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you in the conference room.”
    “That’s not necessary,” Kay said.
    The warmth in Chris’s expression as she waved off Kay hinted at sincerity. But Marcus remembered Chris’s earlier comment about not having friends. He’d never have survived without his friends.  
    “Jake is being released soon.” The words tumbled from Kay’s mouth at lightning speed.
    Her energy lifted to celebration level. Jake Donovan had been the youngest of Wolfe’s Pack. He’d been tough as nails on the football field, but had always morphed into a big-hearted kid the minute he took off the uniform. To hear the girls tell it, Jake was a hunk. Marcus had learned early on not to argue with women.  
    He worried that Jake was being released too soon after surgery. The tumor pressing against his brain had explained his erratic behavior. Thinking the doctors were trying to kill him, he’d escaped the military hospital. The pressure had caused memory loss, and they had found Jake working for a human-trafficking ring.
    The surgery to remove it had been almost as life threatening as leaving the damn thing alone. But he’d survived and had gone through intense therapy. Jake had been involved in some nasty shit, including damn near getting Kay and her best friend, Holly Hoffman, killed. Marcus would reserve his judgment for a while.
    “All your trips to spend time with him must’ve worked. Congratulations.” Nate gathered Kay to his chest. Beaming down at her, he dropped a kiss on her lips.
    They were opposite sides of the same coin, completing each other’s personalities. A zing of something like loneliness passed through Marcus, which he quickly shoved away. He’d put the past behind him. Trouble was, his memory hadn’t received the memo.
    “Enough. I’ll have that image burned into my retinas.” Marcus mockingly rubbed his eyes, pretending to wipe the sight from his mind. They’d known this day was coming, had waited eagerly for a date. “Give us facts. When? I take it they accepted you as a sponsor.”
    “They did,” Kay responded with a proud smile. The pink that had rushed up her cheeks receded. “No exact date yet. And he’ll be required to attend regular sessions with a psychiatrist until he can deal with his actions. And we guaranteed he’d have a job here at Lost and Found, Inc.”
    “What did they say about his memory?” Marcus asked.
    “Most of the past returned. He doesn’t remember the last few months before surgery. But he knows what he did. He heard it all at his hearing.”
    “It’s best that he’s here with us.” Nate walked to Ty’s old desk and gave the chair a spin. “We’ll find work around here for him.” He glanced at his wife. “When he’s strong enough, maybe the two of you can get out in the field. You’ve been itching to get more involved.”
    “You got that right.” Kay wrapped her arms around her husband and hugged him. “I was just about to remind you that I didn’t sign on to be a secretary. I hate being cooped up in this office.”
    Marcus could only nod his support. More than once, she’d reminded him and Nate that her experience as a detective for Child Protective Services more than qualified her for a spot on the team.
    “I know. It’s hard for me to willingly put you in the field,” Nate confessed. “But I will.”
    “Okay, then. Let’s get to work.” She marched them into the conference room and then passed out a stack of folders. “I made copies of the information Chris brought us, and then I added the stuff Dalton sent. You’ll want to sit before you dig in. The pictures are graphic.”
    Marcus stopped them both. “Chris needs to stop by the Big Sisters office. Why don’t we let Kay escort her?”
    “My first assignment outside this office.”
    “I’m not sure I like that,” Nate said.
    Kay straightened her shoulders and scowled back at her frowning husband. “You think I can’t protect Chris? I’m as good a shot as either of you.”
    Nate huffed out a