Hallie reached up to tearfully hug him. “Thank you.”
Bran just nodded. As soon as the doors slid open and they were headed for the lower level exit, Bran phoned Jessie. “Hey, baby. Any chance you could come pick us up?”
“Oh, my God, are you kidding? Where are you?”
“We’re exiting through the same door where you dropped me off.”
“I’m on my way. I love you.”
“Yeah, me, too.” He was saving the words. He wanted to do it right this time. He thought about what Jessie would do if the cops tried to stop her from coming to pick them up. He was pretty sure she’d be there.
Bran wasn’t surprised to see the big black Cadillac SUV racing toward them across the tarmac. The vehicle roared up and slid to a stop, the driver’s door flew open, and Jessie ran toward him.
Bran swept her into his arms.
* * *
It was freezing, the icy wind whipping her clothes, but Jessie didn’t care. Brandon was there and he was safe. Ty and Hallie, Chris and Sarah were safe. The passengers in the terminal were safe.
Bran’s arms tightened around her. His cheek was cold against hers as he buried his face in her hair. She could feel him trembling.
“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s over.” She held on tighter, slid her fingers into the soft brown strands curling at the nape of his neck. “Everything’s okay.”
He took a deep breath and eased a little away, but he didn’t let her go. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. It always takes me a while to come down after a mission.”
“Oh, honey.” The darkness was back in his eyes, his jaw rigid as steel. The hard edge was part of him, she now knew, part of who he was. He was meant to do what he did. She knew that now, accepted it.
She wouldn’t change him. Not a single thing about him. She loved him exactly the way he was.
She went back into his arms and held him tight. She didn’t ask him what had happened in there. He would tell her when he was ready. Or maybe he never would.
It didn’t matter. He had done what he had to. People were alive because of what he’d done.
He kissed her softly. “I love you,” he said. “So much.”
Her heart squeezed at the emotion in his beautiful blue eyes. “I love you, too.” She touched his cheek. “Thank you for being who you are.”
He looked at her and the tension seeped out of his tall, solid body. Ty and his family were already in the vehicle, the engine still running.
Bran leaned down and kissed her. “Let’s go home.”
FORTY
Jessie awoke in a tangle of arms and legs, Bran still sleeping soundly beside her. Lying there in his big king-size bed, her mind went back to the events of the night before, the terrible danger and heart-stopping fear, the pent-up emotions that had led to hours of wild, passionate lovemaking. A night free from any taint of the past.
Jessie smiled and closed her eyes, snuggled a little closer to Bran, dozed again, and didn’t stir until just before noon when her cell phone started ringing. She grabbed it off the nightstand, looked down and recognized the caller ID, sat up on the edge of the bed.
“Special Agent Tripp,” she said, her voice still a little thick with sleep.
“I’ve got news you’ll want to hear,” Tripp said.
Bran sat up yawning, rubbing his bare chest as he swung his legs to the bedside next to her.
“Bran’s here. I’m putting you on speaker.” She hit the button and Tripp’s voice came through loud and clear.
“I heard what you did at the airport, Captain. Off the record, of course.” Bran had insisted on remaining anonymous, and so far the army had managed to keep it that way. “Thanks for your help.”
“I just did what I was trained for.”
“A lot of us consider it far more than that.”
Bran said nothing.
“I called to let you know General Samuel Holloway has officially been arrested. He’s been charged with treason, larceny, espionage, and a long list of crimes that include conspiracy to commit murder.”
“He confessed?” Jessie asked.
“In a manner of speaking. Presented with the evidence and facing the possibility of life in prison without parole, Holloway rolled on Edgar Weaver. He pointed to Weaver as the man who arranged the hits on Wayne Coffman and Colonel James Kegan. He confessed to conspiring with Weaver in an attempt to murder Jessica Kegan and Captain