She smiled and shook his hand. “My pleasure.”

Blake patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s go back to HQ. My guys will finish the cleanup and make sure we don’t leave any evidence behind.”

By the time Luther got into the helicopter ahead of Blake, Samson and his daughter were already sitting in it. The pilot had switched on the engine and the rotor blades were turning, picking up speed.

Luther took the seat opposite Samson.

Blake slid in next to him, then gave the pilot a sign. “Back to HQ.”

It was too loud to talk in the chopper, and Luther was glad for it. He looked out through the window, looking back at the location Forrester had picked for the exchange. His forehead furrowed. It was an odd stage he’d set for himself. He’d basically set himself up for failure by choosing a spot he could neither defend nor escape from. It seemed like a suicide mission.

“Something bothering you?” Samson suddenly said from across the aisle.

Slowly Luther turned his face to him. “Lots of things. It was too easy.” He glanced at Isabelle, who pressed herself to her father, seeking comfort in his arms. “No offense, Isabelle, I know it must have been horrendous for you, but that—” He pointed down to the island. “—was a clusterfuck by Forrester. He had no way out. And no way to fight us. If I’d try to pull something like that off, I sure wouldn’t have chosen a place where I was totally exposed.”

“And as we all know, you’re speaking from experience.” Samson’s voice remained even, though his jaw seemed to tighten.

“Listen, Samson, I just want to make sure that what happened down there was real.” He turned to Blake. “You said you piped back the video feed to HQ?”

“We did.”

“With your permission, Samson, I’d like to have a look at that. I want to see Forrester with my own eyes. Peace of mind, you know.”

After a few seconds, Samson nodded. “Fine. Blake will debrief the team anyway. You can join them and see for yourself that it was Forrester.” He smiled at his daughter and pressed a kiss on the top of her head. “He won’t hurt you anymore, Isa.”

“I can’t wait to see Mom.”

“She already knows you’re safe. She can’t wait to hold you in her arms. She’s meeting us at headquarters.”

43

Luther followed Blake into the situation room, where they were greeted with cheers by Scanguards’ inner circle. Blake was instantly surrounded by several young hybrids, Gabriel, Amaury, and Zane as well as a few other vampires.

Several monitors graced one wall, replaying different parts of tonight’s rescue mission.

“Well done!” Thomas said, nodding at Luther.

Eddie walked up to Luther, slapping him on the shoulder. “It all went smoothly. Thanks for helping us.”

“Does Katie know yet?”

Eddie nodded. “We called her the moment we knew Forrester was dead and Isabelle safe. She’s very relieved.”

“Good.” He looked past Eddie. “Are those all the recordings you have from the mission?”

Thomas joined them. “Yes, why?”

“Can you show me the beginning? I want to see Forrester.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow, but motioned him to the console that controlled the monitors. Eddie followed them.

“Is there a problem?” Thomas asked quietly.

“I’m not sure. I just want to make sure it’s him. From where I was I couldn’t see him.”

Eddie nodded. “I know. We watched your movements via your camera.” He pointed to Luther’s jacket, reminding him that he was still wearing the hidden camera.

Thomas pressed a few buttons and pointed to one of the monitors. “I’ll feed everything we have that shows Forrester’s position into here.”

Luther lifted his head and examined the images on the screen. The action started when the helicopter touched down and somebody jumped from it, either Blake or Samson. Moments later the frogmen appeared from the other side and were caught in Blake’s camera angle. Then the shooting started. One camera zoomed in on the window. The light from the helicopter hit just right, suddenly illuminating a face. Forrester. Luther recognized him from the picture Thomas had distributed before the mission. There was no doubt.

Luther watched as Forrester opened his mouth as if to scream.

“When he started shooting, we had to act quickly,” he heard Blake say to his colleagues.

Luther spun around. “Are you sure Forrester shot at you?”

Blake nodded. “Yeah, we heard the shots. Wasn’t one of our guys. They had strict orders not to shoot until I gave the okay.”