He was a rabbit.
A rabbit.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Simon had made the walk through the Organization's headquarters hundreds of times, but today the familiar route felt like walking to his own execution.
All because he'd failed to execute someone else.
How messed up was that?
About as messed up as most other things in his life, if he was being honest with himself, which he rarely was.
Shoving the thought aside, he approached Reuben's office. He could hear voices from inside. Multiple voices.
That wasn't good.
Simon knocked once and entered without waiting for permission. He knew he was being expected, after all.
Three sets of eyes turned to him.
Reuben sat behind his desk, fingers steepled. Harmon occupied one of the leather chairs, his perpetual scowl deeper than usual.And in the other chair sat a woman Simon was never happy to see.
"Riley," he said, his voice carefully neutral.
The head of Internal Affairs stood, smoothing her charcoal suit. She'd been a hunter once, before an injury ended her field career. Now she hunted hunters, looking for signs of compromise, corruption, or worse.
"Hale." Her smile was sharp as glass. "We need to talk."
Simon's gaze flicked to Reuben, whose expression gave nothing away. "About?"
Riley produced a tablet from her briefcase, swiping to bring up an image. "This was taken six hours ago. Care to tell me more about what I'm seeing here?"
The photo was grainy, shot from a security camera at a bad angle. But it clearly showed Simon carrying a figure wrapped in a UV blanket. Charlie's hand was visible, clutching Simon's jacket.
Simon's mind raced through lies, explanations, deflections. None of them would work. The evidence was right there.
"You want to explain why you're playing taxi service for vampires?" Harmon leaned forward in his chair. "That's your target, isn't it?"
"It's not what it looks like," Simon said.
Riley's eyebrows rose. "Really? Because it looks like you're aiding and abetting a known vampire. One you were specifically assigned to eliminate."
"I was gathering intelligence?—"
"By carrying him to safety?" Riley pulled up another image. This one showed Viktor's van. "We tried to track the vehicle but weren't successful. Whose van is this, Hale?"
Simon kept his face blank, but internally he cursed. They'd been sloppy. Too focused on Charlie's injuries to worry about cameras. "I can't say."
Riley shot him an incredulous look. "You can't or you won't?"
Simon said nothing, knowing there was nothing hecouldsay.
Riley set the tablet on Reuben's desk. "Let me summarize this. You failed to eliminate your target. You were then seen providing aid to said target. You helped him escape in a van. And you've been radio silent for the past six hours."
She turned to Reuben. "This requires immediate suspension pending psychological evaluation. He's clearly been compromised."
