Page 4 of Echo, the Sniper (Men of PSI #2)

Again, that alien wisp of anger twisted through the ever-present murky fog of numbness blanketing my brain, like a slender vine trying to take root.

A flutter of something like panic accompanied it, which I understood all too well.

Numbness I could handle. I even welcomed it.

Anything else—anger, betrayal, hurt, wrath—would upset the tenuous control I had on myself.

I didn’t want to feel right now. If I did, I’d probably drown in the toxic well of emotions inside me.

“I need you to listen to me, Rory.” Tucking his phone away, he closed in on the gurney so that he was facing me, leaning on the guardrail as if he had to physically restrain himself from getting any closer.

“There’s no such thing as a nobody person .

You’re not a nobody. Through no fault of your own, life has given you more than your fair share of kicks in the teeth, but you’ve done nothing to deserve it. You hear me? Nothing.”

My hand started to curl into a fist before the pain of it made me wince. “I hear you.”

“But do you believe me? You’ve been a loyal wife to a man who didn’t deserve it,” he went on when I didn’t answer.

“You’ve held your head high all these months alone, even though every so-called friend from your ex’s old life has turned their back on you.

You’re the epitome of grace under fire, because even now you’re trying to figure things out, when almost anyone else would be curled up in a ball of inconsolable hysteria after everything you’ve gone through.

You might not know your worth, but I do.

To my eyes, you’re titanium, and nothing in this world could ever defeat you. ”

Wow.

As his words reverberated through me like a song my soul instantly loved, I gazed into those clear, intense eyes.

Dane’s gaze had never left a mark on me.

If anything, his gaze would bounce to me almost like an afterthought, like he needed to make sure all his possessions were exactly where he expected them to be—his Edward Hopper original painting, his iMac desktop, his wife, his limited-edition Lamborghini.

I was an acquisition, something he constantly checked off his list as being present and accounted for.

But not Ethan Echols. He saw me. I wasn’t a thing to him.

I wasn’t a nobody.

I was real. I mattered.

Even if I was only a job to him, that was okay. I still mattered.

And it felt... wonderful.

“Echo,” I said his name for the first time, then almost smiled at how easily it tripped off my tongue. “Are you sure you want me to call you that?”

“Only my friends get to call me Echo, so yeah. I’m sure.”

Something gentle squeezed in my chest when he smiled at me, the first smile I’d gotten from him since meeting him on a frozen sidewalk outside Dane’s burning house. Was it any wonder that smile felt like the warmth of a new day dawning?

Before I could say anything more, a small beep went off, and he dug his phone out to frown at the screen. “Rory, off the top of your head, do you happen to know the account number and access code to your Vigilance Security account?”

I blinked. “Of course. I know all the account numbers to everything dealing with the house. That’s my job as a homemaker—to always be prepared for any eventuality, so that everything runs to perfection.”

That earned me a strange look, before he began to type on his phone. “Do you give PSI permission to access your Vigilance Security account?”

I shrugged. “Sure.”

“I’ll need those numbers.”

I rattled them off, earning myself another odd glance, before he once again focused on me. “Tell me about what sort of security you had set up at your house.”

“My husband thought it was the best that money could buy. That was a big thing with Dane,” I added derisively, then wondered where that bitter derision had come from.

That wasn’t like me at all. “Outside, we had motion-activated lights at every point of entry. We did have those lights along the driveway as well, but neighbors complained about them going off whenever a car drove by our house, so those lights got removed last year. We also have doorbell cams—fish-eye lenses, but otherwise a crystal-clear picture, which is easily accessed on my phone... a phone that’s now a melted blob in my purse, which is also probably a melted blob. ”

He waited a beat. “Anything on the interior?”

“Um, yes.” Grimly I tried to concentrate on the task at hand, and not thinking about how those cams pointed at all the exterior doors so that Dane could keep me imprisoned.

“We had cameras in just about every room on the first floor. We also had one mounted above the stairs covering the hallway on the second floor.”

“Did that cam cover your bedroom door?”

“Yes.” I gasped as a surge of hope zipped through me.

“Oh my God, yes , absolutely! It should show exactly who broke into the house, who started the fire—everything.” A wild breath escaped me, not quite a laugh, because I hadn’t uttered a real laugh in months.

But damn, this was just about enough to get me there.

“Good grief, I can’t believe I didn’t think to check with Vigilance Security before. ”

“Did the police check with your security firm when your car was vandalized two weeks ago?”

“I... think? Maybe?” I shook my head, irked with myself.

This was my own safety, and I hadn’t even bothered to look into it deeper.

“I know they said the person wore a hoodie, but that’s all they told me.

For all I know, they got that from a neighbor’s security cam, not ours.

I don’t recall anyone asking permission to check with Vigilance Security like you just did.

” Maybe that was the hold-up with the insurance company paying out my claim on the destroyed Bentley.

The police may not have done a full investigation yet.

He chewed on that a while before nodding. “Okay, we’ll be sure to get that police report, along with whatever we can glean off your Vigilance account.”

A weight lifted off me that I didn’t even know was there. At long last, the wheels were finally starting to turn when it came to finding out why all the crazy crap was happening in my life.

“I should probably just count my lucky stars that whoever did this chose to set fire outside my bedroom door, rather than coming in and setting me on fire instead,” I said, shuddering as the reality of how close death had been hit me full force.

“I mean, I’m so glad they’re not efficient at their job of killing people, or whatever, because that would’ve done it.

I’m a deep sleeper, so I wouldn’t have known anyone was there until it was too late. ”

Again he seemed to pause. “Did you have the bedroom door locked?”

“No. It doesn’t even have a lock on it. Or it didn’t,” I sighed, grimacing. “I’m sure it’s nothing but ash now. I’m sure everything’s ash now.”

He tilted his head but didn’t say anything as he resumed his typing.

“Once you’re released from here, I’ll be taking you to either a hotel or safehouse, depending on how quickly PSI can set up a secured place for our use.

As of now, you’ll do what I say, when I say it.

If I tell you to stay hidden in one spot, you’ll stay hidden in one spot until I come to get you.

If I tell you to be silent, you’ll be silent.

If I tell you to evacuate, you won’t waste time grabbing things and packing up, you’ll just follow orders and evacuate. Do you understand?”

“Wow, sounds like my marriage all over again,” I sighed before I could think to check my words.

An instinctive flash of alarm zipped through me, because Dane hadn’t tolerated sass.

Over the past three years of marriage, that mouthy part of me had been gagged, bound and thrown into a forgotten corner of my mind.

But with six months under my belt as a widow, that sassy part of me was clearly coming back to life.

Again he looked at me with eyes I couldn’t read. “It’s not just your life at risk, Rory. It’s also my life that’s on the line as I try to protect you from whatever’s out there trying to do you harm. I need to hear you understand me on this.”

“I understand.” He was right, of course. Following whatever procedure these professionals set up was obviously the way to go. But after a few months of freedom, any restrictions on me now chafed like a bad-fitting collar. “Where would this safehouse be?”

“All I can tell you is that it’ll be somewhere in the state of Colorado.

We will have to inform the local authorities of your whereabouts in case they need to get in touch with you regarding the fire, but they will have to go through PSI channels first before making any contact with you.

As of now, no one gets close to you without going through PSI first, including any friends or associates. ”

I nodded, while the sassy girl in me rolled her eyes. “Dane didn’t like my friends, so eventually I fell out of touch with them. There’s no one who’d want to get in touch with me now.”

“That’s... unusual for a husband to do.”

“I suspect Dane was an unusual husband.” And an absolute nightmare that, to my shame, I’d somehow learned to accept living with. “Do you... know about him?” His crimes, his victims, the whole nine yards.

“Yes.”

“Yet PSI still did business with him?”

“We learned his history after he’d paid for personal bodyguard services for you.

It’s hardly your fault Dane Grant was a lowlife crook.

” Maybe it was my imagination, but there seemed to be a sudden stiffness in his tone, like he thought I’d crossed some invisible red line in questioning him.

Dane hadn’t liked it when I’d questioned him either.

Like, seriously hadn’t liked it. Maybe that was just how all men were. “So, Rory, I have a few questions.”

So did I, but I wasn’t sure I was allowed to air them. “Okay?”

“The few things we don’t know about you, we’re going to need you to supply. For instance, we need to get you a week’s worth of clothes and sundries, so we’re going to need your sizes, the sooner the better. I’m sure you’re anxious to toss that nightgown away.”

“That... sounds wonderful, thank you.” Not sure if he was just another dangerous male with an ego so fragile it couldn’t take the weight of a single question, I froze all feelings and pulled them in deep.

No sense in keeping them out there to be trampled on.

“I’m happy to cooperate with PSI in any way possible. ”

The sudden formality of my tone seemed to snag his attention. His eyes searched my face for a long beat, before he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something more. Then he closed it again with a snap, shook his head, and backed toward the opening in the curtain.

Okay, then.

“I’ll see what I can do to get your discharge papers on the fast track,” he said, a faintly preoccupied frown between his dark brows. “We’ll find answers to whatever is happening soon enough, so try not to worry, all right? You’re not alone anymore.”

That was part of my reason to worry, I thought as I watched him disappear beyond the curtained cubicle. At least when I was alone, I didn’t have to worry about just how dangerous any man around me was. I’d gone through that with Dane.

Would I have to worry about that with Echo?

No, a voice inside my head answered, and it was a voice I hadn’t heard for so long I almost didn’t recognize it for what it was—my own inner strength.

No, I didn’t have to allow any person around me.

No, I didn’t need anyone to help me travel whatever crazy kind of road I was on now.

No, I wasn’t a child who had to do whatever the adults around me told me to do. I was a freaking adult.

No, again.

I was a... a fucking adult.

And it was time I started taking charge of my own life.