Cameron got butterflies in her stomach. Holy shit, this was really going to happen. No need to convince her further. “I would be honored, Senator, to be your nominee for the position.”

Hodges looked relieved. “Good. Whew. I have to be honest with you—we didn’t have much of a backup plan. I’m actually sweating a little under my jacket here.”

Cameron laughed. “I’ll try to be less difficult in the future.”

Hodges smiled warmly as he shook her hand. “You do things exactly the way you see fit, Cameron.”

They rose from their chairs and walked to the door together. “Funny you should mention that, Senator . . . because I hope you understand that, unlike Silas, I don’t plan to be merely a figurehead in this position. I intend to keep trying cases.”

“With your record, you try all the cases you want. Just make sure you win them.” With a wink, Hodges opened the door and nodded to his guard outside.

Cameron watched them leave. She stood alone in Silas’s office, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that there was a good chance it was going to be her office in the not-too-distant future.

U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde.

That had a nice ring to it.

With a grin, she headed back to her soon-to-be-former office as fast as dignity and her three-and-a-half-inch heels allowed her. Once there, she shut the door for privacy, then sat down at her desk and picked up the phone.

He was her first call, of course, and she told him everything. When she had finished sharing her news, she could tell by his voice that he was smiling on the other end of the line.

“Congratulations, counselor,” Jack said. “You deserve it.”

She could tell from his tone that he was hiding something. “You knew already, didn’t you?”

Jack laughed. “Okay, I knew. Davis let it slip that two agents in our office had been assigned your background check. I’ve had reservations every night this week at Spiaggia, waiting for Hodges to tell you. I figured you should finally get your dinner there, and this was the perfect reason.”

Impossible man—being all sweet and everything. “I’m still trying to decide how I feel about the fact that you knew about this before I did.”

“Don’t be disappointed,” Jack said. “The fact that I’ve been ridiculously proud of you for days doesn’t change how excited you should be about this. Besides, I pretty much know everything. You should probably just start getting used to it.”

“And on that note, I’m hanging up,” Cameron said.

“Rushing me off so you can call Collin next?” Jack teased.

“No,” she said emphatically.

Damn, he really did know everything.

AND TWO WEEKS later, they had another occasion to celebrate. Albeit, one Jack was a little less enthused about.

“Happy birthday, Jack,” Cameron said as they sat down at one of the bar tables to wait. She’d brought him to Socca restaurant that evening, a neighborhood bistro just a few blocks from her house. “Thirty-five. I think that merits a present or two.”

Jack frowned. “Cameron, I told you not to get me anything.”

“Well, I figured that was one of your seemingly endless supply of orders that I plan to ignore.” She pulled two envelopes out of her purse and set them on the table in front of him. One was large and about an inch thick, the other small but with some sort of object in it. “Choose.”

Jack picked up the larger envelope.

“Good choice,” she said.

Jack opened the envelope and found a thick, multiple-page document. He slid it out and flipped it over. The names on the caption jumped out at him:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.

ROBERTO MARTINO, et al

It was a criminal indictment, signed by the U.S. attorney herself, charging thirty-four members of Martino’s organization, including Roberto Martino, with over a hundred counts of federal and state law violations. It included everything from racketeering, drug, and firearm charges, to aggravated assault, attempted murder, and murder.

Jack paged silently through the indictment. When he was about halfway through, he slowed and read carefully through the counts pertaining to the murder of the DEA agent he had tried to warn, and his own torture at the hands of Martino’s men. All of which was laid out, paragraph by paragraph, in graphic detail.

“I don’t care if I don’t get them on anything else. I’ll hang them for that alone,” Cameron promised quietly. “I’m going to file it next week. I thought I might as well kick off my new position with a bang.”

Jack slid the indictment back into the envelope. It would be a bang, all right. He reached over and laced his fingers through hers. She knew what the indictment meant to him, but he needed to be certain she wasn’t doing it for the wrong reasons. “Are you sure about this?”

“Definitely. I’ve wanted to try this case for three years.”

“Things could get crazy,” Jack warned her. “You need to be careful how you handle this. Lombard and Silas are nothing in comparison to taking on Roberto Martino.”

“I’ve given a lot of thought as to how we should proceed,” Cameron said. “I’d like to bring in all the agents from the Chicago office, ones from some of the other divisions as well, and execute the arrest warrants in a simultaneous strike. Grab Martino and his guys in one fell swoop so that they don’t have time for a counter-move. I’ll need someone I can count on to lead the task force. I was thinking that should be you. I also think you should be the one to arrest Martino himself.”