The door opened. Mercer stood there. “Dr. Jamison, come in...”
She stepped across the threshold.
Cooper started to follow.
“Sorry, son,” Mercer said, sounding not the least bit actually sorry as he held up his hand to block Cooper, “but you don’t have clearance for this.”
Then he shut the door in Cooper’s surprised face.
Tina took a few tentative steps inside the office. She glanced around the room and she instantly realized just why Cooper didn’t have clearance.
Two other people were waiting in that office.
She knew the EOD Agent, Cale Lane. She’d patched him up a few times. And the other woman—the woman with the blond hair and the perfect face—that was Cassidy Sherridan.
Well...technically she was Cassidy Sherridan Lane now.
The blonde was Mercer’s real daughter.
She was also rushing across the room and hugging Tina. “I’m so sorry,” Cassidy told her, squeezing her tightly. “As soon as I found out, I came right away. I told Anton who I was.”
“And I damn well told you to keep her away,” Mercer growled to Cale.
“I’m not lying to my wife.” Cale was resolute. Determined. Protective.
Cassidy pulled back a bit to study Tina. “I can’t ever make this up to you.”
Tina frowned at her and shook her head. “There’s nothing to make up. You didn’t do anything to me. It was all Anton.” She glanced toward Mercer. His arms were crossed over his chest, but his gaze was on her—and it was worried. “Is his network contained? Is it over?”
“Yes.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Then we saved lives. The risk was worth it.”
“But you shouldn’t have been risked,” Cassidy whispered as she stepped back. “You should never have been in harm’s way.”
Tina had to smile at that. “And you should have been? We can’t help who we are...or who we’re not.” She felt...different standing in that room with Mercer and Cassidy. Before the nightmare of her abduction, Tina had always been a bit in awe of Mercer and all the EOD agents.
And she’d been...afraid. Of so much. Of letting her weakness hurt others. Of being caught in the cross fire once more.
“I’m not weak,” Tina said.
Mercer’s eyes narrowed.
Cale stood beside Cassidy.
“Who the hell said you were?” Now anger lit Mercer’s eyes. “If Lancaster—”
Tina shook her head. “I’m the one who thought it. Drew never said anything.” She pushed her glasses—another replacement pair because she’d lost the others in the blast down in New Orleans—up a bit on her nose. “I’ve been hiding for a long time, and I don’t want to do that anymore.” She wouldn’t stay in her labs. Wouldn’t live through the actions of others.
It was time for her to seize her own adventures.
Only, maybe these new adventures wouldn’t involve death and destruction.
“You let me hide,” she said to Mercer because she’d seen through his mask.
His jaw hardened. “I wanted you safe.”
Cassidy laughed softly. Sympathy flashed across her face. “Oh, Mercer...when you keep us safe, sometimes you keep us caged.”
Tina didn’t want to be caged anymore. Not by Mercer and not by her own fear.
The past couldn’t haunt her, and she wouldn’t spend her days afraid of what might come.
Mercer stared into Tina’s eyes. “What about Lancaster?”
He always saw so much. “He did his job. It’s over now.”
There had never been any talk of a future from him. Never any talk of emotions.
Tina knew what she felt, but as for Drew...
Maybe I couldn’t ever get past the ice.
It sure had felt as if she had, though. His torch had seemed to scorch right to her very soul.
Frantic pounding sounded on the door.
Mercer jerked his head. Cale immediately reached for Cassidy, and they slipped out a side door.
No wonder Mercer picked this office.
When they were clear, Mercer yanked open the main door. “I’m in a private meeting, what do you want?”
Cooper stood to the side. Two FBI agents—decked out in pressed suits—stared at Mercer with wide eyes. “The prisoner is seizing, sir. We’ve called medical personnel but—”
“It could be a trick,” Mercer snarled as he rushed past them.
Tina was right on his heels. There was only one “prisoner” who would have sparked this kind of reaction from Mercer.
They zigged and zagged through the halls. Then they were entering a small room that she hadn’t seen before. No windows. Only one narrow door to gain entry into that place.
Anton Devast lay slumped on a narrow cot in the room. Two agents were with him, trying to turn his head so that he could breathe.