by Cat Gilbert
It wasn’t enough, and I wanted to tell him exactly that, but there was something about the way he said it that stopped the words from leaving my mouth. I looked over at Jenny, who hadn’t said a thing since he’d come into the room and was surprised to see her give me a barely perceptible shake of her head. I might have imagined it, but it had me wondering enough that I decided to keep quiet.
“In the rush to get you and Sean to medical attention, I neglected to introduce myself,” He continued, drawing my attention back to him. “I’m Dr. Alex Connors and I’m the Director here at the Agency. We spoke on the phone when you called in. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to hear from you. We’d heard that you and Sean had both perished in the fire in Little Rock.”
My brain must have been more rattled than I had thought because his words were swimming around in my head. The fire had been days ago. The police had had plenty of time to figure out that the bodies they’d found weren’t ours and yet Connors was standing there telling me that he didn’t know we had survived until I phoned in. We had assumed the police would be searching for us, wanting some answers. If Connors really didn’t know we were alive, that meant the police didn’t know either. Someone had covered it up.
Before I had time to think about who that someone might be, the door swung open and Hughes came sliding through. I took one look at him and knew my reprieve was over. The inquisition was about to begin.
“Dr. Connors, Jenny. Ms. Morrison.” He nodded a greeting to the others before turning his attention to me. “I’m Matthew Hughes, Head of Security here at the Agency. I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you’re up to it?”
He was smiling and pleasant and if I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought he was one of the good guys. I nodded at him and watched as Connors moved to take a seat, apparently intending to stay.
“She’s had a severe head injury, and she’s still suffering the effects of shock.” Jenny informed Hughes, moving up closer to the head of my bed to see the monitors better. “I don’t want her upset.”
I still wasn’t exactly sure what was going on here, but the fact that my concussion was now being labeled as severe and I was in shock wasn’t lost on me. I settled back into my pillow and tried to look the part.
“I don’t want to upset her, Jenny, but there has been a fatality and I need to ask some questions. I’ll try to be brief.”
I could actually hear the heart monitor speed up as he mentioned fatality and tried to slow my heart rate, as the realization hit me that I was essentially tied up to a lie detector. Best to stick to the truth, or as close to it as possible.
“We found a body in the house that we haven’t been able to identify yet,” he stated, pulling a chair up closer and settling into it. “You have any idea who it might be?”
The presence of the monitors wasn’t lost on Hughes. He may have asked me the question, but his eyes were glued to the monitors, waiting for my answer. Fortunately, there were several reasons to account for my rising blood pressure and racing heart rate. The best of which had been conveniently supplied by Jenny.
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s probably Dr. Brown,” I said, putting a catch in my voice.
“Dr. Brown?” Hughes asked, leaning forward in his chair. “Dr. Caleb Brown? From this Agency?”
I nodded, nearly in tears. Jenny patted my shoulder and handed me a tissue, throwing Hughes a warning look.
“Dr. Brown has been missing for nearly a month, Taylor.” Connors stood up, clearly agitated. If he was in on this, he was doing a good job of hiding it. “Are you’re saying that he was with you and he’s been killed?”
I shook my head, and tried to look confused. “It all happened so fast. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I think they found us.”
“Who found you?” Hughes demanded.
“The men who are after me. The men who kidnapped Dr.Brown.”
“Brown was kidnapped?” Hughes finally looked at me, and I could see the question in his eyes before he said it. “If that’s true, how did you two end up in that cabin?”
“We rescued him. Sean and me. Then we hid at the cabin. They must have followed us there.”
Hughes looked at me unblinking, while I batted the tears away.
“Who is after you, Taylor? Who kidnapped Brown?”
I cleared my mind, the best I could. I was pretty sure Hughes couldn’t read my thoughts. If he could he wouldn’t be in here asking questions, but I wasn’t ready to take any chances. Everything hinged on Hughes believing that we had no clue that he was involved. I wasn’t taking this risk just to get to Hughes. He was just part of a bigger picture. One I couldn’t see yet, but it was getting clearer by the minute.
“Who kidnapped Dr. Brown?” I repeated finally. “I’m pretty sure it was the same people who attacked us in Little Rock. Dr. Connors?” I turned my attention to him, ignoring Hughes for the moment. “I think you have a traitor in the Agency.”
Jenny gasped and Connors’ jaw dropped open. I refused to look at Hughes, afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep the condemnation off my face and give myself away. I let my statement hang out there in air, waiting to see which way people jumped. Hughes wasn’t the only one looking for answers.
I watched Connors instead and caught his furtive look at Jenny. He’d already known. They both did. I didn’t see her as the mastermind here, she just didn’t have the presence, but Connors did. In spades. How easy would it have been for the Director of the Agency to be selling his star pupils to the highest bidder? It was possible, but it just didn’t feel right. The only thing I knew for sure was that Hughes was definitely involved and if Connors and Jenny were in on it with him, there wouldn’t be any need for all this subterfuge. Hughes would have just walked in and taken me.
“Taylor, what makes you think someone here is responsible for this?” Hughes broke into my thoughts and I looked down, choosing to pick at the air blanket rather than risk looking at him.
“Because the man the Agency sent to watch me, attacked me. He threw coffee on me and followed me around. Sean told me he worked here. He told me he was called back to the Agency after things started happening with me. That’s when this guy showed up. Someone here had to have set it up.”
“How did Sean know who he was? Did he see him?”
I wasn’t about to tell Hughes that Sean had hunted Marcus down and killed him, although I was sure he suspected as much and was just fishing to see if I’d bite.
“No, but he didn’t have to. He saw the police sketch and I guess he recognized him.”
“The police were involved?”
“He tried to kill Jonas.” I explained, barely remembering to use the name they knew him by. “He shot at him. Everyone was looking for him.”
I leaned back into the pillow and closed my eyes, waiting for Hughes’ next move. My head was starting to hurt and I was tired and hungry. I hadn’t had anything to eat since dinner and it had been a busy night.
“This was what I was worried about.” Hughes stood up abruptly, his fingers tapping his pants leg as he turned to face Connors, effectively cutting me out of the loop. “I hadn’t said anything, because there wasn’t any proof, but I suspected someone here in the Agency was selling secrets and it turns out I was right. She’s talking about Marcus Adams, who was sent to replace Sean while he was being debriefed.” He turned back to me. “Taylor, what happened in Little Rock? What about the fire? We thought you had been killed. There were bodies.”
“I know. I know there were,” I answered, the emotion in my voice real this time. “Marcus disappeared and I don’ t know, maybe he told them about me or they panicked or something, but they attacked us. Jonas and Trinity were there and they just attacked us. They cut the power and came crashing through the door. Jonas tried to fight back, but they were all over us. They were going to kill Jonas and Trinity. They were dragging me out the door and there was nothing I could to do to stop it.”
“Sean got there in time. He killed them to p
rotect you,” Connors chimed in and I nodded in agreement. Mac and I had already decided to reveal as little as possible about the extent of my so-called talents and that he was going to be the one responsible for the deaths in the condo. That was what I was going to tell them, but Connors beat me to it.
I felt my anger rise, remembering what had really happened and knowing that Hughes was to blame, if not fully, then at least to some extent. I’d killed to protect the people I cared about and I’d been forced to do it. I didn’t dare look at him, as I struggled to tamp it back down. The last thing I needed now was to give in to my emotions and go after him.
“It’s alright Taylor. It had to be done.” Connors voice was soft and oddly comforting. “Where are Jonas and Trinity, now? Were they with you at the cabin?”
“No.” I shook my head and tried to gather my thoughts. Stick to the truth, as much as possible, I reminded myself. Get the names right. Don’t mess this up. Too much depended on them buying my story. “They went after Trinity’s grandmother when they lost us. We barely got her out in time. They’re not safe with me. I sent them away. We got them some money and sent them away, so they’d be safe.”
“Why didn’t you just call the Agency?” Hughes asked accusingly. “We’d have kept them safe.”
“Sean wanted to. He knew I needed help, but I was scared. Someone sent Marcus after me. Someone here at the Agency. I didn’t want to come, but Sean was right. I needed help. We were on our way here when we found Dr. Brown.”
“Yes, I was wondering about that, Taylor.” Hughes cut in. “How exactly did you manage to find Brown?”
“That part was pretty easy, actually,” I answered him back. “He told me where he was.”
“He told you?” asked Hughes, like he didn’t already know. “Brown knew you were there? In Denver?”
“I guess so.” He’d just slipped up. I hadn’t said where we’d found Brown. Just that we’d found him. Nice to know he wasn’t infallible. “I don’t know how this works but I heard him. I guess he could hear me too, because he knew who I was. He told us he’d been kidnapped. I assume by the same men who attacked us.”
“So you decided to rescue him.”
“I couldn’t just leave him there. Sean had told me Dr. Brown had handled my case. They’d taken him to try to find me. It was my fault. Besides, it was Dr. Brown who we were going to see. Sean told me that if anyone could help me control this thing, it was him.”
“How did you break him out?” Connors asked. “There must have been guards.”
“There were, but it wasn’t hard. I think they wanted us to find him. They had a tracking device planted on him. I guess they figured if he got away, he’d lead them right to us. Sean found it and got rid of it, but I guess it was too late. They found us anyway.”
The room was quiet for minute, as what I had told them started to sink in, letting them draw their own conclusions. I could practically see Hughes’ mind twisting around, trying to put the pieces together. He was the one that put the tracking device on Brown. He knew it wasn’t working. The only way anyone could have found us, was if Brown had told them where we were. He knew Brown hadn’t been in contact with him, so who did he tell?
Hughes was sitting there, right now, wondering that same thing. Had Brown double crossed him and sold me to a higher bidder, or had his boss decided to cut him out of the picture entirely? Either way, it was trouble for Hughes. He might not be needed anymore. I’d be lying if I said the thought of Hughes walking around scared that the next minute might be his last wasn’t appealing, but I knew it wouldn’t last for long.
I didn’t know of any professionals that used shotguns. Hard to conceal hardware that large and they were exceptionally noisy. I could attest to that. Not the best choice in covert situations. I had no way of knowing how much they’d be able to tell from what was left of Brown but I knew that once they started sifting through the wreckage, they’d find evidence of what really happened. It was just a matter of time before they got suspicious.
“Tell me something, Taylor,” Hughes finally asked. “How is it, with Dr. Brown dead, and that’s supposing the body is actually Dr. Brown, and Sean incapacitated, that you escaped?”
There it was. Finally. The question I had been dreading. Now we’d see how good a liar I really was, because the answer wasn’t going to be anywhere near the truth.
“Dr. Brown stopped them,” I paused, hearing my heartbeat race across the monitor, unable to control it. “He stepped in front of the gun and told me to run. That’s when they shot him.”
“Dr. Brown told you to run?” he asked, a puzzled look on his face.
“Yes. So I ran and hid in the woods.” I nodded, sick at the need to paint Brown as a hero, and waited for him to put it together. I was beginning to think I’d given Hughes too much credit, when a smile slowly spread across his face. He thought he’d figured it out. That Brown had told me to run meant that he hadn’t known the attackers, indicating to Hughes that he was still a player in their little game.
“Taylor, I don’t think the men that killed Dr. Brown were after you.”
“You don’t?” Now I was the one that looked puzzled. In both my scenarios, the bad guys were after me. Hughes had apparently come up with something else. I could hardly wait to hear it.
“No. I think this was a robbery, plain and simple and Dr. Brown got in their way.”
Okay, that came out of nowhere. I suppose, now that I thought about it, it was possible. I thought Hughes would jump to the conclusion that Brown had double crossed him, because I had already made that assumption. After all, our good Dr. Brown was prowling around the house on his own when all he had to do was make a simple phone call for help. No, Brown had been up to something, something that didn’t involve Hughes, but for whatever reason Hughes wasn’t seeing it. Or maybe he was and didn’t want anyone else to know. What a tangled web we weave.
“Dr. Brown probably thought the same thing you did. That they were the same men who’d taken him and he stepped in to protect you from them. It’s my guess that when they realized you’d gotten away, they panicked and torched the house to try and cover up what had happened.”
“You think this was a robbery gone bad?” Connors asked.
“I do. It’s fairly common up here in the mountains, but we’ll know more, once my men have had time to gather some evidence. In the meantime, Taylor is still in substantial danger. There’s no doubt, someone is after her, and we need to take precautions to make sure they don’t succeed. I’d like to place a guard on her, around the clock.”
“You think that’s necessary? The Agency is well protected. If this was a robbery, then they don’t know that she’s here. Surely she’s safe enough.”
“There’s still the fact that someone here is selling information, Dr. Connors. Until we know who it is, she’s no more safe inside the Agency than she was outside it. I’d rather err on the side of caution.”
“Alright, Hughes. I trust your judgement. Why don’t you go get things started and I’ll meet up with you in a bit to go over things.”
Hughes hesitated a second, obviously not happy about being dismissed, but he finally went. The mood lightened dramatically with his exit and I breathed a sigh of relief. Any evidence they came up with would support Hughes’ theory about it being a robbery. Robbers used shotguns after all and I didn’t care what they thought as long as it bought me some time. Or it would as long as I’d done my job right and gotten all traces of Mama D, Candice and Bryan out of the house before I torched it. I needed Hughes to believe them to be well gone and that Mac and I were the only ones he had to deal with.
“You must be very tired after that.” I jerked my eyes open to see Dr. Connors standing by my bedside, a small smile playing over his face. “Hughes can be ... quite exhausting.”
“Actually, I’m more hungry than anything. Don’t you feed the inmates?”
I heard Jenny chuckle behind me and realized she was removing me from the monitors. Or them from
me. I wasn’t sure which, but it felt good to be rid of them.
“You’ve missed breakfast service, I’m afraid. Might I suggest, if you’re feeling up to it, that you join me in the lodge restaurant. Perhaps, I can take you on a tour of the Agency afterwards. Maybe answer some of your questions.”
“I’m hardly dressed for a date, Dr. Connors. I may be starving, but I have no intention of wondering around with my backside exposed.”
He laughed and handed me a bag that I hadn’t seen him bring in.
“I foresaw this as a problem and came prepared. I think you’ll find what you need in here. I’ll wait for you outside in the hall.”
Connors had managed to find a sweat suit that was close to the right size. There was a pair of socks, but no undergarments. I didn’t really care. Anything was better than the hospital gown. Jenny stayed while I got dressed, waiting to cut the id bracelet off my arm before letting me out of the room.
“Hughes will give you a different one later on,” she informed me. “He likes to know where the Clients are while they’re here and he’ll particularly want to know where you are. For now, you’re off the radar, so don’t get lost. We won’t have any idea where to look for you.”
I jerked my head around to look at her, wondering if she had warned me on purpose or was just chatty. Either way, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being leashed by Hughes. Irritated, I shoved my feet into the slippers that the hospital had provided and tossed the hospital gown into the trash.
“Thanks for the warning. I’ll be sure and stay with Dr. Connors.” She nodded and led me outside the room to where Connors was waiting for me. We made our way through the hallways and into the elevator, Connors delivering a running commentary on the medical facilities and the work they did there. Clients who exhibited any kind of healing ability were brought there to test experimental treatments utilizing their abilities in addition to traditional medicine.
“Is that what Jenny meant, when she said they prefer the term Healer? That she isn’t a doctor?”