Page 65 of All He Takes
All she could do was push forward, and try to save more people, and hope maybe her life would bring more good than harm to a cruel and often unjust world.
The door opened, and Nicky looked over her shoulder to see Ken. His blue eyes were bright in the sunlight, and he had a relaxed posture, with his hands in the pockets of his tanned slacks.
"Hey, you're here early for once," he said.
Nicky couldn't help but smile. She was happy to hear everything had worked out on his end too. He'd been able to talk the father down from killing his family and help him get the psychiatric care he needed.
For the most part, things did work out.
Ken walked closer to Nicky, and she walked closer to him. Before she could react, he pulled her into a hug, holding her tight in his arms. Nicky relaxed into him, feeling safe.
"I'm glad you're okay," he said.
"You too." She held him tighter.
They pulled away. Nicky looked up and locked eyes with Ken. His eyes fluttered to her lips, and her heart swelled--just as the door opened, and Chief Franco filed in with Grace. Nicky and Ken stepped away from each other lightning fast, but Nicky could tell by the look on Grace--and the chief's--faces that they had seen the whole thing. Face hot, Nicky bowed at the chief and sat down.
"Lyons, Walker, Taylor," Franco said as everyone took their spots. He stood at the head of the table. "Good work. This guy was about to go on an even more violent killing spree, and you managed to stop it."
"Thank you, sir," Nicky and Ken both said, in unison.
Nicky felt her face burn. She knew she was only going to make it worse.
"And I'm glad all of you are okay," Franco said. "You were lucky to survive that. And I commend how quickly you got this done, however..."
Nicky swallowed hard. She knew what was coming next.
"We still lost a lot of girls," he said. "I wish we had put Paris Conner at the forefront of our list, but the truth is, we didn't even know where we were looking until that picture came in." The chief sighed. "It is a lot of bloodshed, though."
"I know, chief." Nicky lowered her head in shame.
"Lyons, you've been with me for years," the chief said. "You know that there's no way we could have known. I wish we had gone in sooner, and maybe we could have prevented a couple of these deaths, but you can't blame yourself for this."
"Thank you, sir." Nicky nodded.
"That being said," Franco said. "I think it goes to show that this is our job. We have to stop people like Harrison Smith before they have the chance to do anything. I think we all learned that lesson, and I think we have to make sure it doesn't happen again."
"I agree, sir," Nicky said.
"We're not going to let it stop us now," Franco said. "We're going to keep looking, and we're going to keep trying to save these other girls. Our resolve hasn't weakened. If anything, it has to be stronger. You agree, right, Lyons?"
Nicky nodded eagerly. "Of course, sir."
"Good. You're the leader of this team. There are still more girls on that list--and I'm trusting you to find and save them."
Nicky felt her chest swell with pride. She was grateful for this--and grateful to have the support of her team. She wouldn’t take this for granted. No—from now on, Nicky was sure of it—she would save more girls.
"Thank you, sir."
"Good. Now take the day off to recoup, then we're back at it again."
With that, Franco left. Nicky felt her chest rise and fall with the breath she took, and she let it out slowly. She looked up at Ken, who was already looking at her.
Franco's words kept playing through her head.
She had to save the girls. She was the one who knew about this. It was up to her to stop it.
She had to live up to the chief's faith in her. To her team’s faith in her, and her faith in herself.
