Page 55 of The Witness

In a swirl of turquoise caftan and rattling bangles, Minerva Colasanti had swept her daughter off. Arm in arm, after a few tearful hugs, they had walked toward the main entrance without a backward glance. Quinn followed behind, offering bottled water and smiles.

I watched the women walk away and something shifted in my chest. The same uneasy feeling as when Sabrina said we’d come full circle. I didn’t have a name for it or time to play twenty questions with my psyche to figure it out, so I did what men have done for centuries. I ignored my feelings and got back to work.

“Derek, I need help with him. He’s injured.” I looked sympathetically at Acosta. His face had a greenish cast, andhis eyes were squeezed tightly closed. The boat ride had been physically hard on him. I unbuckled the harness and winced at the bloody mess of his shirt and my half-assed bandage wrapped around his shoulder.

“You brought us an undocumented Cuban gunshot victim. You shouldn’t have.” Derek hopped the small gap between the seawall and the go-fast boat. He leaned over Acosta and his shadow fell over the injured man’s face.

Acosta’s eyes fluttered open.

“I’m Derek Sawyer.”

“Roberto Acosta,” he rasped.

“Acosta, this is going to hurt. Get ready.” I bent and wrapped my arm around Acosta’s waist, careful of his injury. Derek took his other side. Acosta gasped and cursed in Spanish as we half walked, half carried him from the boat and onto land.

“This is it, I’m in America.” It was impossible to tell if Acosta was happy or in anguish.

“Welcome to Miami,” I said and nodded.

“That everything you need off the boat?” Smith had materialized next to us on the seawall. Gunter close behind him swigged water from a frosty bottle.

I licked my parched lips. “Yeah, our exit didn’t leave time for luggage.”

“Kennedy! Get rid of this thing. Make sure no one finds any part of it.” Smith pointed at the boat that tugged against a bow line tied to a rusty mooring cleat on the seawall.

“On it!” Noah jogged over and untied the rope before leaping on the boat and motoring away.

“The doctor should be here soon.” Smith turned and led the way back into the building. He and Gunter bent their heads close, talking rapidly as they walked.

Derek and I helped Acosta. It was slow going. By the time we were inside the break room and helping Acosta onto the couch,everyone was talking over each other. Captain Morgan, on a bird jungle gym in the corner, screeched profanities. My head pounded like I was back on the go-fast, bouncing over ocean swells.

“Here. Looks like you could use this.” Kira passed me a bottle of water.

I smiled gratefully and drained it in one long luscious pull. My parched throat, scratchy with salt spray, rejoiced.

Kira turned to Acosta and started a low conversation with him in Spanish, asking about his injuries and offering him water. The PNR officer was in excellent hands with her. I turned my attention back to the room.

Sabrina stood at the counter with her chef’s knife, slicing up a watermelon. As she worked, her mother kept touching her and stealing bits off the cutting board. The two were laughing and joking. Quinn offered a small piece of the red fruit to the parrot, who finally shut up to eat. Simon searched the upper cabinets for a serving bowl, banging them open and shut and complaining to Quinn about the organization system.

I hesitated, not sure where I fit in the scene. My role was protector, and the break room at the Smith Agency might be the safest place on earth.

Turning on my heel, I headed for Smith’s office. That was where I belonged. I would not get cut out of the information loop. I’d been shot at, almost let a maniac kill Sabrina, and ridden over a hundred miles in that hellish boat. I’d earned my place at the debriefing table along with Gunter.

Pausing outside the office door, I mentally prepared the arguments that would justify my presence. I knocked but didn’t wait for an invitation; I pushed my way inside John and Kira’s shared office.

Gunter sat in one of the visitors' chairs across from Smith. They both turned. An awkward beat of silent tension filled the room. I held Smith’s gaze, and he gave me a single nod.

Poof! I was in. A surge of pride hit, and I had to refrain from a massive fist pump.

I took the other straight-backed chair next to Gunter.

Smith turned and took a bottle of water from the mini fridge between his and Kira’s desks and offered it to me. “Hydrate.”

“I’ve just finished telling Smith what went down this morning,” Gunter said.

I nodded and swallowed a mouthful of water.

“Nice work, Steel. It’s impressive she convinced you to take part in such a risky scheme. I wasn’t so sure when Gunter told me the plan that I’d sent the right man for the job.”

---