never know of her sacrifice. I can’t tell you if she was needlessly reckless. I don’t know if she could have contacted you. You’ve never given her the benefit of the doubt, and now everyone who you think might have a vendetta is somehow unfit to carry a badge.”
“I don’t trust you,” Laughlin said.
“I hope someday I earn your trust.” Lucy was going to walk out then, but she remembered something else. “You knew Evan Standler.”
He glared at her.
“And that’s why you have been pressuring Kate. You used her guilt over the ambush where he was killed to try and get her to convince me to quit.” That was a guess, but Lucy suspected she was right. And by Laughlin’s expression, she was close.
“You think Kate screwed up and got your friend killed. Remember, Standler was her fiancé. The ambush was just that—an unpredictable tragedy.”
“And then Kate goes rogue and disappears for five years in Mexico? You think that isn’t a problem?”
“Kate saved my life,” Lucy said simply. “I trust her as much as I trust anyone. And what really hurts is that you intentionally tried to sabotage our relationship. You played mind games with Kate, trying to get her to doubt me. Then when that wasn’t working fast enough for you, you pulled out the Hans Vigo card and effectively used it. If I were a lesser person, I would have quit. I was very close. But if I had quit, I might become the person you fear I could be.”
She leaned forward and said softly, “There are many organizations who would hire me because of my skill set. That I’ve chosen to work within a fairly rigid structure and within the law should tell you more about my character and trustworthiness than what you think I’ve done in the past.”
“How do any of us know what you’re going to do in the future?”
“How do you know what you’re going to do?” She tilted her head. “If you had the opportunity to kill the man responsible for pulling the trigger that ended the life of Grace Johnson, would you?”
He didn’t answer the question but instead said, “I’m testifying against the cartel.”
“At great personal risk. I respect that, Rich.” She stood. “Neither you nor I know what we would do in every future scenario. It comes down to character.”
Lucy left the office. Chief O’Neal and Paula Kean were standing in the outer room. Kean didn’t look happy with the situation, but O’Neal said directly to Lucy, “SSA Kean has been briefed on the situation. Agent Armstrong said he’d be waiting for you in the lobby. You will be back in the morning?”
“Yes, thank you.”
*
Twenty minutes later, Noah and Lucy walked into Prince William Hospital. Noah showed his ID and was directed to ICU, where Hans was recuperating after his surgery. “Go ahead,” Noah told Lucy. “I’m going to track down his doctor.”
Kate sat slumped outside the room, her eyes closed. Lucy thought she was sleeping until she opened one eye. “Hello,” she said.
Lucy sat next to her. “How is he?”
“They said the surgery was a success. But he hasn’t regained consciousness.”
“I talked to Rich Laughlin.”
Kate didn’t say anything.
“You should have told me.”
“He was right.”
“No, he wasn’t.” Lucy looked into Hans’s room. All the pain and guilt and vengeance that had brought that scaffolding down on him. The hatred that had ended with four people dead and a man stalked for half his life.
“Kate, you’re my sister in every way except blood. What hurts is that you believed him when he told you I was volatile. That you didn’t trust me.”
Kate leaned forward and stared at Lucy. “Is that what you think?”
“Yes. You didn’t talk to me; you treated me like I really was here on some kind of vendetta. You of all people should know my heart.”
Kate shook her head. “I never thought that. I meant, I thought he was right about me.” She closed her eyes. “I’m teaching at Quantico because I’m too scared to go back in the field. Scared of what I might do. Scared that I’ll make the wrong decisions. Quantico is safe.”
Lucy took her hand. “I didn’t know you doubted yourself. I’ve always thought you were the most confident person in the world.” She paused, then smiled. “Almost as arrogant as Sean.”
Kate laughed, but tears came to her eyes. “I don’t think that’s possible.” She sighed deeply. “I leaned heavily on Dillon after you killed Adam Scott, and I began to rely on him to