“You’re trying to teach me, aren’t you?”
“Just what you want to know, that’s all.”
“I’ve been wondering if there are… classes.Psychic classes.”
“There are.You can attend if you want.”They’re required classes if you want to be an operative, angel.But you need time.The thought of anyone trying to force her, even into something as simple as a meditation seminar, made a bubble of anger rise inside his spine.
“If I do…” She worried at her lower lip with her pearly teeth.
God, please don’t let her say what I think she’s going to say.
“…what will you do?”
Relief welled up inside him.“I’m officially your mentor.I’ll be with you.”
She nodded and her hands relaxed.I doubt she even knows how tense she is.I should have forced the issue with her when I had the chance.It would give me an excuse to try some old-fashioned therapy on us both right now.
“Okay.Can I talk to you about something?”
He leaned against the closed door.“Sure.”
She pulled her legs up on the bed, sitting Indian-style, fully awake.“About… about my father.”
Delgado sighed inwardly and stuck his hands in his pockets.He’d been sleeping in his clothes for months now, not that he minded.“Your father.”
“Did they cover it up?How did they explain it?”
We just keep going from one dangerous subject to the next.He actually winced.One question leading to another and another, and before he knew it, he’d be telling her everything.“There’s been total media silence, but there’s a warrant out for your arrest as a material witness.Your father was buried at the VA.Hilary had insurance, and her boss—some guy named Vernon—made the arrangements for the memorial service.She’s buried at Mount Hope.”
Hope sprang up on her face, but it was swiftly smothered.“I can’t even go to their graves, can I.”
Christ, she’s too smart.“Rowan…”What can I tell her?“Look, it’s dangerous.But if you have to go, tell me.We can find some way to get you there.”
She stared at him, an expression of such patent surprise that he was tempted to laugh.Did she think he would tell her she couldn’t visit her own father’s grave after seeing him die violently right in front of her?You haven’t even gotten out of the numb stage of grieving yet, angel.And when you do…
“You’d really do that?”
“Of course.”I want you safe, and I want you happy.You won’t ever understand.
“Justin?”
He surfaced from mulling over the dilemma to find her examining him.Her eyebrows were drawn together, and her lovely eyes were shadowed with something he was uncomfortably familiar with.
Anger.
“These… these Sigma people.”She took a deep breath.“I want to stop them.”
Delgado blinked, shoving his hands even further into his pockets.
“Are you listening to me?I want themstopped.They killed my father.I want them in court.I want them to go to prison.”
Delgado stared at her.Whatever he’d expected, it hadn’t been this.
She was waiting for him to reply, something suspiciously like trust shining in her luminous eyes, and faint color brushing her cheeks.Why hadn’t hepushedher when he’d had the chance?He could be on the bed next to her right now, and he could distract her from this conversation.
He cleared his throat.“Ah, Rowan.”How am I going to tell you this?“The justice system won’t help us.Believe me, we’ve tried.Witnesses disappear, papers get destroyed, all of a sudden people get alibis or can’t be found, and the whole thing’s swept under the rug.They have carte blanche to do what they like.The cops and the judges and the media won’t stop them.Hell, in some cases theyarethe cops and the judges and the media.We’ve tried taking them down before, and all we’ve accomplished is losing a lot of good people.”
She stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language.He tried again.“Look, Rowan.Sigma’sgovernment.They have the weight of the government behind them, and the work they do for the intelligence agencies makes them golden.FBI, CIA, ATF, NSA—nobodycan touch them.If we gave proof of their activities to media outlets, all we’d have would be a bunch of dead journalists and missing pieces of proof.And it would be heart attacks and car accidents instead of surgical seek-and-capture teams, angel.”
