19. Savannah
“Acult?” Pasco looked up from the row of flatscreens in front of him and stared at Ben and me like we’d lost it. And maybe we had.
“It fits,” Ben said quietly. “Missing time, missing money, the training courses he tried to push on Savannah and their company. Probably some mind-controlling bullshit embedded in all of it.”
Pasco motioned for us to step all the way into the IT room, which was filled with computers, screens, wires, gadgets, and electronics of every type imaginable. I’d spent hours in here over the past week, so I took my normal seat at a desk near Pasco. Ben sat beside me. Pasco typed away at his keyboard. A minute later, Jensen’s bearded, grinning face appeared on one of the screens on the wall.
“You’re all working late,” he said, but he didn’t seem surprised. “What’s this about a cult?”
“Seems like a reach,” Pasco said. “I mean, what are the odds?”
“Are you asking me to run a statistical probability model?” he asked. “Because I have someone who can do that.”
Pasco scowled, which was something he did a lot when he talked to Jensen. Pasco had told me their love-hate frenemyship went all the way back to their teenage years. “I was looking for more of a spitballing estimate.”
Jensen was looking away from his camera like he was reading something. “There are thousands of known, active cults in North America alone. Who knows how many are flying under the radar? Then there are other groups that don’t meet all the criteria of a cult but still do damage: MLMs, wellness schemes, high-control employers.”
“Shit, maybe we’re all in a cult,” Pasco said.
“We’d be good candidates,” Ben said. “Intelligent, driven, arrogant enough to think we can make a difference in the world.”
I was surprised he was so well-versed in the subject, but then again, he’d trained to expect the unexpected.
“So no poison-drinking, woman-branding, spaceship-saving cults for you?” Pasco asked.
“To be fair,” Jensen said, “no one joins a group that advertises the seamy underbelly.”
“Let me guess,” I said, remembering my one day at the strange training facility and my brief time as more than a business partner with Devlin, “they start with love-bombing, propping you up, cheerleading all the things you want to do.”
“There are different approaches, but that’s a common one,” Jensen said. “One of my dad’s significant others was raised in a cult, so her experience was a bit different.”
“Another of his SOs was recruited into an MLM in college,” Jensen continued. “She experienced the love bombing.”
“I had no idea you had such intimate knowledge of cults,” Pasco said.
Jensen glanced at the camera. “You never asked. Now, to pursue this, we’ll need to divide and conquer. I’ll start building an algorithm to match everything we know with known groups. Savannah, I’ll need you to send me everything you remember, know, or think you know about Devlin’s habits, trips, and associates.”
I held up my notepad. “Already on it.”
“That leaves me to brief up Kat and X.” Pasco sighed. “And then request more warrants because we’re going to need to look at the FBI’s database. If this group claims to have a religious affiliation or mission, we’ll have a shitshow on our hands.”
“Maybe we could stay a little more positive,” Ben said.
Wheeler stepped into the doorway. “And maybe you could explain what the hell you’re doing here, Purple Haze.” He glanced at his watch. “We leave at 0600 hours to drive to the fitness course, pretty boy, and you need your beauty rest.”
Ben stiffened. I suppressed a grin. The two of them were so much alike. If they ever stopped bickering, they’d be the best of friends.
“We have a new lead on Savannah’s missing business partner,” Ben said.
Pasco gave Wheeler the thirty-second summary.
“That’s good news,” Wheeler said to me. “I hope it pans out. But I didn’t hear anything about an assignment for this as-yet-not-qualified HEAT agent.” He inclined his head toward the stairs. “You’ll thank me tomorrow when you’re only a few hours into the course and already can’t feel your limbs.”
Ben clenched his jaw, but he stood. He looked at me. “If you need anything—”
“She knows where to find me,” Wheeler said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow after your test,” I said. “Good luck.”
Wheeler lingered in the doorway while Ben crossed the wide gym and headed up the stairs. “Hey, Savannah, it really is important that everyone stay in their own room tonight.”
My face flamed. I felt like my mother had just caught me making out with my high school boyfriend. “You know about…?”
“Yep,” Pasco answered. “Everybody knows. You’re in a building full of special agents. We notice things.”
“Hell, I’m not even in the building, and I know,” Jensen added unhelpfully.
“When you say everybody,” I swallowed hard, “does Mai know?”
“I haven’t told her,” Pasco said.
“Me, neither,” Jensen said.
“She won’t hear it from me.” Wheeler leaned against the doorframe. “But Pasco’s right. When she gets here, she’ll figure it out. My advice, for what it’s worth, is to either come clean to the sister or stop sneaking around with the brother.” He held up his hands. “But you’re all adults.”
We were adults, so why did we keep sneaking around like kids? To answer that, Ben and I would have to stop “benefitting” long enough to have a real conversation.