Chapter 15

“The Director was right about you,” Dayoub said, coming to stand next to Taylor on the steps outside the Federal Courthouse. “I honestly had my doubts after hearing about some of your other exploits, but you really came through. Finney has testified and the Amatos are going down for good.”

“Hill doesn’t seem to share your opinion. Someone told me he filed a complaint about my ‘reckless attitude.’

“Fuck him. Besides, you already have a bunch of those, don’t you? It’s why the word on you is that you are a reckless amateur. Solomon has faith in you, or he wouldn’t have sent you out here.”

“It depends on how badly he needs something done.”

“That’s what I mean. You got this done and you killed a hit man, or I guess woman, no one even knew about on top of it.”

“Are you sure she’s dead? We didn’t find a body in the factory. She’s smart enough to have a backup plan, and that explosion was very weird. It was also weird how she wanted to make sure I lived to be able to say I saw her injured, sitting in the middle of the building just before it blew up.”

“Didn’t you say you got outside seconds before it blew? That’s pretty risky timing if she wanted to make sure you were around to corroborate her death.”

“She was good. She would have wanted to make it close to make sure I believed she was gone.”

“Well, the building was completely wrecked. Most of the machinery that had been on the first floor was mangled from the heat and pressure of the blast. It’s not surprising we didn’t find a body. We did find a bunch of bits that matched her DNA.”

“I saw that, but it wasn’t that much. Not enough to make up an actual person.”

“Are you suggesting she planted chunks of herself to get blown up?”

“I’m just saying she stayed invisible for a long time, and she did it while killing some high-profile people we wanted to keep alive. She succeeded because she was meticulous in her planning. She would have known there was a chance her identity could get blown, especially once I found out her real name. She would have planned for it.”

“If it was a fake out, then why didn’t she go for Finney when you brought him to the courthouse?”

“Maybe she thought becoming invisible again was more important than finishing this one job.”

“You can feel free to keep chasing ghosts, but I’m going to close the book on this one. Just take the win, man. If she’s out there, we’ll find her when she starts working again. If she’s dead, you’re just going to drive yourself insane chasing ghosts.”

“Maybe,” Taylor said.

Washington D.C.

“Push,” the doctor said in a calm voice.

“Gaaaahhh!” Whitaker screamed, veins popping on the side of her neck as she strained.

Taylor stood next to her, holding her hand as she tried to squish it like a grape. Kara was holding her other hand. The nurses had tried to keep Kara out, but Whitaker had insisted she be allowed to stay. The two of them had spent a lot of time together since Whitaker got pregnant, and she thought it was important that their adopted daughter be included, so she knew she wasn’t being replaced.

“You’re doing great, baby. Almost there,” Taylor said, trying to be as reassuring as he could.

He’d been in more firefights than he could count and been close to death multiple times, but this might be one of the most stressful moments of his life.

She stopped pushing and lay back against the hospital bed, her head drenched in sweat.

“I changed my mind. One kid is enough,” she said with a weak laugh.

“Too late to go back now, Princess.”

“Fine, you do this part then.”

“Push,” the doctor said again.

She let out another muffled scream as she bore down again. Taylor watched as his daughter appeared, the doctor pulling her out. After they did something to clear the baby’s mouth, she let out a long wail, letting the world know she’d arrived.

Taylor squeezed Whitaker’s hand, tears welling up in his eyes. He wasn’t a crier, but seeing his little girl for the first time, it felt like his chest was going to explode.

They had Taylor cut the cord and got the baby cleaned up before swaddling it and putting it, still crying, on Whitaker’s chest.

“Congratulations, Mama,” the nurse said. “A healthy baby girl. Have you decided on the name, yet?”

“Grace,” Whitaker said, looking down at their daughter, smiling weakly. “Her name is Grace.”

Taylor looked at his wife and two daughters, and felt immense joy at his unusual family. It was a strange road that had brought him to this place, and he wouldn’t change a moment of it.

All of the pain and heartache was worth seeing the three of them together.