Considine saw her dilemma and tossed her a flex cuff. Then he ran to Jamie and went to work freeing her from the kerosene-soaked rope that bound her. As soon as her arms were free, she threw them around Considine’s neck, clinging to him and sobbing hysterically.
He shot Olivia a baffled look over the top of the girl’s head. He was never any good at dealing with crying females.
Thank god you’re not like this, his eyes said.
Olivia smiled and used the flex cuff to cinch the solid links at the center of the cuffs to the metal “wrist” of Orsini’s prosthetic. Walking him out of the cabin and putting him into the back of the car, she felt a tremendous sense of relief... and closure.
Like she’d slain her childhood demon, and salted his grave so he could never hurt anyone else again.
As Considine drove them back to the local command center, she found herself thinking again of Kieran, for the first time in years. Finally bringing Orsini to justice made her realize how much weight and significance she had placed on the events of that strange winter. It made her realize that she was still harboring a sense of guilt over what had happened to her first lover, and her inability to save him.
Now that she had conquered her lingering fear of Orsini, it was time to let go of that other baggage, too.
EPILOGUE TWO
Olivia was sitting at her desk and looking at a drawing that her niece Ella had done. The girl had drawn herself, holding hands with Olivia and Rachel.
It would have been hard to tell Olivia apart from her sister in the drawing if Ella hadn’t given Olivia a giant badge the size of a gladiator’s shield. She smiled and pinned the drawing up on her cork board. The jaunty, colorful picture looked totally out of place amid the crime scene photos, autopsy reports, and maps showing the locations where murder victims had been found.
Considine put down his phone and looked over from his desk.
“Fitterman wants to see you,” he said.
“Right,” Olivia replied. “I just need to finish up some paperwork.”
“Go now,” Considine said, with a slight rise in one corner of his thin lips. “It was nice working with you, kid.”
Olivia’s head snapped up.
“What?” She frowned. “What’s this about?”
He didn’t answer, just tipped his head in the direction of their superior’s office.
Olivia shrugged, still frowning, and got up from her desk. Her curiosity was piqued.
* * *
Lieutenant James Fitterman was beaming like a new father when Olivia walked into his office. He was a handsome older man with perfectly styled salt and pepper hair and bright blue eyes. The kind of man who would be cast as a kindly doctor in a commercial for antacid.
He was generally well dressed, but his taste in ties was deplorable. He almost seemed to take a kind of perverse joy in choosing the most eye-wateringly jarring and tacky patterns. That day, it was a delirious swirl of hot pink and lime green, accented with yellow crescents that looked like macaroni elbows glued to a child’s art project.
Ties notwithstanding, he’d always been a good boss.
“Great job on the Orsini case,” he said.
“Thank you, sir,” she replied.
“I think you’re ready to have your training wheels taken off,” he added. “I’m promoting you to special agent, and assigning you a new partner.”
“But I like working with Dan,” she said.
“I need Considine to break in another rookie,” he said. “You’re beyond that now. Besides, I think this will be a good match up for you. Oh, hey, here’s your new partner now.”
He stood up behind his desk and gestured toward the open door.
“Olivia Dunham,” he said. “This is John Scott.”
Olivia turned to face her new partner.
He was blond and handsome, with a strong, square jaw and compelling blue eyes. She smiled and took his extended hand. It was large and warm, the broad palm slightly sweaty. She could tell that she made him a little nervous, and that he was working very hard to keep his gaze from dipping down to the open collar of her ivory silk blouse.
She held his hand and his gaze a few seconds longer than necessary, her smile shifting into an unspoken challenge.
This was certainly going to be interesting.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Al Guthrie, Steve Saffel, Anna Songco, JoAnne Narcisse, Angela Park, Noreen O’Toole, Rob Chiappetta, Glen Whitman, Joel Wyman, and Nathan Long.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christa Faust is the author of a variety of media tie-ins and novelizations for properties such as Supernatural, Final Destination and Snakes on a Plane. She also writes hardboiled crime novels, including the Edgar Award-nominated Money Shot, Choke Hold, and the Butch Fatale series. She lives in Los Angeles. Her website is christafaust.net.
NOW AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
FRINGE
THE ZODIAC PARADOX
by Christa Faust
In 1971, university students Walter Bishop and William Bell use an exotic chemical compound to link their subconscious minds. Unexpectedly, they open a rip in space through which comes a menace unlike any our world has ever seen—The Zodiac Killer. His singular goal is death, and it falls to Bishop, Bell, and Nina Sharp to stop him.
Formed to investigate events that lie beyond the realm of possibility, the Fringe Division is summoned when the unimaginable occurs. Armed with experimental technology, special agent Olivia Dunham, “fringe” scientist Walter Bishop, and his son Peter Bishop safeguard the very fabric of our reality.
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