All Through the Night: A Troubleshooter Christmas by Suzanne Brockmann

on the stairs leading up to the second floor. “Oh, fuck, please, no…”
    Dolphina opened the door, and Yashi, bless him, didn’t waste time with small talk. He just looked past her, directly at Robin. “I spoke to Jules twenty minutes ago,” the FBI agent reported, and Dolphina’s heart started beating again. She could only imagine the relief Robin was feeling at that news. But then Yashi went on. “And he was uninjured. He’s with Max and Deb Erlanger. The hotel where they were staying as well as Spec Op HQ have both been bombed, but they’re okay,” he repeated. “But more shit’s going down—the entire city’s under attack, and as of about fifteen minutes ago we lost both cell and satellite communications. The story of the bombing is about to hit the news. I didn’t want you to hear it there first.”
    Robin nodded, his face pale. “How bad is it?” he asked.
    Yashi didn’t lie. “It’s bad,” he admitted.
    Dear God. “Please come in,” Dolphina said.
    â€œI can’t,” Yashi told her. She’d met him a number of times, and he’d always been rather deadpan, as if his average pulse rate was around twenty beats per minute. But now he clearly had some adrenaline going. “I’m on my way to Logan. I gotta get to D.C. I really shouldn’t have stopped here, but…It was on my way, and I wanted you to know. He’s okay, you got that, Robin? We’re going to do everything we can to get him out.”
    â€œYeah,” Robin said. “Thank you.”
    â€œAnd in the meantime,” Yashi was trying to reassure him, but there was definitely worry in the man’s eyes, “he’s with Max and Deb, and the three of them are the best field agents I’ve ever worked with.”
    â€œRight,” Robin said. “That’s good.”
    â€œDo yourselves a favor,” Yashi told them both. “Don’t watch the news. All they do is speculate, and you don’t need that. I’ll call you when I hear something.”
    Dolphina closed the door behind him, and turned to look at Robin.
    But he’d already gone into the living room.
    And turned on CNN.

    Will knew that there was never going to be a good time to do this.
    So he might as well do it now, while he had a sitter with Maggie. He’d do this, and then he’d stop at the grocery store and get the fixings for a real Thanksgiving dinner. Not that he’d ever cooked a turkey before.
    But there was a first time for everything, and God knows the past few days—hell, this entire year—had been chock full of firsts.
    Will rolled his neck and shoulders as he stood on Robin Chadwick’s front porch, trying to relieve some of his tension. But that wasn’t going to happen, so he finally just did it. He reached out his finger and rang the bell.
    He didn’t have to wait long before the curtain was pulled back and…The door opened to reveal Dolphina Patel, who was no doubt working extremely late.
    Damn. Another of his reasons for doing this now had to do with his reasoning that at least Dolphina wouldn’t be around to witness his groveling. At least he wouldn’t have to bear the sting of seeing scorn and disgust in her eyes.
    Yeah, so much for that hope.
    She was even more beautiful than he’d remembered, which was saying something. Just looking at her made his chest hurt.
    â€œYou scared me.” She was furious, which was pretty much the way he’d left her, the last time he’d been here. “It’s all right,” she called back into the house. “It’s no one.”
    Ouch.
    â€œI’m sorry to bother you,” he said. “Are Robin and Jules at home?”
    â€œNot for you, scumbag.” She closed the door in his face.
    Will sighed and rang the bell again.
    The door opened almost immediately. “Stop that,” Dolphina whispered. “Go away.