I found out about the baby, but I understand why. I do.”
He stopped, still so stricken. His thumb rubbed over my bottom lip, and he gripped my hand with other. “But I can’t let you go. The first time I tried, it nearly killed me. Please don’t ask me to do it. I love you too much. I need you too much.”
My hand rose to cover his as he cupped my face. “No.” I reached for him, cradling his cheek. “I love you too much to walk away.”
He nodded, his forehead resting against mine. There were tears in his eyes. “I wish I had known about her from the beginning. I would’ve loved her so much. I do love her so much.”
“I know. Me too.”
Tears slid down my face, but I reached for him, and he was there.
Meeting me halfway.
EPILOGUE
Looking down the bank of the Mississippi River, I met the eyes of a boat captain I’d met five years earlier. This time, instead of ferrying the ex-guard Kai had decided to hide and not execute, he had a woman and two children—another thwarted mafia hit. When Kai had received the news of their planned hit, he’d opted to save them instead, hiding them and sending them up through the Mississippi, taking them the entire way to where I was waiting.
I waited, cloaked in darkness along with Blade and Carol, for the survivors. I stepped forward to see it was a shallow-bottom boat. They must’ve changed to this one when the river started narrowing. It was just sturdy enough to glide over the top of the water. It had no engine, and I eyed the captain’s arms. He set aside the paddles, giving me a nod in greeting as I caught the end of the boat and pulled them to the bank. I got it as close as I could, but we still weren’t quite there. Large boulders blocked the way, but this was the closest point we could find to get them to a waiting vehicle.
The bottom of the boat scraped over the rocks, but it was cold. Even a small amount of water on someone’s shoes could end in disaster on a winter day in Itasca State Park. The temperature had dropped dramatically. By tomorrow this end of the river would be frozen over.
“Any problems I should know about?” I asked.
I wore thigh-high waders and a sturdy coat, and we had a caravan of SUVs just down the trail that would blast the heat on high as soon as we got in.
He shook his head. “No. We were searched by a game warden, but that was farther south around St. Cloud.” He jumped out of the boat, but without the waders. Ignoring my look, he picked up one of the kids, carrying her to the bank. He did that with each of them, helping the woman last as I continued emptying the boat of their bags.
These days my help with the 411 Network was completely off the books.
No one knew about it—and by no one, I meant literally this boat captain, the few guards Kai trusted to me, and Kai himself. Blade and Carol weren’t even here officially on behalf of 411, though they did still work for them. When they got back to work, those two would purposely mislabel files and shuffle their paperwork into the system. So after this, they would have new names and an entire Network behind them to help. The Network just didn’t know about it.
Kai insisted it had to be this way. He had enough people inside the 411 Network to not trust them, but this was my way of helping—Kai’s too. The boat captain was the only one Kai trusted, and Blade and Carol were the only ones I trusted, so meeting in areas like Itasca State Park after it was closed had become a part of the business.
Once everyone was wrapped up in the waiting blankets, I eyed the captain’s wet pants and boots. “You can’t boat back like that.” I grabbed one of the blankets and held it out to him. “Here. Take that. Press the button, and it’ll heat you.”
He took it, then waved me on. “You get going.” He was already splashing back to the boat. Gripping the edge, he pulled himself in. He bent down, and I heard a few thuds as he seemed to be changing boots and socks, putting on dry ones instead. I could hear crinkling sounds before he straightened, reaching for the paddle