Page 114 of The Ranger
I pull into the parking lot at BHS much too quickly and then call Theo, who is sitting in a car outside my house.Josh offered security until Chen is behind bars, and I wasn’t saying no.
“They’re fine.”Theo answers on the first ring.“You left fifteen minutes ago.”
The guy is special ops like me, so fully capable of protecting them.But who am I kidding?If I’m not there, it’s not enough.
“Yeah, okay.I’ll call again soon.”
“I’ve got this, Cole.Focus on the meeting,” Theo replies.
I end the call and climb out of the Maserati, then head upstairs.
Jake Murphy, my favorite Marshal (cough) is standing with Josh, Aidan and Ryder in the lunchroom sipping a cup of coffee.Like he belongs here.
“Congratulations on becoming a dad,” he says when he spots me.
“Thanks.Catch my wife’s kidnapper yet?”
Josh lifts a brow at the title.
Not yet,but she will be, and Jake Murphy doesn’t need to know that.
“Yup.Two hours ago,” he says like it’s no big deal while I recoil.
I look at my teammates.“Really?”
“Stopped at customs.Trying to leave the country under a different name.”Josh smiles, walking to the sink to rinse his cup.
“Thank fuck.”I run a hand up and down my jaw.
We all walk over to a table and sit.
“Have you told Dr.Whitaker?”I ask, referring to Nathan.“Wait, what about the chip?”
Jesus, my own personal worries aside, there was national security at stake here.Fortunately, I was able to mentally put that aside and focus on my kid coming into the world.
Zara.
I wonder if she’s asleep or feeding.
I wonder if Scarlett is missing me or plotting my death.
“We searched the cargo at the ports after getting a court order,” Jake replies.“Took some time and a lot of resources, but as it turns out he wasn’t able to get it put into the South Korean shipment.”
“There were only two chips missing from QuantumCore,” Aidan shares.“As far as Nathan can tell.Both were in Chen’s luggage.Very well hidden, but we found them.”
“All staff have been interrogated, and the system has been audited, so it looks to be accurate,” Josh adds quickly when I open my mouth to ask that very question.
Jake nods at Josh then turns to me.
“We will continue investigating and digging deeper, but it looks like we stopped what could have been a globally disastrous turn of events.”
“Great job, Cole.”Josh reaches out and slaps my shoulder.
“Thank fuck.What a week.”I laugh.
“This afternoon I’ll be briefing the man at the top,” Jake says, meaning POTUS, and it really starts to sink in now just how critical stopping Chen was.“He’ll be happy to know it never left US soil.”
Ryder stands and reaches out his hand to Jake.“Hey, it was a pleasure working with you guys.”
