Page 71 of Code Name: Harbor

He studies me carefully, then says, “I trust you.”

“Thank you.”

“But I don’t trust the situation. There’s a difference.”

“I know.”

Cole nods and stands up. He taps a finger on the table. “Anything goes sideways—anything at all—you call me. Not Malik. Not Reid. Me.”

“Okay. I promise.”

Cole shakes his head and looks resigned. “I’m not going to pretend I didn’t have this conversation. But I’m not going to make it part of the case either. Not unless I have to.”

I breathe out a sigh of relief as I’ve just realized, in addition to taking down Voronin, an equally important mission is keeping Finn safe.

Cole moves past the table but stops at my chair. “And for what it’s worth… I liked him.”

I can’t help but smile. “Yeah?”

“It was clear to me he cares about you. I think you found a real one.”

He squeezes my shoulder once on his way out.

CHAPTER 17

Finn

The bench where Connie usually sits for these meetings is empty. Marcus is on his third cup of coffee and I’m on my second. The Tuesday run is three days out and we’re supposed to be here going through the final pass on logistics this morning.

It’s a simple route, we’ve done it dozens of times over the years, but we still need to go over it again. Pickup at Steveston, the crossing window, Walt Brown’s dock, the handoff.

The mechanics.

Instead we’re sitting at the chart table looking at Connie’s empty seat.

“Call her again,” I say to Marcus as I scan the water patrol routes.

Marcus sighs but punches Connie’s contact on his cell phone, then hits speakerphone so I can hear, once again, her voicemail.

“It’s Connie. Leave a message or don’t. You know I don’t care.”

Beep.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “She’s pissing me off.”

“Me as well.” Marcus ends the call without leaving a message. It would do no good, because when Connie decides to be a brat, she goes all out.

Unless she’s not being a brat and has gotten herself in trouble. If she went to Mikhail to give up Josie, he could easily have killed her for hiding information about her in the first place.

That intense burn of fear for Josie hits dead center in my chest. It’s been coming and going since my confrontation with Connie three days ago. The only peace of mind I’ve had is that Josie is relatively well protected. When she’s at work at Jameson, I know she’s the safest. She told me about the security measures on that building and no one’s breaching it. Not to mention she’s surrounded by a host of ex-military, most of whom have special forces skills.

Also not to mention she’s proficient with a gun and hand-to-hand combat herself.

Outside of work hours, she’s with me. I got her to agree to that as a compromise to her stubborn refusal to leave Seattle. We packed up her belongings and moved her into my house temporarily until this is resolved.

However, I very much like her being there, so I’m hoping that will turn permanent when Voronin and Mikhail are behind bars.

Marcus takes a long sip of his coffee, setting the cup back on the table with a thunk that jolts me.