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Why plan a future if the guy was going to throw himself to the wolves?

“You done throwing yourself in front of bullets?”

“Touche. I’ll try to control the urge, but you know Brick wouldn’t have been able to survive that shot. What other choice did I have? The team and this crazy-ass mission would’ve been irreparably scuttled. We can’t afford to lose anyone in this fight, especially not a leader like him.”

“Yeah, I get it. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll try to stop putting myself in danger if you do, but with the caveat that it doesn’t count if it’s in the line of duty,” Harris said.

“Sounds fair. I’m unsure if I can change gears as quickly as you have. Let’s see where this goes,” Woodley said, still having reservations about this sudden shift. “It’s not like we’re getting married or something. A trial run couldn’t hurt.”

“I’ll take it.”

“You are aware that relationships fostered due to a traumatic event have over an eighty percent chance of failure?” Facts were facts, and they weren’t in their favor. When had they ever been?

“Still leaves a twenty percent chance.”

“You’ve lost your damned mind.”

“It’s possible.”

“We’re doomed.”

“Way to stay positive.”

“I still have a hole in my back.”

“Point taken. Rest for now. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Woodley took him at his word and let his tired eyes close. He’d had his fill of revelations for the time being. For now, he needed rest in order to heal fully. Until then, he was useless to the team and didn’t want to be in that position for long.

He’d give Harris a couple of days to rethink things and change his mind because this one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn could easily hit a dead end, leaving him high and dry once again. He wasn’t a fool, and as a detective, logic always won out, so he’d wait and see if Harris’s epiphany faded as quickly as it arrived.

That would suck, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

He lived in a world full of harsh realities and even harsher outcomes.

Fairy tales were only that, tales.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Harris

Harris knew Woodley didn’t believe him, at least not completely, and he was waiting for Harris to change his mind. That wasn’t going to happen. He’d finally figured out what he’d been missing, and it was this handsome, stubborn detective all along.

“Why are you grinning?” Jennifer asked.

“Can’t a guy grin?” Harris asked back.

“Not you,” she said. “What are you up to?”

Before Harris could skirt the answer, Brick and Darren walked into the living room; the boss was holding a stack of files.

“Fall in,” Brick ordered, and the entire team converged on the large dining room table. “Have a seat. We have a few items to discuss.”

Eleven members were in attendance: Brick, Fletcher, Shaw, Spencer Gunner, Conor, Jason, Stryker, Jennifer, Darren, and himself. They each sat at various positions around the table, with Brick at the head and Darren at his side.

“First, Darren would like to share what he’s discovered,” Brick announced.

That had more than one person looking around in confusion. Darren hadn’t been part of the in-field team before after being rescued from a Noah Group holding facility.

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