Shades of Gray (KGI #6)(81)

“I can prove it,” Brumley gabbled. “In my safe. There in the wall. I’ll give you the combination. You can see. I have records of everything. Recorded conversations. Details of deals. When and where. It’s all there, I swear it!”

“Baker, check it out,” P.J. ordered.

Baker removed the painting and then waited as Brumley stuttered out the combination. A moment later, Baker started pulling out stacks of currency and with it a ledger and several memory chips.

Baker flipped through the ledger and let out a low whistle.

“Apparently our ass**le here does business with some very important people. Resnick would come in his pants to get his hands on this.”

“See!” Brumley panted. “I told you!”

P.J. looked at him in disgust and then pressed the blade into his throat until a line of blood appeared.

“Wait! You said you wouldn’t kill me!” Brumley said in panic.

She slashed deep, cutting his windpipe, air escaping in a long hiss.

“Sue me.”

CHAPTER 37

P.J. let the knife fall from her hand, clattering to the floor. Numbness had crept in along with the realization that she’d done it. Her revenge was complete.

Her ra**sts were dead. Her mission was done.

A shiver took over, and she realized that she was still astride Brumley, naked and cold, shaking like a leaf.

And then her team was there, surrounding her.

Mortification gripped her and she clutched her arms to her in an attempt to cover her body.

Steele wrapped a blanket around her shivering form and pulled her up and away from the blood and the sight of Brumley’s dead body.

“Are you hurt?” Steele demanded, his hands on her shoulders, holding the blanket in place.

It seemed a senseless question when she was bleeding all over and her face must look like a train wreck.

“Cole,” she croaked out. “How is Cole?”

She broke away, uncaring of anything but Cole. She rushed to where he still sat on the chair he’d damn near torn apart in his desperation to get to her. There were rope burns at his wrists and a bulky pressure dressing on his shoulder. But he was alive.

As soon as she pushed her way past Dolphin and Renshaw, Cole staggered to his feet and met her halfway.

Ignoring his injuries, ignoring hers, he crushed her to him, holding on as if he’d never let go.

“My God, you scared me, P.J.,” he whispered against her ear. “Don’t ever do that to me again. Swear to me you’ll never do that again. I almost lost you. I can’t lose you again. Never again.”

She clung fiercely to him, fearing what would happen if she let go. She could literally feel the threads holding her in place loosening and starting to fray. She didn’t know how much longer she’d be able to keep it together.

“Baker, get everything out of that safe,” Steele ordered. “We need to clear out of here double time. I don’t want any sign that we were here.”

Renshaw snorted. “I think the dead bodies will give it away.”

Steele pinned him with a glare. “They may speculate as to who and what, but I don’t want them to have irrefutable proof. I want everyone out and this place clean on the double.”

“Yes sir,” Baker said.

Baker gathered everything from the safe and began stuffing it into his pack.

Renshaw began a wipe down of all the surfaces that could have been touched and then started working on the doorway, the knobs and the frame.

P.J. was still holding tightly to Cole, knowing if she let go, she was a goner.

Steele walked over to them.

“Can you make it down without help?” he asked Cole.

“Yeah, I’m good. But she’s not.”

“I know,” Steele said quietly.

He gently pried P.J. away from Cole. She went ballistic, stretching her arms out to Cole, not wanting to be separated from him for even a moment.

“Shhhh, P.J.,” Steele said gently. “It’s over now. You’re safe. Cole is all right.”

But her shattered mind couldn’t process anything but her need to be close to Cole.

She was still struggling when Steele swept her into his arms. After ordering Baker, Dolphin and Renshaw to complete the cleanup, he headed out the door with Cole following closely behind.

P.J. went limp, the pain from her struggles overwhelming her. She laid her head on Steele’s shoulder and closed her eyes, so many different emotions bombarding her until she was utterly overwhelmed.

Relief. Pain. Sadness. Grief. Vindication.

Justice.

She clung to the last word knowing it was the most appropriate of all. Justice had been served. Brumley would never pose a threat to another woman or child again.

Steele carried her out of the gates that had been blasted open, and she gazed at the twisted iron, the carnage that had been wrought when her team had blown their way in.

A moment later, Steele set her down into the back of an SUV and eased her into a sitting position. He carefully pulled the ends of the blanket around her, tucking the ends like she was a child incapable of doing even the simplest task for herself.

“I’m going back to round up the others so we can get the f**k out of here,” Steele said. And then he strode away, leaving her and Cole alone.

She sat hunched over and Cole closed in, pulling her into his arms. She closed her eyes and simply inhaled his scent. The blood, sweat, dirt. She didn’t care. He was alive. They’d made it. Brumley was dead.