Page 78 of Evening Shadows

With Alejandro dead— “But the men?” Why were people still chasing them?

Grits shrugged. “My best guess is they don’t know yet.”

Things had gone too far. Her entire focus had to be on Cody since who knew what Bev would do now since she’d lost her chance to kill Ken and Jesse.

She didn’t fight it when Ken put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. With the whomp-whomp sound echoing off the helicopter, her ire ebbed and a tear slipped down her cheek.

To protect Cody, Sam knew she wouldn’t hesitate to kill his mother.

31

With Cody safe and happy at Jesse’s house within a virtual fortress, and Ken off to the hospital under superb care, Sam’s task became clear. She raised her chin. “I want to go after her,” she insisted to Jesse. “I know she was a part of this, even murdered Alejandro, but Cody won’t be safe until we apprehend her.” After Bev’s actions, she couldn’t bring herself to say friend and not even former best friend.

“Sam, we don’t even know for certain that she murdered him.”

True, but something inside her cried to avenge all Bev had done to Ken and the emotional toll she’d laid on Cody. “I want her.”

Jesse sighed. “You’re smarter than that. Even if she did murder him, and we know she did torture Ken, it occurred in Mexico. Unlike going after Cody where the parent hired us to extract him, going in to pull her back against her will is tricky. Especially with someone who’s gone off the deep end like she has. We’re not Mexico’s favorite group right now.”

She hated when he was right. While that made him a good boss, she still despised it. There had to be some way. They’d done shades of gray ops before. If Devon could locate Bev, Sam would go alone if necessary. She couldn’t have Bev coming after Cody. Couldn’t.

When she didn’t speak, he continued in a more soothing voice. “Are you sure you’re not misdirecting your anger? This isn’t the first time you considered the need to avenge someone you love.”

All the winds flew out of her sails in a silent whoosh. How could he be so calm about the fact Bev wanted him dead and Sam had almost contributed to it? Ken must’ve been awfully convincing when he and Jesse had spoken about her. The men had surprised her with their forgiveness and the confidence she wouldn’t fall back into that trap that Bev had helped lay. As upstanding men, they assured her they trusted her to have their backs.

With a thought to Jesse’s question, she took in a deep breath and let it take away all her anger and assumptions about what changed with Bev. Desperately, she hoped Cody could grow up not knowing the level of his mother’s evilness and destruction. And she knew going after Bev wouldn’t resolve everything, but it could make Cody an orphan.

The thought struck hard and almost knocked her down with its heavy burden. Whether an orphan or not, Cody would grow up with Sam. She’d have to talk with Kate and Rylee to see how they did it, to create a balance between the demands of HIS and motherhood.

She’d see if they had a recommendation for a caregiver who could watch Cody while she worked.

“Sam?” Jesse’s eyebrow rose as if realizing her mind had jumped the track.

She started. “You’re right.” Her words released a weight holding down her shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Jesse.”

He waved it off as if nothing had happened. “You’ve already apologized, and I accepted. That’s enough of that. Now that your head is back on straight, let’s discuss this.”

Keeping her emotions out of it, she nodded.

“The twins are watching Bev’s house until they can be relieved by one of the teams. Do you think she’d go back there?”

Her first instinct had been no, but with Bev’s mind, who knew what she’d so? With a sinking feeling, Sam realized she’d lost touch with Bev’s thoughts and couldn’t anticipate her actions. “I don’t know. Maybe. She’s not thinking straight, but she’s also methodical. In a crazy way,” she added. “I mean, she had all this time to try something, and I don’t understand why now, and how she thought her plan might work.”

“I’ve been thinking about this,” Jesse offered. “I’m thinking she’d hoped you would do the deed to keep her hands clean.”

Bewildered, she started to respond and out of long-standing habit almost defended Bev. Then her mind began to whirl. “She got me riled up about it.”

“Yep.”

“She had convinced me the report was authentic.”

“Yep.”

“I considered doing something because of it.”

“But you didn’t do anything.”

She didn’t even react to that because Jesse’s tone told her he was helping her work through this. “And when I didn’t react, she made other plans.”

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