Page 74 of No Man Left Behind

Rachel’s laugh was watery. “You saved my son. You have my eternal adoration and love.”

That made Elina laugh. “Adoration might be over the top. How about friendship? I haven’t had a lot of friends in my life, and I’d love to count you as one of them.”

“Done. But the adoration still stands.”

A shriek of laughter from the yoga studio had them standing back and wiping their eyes. Rachel took her hand. “Best sound in the universe. Come on, and let’s see what’s making him laugh.”

Rachel had turned the front room of her house into a yoga studio. It would normally have been a living room, but it was a good size for a small group doing yoga.

In the middle of the floor, Owen sat with the three kittens in his lap. Finch sat alert next to him, watching the proceedings.

Rachel looked around the room. “Where’s Flups?”

Owen grinned. “Hiding. He’s scared of the kittens.”

Boo jumped out of Owen’s lap and zoomed around the boy. Sure enough, the small dog raced away from where he’d hidden behind the boy and ran toward Rachel.

She scooped him up, and Boo stopped at her feet, watching. “I think he wants to be friends, Flups. You want to try being brave with me?”

Owen jumped up as he spotted Elina. The kittens scrambled to the side as he ran the few steps to Elina and threw his arms around her. “You were so brave today. You walked right up to him so that he forgot about me. They said he didn’t hurt you. Did he hurt you? Are you okay?”

Elina hugged him back. “I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me at all. Marcus and the others made sure everyone stayed safe.” She didn’t mention the gunshot wounds. And his team had been careful with those. The man was injured but in no danger of dying.

“Thank you.” The boy’s voice shook, and she squeezed him hard.

“You’re very welcome, Owen. I’m just glad I was close enough to help.”

“Me too.”

Elina felt the kitten climbing her jeans and whispered to Owen. “Look down. Boo wants to say hi.”

“He’s climbing you?” With a laugh, he reached down and scooped up the kitten. “Do you want to make friends with Flups? You’re not allowed to scare him.”

Elina’s nerves settled as they played with the dogs and kittens. Flups didn’t become a fan, but he learned to tolerate them, even as he instinctively stayed out of range of their claws.

A while later, she moved to the side of the room to text Marcus. Her nerves had settled but they wouldn’t completely go away until she saw him and assured herself he was truly okay, too.Checking in. You doing okay?

His reply only took seconds.All good here. The prisoner isn’t talking, but I’ve got most of the paperwork filed away. How are you?

All good here, too. I’d like to come by the station. Is that okay?

That took a longer time for him to reply.As long as you have someone walk with you.

She smiled. It wasn’t even a full block away. But she knew he was stressed, so she agreed. It would probably make her feel safer as well.See you soon.

Chapter24

Behind Bars

Marcus couldn’t help himself. He moved to the front door of the station and walked out onto the sidewalk to wait for Elina.

The guy was in custody. There were no signs he’d had partners, but Marcus wasn’t taking any chances with Elina’s safety until he knew for sure.

The yoga studio was only a couple of buildings away, so he saw when Elina and Finch walked out with Lia and Joe. When they spotted Marcus, the humans waved while Finch wagged his tail. Lia pulled Elina in for a hug, and Joe hugged them both.

Then Elina turned her smile on Marcus and walked his way with their dog. He couldn’t in good conscience leave the prisoner on his own in the station, so he forced his feet to remain where they were and let her come to him.

Her smile grew as she neared, and she hurried the last few steps to throw herself into his arms. He wrapped around her and breathed her in. Safe.

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