He raised her hand to his lips. “My pleasure.”
“Did it make it better—killin’ Lewis?” Quinn had wondered.
Would his grief be lessened if he’d killed the bastard himself?
“It was satisfyin’ for a moment, but nothin’ can bring Jack back.” Grant glanced around and slipped on the sunglasses again. “Things have gotten too hot for me here, thanks to the two of you. Och, dinnae worry yourselves. We’re no’ comin’ after you. You didnae mean to expose me. You wanted what I wanted—justice for Jack. But I’m leavin’ Scotland for a time. You two watch your backs, aye?”
“You too, Grant.”
They watched him touch the coffin and walk away.
Then Quinn, too, walked to the grave and touched Jack’s coffin as the workers began to lower it into the ground.
“Goodbye, friend.”
“Quinn, look!” Elizabeth pointed to the sky.
Quinn glanced up to see a sea eagle soaring over the cemetery, its white tail leaving no doubt as to what kind of bird it was. The workers, too, stopped and stared.
Quinn watched it soar. “They never come here.”
“This one did. Maybe Jack’s saying goodbye.”
Quinn’s heart lifted at that absurd suggestion, a suggestion he was willing with all his soul to believe. “Fly free, my friend.”
They turned and walked back to the car.
Quinn took her hand. “I couldnae have done this wi’out you—not just findin’ Jack’s killer, but gettin’ through today, speakin’ in front of all those people.”
“You would have been fine, but I was happy to help.” Elizabeth smiled. “And so, our first vacation together comes to an end. Maybe Tahiti next time? Bali?”
“If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do.”
They were scheduled for a mission to Ukraine next and were meeting the Cobra team in Frankfurt tomorrow. But Corbray and Tower had assured them they’d be home in time for Christmas.
Elizabeth looked up at him, her sweet face shining. “I’ve got the feeling that life with you is going to be one big adventure.”
Quinn smiled, his heart light for the first time in weeks. “Always.”
Epilogue
Six months later
Quinn walked with Elizabeth toward the restaurant, the Inverness sunshine not quite warm enough to melt away his nerves, butterflies fluttering in his stomach.
“Would you relax? Everything’s going to be fine.”
“I hope so.” Quinn had never expected this day to come.
He was about to be reunited with the sister he hadn’t seen in twenty-two years.
The whole thing had been Elizabeth’s idea. She had located Paige and then asked whether Quinn wanted to contact her. At first, he’d been reluctant. Then Elizabeth had reminded him that it hadn’t been Paige’s decision to walk out and leave him.
With his approval, Elizabeth had gotten in touch with Paige, and she and Quinn had begun writing emails back and forth, catching up on two decades of life.
Paige was twenty-seven now and newly married. She and her husband raised sheep on a croft outside Inverness. He’d been as surprised by that as Paige had been to learn that her brother was an SAS veteran who lived in America and worked in private security. She’d had lots of questions for him, and he’d told her about Jack.
“I saw that on the news,” she’d written. “I’m so sorry your friend was killed, but it’s really cool that you helped solve his murder.”