Page 115 of The Bodyguard

Glenn didn’t even glance my way. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, either.”

“I can stay on the case,” I said. “It’s fine.”

“I’m not sure it is fine,” Glenn said, shuffling through a stack of printouts. “These are very specific. This lady has really thought it through.”

“There’s more than one?” I asked. “I thought she just wanted to run me over with her car.”

“She also wants to push you off a roof,” Glenn said. “And electrocute you. And poison you with rat bait.”

“Thorough,” I said, stepping close to Glenn to look over his shoulder.

“Rat bait is no joke,” Robby said, but I ignored him.

“How did she come up with all this in twenty-four hours?” I said. “That photo of me just surfaced.”

“Maybe she had a contingency plan at the ready,” Glenn said, “for any girlfriend that might come along.”

“We’re fine as long as we stay on the ranch,” I said, surprised at how badly I wanted that to be true.

But Glenn was shaking his head. “You’re compromised now. You’re a risk to the client and to yourself.”

“We can minimize those risks if we—”

Glenn cut me off. “If we take you off the gig.”

Robby looked infuriatingly triumphant.

“Look,” I said to Glenn. “I can handle it.”

“But there’s no reason to,” Glenn said. “We have plenty of available agents who can take over.”

“I’ll take over!” Kelly volunteered from her back corner.

“But…” I wasn’t sure what to say. “What will we say to Jack’s parents?”

“Simple,” Glenn said. “It’s time to come clean.”

“About me?” I asked.

“About all of it.”

“You mean”—I said, feeling sparks of panic in my chest but trying so hard to sound like I was just clarifying for my mental file—“I’m going to have to tell them it was all a lie and then just… leave forever?”

“Pretty much,” Robby said with glee.

“Shut up, Robby,” Kelly and I said, in unison.

“I was okay with the deception when the threat level was yellow,” Glenn said. “But now it’s orange for the client, and it’s red for you. If you stay, you’re luring danger—toward yourself and toward them. They need to know what’s going on. Everyone’s safer if you come clean and go.”

I thought about that.

“You don’t want to put the Stapleton family at risk, do you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then it’s settled. You leave tonight.”

Wait! What? “Tonight?”