I waited for her to answer my question.
“Another protectee at the hospital needed to use it so we had to use the next vehicle nearby,” she finally told me, probably realizing I wasn’t going to give up until she answered me.
I frowned. That had never been normal protocol. The only way that would happen would be if another one of my family members needed the vehicle.
The hospital had been silent, peaceful even, the entire time I’d been there.
I stared at Agent Kidwell.
“How close were you with Agent Brady?” I asked, keeping my voice casual.
Kidwell looked up at me from her phone. “He was my training officer and I worked under him for eight years, why?”
I shrugged. “You just were always on the outskirts when I was growing up, so I was wondering why I never got to know you better.”
A muscle twitched in Kidwell’s jaw. “I am better at logistics, so I tend to stay out of the thick of things.”
“But you’re in the thick of things now?”
The SUV turned down a street and I looked out of the window. We were heading for the highway.
My heart started to hammer in my chest but I just forced myself to keep a smile on my face. “It must be more fun, right?”
“I don’t know,” Kidwell said as she pulled her earpiece out of her ear like we were about to have a girly gossip session. “Having to babysit you while you sleep naked in a hospital bed isn’t my idea of fun.”
My inner omega’s hackles rose at the insult in her words but I pushed it down. Now was not the time to leap across the small space and claw her eyes out.
Instead, I steered the conversation away from my alphas. “Were you there that night? You said you worked in logistics, so that means you’re the one who tracked all of my movements, for security purposes.”
My brain was trying to work a million miles a minute to put together exactly what the hell was going on.
From the moment I sat in this vehicle that was clearly not right I knew that wherever I was being taken to was definitely not the White House, and judging by Agent Kidwell’s calm demeanor she was a part of it somehow.
I was just having trouble connecting all of the pieces before she shut me up or put a bag over my head or something.
My eyes darted to the passing scenery.
The urge to focus solely on that in hopes of remembering where we were heading was strong, but largely impossible. I rarely went anywhere on my own, which meant my sense of direction was… well, let’s just say it left much to be desired.
That meant I needed to figure out why this woman seemed to hate me so damned much.
“I was,” Kidwell said, her eyes watching me like I was some kind of rabbit and she was the hawk getting ready to tear into me with her claws. “I was in the other SUV.”
Run, run, run,my inner omega chanted, suddenly deciding that instead of a fight response, flight would be a much better reaction in this moment.
Glancing at the car door, my stomach sank when I realized that there were no door handles on the inside.
Stupid Lennon, I cursed inwardly. I’d been so wrapped up in my twitterpated thoughts about seeing my pack again after so long that I hadn’t looked at a damn thing before getting into this SUV.
“So you saw Agent Brady get shot and did…” I asked, trying to bait her.
“Agent Brady was a brave, but ultimately stupid man,” Kidwell said dismissively. “He gave his entire life to the U.S. Government and for what? A pension that barely pays for his house and his children’s education? Health insurance that only covered half of his wife’s breast cancer treatments?”
“My family covered the other half of those,” I told her through gritted teeth.
“If your mother fought harder for cheaper healthcare your family wouldn’t have needed to pay for it,” Kidwell snapped back.
I leaned back in my seat. Two years into my mother’s first term she’d lost her majority in the senate and the balance of powerhad shifted, so much of her agenda had to be put on hold until this election.
