Page 95 of The Devoted Game

Every agent in the conference room absorbed the order. No one wanted to go home. They wanted to find Martin Fincher and see that he paid for causing the death of the SAC.

It didn’t seem possible that Agent Worth was gone.

ASAC Talley had given over complete control to Pierce. He felt too close to this to be objective.

Vivian settled her attention on McBride. He had drawn that don’t-give-a-shit shield around himself. His expression was blank, his posture indifferent. If he got the chance, he would drink the last twelve hours right out of his head. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.

But they needed to be doing something to find Fincher.

When she would have said as much, Pierce added, “There’s an APB out on Fincher. Birmingham PD has roadblocks on all the main thoroughfares leaving the city ... at the airport ... bus terminals. There’s nothing else we can do this evening. We need sleep, so we’ll all be fresh in the morning. Be back here at eight sharp. You’ll get a call if anything comes up before then.”

Vivian pushed up from the conference table, grabbed her purse and holster, and headed for the door. Pratt, Aldridge, and Arnold filed out ahead of her. Schaffer had returned and was assisting Talley withthe updating of the timeline board. Her lime-green cowboy boots were about the only thing Vivian had seen this crappy day that made her want to smile ... reminded her that in spite of the worst man could do to man, life went on.

“Hold up, McBride,” Pierce said.

Vivian turned back to see what Pierce wanted with McBride. If he planned to rake him over the coals again, she was going to call Pierce on it. If her statement of the way things had gone down in that elevator shaft wasn’t clarification enough, then he would just have to do what he would. But he wasn’t going to beat McBride down about it.

McBride hadn’t asked for this.

He wasn’t the one to let Worth go.

I was.

“What do you want, Pierce?” McBride stared at the other man ... his posture appearing relaxed.

The silent standoff that followed lasted long enough for her to visually weigh the differences between the two. It went way beyond the physical. There was a kind of movement about Pierce even when he was still ... as if he were constantly analyzing or roving around whatever subject his attention latched on to. His words were chosen carefully. McBride, on the other hand, said exactly what he thought when he bothered to interact verbally. Unlike Pierce, McBride gave off a sense of utter stillness that even now scared her to death and attracted her like a potent magnet.

She pushed away the memory of Pierce’s confession that tried to intrude. How could she have missed that? Maybe she had been so focused on her training that she just hadn’t noticed.

Or maybe because of what had happened to her, she had been in denial.

“Talley has requested added security for your room as well as Grace’s town house just in case Fincher tries to have his revenge.”

“Anything else?” McBride wanted out of there just like her.

Pierce didn’t answer right away; he glanced at Vivian as if he wanted to be sure she heard this. “I realize your options were limited today. Both you and Agent Grace did all you could to save Worth. That’s all anyone could ask.”

McBride didn’t say thank you, but he didn’t tell Pierce where to get off either. He just walked away.

Vivian strode past Pierce without a word, then hastened her step to catch up with McBride in the corridor. “Just so you know, I’m taking you home with me. You’re not staying in that hotel alone tonight.”

McBride glanced at the others waiting for the elevator and made a turn for the stairwell. Vivian was with him—she wasn’t sure she would ever take another elevator. Maybe in a decade or two.

“I don’t need a babysitter.” McBride shot her a look before starting down the stairs.

She had to hustle to keep up with him. “Good. Because I wasn’t planning on babysitting.”

Another of those suspicious glances cut her way as he rounded the landing for the next flight down.

What was she planning?

She hadn’t exactly gotten that far. She had just a minute ago made the decision about not allowing him to be alone.

Or maybe she didn’t want to be alone. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Worth slipping from her fingers ...falling.

Being alone wouldn’t be good.

The instant she and McBride hit the asphalt he lit up, walked to the far side of her SUV, the side the press couldn’t see, and then leaned against it.