Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Two weeks later…

After a whirlwind week of interviews, meetings, and reports, Jason was ready to wrap up his part in the case. Novikov, Ilyin, Kashin, and two of Novikov's team members from the high-rise assault were deceased. The three men who had been at the warehouse with Alisa and her father were in custody, as well as Pieter Moldev, Ilyin's associate, and the man who Stephanie had hired to take out Patrick Hastings at the park. Tatiana Guseva had gotten her deal and would be starting a clinical trial at Henry's lab the following week.

Henry was slowly recovering, which was good news for everyone. Lauren Silenski had, unfortunately, been found dead, and they'd traced money transfers to her account back to one of Dominic Ilyin's shell companies. Tatiana had told them that Dominic had gotten her in the trial, so they assumed some of the money had been for that and the rest had probably been for access to the lab to obtain some of the chemical materials needed for the bombs.

With Novikov's terrorizing presence gone, all of his lower- level soldiers had been willing to talk in an attempt to make their own deals. With their information, they'd been able to arrest seven more individuals in the Los Angeles area, four in Washington D.C., and six in New York City, all of whom had been responsible for many crimes over the last several decades.

Novikov's organization was completely destroyed, and they were still in the process of seizing some of his assets, and the assets of other members of his team like Dominic Ilyin and Pieter Moldev. Novikov's reign as one of the world's most wanted terrorists was over. And while others around the world were probably already scrambling to take his place, that was something Jason was going to think about much, much later.

Flynn had asked him to get a drink after work, so he was now entering a bar in Santa Monica, just a mile from their office. The bar was on a cliff overlooking the beach, and Flynn was seated at an outdoor table, his blond hair blowing in the breeze. He'd already changed into faded jeans and a T-shirt and looked more like a surfer than the head of a very elite task force.

Flynn pushed out the chair across from him with a welcoming smile. "Glad you could make it. It's nice to be out of the office. It's been a long few weeks."

"It has," he agreed, taking a seat across from him. He ordered a beer from the server who'd immediately come over and then took a look at the view. The deep-blue waves were crashing on the rocks below, providing a soothing ambiance to the afternoon and the sun sinking beyond the horizon had turned the sky into a colorful array of pinks, purples, and blues.

"Nice sunset," Flynn commented, following his gaze. "Sometimes I forget what a beautiful place we live in."

"I can't remember the last time I just watched the sunset." Pausing, he added, "The investigation is wrapping up nicely."

"Due to your excellent work," Flynn said. "I mean that, Jason. I'm not blowing smoke. You've done a tremendous job."

"Thanks, I appreciate that." He gave the server a smile as she set down his beer. Then he picked up the glass and took a long sip. "This hits the spot."

"Nothing like a cold beer on a hot day after too much work," Flynn said.

"Agreed."

"Damon called me today," Flynn continued, referring to the head of the LA Field Office. "He wants you back. I think there's a big promotion coming your way."

"He mentioned something about that to me."

"After taking Novikov off the board, you could probably do whatever you wanted, maybe get your own team, if you leverage the situation correctly."

"I've thought about that. I'd like the freedom you have to move quickly, cut through red tape, make snap decisions."

"It's why we're as good as we are," Flynn replied. "But there are limitations in working for my team. I don't have a hierarchy with field agents. Everyone works at the same level. Some people get tired of that and move on to offices where they can get bigger titles and bigger money. I don't ever blame them for making that choice. As long as they give me what they've got when they're with me, I wish them well."

"Are you going somewhere with this conversation?"

Flynn grinned. "Of course. I want you to stay with the team. I'm making my pitch. It won't be the money or the title you could get somewhere else, but there is freedom and autonomy in decision-making and an unusually high level of trust."

"Your team is fantastic. I've enjoyed getting to know them, and they are very, very good."

"But you're leaning another way?" Flynn asked, giving him a speculative look.

"I've been working nonstop the last six, almost seven, years, Flynn. And since my father died three years ago, my workaholic tendencies went out of control. I didn't have a reason to be home. I didn't have a family who wanted my time, and I was obsessed with finding Novikov and making him pay. Of course, I had to work on a lot of other cases, too, because Novikov stayed safely out of reach for a long time, but he was always on my mind. And when I wasn't thinking about him, it was every other criminal who needed to be stopped. I was just head down all the time. I certainly never took a minute to look at the sunset."

"You can't run at that pace forever. The longer you're in the business of law enforcement, the more you realize there's always going to be another case, another person to stop, another crime to solve. But you also have to have a life."

"Do you have a life?"

"I do," Flynn said. "Maybe not the last few weeks, but I make time for my wife, and now that we have a baby on the way, I'm going to make more time."

"I didn't know. Congratulations. When is the baby due?"

"Three months. Which will give Avery time to figure out who's going to run her restaurant while she's on maternity leave. She also has a job she loves and spends a lot of time at. But we're both ready for the next chapter. Which is why I also want to make sure I have enough team members to make things run smoothly, not just for me, but for everyone. I have a lot of agents now who are married and have kids. I don't want to lose them, but realistically, I know I need to keep bringing in people who also have more of a single-minded focus. It's a balance, but I can find it."

"That would be an achievement," he said, taking another sip of his beer.

"So, what are you thinking, Jason?"

He looked out at the sea again and then back at Flynn. "I had drinks with Mick Hadley and Patrick Hastings right after everything ended. When I looked at them, I saw my future, and I didn't like what I saw. Mick is a hardened man."

"He is. He's been married and divorced twice, and I don't think his kids talk to him. He's an agent who has to be in the field all the time. It's where he feels alive. I don't know Hastings, so I can't comment on him, but I don't think you and Mick are anything alike." Flynn paused. "You had the chance to kill Stephanie Genaro. You didn't take it."

"That would have been revenge, not justice."

Flynn nodded approvingly. "You kept your word to me."

"I did. And I don't know that Mick had anything to do with what happened to Novikov, so maybe we're not that different."

"None of us knows who killed Novikov, and I'm not accusing Mick Hadley, just saying the two of you are very different people."

"I'm not Patrick, either. Or my dad. Or my grandfather. I've had a lot of men to follow in my career, but I need to make my own path." He blew out a breath. "Here's the thing, I don't want to be the single-minded, focused agent you're looking for. I want more in my life than the job."

"I wasn't putting you in that category. Not after seeing you with Alisa."

"She is important to me," he admitted. "I don't know if I can juggle being the agent I want to be with the broader life I now want to have."

"You can, Jason. And you can do that working for me. I told you I was looking for a balance of team members, and I meant it. Everyone has value, and everyone gets to choose what they want to do, not what I want them to do. That's how we operate. How I get the best out of my people." He paused. "Do you really want to quit being an FBI agent? Or do you want to have it all—on your terms?"

He smiled. "You are quite the salesman."

"I hope I am. All you have to do is say yes…"

Things were finally returning to normal, Alisa thought, as she looked around the two-bedroom condo her mother had just moved into. They'd spent a few days looking for the right place for her parents to live in and had finally decided to rent this townhouse for a year and make longer-term decisions later. They didn't know when her dad would eventually be able to get back to his life, so for now, it was just her mom.

After signing the lease, they'd shopped for furniture and kitchenware and had spent the last several days unpacking and getting organized. There was still a ton to buy and to unpack, but her mom had a bed and a dresser, a couch and a TV. There was food in her cupboards and her refrigerator, so all the basics were there for her to start the next chapter of her life. They'd also gotten back the suitcases and boxes of family photos and personal papers that her dad had taken to the motel, so there were some memories that would soon be going up on display.

Since she and her mother had been together nonstop the past two weeks, she'd seen little of Jason. He was busy wrapping up all the details of the case, too, so aside from daily text messages and one evening when they'd shared a pizza with her mother, she'd seen little of him.

And she missed him. She missed him more than she'd thought she would. She'd tried to tell herself their intense relationship had to come to an end along with everything else, but she didn't want it to be the end. She just didn't know how he felt about it.

"This blanket goes perfectly with the couch," her mother said, drawing her gaze to the sofa where her mother had placed a rose-colored fluffy blanket on the gray couch. "It's girly, though. Your father might not love it."

"If you love it, he'll love it," she said dryly. "He adores you. And he feels so guilty about what happened to you that you could probably decorate this entire place in pink and buy him nothing but pink clothes, and he'd be fine with it.

Her mother smiled, looking so much like her old self that Alisa had to send up another silent prayer of thanks for her mom's recovery.

"I really want him home, Alisa. I know some of his decisions might have been wrong, but he didn't know what he was dealing with. By the way, I don't know if I told you this, but your father thinks the toxins that made me sick were probably in a fruit basket that I thought the library sent me for my ten-year anniversary. He didn't eat any of it because he's allergic to kiwi and mango, but I nibbled on it for several days straight."

"So if he'd eaten the fruit, he would have been sick, too."

"Yes, but he said that Novikov might have known he wouldn't touch those fruits."

"I guess we'll never know for sure since the house burned to the ground, but it does make sense that the poison was in the food and not in the air, at least not at your house. We know they used a different tactic at the hospital. Anyway, I want Dad home, too, and his lawyer says it looks good."

"What does Jason say?"

"He says it looks good, too," she said with a smile.

"I thought we might see more of Jason. You two seemed to have made a really strong connection."

"We went through a lot together, but he's busy, and I'm busy. And our lives are our own now. I'm not in danger. He doesn't have to protect me. We don't need to see each other every day." She shook her head at the gleam in her mother's eyes. "Mom, don't start matchmaking."

"I don't think I have to start. The two of you are already falling for each other. You like him, and he likes you. I saw that with my own eyes, not just when you were in danger, but the other night when we had pizza. The air was electric."

She laughed. "I wouldn't go that far." Although she and Jason had exchanged a very steamy goodbye kiss that night. But that had been four days ago, and they hadn't seen each other in person since then.

"Well, I like him, so I'm rooting for you two."

"Jason has been very up-front with me about how much he loves to work. He devotes himself to his job. He doesn't do relationships, and I don't think I could settle for anything less, not with him." She shook her head. "I thought maybe I could, but I can't. I'm too…"

"In love with him?" her mom finished.

"Well, I wasn't going to use that L word. It's too soon for me to be in love with him. Love takes time."

"Love doesn't take time. It's there, or it's not. Relationships—those take time, but if you don't have the feelings from the beginning, I don't think it ever works."

"You might be right," she admitted, glancing down at her phone as it buzzed with a text from Jason.

"Is that him?"

She looked up with a smile. "He wants to get together if I'm free."

"You're free. Go."

"We have so much to do here."

"You have more to do with him. I appreciate everything you've done for me, Alisa. You have helped in so many ways, and I am forever grateful you are my daughter. But it's time for you to get back to your life. And maybe it's time for you to also start a new chapter. You've had a tendency to bury yourself in work, too."

"I love you, Mom," she said, then hugged her mother and headed out the door.

It seemed to take forever to get to her apartment, even though it was only ten minutes away. Her mother had wanted to stay close to her, and tonight, she was very happy about that.

Jason was waiting for her in front of the building, looking as handsome as ever in a pair of jeans and a button-down shirt. His blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight, and his smile was so invitingly sexy that a shiver ran through her.

"You look good," he told her.

"Are you kidding? I've been moving and unpacking all day," she said, wishing she was wearing something sexier than jeans and a T-shirt .

"You look beautiful to me." He pulled her in for a quick kiss, then said, "Let's go upstairs."

She nodded, then unlocked the door, happy that the elevator was already waiting. A few moments later, they entered her apartment, and the door had barely closed before they were in each other's arms again, kissing each other with a hunger that couldn't be denied.

The desire that had been simmering in the background built into a hot, demanding flame, and she wanted to rip off her clothes and his, too.

But Jason was pulling away, putting some distance between them, giving her a ragged, breathless look that she couldn't decipher.

"We're stopping?" she questioned. "Because I thought we were just getting going."

"We need to talk."

Her gut twisted uneasily. "Those words don't usually mean anything good."

"This time they do," he promised.

"Okay. What are we talking about?"

"First, your father will be released tomorrow. There are contingencies and other restrictions, but he's going home to your mother."

A wave of relief ran through her. "I'm so glad. She misses him so much. Thank you for helping to make that happen."

"His actions played a significant role in the results. And what he will do going forward to help stop similar attacks is also part of the deal."

"No more teaching high school, I guess."

"He's going to work for Homeland Security and the FBI and whatever agencies need his expertise."

"That's great. Is that it? Because you said first…"

"There's a second," he said, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. He handed it to her .

She stared down in confusion, wondering why he'd given her a colorful flyer of a beautiful hotel in Greece. "What's this?"

"The first place I want to go on vacation."

She raised her gaze to his, giving him a questioning look. "But you like to work. You don't take vacations."

"That's going to change. Everything is going to change, Alisa. I don't want to be a workaholic anymore. I don't want to focus only on the job. I want to participate in a relationship with someone I care very much about." He paused. "That's you, by the way."

Her heart skipped a beat. "You want a relationship with me?"

"Yes. You're an amazing woman: courageous, strong, loving, kind, sexy as hell…I can't imagine not being with you, Alisa."

"I've been trying to imagine that for the past two weeks, but it seems unbearable not being able to see you every day. You're an amazing man," she said, echoing his words. "Heroic, honest, and the way you kiss me…"

"That's all you, Alisa. You make me crazy."

"I'm right there with you. I want to go on vacation with you, and I want to have a relationship. I want it all."

"I want it all, too, and Flynn tells me I can have it. He offered me a permanent job with his team. He said his agents can have a work-life balance if they want it. And I want it. But mostly I just want you. I know it's fast. Our connection was forged in fire, in high-stakes drama. I may not seem so exciting in regular life. We can take things as slow as you want. Nothing has to be decided now."

"Are you kidding? I don't want to go slow. I want to go fast. I want to jump because I know you'll jump with me. You'll be there when I need you, and I'll be there when you need me." Happy tears gathered in her eyes as she finally let herself savor the fact that he felt exactly the same way she did. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as you can go. I told Flynn I'm taking a minimum of six weeks off before I start working again, and he was fine with it. So, it's your call."

"I've been on temporary leave since I've been helping my mom rebuild her life. I'll extend it for six weeks. This is going to be so great. Where shall we go?"

"Wherever you want. It doesn't matter to me as long as we're together. Greece was just an idea."

"It doesn't matter to me, either. But let's start here."

"In Greece?"

"The vacation part, yes. That hotel looks awesome. But for the relationship part, I'm thinking here and now." She pulled off her T-shirt, loving the way his eyes lit up with desire.

"That works for me," he said as he unbuttoned his shirt.

She moved toward him. "We're going to be good together, Jason."

He gave her a loving smile. "We already are."