Dangerous Rescue - Linzi Baxter Page 0,29

going down that path again. Did you not hear the part where he ripped my heart out and ran away with it?”

Becky stared at her. “Technically, you could just ask for your heart back. It’s not like you aren’t going to be spending time with him. He’s your daughter’s father. And from how frazzled you look, I’m guessing he’s not just going to walk back out of your life. Yes, what he did years ago was dumb, but he’s a man, and men do stupid things sometimes.”

Siena took a bite of her sandwich. “But he never came for me. I was thrown in his path.”

“Is it worth holding off on something you clearly want because he didn’t come looking for you? You don’t know that he wouldn’t have once Kaiden left for college. Or maybe he knew how bad he fucked up and didn’t want to face the fact you might have found someone better.”

She could play the guessing game all day if she wanted. It never changed the past or the future. Siena knew she couldn’t hold on to her anger with Hudson. Over time, it would get easier.

The door to the break room opened, and the principal walked in with two officers. One of them, she knew and didn’t care for. He was supposed to tell her that her ex had somehow raised more than a hundred thousand dollars in bail and was out of jail. The large detective rested his hands on his stomach. Siena didn’t recognize the man standing next to him. She’d met a few of the detectives over the past few months.

Her principal frowned at them. God, I hope he won’t fire me because of this. She hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t like she’d asked her ex to come to the school and threaten her life. Now she regretted not calling the cops the night before.

“Ma’am, we need you to come down to the police station.” The large detective took a step forward, and the smell of sweaty socks filled the air. She did everything in her power not to cover her nose. Becky didn’t even try—she straight-out covered her face with her shirt.

“I’ll come down to the station after school and meet with you guys.”

“That’s not going to work. You need to come down with us now. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but you were the last person to see Kyle. Pictures were sent in of you assaulting him. Now you need to come with us.”

10

Hudson

Hudson glanced around the state-of-the-art conference room. Three men he’d met in the field, plus Grim, sat around the table. At the far end of the table, Lucas typed on his computer. Hudson had heard about Xavier’s hacker over the years but had never met him. There were no other words to explain what the man did.

Xavier hadn’t come in yet. On the far wall was a picture of a man he didn’t recognize with the name Abida Hassan written underneath. His team made sure to study the faces in the top terrorist organizations. They even used a tactic of putting the faces on playing cards. The face on the screen wasn’t one on any of the watch lists, but new terrorist cells could pop up at any time. Hudson assumed Abida Hassan was another target to add to the never-ending list.

Hudson turned toward the door as it swished open. Xavier walked in wearing a perfectly pressed black suit. The man knew how to make an entrance. The three men across the table grumbled hello. Grim still hadn’t said a word to him and had just glared. Hudson hated that his team wasn’t next to him. Those were men he would die for.

“Everyone’s here, so we can get started.” Xavier nodded to Lucas.

Lucas pulled the piece of jerky out of his mouth. “I spent the night digging through the dark web. There was only one connection I could find between Abida and the DEVGRU mission. Are you sure you want to do this with everyone in the room?” Lucas’s voice dropped to a whisper.

Xavier glanced at Grim, who looked up at her boss with a matching glare. Hudson was glad to know she didn’t only hate him—it seemed she had an attitude toward everyone in the room. He didn’t blame her. It wasn’t easy for women to climb through the ranks in the military. They tended to get more crap than the guys. And the civilian world was the same way.

But