to my car is a long one. It gives me too much time to think. About work, about Adam and his incredible relationship. That always leads to Oakley and his relationship with Willow.
Everyone around me seems to be partnering up, and I’m stuck working myself to the ground.
My mind flashes to Dr. Masie Green.
Every time I talk to her on the phone, she’s like an energizer bunny. Boundless energy but so incredibly smart. I’ve admired her before I saw her, but after I met her in person? Holy hell, talk about tongue-tied.
Short, curly brown hair and wide green eyes were hypnotizing.
“Hey! Kellen!” a voice calls from behind me.
I spin to find Masie racing up to me. “I’m so glad I caught you. I think there’s something with this artifact I’m having Claire look into.”
“How so?” Stay professional, Woodcroft.
“It’s not so much the artifact itself but how I came to have it. An anonymous donor dropped it off, with the stipulation that they wanted to know where it’s been.”
“That’s not too uncommon,” I counter.
“No, but saying that there could be more where that came from is.” She tilts her head, a gorgeous wide smile on her face.
My mind races. “Did you meet them in person?” I ask.
“No, over the phone. But I could probably find a way to get them to come in if they bring in more artifacts,” she sing-songs.
“Just call me before that happens. You don’t need to put yourself in any danger.” I can hear the growl in my voice. So unlike me, and yet I can’t control it around this woman.
“Okay, Dad.” If possible, her smile grows.
“Do not call me that,” I grit out.
“Yes, sir. Well, thought I’d update you. Tood-a-loo!” She does a finger wave before she bounds off to her car.
I make note of the make, model, and license plate out of habit. Sure, asshole, keep telling yourself that.
I watch her drive away before my view is blocked by Sin.
“What?” I grunt.
“Oh, just watching the heart eyes pop from your face.”
“You’re delusional.” I scoff.
“Am I? Because if I didn’t know better, I’d think you have the hots for Dr. Masie Green.”
“Is everyone on this squad obsessed with who is pairing up with whom?” Deflect, deflect, deflect.
“That sounds a bit like you’re projecting there, Bossman.”
“Oh, go analyze Juliette and Stone,” I say offhandedly. “Shit, forget I said that.” I immediately know I fucked up. Whatever those two have going on is none of our business. I know there’s some history there and not a great one.
“Well, damn. Now I know what gets under your skin.”
“Why are you still here? Go home.” I walk around to the driver’s side of my truck.
“You’re my ride. I saw you leaving and followed.” Sin laughs.
“Right.” I somehow forgot that in the haze that is Masie. “Get in.”
After driving for a few minutes in silence, Sin decides to fill it.
“I got a message while we were moving Adam in.”
“Okay,” I drawl.
“One of the FBI agents we’re set to work with is only on the team as punishment.”
“For what?” I won’t touch on the punishment side of things. There’s no need to think about how something we’ve been working on for almost two years is someone else’s punishment case.
“From what I gathered, stealing evidence.”
I look over at Sin to see him smiling like the cat who ate the canary. “You think he’s the one involved.”
“Seems to be the obvious choice. It’s just a matter of figuring out if anyone else is involved and just how high up within the FBI this goes.”
“Oh, sure, piece of cake. It’ll totally be easy to investigate all of that.” I chuckle without humor.
“Listen, I’m aware it’s going to be a task. I’m just saying at least we have a direction to start in.”
He’s right. It’s more than we had three hours ago, so I’ll take it. “What’s his name?”
“Evan Landa.”
The name flags something in my brain, but I can’t quite connect it. “How far do you think this goes, Sin?”
“Honest answer?”
I nod, expecting nothing less from my team.
“High. Way higher than we’ve gotten. The billionaire playboys are just the start. I think some high-ups in the military and government are in play.”
“Do we still think it’s just artifacts?” I ask, trying to grasp how big this is.
“I mean, there is probably other things sprinkled in, like drugs and weapons, but I still think the artifacts are the main business. The amount they’re making on this stuff is just …
wild. It’s a foolproof endeavor when they have endless opportunities to get products.
Who is honestly looking for shit like this? ” Sin asks.
“That’s the good thing, though. They’re going to get cocky at some point, if they aren’t already. I just want to make sure we get the entire operation.”
My head flashes to Masie talking about the anonymous donor, and I get the feeling this case is about to get much more complicated. I decide right this second that I’ll have extra security on Masie for the time being. I’ll check on her myself when I have time.
Yeah, totally altruistic, and not at all for selfish reasons.
Whatever. If Adam’s undercover stint taught us anything, it’s that these people are willing to protect their operation by any means.
It’s better to be overly cautious than callus about people’s safety.
I just hope no one gets hurt during this.
The End …
For now.