Page 67 of Fallout

“A shower and a cup of coffee.” Jasper put his arm around her, reached over, and squeezed the back of Blake’s neck.

Her brother waved him off and almost smacked her in the face. “I’m good.”

Destiny said, “I won’t be if you keep waving your arm around.”

Violet smiled.

Peter asked, “Hospital?”

“Vanguard.” Violet assessed Blake, feeling his pulse. “We have what I need.”

Peter nodded. “Let’s not allow them to operate heavy machinery for a day or so.”

Destiny looked at Jasper, whose pupils were tiny. Her mind seemed to want to roll back through everything that had just happened, but what stuck out to her was Julio’s reaction to Detective Jesse. “Did you have any idea that Samantha was connected to a firefighter?”

“Nope.” Jasper overexaggerated the word.

“Feeling okay?”

“No.” He stretched his arm across her shoulders again. “Hold me.”

Violet snorted. Blake shot Jasper a dirty look.

Destiny laughed. “I think you might be fine.”

Peter pulled into the parking level in the basement of the Vanguard building.

“I didn’t even know this was back here.” Jasper frowned. “Down here.” He turned to Blake. “Did you?”

Her brother stared out the window. “There’s a parking level?”

Peter pulled up in front of the elevator. “Let’s go see what Simon has for us.”

They piled in and rode up, getting out on the bullpen level. Destiny set her stuff down on an unoccupied desk and checked her phone. Now that Clare was in labor, it was probablythephone. Since she was in charge of notifications that came in.

She checked them, trying to keep on top of it.

Violet showed up with a can of clear, sugary soda. “Drink this. It’ll settle your stomach.” She clapped her hands. “SWAT with me.”

Blake wrapped his arms around her. “Always.”

Jasper leaned over to Destiny and kissed her cheek, bumping her slightly because his aim was a little off. Definitely, no heavy machinery for this guy. “I’ll be back.”

She glanced over. “I’ll be counting on it.”

They trailed off. Destiny sat with the can and her phone on the desk where she could see it. “Gage sent a text. The baby is a girl. Seven pounds, two ounces, and her name is Kara.” She looked up and spotted Peter with an odd look on his face. “What?”

He cleared his throat. Simon spoke instead, saying, “Kara is Selena’s mother’s name. She served with Clare in the army and was killed in action.”

Destiny felt the prick of tears in her eyes. “That’s a beautiful tribute.”

Peter seemed to collect himself before switching to a more pressing subject. “He knows we have his leverage. He didn’t like that we got them out of the house, so he tried to shoot at us. We reacted too quickly, and no one was hurt. Now what?”

“Does the deal still happen?” Destiny asked. “We still have his file. He just doesn’t have anything to force us to comply.” She was new to all this.

Peter asked, “Can we contact him?”

“I could text back.”

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