The Intelligence Unit Series
The Guardian Chapter 29

Delia's body had redlined on adrenaline about an hour ago, but that didn't stop her brain from cooking up a fresh, hot batch of the stuff at the sight of Matteo in the doorway of the garage. "RPD! Drop your weapon and step away from her, Kent. Do it now."

Kent laughed, his breath stale and warm at her ear. "Not happening, Detective. But I'll give you points for trying. You can stop right there," he added, his tone sharpening the words like daggers. "You're close enough." Matteo's boots halted in place. Despite the fact that he had his gun trained on Kent-and, by default, her, as well-he looked absolutely composed. "I'm going to need you to let Delia go so we can walk out of here, Kent." Kent's grip tightened, his arm banding around her and threatening her to panic. "That's not going to happen."

"It's exactly what's going to happen," Matteo countered quietly.

"Don't tell me what's going to happen!" Kent shouted, jerking the gun harder against her temple, and oh, God, ohGodohGod. "I'm in charge, here. Do you hear me?"

The words rang like a bell against the walls of the garage, sudden understanding flashing through Matteo's dark stare.

He lowered his weapon ever so slightly. "I do hear you, Kent. And you're right. You are in charge. You've got something I want very badly."

"I want immunity," Kent snarled.

The twitch of Matteo's mouth was so slight Delia nearly missed it. But she knew they'd never give it to him, and for him to think it was an option proved that he was starting to lose his grip on reality. "We can talk about options," Matteo said slowly. "But not while you have Delia."

"How stupid do you think I am?" Kent asked, yanking her closer and making her pulse thrum faster. "I'm not giving up my leverage."

Matteo lifted his free hand. "Okay, okay. But you've got to work with me a little, here."

"No, I really don't," Kent snapped, but Matteo stayed unerringly calm.

"Look, I know you're not a bad guy. Delia always said so." His voice was low and soft. "You don't want to hurt her. I can tell."

"I don't, actually. But it's a bit late for that." Kent tightened his grasp again. "I'm going to walk out of here with her, and you're going to let me."

"I can't let you do that," Matteo said. He fixed his stare on her, and buried deep in the emotions that flashed in her direction was one message, as loud and as clear to her as if he'd shouted it.

I've got you.

Delia's heart tripped, but she knew what she had to do. She nodded, just the slightest bob of her head, before clearing her throat. "It's okay, Matteo. I'll...I'll go with him."

The sheer ferocity on Matteo's face nearly knocked her breath loose. Steady. Steady. Kent huffed out a noise of disbelief that turned into a laugh, as if he couldn't believe his good fortune when Matteo said nothing. "Excellent. Well, say goodbye, then."

Delia sent up a swift, silent prayer. Then, she let her body go entirely lax against Kent's grip.

He hitched in surprise, and in that split second, Delia locked eyes with Matteo.

And dropped to the ground.

Gunfire exploded in the small garage space, ripping against Delia's ears. But then, someone was grabbing her, holding her close and shielding her, and a half dozen voices jumbled together in clipped yells.

"It's okay, baby. It's okay, I've got you," Matteo said, and oh, God, it was over. Someone came up behind her-oh, it was Hale-and freed her hands, and she promptly flung them around Matteo and started to cry while the rest of the world faded away.

***

"I absolutely don't needto go to the hospital," Delia said, for what had to be the nine hundredth time this hour.

The handsome paramedic, who'd introduced himself as Luke Slater upon his arrival at the scene, nodded his agreement. "She's good to go, Garza. You can unglue yourself from her side now."

"If it was Quinn, would you?" Garza asked, and Luke shook his head and laughed.

"Not a chance. Take care, Delia."

She smiled, because it was nearly all she could muster. "Do you know everyone who works for the city?" she asked Matteo as soon as they'd made their way from the back of the ambulance to Hale and Maxwell's unmarked vehicle. "Pretty much," he said. "You sure you're okay?"

"Hell, no," Delia said, and God, even in a crisis, she couldn't grow a filter. "But I'm not hurt, and I don't think anyone at Remington Mem will be able to give me a long bubble bath and a giant glass of wine, so...yeah, I'm not going there. Is there any word on Kent?" she asked, unable to help it.

Matteo frowned, but answered. "Headed to surgery, but the trauma surgeon's got amazing hands. My guess is, he'll make a full recovery. Which is awesome, because then he'll have a really long time to rot in jail."

"You shot him in the shoulder on purpose, didn't you?" she asked, and he let out a breath as he nodded.

"I knew my team was right behind me. I knew that once you were clear, Maxwell would have a kill shot on the off chance that we needed it. I'd never take the risk, otherwise, but yeah. I knew I could disarm him instead, so..." "You are an excellent cop. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"I had help. From my team and from you," Matteo said. "Christ, Delia. You were so brave. I never would've been able to take the shot if you hadn't reacted the way you did."

She shook her head. "I never would've been able to react unless you guys had taught me how. Call it a team effort?"

"Sounds fair," he said.

"Sorry to interrupt a good party," Hale said, walking up from the makeshift command center Sinclair had set up inside the farm house. "But I thought Delia would like to know she's no longer a millionaire."

She blinked, and Hale took pity on her and didn't wait to explain. "Turns out, Bianchi really did use the wire transfer and the fake tip to the FBI to get them to pick you up from the safe house. Capelli got to the bottom of the wire transfer pretty quickly-a few good traces revealed that the accounts in your name were fake. So, not only were there no accounts, but there was never real money in them, either. The FBI would've figured it out easily enough. But all Bianchi needed was for Roman to bite. Kent hacked in to the GPS on Roman's car, and bam. Instant location."

Delia's heart squeezed at the mention of Roman's name. "And he's okay, too, right?" She'd nearly collapsed in shock at the sight of him rushing around to help get Kent into custody.

"Totally fine." The voice that answered belonged to the man in question, who walked up with Hollister and Maxwell in tow. "I'll be sore tomorrow, but it's a small price to pay for closing a case. And speaking of which..."

Roman turned to look at Delia, his bronze stare softening. "I owe you an apology. I was acting in what I thought was good faith, but my actions put you in danger. I'm sorry."

"You were doing your job, Roman," she said. "You're very, very good at it," she added, raising a brow. "But I understand."

"You do?" he asked, and okay, she had to laugh.

"Yeah, I do. As it turns out, the fact that you're all good at your jobs is the only reason I'm still here."

"We're just glad you're okay," Maxwell said.

"Really," Hale chimed in, giving up her signature bright smile. "Aside from the fact that you're one cool chick, Detective Grouchy Pants, here, would've been a nightmare to deal with if you'd gotten hurt." Delia barked out a laugh as Matteo shook his head. "I'm throttling that rookie," he muttered.

After a few more well-wishes and a handful of goodbyes, the team disbanded, with Hollister taking Roman to get checked out at Remington Mem's clinic and Maxwell and Hale sticking around to help Sinclair with the mountain of paperwork they'd just created. The exhaustion of the day hit Delia full-force and she slipped into Matteo's arms to lean on his chest.

"Thank you for keeping me safe," she said, the steady beat of his heart thumping against her cheek.

He dropped a kiss over the top of her head. "Thank you for believing in me. And Hale's right, by the way."

"About the Grouchy Pants thing?" Delia asked, pulling back with a smile.

Matteo laughed softly. "No. About the fact that I can't live without you. I want to wake up next to you every morning, and fall asleep with you in my arms every night. I want to watch every episode of Dateline with you, right by my side. I love you, Delia. I know it sounds crazy, but I do. I-"

She pressed up to kiss him, her heart pounding for an entirely different, and decidedly much better, reason than it had been all day.

"Crazy is my middle name, remember? It sounds pretty perfect to me. Oh, and for the record, Detective? I love you, too."

And as she looped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him again, Delia knew he would always be there to save her, just as she knew she'd save him right back.