Page 119 of Twilight Tactics

“She’s okay. We got her.”

“Thank God.” Elena leaned against him, exhaustion finally overtaking her.

He pressed a kiss to her temple. “It’s over.”

After a few hours ofsleep, a shower, a hot meal, and reassurances from his buddy Chris that he really was okay and would heal up just fine, Sully now paced outside the FBI’s interrogation room that held Piper. Now that Elena and Olliewere safe and Bellini’s men rounded up, it was time to deal with his ex-partner. His emotions were a tangled mess of relief, anger, and profound disappointment. Hurt. Betrayal. He couldn’t figure out which took priority.

The door opened, and ASAC Winters stepped out, his expression grim.

“She’s been through a lot,” Winters said.

“We all have.”

“Yeah. She’ll answer any question you have, but she’s going to have a long road ahead of her to overcome this.”

“She’s seen Hannah?”

“Yeah. The grandparents came and got her a couple of hours ago. She’s okay, but she’ll need therapy. She’s definitely traumatized.”

Sully nodded and entered the room. Piper sat at the table. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and guilt had etched new lines into her face. “I’m in a lot of trouble, Sully,” she said, her voice low.

Sully remained standing, maintaining his professional facade. “Why didn’t you come to me, Piper? I would have moved heaven and earth to help find Hannah.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “Because I was explicitly warned not to. The first message came with a photo of Hannah bound to a chair. It said if I involved you—and yes, it named you specifically—or anyone at the Bureau, they’d kill her immediately.”

“Who sent it?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know. It came from an unknown number.” She looked at Sully, then glanced at the camera. “I don’t know anything more than that.”

Sully scoffed. “You can do better than that.”

“No.” She shrugged. Looked hard into his eyes, then glanced at the camera through lowered lashes.

He finally got it.

“I see. Look, Piper, if you’re not going to talk, then there’s nothing I can do to help.”

“But I don’t know anything!” Another glance at the camera. Subtle. Anyone watching wouldn’t see it, just him.

“Then I guess we’re done.”

He left the room and closed the door behind him. Winters waited, arms crossed, expression unreadable. “She doesn’t know anything,” Sully said.

Winters’s brow lifted. “I’m not sure I believe that.”

Sully shook his head. “I’ve been partners with her for a while now. She doesn’t know squat.”

Winters sighed, rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, we’ll just let her sit there awhile and think about things. Maybe something will come back to her.”

Sully pinched the bridge of his nose. “Give her a break. Let her rest a minute. I’ll bring her some decent food and talk to her.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“Then make it work.” Sully stepped closer, voice low and urgent. “You want the rest of this case unraveled? You want to know who was pulling the strings behind Bellini? I don’t know if she knows or not, but I’m the person she’ll tell if she does. Let me handle this. And no recording. This is between her and me.”

Winters hesitated, then slowly nodded. “Fine. You’ve got thirty minutes.”

“I’m going to order from a food service. It’ll take about thirty to forty minutes to get here. We’ll let her sit there like you suggested, then see if I can get her to spill anything.”