Charlie grabbed Lisa's wrist, forcing the gun away from her body. It fired down into the floor, jolting Lisa's arm back toward Charlie. The two women grappled for a few seconds, until Charlie finally pried the gun loose from Lisa's fingers and it clattered to the floor.

"N bio zi!" Lisa screamed as she fought.

Charlie recognized the curse, having heard Hai use it occasionally. The thought of another one of her friends now dead at the hands of the Chinese mafia brought her full attention back to the fight. With a quick turn, she whirled around and, with a kick, knocked Lisa down to the floor. Landing on top of her, Charlie pinned Lisa's hands above her head. As Lisa fought to free herself, Charlie head b.u.t.ted her, wincing in pain at the contact of her forehead against Lisa's nose.

Lisa screamed in pain, her struggles ceasing. The sound of running footsteps from around the corner had Charlie's eyes darting to her escape route. Just as she lifted herself from Lisa's body, a group of men came into sight, led by...Luke!

Scrambling awkwardly off the squirming body on the floor, she launched herself at Luke, screaming his name.

Having heard a gunshot, his heart was in his throat as he had raced toward the location Jude directed. Rounding the corner, weapon drawn, his gaze landed on Charlie straddling an Asian woman bearing a striking resemblance to Lin w.a.n.g laying on the floor with her hands holding her b.l.o.o.d.y nose.

Before he could react, his arms were full of Charlie as she bolted into his embrace, jumping up to wrap her legs around his waist. Having to take a step back to keep from falling over, he held her close, her pounding heart matching his beat for beat.

"David! We've got to get to David!" Charlie cried out as she shifted her body so Luke could set her down.

"It's okay," he a.s.sured, then, seeing her anguished face, he repeated, "David's okay. We got to him. He's fine."

"What about Pen-"

"Shhh, she's fine too. We've got her and the others."

Holding his cheeks in her hands, she searched his face as her mind attempted to catch up to his words. "Fine? She's fine?"

"Yeah, sweetheart, they're all fine."

Sucking in her lips, her hazel eyes crinkled as she asked, "What others?"

Allowing Charlie's body to slide down his while still clinging on tightly, he explained, "We found a room where they were holding other women. Women they were going to sell."

At this, her knees buckled, and Luke's arms were all that kept her upright as Nick and Lin came up behind them.

"We called it in," Nick explained. "With the connection between the clinic and the emba.s.sy, we got permission to take the investigation inside. The full force of the FBI will be here shortly. What have you got?"

Charlie twisted in Luke's arms and said, "This is the woman who shot Eli. I can't believe I forgot that I had seen her tattoo. But she had a badge-that I clearly remembered!"

Lin jerked Lisa up from the floor, handcuffing her arms behind her back. Lin pinned Lisa with her glare as Lisa narrowed her eyes on the FBI agent holding her and growled words in Chinese.

"You what?" Lin yelled, jerking Lisa back around. "You wore a badge to implicate me? ME?" Shoving her toward Nick, she growled, "Get her the f.u.c.k away from me before I do something that'll really get me kicked out of the agency!"

"There's a man here who knows what is going on also. The name on his door said Yeng Chow...the amba.s.sador's secretary."

"We got him," Luke said. "Bart's upstairs detaining him."

As the hall began to fill with arriving FBI agents, Nick took over, directing their investigation. Barking orders, he moved toward Lin, his glare still in place. "You're gonna have a lot of explaining to do."

Her face, pinched with irritation, nodded. "I know...but at least those women are safe."

Nick held her gaze for a moment, before offering a head jerk as he walked away with several more agents.

Luke watched the agents swarming around, then eyed the other Saints in the hall. "Let's go," he said to them, tucking Charlie safely under his arm.

Chapter 32.

Charlie and Luke walked into the hospital room and smiled seeing the two young people there. "Hey, Penny. David," Charlie greeted.

"Charlie?" Penny darted across the room, throwing her arms around Charlie, knocking her back into Luke's strong front. His hands on her shoulders kept her steady as Penny hugged her tightly. "David, this is the woman I told you about. The one who was trying to help us."

Charlie looked over the top of Penny's head and smiled at the young man in the hospital bed. "How are you, David?"

"I'm good," he replied, his warm gaze leaving Penny just long enough to carefully look at Charlie and Luke. "They had me in here to check me out, but I had no ill effects from my experience. They checked Penny out as well."

Penny leaned away from Charlie, but grabbed her hand and pulled her over to one of the chairs in the room. Turning her large blue eyes to Charlie, she gushed, "I don't know how to ever thank you enough. If it hadn't been for you, David would be dead and I'd be...G.o.d knows where!" She looked over at Luke and smiled shyly. "Thank you for finding me."

Luke nodded as he leaned against the wall, enjoying the sight of Charlie and Penny together.

Smiling, Charlie replied, "I'm just glad we were able to get to you in time. When I first started investigating, I had no idea what all was involved." She watched as Penny settled on the hospital bed, sitting next to David. "So...what happens next with you two? I'm here to beg you not to go back out onto the streets."

David's vehement answer satisfied her. "No! I never want Penny back on the streets." He held Penny's hand tightly. "A nice social worker has come to talk to us. They're going to work with us so that we don't have to be very separated."

Intrigued, she waited for him to explain, but Penny answered first.

"We're going into foster care, but with some conditions. David and I will be with families that are close to each other and they won't try to keep us from seeing each other. I'm going back to high school and he's going to get his GED and then start cla.s.ses at a community college."

"Have you met the foster families yet?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, and they seem real nice," Penny continued.

"Actually, they're not strangers," Luke commented, drawing Charlie's attention over to him. "Cam and Miriam's parents each do foster work for special cases. As soon as they heard about the situation, they contacted social services. Cam's parents will have David and Miriam's parents will take care of Penny. The two families live close together in Richland and will allow Penny and David to have contact and see each other."

Charlie's hazel gaze held Luke's for a moment, her unspoken question answered by his smile. I should have known he would have stepped in to help them. With hugs to the teens, they left the room, walking arm in arm down the hall.

"So did you orchestrate that?" she asked, twisting her head around to peer at him.

"Let's just say that I put the feelers out to Cam, who already had the same idea. One call to his parents, and another to Miriam's, and they took it from there."

Squeezing his waist, her smile spoke volumes. "So, what's next?"

"We need to debrief at Jack's and then...we'll figure it out from there."

She wanted to ask what that meant but uncertainty held her back. I'm safe now...so do I go back to my life before Eli's death? Wanting to see Luke's expression as they drove back to Charlestown, she kept her gaze on the pa.s.sing scenery instead. Closing her eyes for a moment, she knew that no matter what happened at Jack's debriefing, she could never return to that lonely existence. Not after discovering what life can hold.

The Saints sat at the conference table, their tablets in front of them and Nick on the videoconference screen. Luke's gaze continually shot sideways toward Charlie, unable to discern her thoughts. All the way back from the hospital, he wondered how she felt now that the danger had pa.s.sed. Would she want to keep working for Jack? Would she want to continue staying with him? And why the h.e.l.l am I too scared to just ask? Forcing his mind to focus on Nick, he looked up toward the screen.

"So, the investigation is just beginning but, combining Lin, Charlie, and the Saints' information, here is what we know so far. Yeng Chow is part of the Chinese mafia who have their fingers in numerous activities in the US, including the Chow Medical facility in California. The research they did there required a constant supply of organs and they had a long list of clients ready and willing to pay top dollar to be moved to the head of the organ transplant list. We have a lot to go back and check on, but my guess is Hai Zhao uncovered something and probably refused to toe the line for the Chinese mafia, so he was eliminated."

Nick hesitated momentarily, adding, "Sorry, Charlie. I know he was your friend."

She smiled gratefully toward the camera and nodded. "Thank you, but please go on. You don't have to worry about upsetting me. I think at this point I need to know the truth."

Unable to help himself, Luke reached out, taking her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze.

Nick continued, "We don't know if it was coincidence or if Hai sent Eli any information. All we know right now is that Eli began working on their database software also and farmed some of it to Charlie. That's when the trail was discovered for how they were obtaining some of their organs in the U.S."

"So, pulling in runaways and homeless persons, the Chinese mafia were able to not only harvest organs when needed, but to also feed their human trafficking organization," Jack surmised.

"Like killing two birds with one stone," Bart stated, then winced as he quickly added, "No pun or disrespect intended toward the victims."

"How did Lin figure into it all?" Jude asked.

This time Nick was the one who grimaced as he shook his head. "She hated being too late to save Eli and continued to investigate on her own, even when her caseload became too much for her to handle. Not knowing who to trust in the agency, in case someone from the inside had Eli killed, she never included in her report that he mentioned Chow Medical-she didn't want to let on that she had made the connection before she was able to nail them. She found the connection between the company in California and Yeng Chow at the emba.s.sy. She also noted the relationship between the secretary and the medical director, Jian Cheung."

"And then I stumbled into it all," Charlie stated, drawing all eyes around the table to her.

"Well, before you did, Eli did," Luke interjected. "I found where, probably in his nervousness, Eli did not encrypt one of his messages to Lin when setting up the meeting. That error on his part probably cost him his life."

Eyes wide, Charlie looked a Luke, her heart aching for Eli and Hai. She felt the squeeze of Luke's fingers on her cold hands once more. Sucking in a deep breath, she let it out slowly.

"So, all I can tell you is that Yeng Chow blackmailed numerous doctors to provide the same services that Jian Cheung was. Jian's family was still in China and his sons' lives were threatened in order to coerce the doctor to do as he was bid. We've rounded up the clinic employees, as well as Yeng Chow, whose status of diplomatic immunity is immediately being revoked by the Chinese amba.s.sador, who is quick to separate himself from the debacle."

Monty leaned back in his seat and added, "But I'm sure the surface has just been scratched as to this investigation. It will have long reaching implications for the United States and Chinese, but that's for the politicians to sort out after the FBI is finished with the case, and that won't be for a while."

The Saints looked to the screen as Nick, his ever-present scowl in place, appeared to struggle. Finally, he said, "You all did good work. I was resistant at first...there are rules in place for us to follow. Rules that make sure what we do and the evidence we obtain is legal." Heaving a sigh, he added, "But you got the job done. And if you ever need the FBI again, keep me in mind."

With that he signed off, leaving the Saints smiling in his wake.

"Here's to not following the f.u.c.kin' rules," Bart joked, grinning as the laughter from the other Saints joined in.

"And here's to our tech expert also being an expert leader in the field," Jack added, looking over at Luke.

"Here, here," came the resounding agreements from the others, as Luke smiled.

Shaking his head, he said, "Thank you for the opportunity. I discovered quite a bit about myself on this a.s.signment."

"And here's to our newest Saint," Jack proclaimed, nodding toward Charlie, who visibly startled at his words.

Stunned by the cheers from the others, she glanced over to Luke quickly, sucking in her lips as she saw his huge smile.

"Welcome aboard, Charlie," he said, squeezing her fingers once more.

She looked around the table before her gaze landed on Jack. "I didn't know if you would want me to continue."

"The job is yours if you want it," Jack said. "Luke needs help with all of our cyber-investigating and I'd like him out in the field more anyway. Plus, it seems you have a real knack for getting into our system...I'd like to make sure you can keep others out."

"Is this okay, Luke?" she whispered.

Looking over, he realized she needed his a.s.surance and he sure as h.e.l.l could not give it to the best of his ability with an audience. Pushing his seat back, he pulled her gently from her chair and said, "Gentlemen, we'll be back."

Leading her up the stairs and into the garage, he ignored her quizzical look as he walked over to the ATVs. Fastening a helmet on her head, he nodded for her to join him. "Come on, sweetheart. Take a chance."

Swinging her leg over the vehicle, she held on tightly as they raced up the mountain, taking the same path as before. Once at the overlook, they climbed off and tossed the helmets to the ground. Luke led her to the large, flat rock overlooking Jack's property with the setting sun moving across the sky.

"Why are we here?" Charlie asked, uncertain of Luke's intentions.

Settling her down, he stretched his long legs beside hers and lifted his hand to cup her cheek. "Charlie, all the way back from D.C. I wanted to let you know how much I wanted you to stay here. With me...working for Jack. But I needed to know it was what you wanted." He placed his thumb over her lips as she was beginning to speak, adding, "But I realized that what I need to do is to let you know how I feel. I've fallen in love with you. I've discovered that you are my other half and the idea of you returning to your life, before all of this, fills me with fear."

She smiled, her hazel eyes holding his dark ones. "I don't want to go back to that life, Luke. I've discovered that I'm better with friends...stronger with people...and better with you. I love you too."

Leaning forward, he kissed her, his lips moving softly over hers. A kiss of forever.

Chapter 33.

Epilogue.

(Sixteen months later).

Charlie and Luke sat with David, all three clapping and whistling as Penny walked across the stage, receiving her high school diploma. She turned her bright blue eyes and wide smile to the trio sitting near the front of the parents' section.

As the graduates were finally released, she rushed over to them, receiving hugs of congratulations. David mimicked Luke's position, placing his arm around Penny just as Charlie was tucked next to Luke.

"I'm so glad you came," Penny said. "The Delaros are throwing me a party. Will you come?"

"Of course," Charlie replied, her warm smile matching the new grad's.

An hour later, Charlie stepped out of Miriam's parents' back door, surveying the scene in front of her. The backyard was filled with people. All of the Saints were there, including their wives and fiances. Glancing down at her left hand, the beautiful diamond engagement ring sparkled in the late spring sunshine. Luke had proposed last Christmas and she could not wait to become Mrs. Luke Costas. Her job with the Saints had continued and she threw herself into the world of cyber-investigating. Smiling, she remembered laughing as Luke presented her with her own St. Charles medallion, discovering he was the patron saint of learning.

Hearing screams of laughter, she watched as some of the Saints' children ran, supervised by the adults. Cam's family was there as well, having grown fond of Penny, including seeing her relationship with David mature with time.

Penny and David, sharing smiles as they moved amongst the guests, caused Charlie's eyes to close momentarily, remembering how close they came to losing them. She jumped as hands came to settle on her waist from behind.

"Hey sweetheart," Luke whispered in her ear. "Whatcha doing?"