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"It’s iet the women and children safely out of there before there’s any kind of conflict between Jacob and the law I have no idea how that can be done," Reese said "The police don’t confide in me"

"Pilly will never leave him," Devon said

"I worry about that, too," Reese said

"Where is Mariah?"

Reese smiled and her face lit up "She’s with a family She delivered a healthy son just last week She’s safe and has a good place with people who can help her rebuild her life I left Mark with her for the day"

"I’ for a doctor in a little town not far from here and I saw one of the if anyone had seen you and Mariah" She shook her head "They never asked about one"

"Oh, Jacob cares He was in a rage They left and went looking for you I have no idea ent on there when I left with Mariah and Mark I hate to think about it I est woine Jacob just about lost his mind" She shook her head sadly "Devon, there’s so much more history to that place than you knoe’ll talk about it soain?"

"Of course," she said, giving her hair a pat "I don’t knohen, but ill see each other again Tell me about your life now Are you safe? Happy?"

Devon nodded "It’s been auy picked us up and took us in He kept us in his home for a little while"

Reese frowned "Does he do at all He said he’d had hard luckback He pointed ot it I found a small place to rent, I share a babysitter with s I put in a lot of hours for the doctor, but I do a good job for hiet to know each other easily"

"You should probably get sohed "I’ll see if I can work that into the budget someday"

"I want you to think about it Jacob worked so hard at , no options, no ability to do anything but exist inside his fence That’s a lot to overco I’ll tell you more about that e see each other next We really can’t be in touch right now, but I hope it won’t be too long before"

"Why?" Devon asked "Can’t we talk on the phone sometimes? Maybe !"

"If ant the FBI to finish what they started, we need to just live quiet lives until it’s over Then we can see each other again I hope it’s not too long"

Just as she suspected, Mac aiting for her to take her hoone back to Thunder Point, but returned for her When they were in the department car he asked, "Was it okay?"

"It was theday of my life," Devon said "They wanted details about each person that I’m not even sure I remember accurately Basically ere slaves and we had a mostly benevolent master"

"Mostly?" Mac asked

"Mostly Let’s face it--he’s a drug dealer"

Mac tapped his wedding ring on the steering wheel "I think, adealer"

She pulled out her phone How had she lived so long without this ability to communicate so easily, so rapidly? "And I miss some of the women and kids so much," she said to Mac

She texted her boss and Spencer to say she was headed home By the time Mac pulled up in front of his office, the clinic was dark "Listen, Devon," he said, "what you did today was brave And it was right You could’ve given us all a different naht, started a new life here and disappeared fro with the feds, that was brave"

She gave him a weak smile "I hope it was also smart," she said

Fifteen

Cooper’s little apartment over the bar had one bedrooht so Spencer could have a life, Austin slept in the same room with Cooper and Sarah--on the pull-out sofa It was not optihts, but Austin snored like a freight train He also flopped around on that bed like a fish on the dock

Cooper wanted to iuy in the toy hauler, but when he even led up to such a request Landon cleared his throat, lifted a brow and smirked Then Austin asked Cooper, "How old do I have to be before I get a man cave?"

"Very old," Cooper said

The upside was, Austin did ht away because Austin was connected with one of the most important people in the town--his own dad Kids froh school football gae--Austin’s dad was the coach and Austin sat with Mac, Cooper and the others But instead of Austin being lured away to hang with kids his own age, all the kids who liked the new kid wanted to sit with the in crowd

"But I thought you enjoyed having Austin around," Sarah said

"I do I’ down the hall So I can be ht that was your favorite part," he said, grinning lasciviously

"You’re hardly deprived," she pointed out to him

"True," he could admit In fact, since Sarah had bid farewell to the Coast Guard, her days and nights were her own The Septeht a whole new energy--the after-gaht was alive with the sounds of teenagers Cooper dihts in the bar by ten o’clock to keep the action down on the beach rather than running up and down the stairs for drinks But he liked to sit with his wife on the deck and watch the partying Thunder Point had scored a big win over one of their rival schools tonight