I’d heard that before. More than once, in fact. A push often thrown at me in a teasing tone, but something about it had always grated on my nerves. I just chalked it up to his personality. But what if I’d missed something? I usually gave in to whatever he was presenting to me. A slot on a special team. A chance to speak at an important meeting. A position I wasn’t ready for and a situation I didn’t really want anything to do with.
“You know,” Austin said, speaking for the first time since Milo was brought into the conversation. “He knows who it is. I can see it on his face.”
“It can’t be,” I breathed out in shock. “No.”
“Who is it?” Reed asked, almost demanding.
“Yeah,” I said, taking in a deep breath. “He heads the Office of Law Enforcement Coordination.” Rage flowed through me and my blood boiled with anger. “Lipton. Conrad Lipton. The man who mentored me for nearly my whole career.”
10
Austin
Agent Priestley shot off the couch and was out the front door before I even registered what was going on.
I knew a freak out when I saw one.
“We might have a problem,” I said, picking up the phone and clicking the speaker off before I pressed it to my ear.
“Can I leave so I can start working on this?” Milo asked, seeming unaffected by finding out the name of the man who kidnapped him. I knew he had trouble showing his emotions, so I didn’t open my mouth to give him crap about it. Plus, he sounded ready to dive in and track this asshole down, which I was all for. The sooner we found him, the sooner we could end him, and the sooner Agent Priestley could get back to his life. And more importantly, the sooner we could shut down The Sons of the Holy Fire for good.
“Yeah. Let me know what you find,” Reed said. “If Ford has anything else to offer, I’ll pass it on.”
My eyes were glued to the front door, glaring as if I could see through it.
“Yep,” Milo clipped out right before he exited the call.
“He’s not handling it well?” Reed asked me, but it sounded like he already knew the answer.
“Nope. Not well at all.” The man just ran out into the snow wearing house shoes. “Let me see if I can get a handle on him.”
“You have him, Austin?”
“Yeah,” I said. The hesitation was there only because I didn’t know what that meant. I had him, but I was clueless about what to do with him. Maybe I was starting to thaw when it came to the agent, but I didn’t know how to help him in this situation. Had not one idea how to… comfort him. “I got him. Touch base later.”
I waited to hear Reed’s reply so I’d know he heard me, then I hung up.
I rushed to the mud room, tossing on some boots and snagging two coats before heading out the side door. Slipping my arms through one of the coats, I made my way around to the front of the house.
There he stood, just feet outside the front door. The motion sensor lights positioned on each corner of the house had kicked on and he was backlit by the harsh yellow light. I couldn’t see his face, but the way his body heaved and the thick puffs of hot air wisped in front of his face until they faded to nothing before he took in another breath told me he might be on the verge of a panic attack.
I suppose I couldn’t blame him. If I found out Reed— or even Jameson or Cade— happened to be lying to me the whole time and had been working for the enemy, betraying everything my team stood for, yeah, I’d be freaking the fuck out too.
I already knew what it was like to be betrayed by someone you trusted deeply. Someone close to you. Someone who was supposed to be the embodiment of good. I knew what it was like to find out it was all a lie, and then how it felt to deal with the crumbling castle after.
“Hey,” I said calmly. “Here. The last thing I need is you freezing to death on my property.”
I held the coat so he could slip his arms in. His face was still shaded in shadows, but the snort he let loose told me he might be okay.
“Thanks,” he said as he let me dress him in the weather-appropriate garment. “I don’t have the words...” He let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “But now that I think about it, it feels like every move he helped me make has been more important than I originally thought.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, sticking to his side so that the lights wouldn’t blind me.
“Pulling me into certain cases when I was on the bottom. Urging me to take on more responsibility. Moving me into the Deputy Director role when I had… thisfeelingabout the whole thing.”
“You didn’t want it?” I asked, surprised. I was learning more about him, and most of it I hadn’t expected.
“No,” he said with a sad shake of his head. “I didn’t want the disconnect from being involved in cases anddoingthe work. All that pressure and no time to actually work on cases. That was never my goal.”
