Page 79 of Lost Truth
Why, God? Why would You allow this?
Nolan turned to peer at her. “You doing okay?”
“No. No, I’m not.” Her tone was testy, and she hated taking out her frustration on him, and yet she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “It’s bad enough that human trafficking exists, but when men and women who are committed to stopping it must put themselves in such danger to stop it, it hardly seems fair or right.”
“Ah,” he said, a sad quality to his tone. “You’re experiencing the same emotions we face on the job. Something most law enforcement officers do too. But there’s no point in wondering why such terrible things happen, or it’ll drive you crazy. The only thing you can do is focus on what you can do to help, then let it go.”
“But what if someone gets hurt today? Someone you care about.”
He curled his fingers tightly around the steering wheel and peered straight ahead. “Then we deal with what happens and make a plan to ensure it never occurs again.”
She gaped at him. “You sound so cool and calm about it.”
“I might sound that way, but trust me, that’s not how I feel. Not by a long shot.” He faced her. “The woman I love is out there on the cold, rough sea with ruthless criminals and cold water. Rough seas. Gunmen. All the while trying to rescue innocent people. So no. No! I’m not cool or calm.”
She’d never seen him so rattled, but she completely understood his emotions. For his sake, she wished she hadn’t forced him to verbalize them.
His phone rang, and he grabbed it. “Mina.”
He listened intently. “Good. Glad they’re almost there. I know you’re surrounded by chaos, but thanks for taking time to update me.”
He ended the call. “My team arrived to help, and Sawyer called in the Coast Guard. They’re responding, but it could take thirty minutes or so to get the right equipment on site.”
Thirty minutes, her brain screamed. Thirty minutes until help could arrive to subdue the evil men on the ship and Wade Collins. Collins had gotten what he wanted—for Mina and the others to concentrate on rescuing the people in the water so he could escape.
But where could he go that the Coast Guard wouldn’t eventually catch him? He would have to ditch his boat and disappear by land or air. Was the marina here the best place to ditch his boat?
She and Nolan weren’t prepared for that.“If Collins gets away, do you think he’ll come back here?”
“Could be,” Nolan said. “But there’s likely a closer marina where he could put in and not risk returning to a known location where law enforcement could be waiting for him.”
That made sense, but… “Don’t most marinas prohibit strange boats from docking?”
“They do, but at this hour, there’s no one around to enforce it. And now that the Coast Guard’s involved, Collins would need to ditch his boat, so he wouldn’t care what anyone at the marina thought anyway.” Nolan locked eyes with her. “But even if it’s only a slight possibility, we need to prepare in case this dangerous man returns.”
Cady didn’t like the sound of that, but she wasn’t a chicken. She would follow Nolan’s direction and stand her ground. No matter what occurred.
