He barely kept himself from reaching for her. “What’s going on?”
“I just spent two hours dealing with Hamler, Newcomb, Stillman and that moron Winkler as they tried to go over every inch of my lab. But those assholes stopped at fourth grade science, if I’m being generous.” She was agitated, and angry. That was when Madison lost most of her filters. Dom knew to just stand there and listen until she made it to the end. She was one of quieter ladies-of-the-lab, but she had a temper. And could be ruthless when pushed far enough. “Everyone else was out of the lab—so I was stuck with them, while Pete ran things. Not the best part of my week.”
She’d been alone. With those assholes. When theyknewStillman, at least, was probably up to his eyeballs involved in what had happened to Heather Coleson. His blood ran cold.Never had he understood that expression more perfectly than he did in that moment. “What did they ask about?”
He couldn’t be with her every damned moment. But he wanted to be. He wanted to get her as far away from this hellhole as he possibly could. Keep her safe until he knew all of Wilson’s associates were locked up in cages where the animals belonged.
She hadn’t given him that right. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel like it was his already.
Thatshewas his to protect. And always would be.
“Everything. But…concentrated. They were asking about Wilsonwithoutasking. Probing. Like they wanted to see how well the lab was functioning now, too. Miriam told me that there are rumors going around Wichita Falls about our lab. She has friends there. She still lives there, too. She’s our temporary tech—she’s working shifts hereandthere.”
“Miriam the new girl with purple and red hair?”
Madison nodded. “She said there are rumors that our lab will be shut down soon. And everything moved to Wichita Falls. And none of our people will be kept on. Supposedly, we’re either too inept or dirty. And Haldyn covers everything up—she’s working with Daniel, apparently. They are even saying money-laundering or embezzlement. She says the rumors about here, about all of us, and about Heather especially, just keep growing.”
“I see. Just rumors.”
A way to sow dissension, more likely. To cause people to turn on each other. Erode the trust. To make it easier to destroy. Dom’s father had taught himstrategylong ago. He’d made sure Dom understood how people like that worked. And from what Dom had heard already, those rumors were focused on Heather Coleson. He just couldn’t figure out why and what the ones starting them were playing at. When she was back from her littlesuspension,he was going to start digging. Talk to that woman face to face.
“I then had to deal with Pete and James in an uproar, Tiff had a nervous breakdown at the possibility of losing her job, and I am now nominating Haldyn for sainthood.” She darted a look around the bullpen. It was mostly empty—everyone was outworking.“We need to talk. Somewhere…without people.”
Small feminine fingers wrapped around his wrist. “Alone.”
That was when he realized she was shaking.
What in the hell was going on? “Come on.”
She just followed him.Madison was trying not to blurt out what she suspected. She knew—Haldyn had told her—and she’d suspected herself for a while but hadn’t been able to check—someone was alwayslisteningthere at the TSP. And not just the security guards. The guards were from an outside company, now. They were contracted to protect certain parts of the TSP.
They’d shown up the day after Kimball had nearly killed Hope and Haldyn. Just lurking around, listening. The guards acted almost invisible at times. But she had encountered them before. And she didn’t trust them one bit—they’d been sent by Wichita Falls. By the commander of the entire TSP. Rhonda Hamler, herself.
Dom led the way.
She didn’t stop until he opened a door at the end of the second floor and ushered her inside.
The janitor’s closet. “In here? What? You hang out here often? I see you still use the same decorator.”
“Don’t be cute. You know what it does to me. Daniel had Rory come in during a ‘visit’ to Charlie this week to sweep this closet. Just in case we…needed it. What’s going on?”
She turned back toward him. It was a really small closet. No more than four by six or so, and crammed with cleaning supplies. And now…one Dominic Acardi.
He took up a lot of room, no denying that.
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
“How so?”
“They had two men with them, but…they wandered off. At different times. And then Newcomb or Stillman or Hamler would demand my attention. Then Winkler and those guys would show right back up. Not all at once—it was usually only one missing at a time. And it just felt odd.”
“Did you get their names?”
“I got photos. And there are the visitor logs, but…when they were gone, I went into my office…and…” She paused for a moment. She got closer to him so close she could whisper. “Someone had been in my desk. On my computer. I think they tried to duplicate the hard drive. And they tried to access my private server and hard drive.”
And that terrified her. The server that she used wasprivate.Only a handful of people knew it even existed outside of her and the chief and the governor and now Hope—who wasn’t exactly in a position to talk to people. And Daniel and Dom. Maybe Gunnar and Murdoch. That wasit.
“How likely is it that someone got into it? Hell, you know that I don’t know how they work most of the time.”
