Page 118 of Hours to Kill
“If only we’d known,” Mack said. “And found this guy...”
“She hid him from everyone,” Addy said. “There’s no way you could have.”
Mack heard her words but didn’t believe them. At least not yet. Maybe after time passed, but not now.
Newkirk continued down the line. The next two girls were unknown to the team. Mack held his breath as Newkirk moved to the last girl. Her eyes were narrowed, and she didn’t have red hair like Felicia, but her kidnapper had likely insisted they dye the girls’ hair.
“And your name?” Newkirk asked, his voice cracking under the stress of such a tough discovery.
“Felicia Wallings.”
“Yes!” Mack shot his hand up and turned to high-five his teammates.
Then he swept Addy into his arms and twirled her around. When he set her down, her expression wasn’t jubilant but sad.
“Why so sad?” he asked. “It’s a good day.”
“I’m glad the girls were found, but I was just thinking about the road they have ahead of them. It’s going to be tough.”
He hadn’t thought that far, but she was right. The girls were safe now and heading home, and yet it would take months, maybe years for them to recover from the terror of their captivity.
Sean’s phone rang.
“It’s Eisenhower,” he announced. “I’ll put him on speaker.”
“Congratulations.” Eisenhower sounded more jubilant than Mack had ever heard their supervisor sound. “I just saw eachof the girls on the video. They appear to be healthy but are on the way to the hospital to be checked out. FYI, Bobby Gaines is one of the friends Williams named, but we couldn’t find him.”
“Well, we have him now,” Sean said, disgust in his tone.
“We do indeed,” Eisenhower agreed. “We’ll need to notify the girls’ parents.”
“I’d like to call them,” Sean said.
Eisenhower didn’t answer at first. Mack suspected he’d wanted to go out to their homes himself or send an agent out to notify them in person. “That sounds fine. Tell them I have an agent on the way to take them to the hospital to reunite with their girls.”
“Will do, sir.” Sean disconnected and tapped his screen. He looked at the team. “First call goes to Vivian Vaughn.”
The call rang over Sean’s speaker.
“Sean.” Despite all that she’d suffered, hope lingered in her voice. “Do you have a lead?”
“No.” Sean smiled. “We have the girls. We finally have the girls.”
Epilogue
FIVEMONTHSLATER
AN EXCITED HUM OFCONVERSATIONbuzzed around the FBI Academy auditorium that was quickly filling up with guests. Addy couldn’t be happier to be here right now with the RED team and their significant others. Zamora was back in prison and so were the sovereign citizens. All of them charged and awaiting trial. And, she hoped, awaiting many years behind bars.
Mack slid an arm around the back of her seat, and she leaned into him. Sean’s fiancée, Taylor, a special woman with a big heart for her protectees in the WITSEC program, sat next to her on the other side. Though Taylor couldn’t really talk about the details of her job, her love for her position shone through what she could say. And then there was Evan, a guy who was almost as protective as Mack. She believed that Evan’s and Kiley’s hands were permanently locked together. They sat together now just down the aisle.
Addy strained in her seat, looking for Cam. “There’s Cam. Third person, second row.”
Mack leaned forward. “I see him.”
“Me too.” Kiley’s voice rose with excitement. “I’m so happy for him. He’s wanted this for so long.”
The FBI director came onto the stage, and the room quieted down. He addressed the agents in training and had them stand. As he swore them in, Addy’s heart swelled for Cam. Sheremembered her own graduation day with ICE and was sure that Mack and her friends next to her were doing the same thing.
