Page 126 of Second Chance Savior

It was evening by the time Charlotte finally got released. But she didn’t want to rest. Not even close. Instead, we went to the sheriff’s department headquarters, where Owen gave her a conference room.

Charlotte had her phone back, and she went into lieutenant governor mode. Making endless calls.

I barely had a chance to talk with her, so apart from dropping off drinks and food and Advil for her headache, I kept myself busy by haunting the hallways of the station.

When Trace showed up, he joined me. We wandered over to the break room, where I poured us cups of burnt coffee. “The list is secure?” Trace asked, voice near a whisper.

“Locked up tight on my computer.” I already had the contents memorized.

“And the other names?”

“Nobody we know. District Attorney Grissom is clean, for what that’s worth.”

Rainey was in county lockup for now, but the Feds were on their way to claim him. This was about to turn into a jurisdictional nightmare. Owen’s problem, not mine.

Trace leaned against the counter, sipping his coffee. “And Charlie? How’s she faring?”

“Not great. I think she’s avoiding the trauma, which makes sense. Stillwater’s other attacks were bad enough. Butthis one will take some time for her to heal from.” I didn’t mean her physical injuries, and Trace knew it. He knew very well what I meant.

I just wanted to be there for her in whatever way I could. Assuming she would let me.

New voices down the hall drew me to Charlie’s conference room. Brynn had just arrived. She was hugging Charlie, saying over and over again that she was sorry.

I stood in the doorway with my hands in my pockets, feeling more useless than I had all day.

Then Brynn noticed me. “Hey, River. I raced to get here from Denver as soon as possible, but SAC Stanford is on his way. We all need to talk before he crashes the party.”

We gathered around the table in the conference room. Trace and me, Owen, Charlie and Brynn. We would’ve invited Aiden, but he was at Last Refuge with Jessi. Scarlett and Genevieve had remained at the hospital to greet Agent Torres’s family when they arrived from Denver.

Brynn rested her hands on the tabletop, expression grave. “First, I am so incredibly sorry for what Agent Rainey did today. If I’d had any clue?—”

“We all screwed up,” Charlie interrupted. “We have to figure out what to do about it. I’m guessing Stanford wants to continue holding back Rainey’s identity in the media?”

“Yes. But Imusttell him about the list you got from Hale. Given what’s happened, I can’t keep it secret any longer. We have our own computer experts. They’ll get to work on decrypting it, and?—”

Everyone except for Brynn looked at me. Oh, right. I’d forgotten that she didn’t know yet. “I cracked the encryption. We have access to the list. Rainey’s name was on it.”

“And?Who else?”

I rattled them off. Alphabetical order. Each one was bitter in my mouth.

“I recognize a couple of them aside from Rainey and Hale,” Brynn said. “One is FBI. Can’t say for sure about the others.”

Charlie crossed her arms. “I’m sure we’ll find out all about them soon. But we need a decision. Make the list public? Give it to the FBI?” She looked to me, Trace, Owen.

“You’re leaving the decision to us, Lieutenant Governor?” Trace asked.

“I didn’t say that. But I’d still like to hear your thoughts.”

Brynn held up her hand. “Wait. I have a proposal. I think it will serveallof us, and I’m sure I can get SAC Stanford to agree.”

We all waited.

“You turn over the Stillwater list to the FBI. We keep it secret.Useit to bring down the organization from within. In exchange, we ignore what the Last Refuge Protectors have been up to for the last year. The laws you’ve all broken.Manylaws.”

Silence. None of us moved.

“I looked up the file on you when I was back in Denver,” Brynn said. “It’s getting pretty thick. Virtually speaking. I can make it all disappear.”

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