“Is ithim?” I asked, and hated how my voice sharpened on the last word like I wanted it to be yes.
Brewster didn’t answer immediately. He stared at the screen like he could pull truth out of pixels.
“Maybe,” he said finally. “Or maybe it’s meant to look like him.”
“Copycat,” I murmured.
“Or a message,” Brewster corrected.
My throat went dry. “To you?”
His eyes cut to mine. “To us.”
Was that supposed to make me feel better? If so, he failed.Usseemed the most dangerous word in this house.
I turned away from the television and grabbed my phone. My thumb hovered over the notifications I’d refused to open all night—mentions, tags, clipped commentary. My hand wanted to swipe them away like a reflex.
“Don’t,” Brewster said.
The word was quiet.
It still stopped me.
I looked up, irritation flaring. “Don’t what.”
“Don’t go looking for it there,” he said, meaning the internet, the noise, the swarm. “That’s not where he talks to you.”
“Then where?” I snapped.
Brewster’s gaze didn’t waver. “Where you least want to admit he can reach you.”
A chill skated down my spine.
Before I could press, his phone buzzed.
Once. Twice.
He didn’t look surprised. He didn’t even look annoyed, which almost worried me more. After he took the phone out, he read the screen, and then exhaled through his nose like he’d expected this moment and hated it anyway.
“I have to take this,” he said.
I almost saidof coursebut bit it back. Sarcasm wouldn’t save us from federal bureaucracy.
Brewster gestured toward the office. “Come on.”
I followed him, because despite everything I’d said about not being controlled, my body still reacted to his voice like it was a hand at my back.
The office door shut behind us with a soft click.
He set the phone on speaker. A beat later, a voice filled the room—male, older, polished to the point of being frictionless.
“Agent Brewster.”
“Sir.”
There was someone else on the line too. I could hear it in the pause lengths, the faint paper shuffle, the way the voice didn’t quite own the space alone. This wasn’t one superior calling with concern. This was a conference. This was a decision forming in real time.
“Brief us,” the voice said.
