I wasn’t surprised. Sawyer was the epitome of a techie.
“You’re a good soul, Sawyer,” I said as my phone buzzed. I stabbed a thumb in the direction of the war room. “I have to run. We’ll chat later.”
I stalked into the war room two seconds later. My father, Tripp, and Webb were standing in a circle, dressed for battle.
I laughed. “Is this a Sam intervention or something?” I wagged a finger between Tripp and my dad. “And why aren’t you two escorting Fred out the gate?”
Webb rubbed his unshaven jaw. None of us were clean-shaven, and I was the only one not in uniform.
My dad regarded me with equal parts anger and concern. “I just got a call from the Secretary of the Navy. Derrick Atkins informed me his undersecretary, Joyce Klein, is missing along with other governmental officials. He believes they were taken by Adam’s goons. We’re not sure why, but according to the secretary, the DOD recently voted against Adam’s contract for the BMI devices.”
My eyebrows slashed downward. “Adam doesn’t get what he wants, so he kidnaps DOD employees?” Childish was the word that came to mind. “Is his plan to show the government how the chip works by using their officials as guinea pigs?”
Tripp stood at parade rest. “Seems that way. We also got a call from someone claiming to be an FBI agent asking if we were holding Fred Emery and Carly Aberdeen.”
Oh, this just keeps getting better and better.
“Have you questioned Carly yet?” I asked.
“She won’t talk to anyone but you and Layla,” Webb chimed in.
“Jo could read her mind.” I tipped my head at my dad. “Or you can.”
“Jo’s busy and tired,” Webb said. “I’m not putting any more stress on her today. Besides, we have other pressing matters to take care of at the moment. I doubt Carly has anything of value to tell us after that press conference.”
“That’s not to say we won’t question her,” Tripp added. “We do need to know where your uncle’s data and notes are that Carly and Adam have so we can destroy them and for good this time.”
We’d thought we had burned every last piece of data after we killed Edmund and Patrick. Regardless, I wanted the Drake family tree for Layla. If Abbey and my wife were related, then Jo would be interested as well.
My dad gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “Son, Carly isn’t going anywhere. We’ll get to her in due time. You and I need to talk.”
“Let me guess,” I said. “The council is furious.” That was the only reason I could think of unless he was finally about to scold me for using my elemental powers to stop Carly earlier. “Or is it about the reporters we have in custody?”
Webb and Tripp eyed my father as if to say,I’m not telling him.
Nausea churned in the pit of my stomach. Things were happening at warp speed.
“We released the cameraman and the reporter to the civilian police,” Webb said, his jaw as hard as stone.
“What about the video Letty sent to her boss?” I asked. I didn’t want that on national television.
“Unfortunately, Letty’s boss isn’t cooperating. He won’t hand over her video. Sawyer’s team is working on hacking into the news station servers,” Tripp said, irritation scraping his tone.
“Gentlemen, can Sam and I have the room?” my father asked, staring at me and clearly not the least bit upset at me for using my powers in front of a reporter.
In the grand scheme of things, I guess it didn’t matter. Humans had seen me on TV. What was another outburst on my part for the nation to see? It would only confirm what they were probably struggling to grasp—vampires were real.
14
SAM
Silence snaked through the war room as my father leaned against the table below the movie screen while I lingered near the first row of seats.
“Well, talk, Pops.”
His green eyes appraised me, seemingly trying to figure out how to start or searching for the right words, which was confounding. My father had never been at a loss for words.
He rubbed his chin. “I’m not going to lie, son. The council is in an uproar with you. When your picture was plastered on TV the first time, I convinced them that punishing you would not solve the larger problem, but after Emery’s comedy show, they feel something must be done to show the public we’re dealing with our own.”
