I nodded.
"It started with you," he said.
I blinked several times. "Uh, what?"
"You were under government surveillance for some of your activities when Rhiannon kidnapped you."
"But I haven't done anything illegal..." He shot me a look that said he knew that was a lie. "In years. I was in college the last time I did things I wasn't supposed to and I almost got caught."
"They didn't want to arrest you. They wanted to hire you. For something big. Something classified. We were never able to find out because it was buried so deeply."
Okay, I guess that made sense. "Fine, what did my kidnapping have to do with it?"
"Rhiannon and her creation were caught on camera and by their agents doing some very strange things. They were getting ready to intervene when Rhiannon left town and you fell off the grid."
"How do you know all this?" I asked.
"One of my men was involved before he was turned." When he saw Arien's angry expression, he shook his head. "Willingly turned. He was mortally wounded by Rhiannon when we found him. I offered to save him and he accepted. Once he realized that we weren't all possessed by demons or even evil, he shared information with us."
"How did all of that lead them to Austin?" Arien asked.
"They figured out how to track Rhiannon and followed her here," he said. "Now, they have satellite imagery and long-distance listening devices, among other things, set up to watch every move that they make."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"Because we piggy-backed off of them. We hear what they hear. We see what they see."
"And you know what they know?" I crossed my arms over my chest.
He nodded. "That's the reason I came to Austin. They're getting ready to do something, but I can't get into their system to see. The audio and video feeds were difficult enough, even with Evan's help. Their internal system is beyond my reach."
"I'm not sure it's in my reach either."
"But would that change if Evan was able to give you information?"
I considered it. "Probably."
"We have to try," he said, leaning forward. "They'll come for your friends first. Then, me. Then, the rest of us. The shifters. The witches. There are so many supernatural creatures that they could capture and experiment on. It would be genocide and no one would save us."
After what he'd put me through, I didn't really give a crap about Andre Dumont, but I cared about Marcus and Callum. And all the rest of them.
Dumont read my mind. "I know you couldn't care less about me, but think about the others."
"I am."
He opened his mouth.
"Zzzt." I held up a hand. "No more talking while I'm thinking."
I mulled it over.
"I'll help you. But you'd better give me every single shred of evidence, knowledge, text, phone numbers, codes, and anything or everything that could help me with this...this project of yours. If I find out you're hiding anything from me, I will feed you to the sharks and worry only about everyone else."
"I understand."
"Yes, but do you accept?" Arien prompted him.
"I accept."
