Page 70 of The Naturals
I did what she told me to do. I hung up the phone. I repeated her words to the rest of the room—and to Agent Starmans, who was standing right outside.
“What did she say?” Lia asked, her eyes locked on to my face, ready to call me out the second a lie passed my lips.
“She said, ‘I’m in the middle of something, and I’ll stop by the house as soon as I’m done.’”
Technically, Agent Locke had said those exact words. I wasn’t lying—and I’d just have to take the chance that Lia wouldn’t pick up any cues that I was withholding a chunk of the truth.
“Are you okay?” Dean asked.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” I said, hoping they’d read that as me not wanting to admit that I wasn’t okay. I walked out of the room without ever looking Michael in the eye.
The second I closed the bathroom door behind me, I locked it. I turned on the sink faucet, and then I called Agent Locke back.
“I’m alone,” I said softly, letting the sound of running water mask my words for everyone but her.
“Okay,” Locke said. “Now, take a deep breath. Stay calm. And tell me what’s wrong.”
I told her. She cursed softly under her breath.
“Did you call Briggs?” she asked.
“I tried,” I said. “He’s not picking up his phone.”
“Cassie, I need to tell you something, and I want you to promise me that you’re going to keep it together. Briggs is in a meeting with Director Sterling. We have reason to believe that there might be a leak in our unit. Until we get firm evidence to the contrary, we have to assume that your protection detail has been compromised. I need you to get out: quietly, quickly, and without drawing anyone’s attention.”
I thought about Agent Starmans, out in the hallway, and about the other agents downstairs. I’d been so caught up in the case I hadn’t paid attention to them.
To any of them.
“I’ll call Starmans and the others,” Locke said. “I should be able to buy you a few minutes unguarded.”
“I have to get out of here,” I said. The idea that the UNSUB might be one of the people who was supposed to protect me—
“You have to calm down,” Locke said, her voice firm. “You live in a house full of very perceptive people. If you panic, they’ll know it.”
Michael. She was talking about Michael.
“He doesn’t have anything to do with this,” I said.
“I never said he did,” Locke replied, “but I’ve known Michael for longer than you have, Cassie, and he’s got a history of doing stupid things for girls. The last thing we need right now is someone playing hero.”
I thought of the way that Michael had slammed Dean into the wall when Dean had called the killer’s obsession with me a game. I thought of Michael in the pool, telling me about a time when he’d lost it.
“I have to go,” I said. The farther away I was from Michael, the safer he’d be. If I left, the UNSUB would follow. We could flush this psychopath out. “I’ll call you once I’m clear.”
“Cassie, if you hang up this phone and do something stupid,” Locke said, channeling Nonna and my mother and Agent Briggs all at once, “I will spend the next five years of your life making sure you deeply, deeply regret it. I want you to find Dean. If anyone in that house knows how to spot a killer, it’s him, and I trust him to keep you safe. He knows the combination to the safe in Briggs’s study. Tell him I said to use it.”
It took me a moment to realize that the safe in question must be a gun safe.
“Get to Dean and get out of the house, Cassie. Don’t let anyone else see you leave. I’ll send the coordinates of our DC safe house. Briggs and I will meet you there.”
I nodded, knowing that she couldn’t see me, but unable to form intelligible words.
“Stay. Calm.”
I nodded again and finally managed to say, “Okay.”
“You can do this,” Agent Locke said. “You and Dean are an incredible team, and I’m not going to let anything happen to either of you.”