Chapter 34
CHARLIE
I simply cannot think straight right now.
My head is a mess. Confused about who Blaed really is.
My mind is warped, realizing my instincts were so incredibly wrong.
The past few weeks I’ve sensed this foreboding.
That I was being watched. And it turns out I was.
This is way more serious than I thought.
Then there is Declan. Racing to get to me when I signaled for help.
His anger and blatant jealousy. And then that kiss.
No cover, no hiding our faces, no reason to do it other than we both wanted to.
My body is still hot from that embrace. I have that same euphoric runner’s high feeling I used to get all the time.
For the car ride back to FIRE headquarters, we are both quiet, letting this be the transition to business mode, giving ourselves time to clear our minds, to focus on this new evidence.
I avoid the temptation to hold his hand, to offer mine up to him.
I need him to touch me so desperately. But desperation will not find out what the Order is up to. Will not stop this next attack.
We walk silently back into headquarters.
Once we’re in the elevator, Declan presses the button for our floor. The tension in the small car is thick. I dare not look over at him, that would tempt another kiss that I know I won’t be able to keep brief. Declan is right beside me. I’m safe. For now, that’s enough.
He must be reading my mind, though. His fingertips, light, barely there, move from my upper back to my lower and back up again. A gentle soothing touch. A reminder that I’m not alone. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then the elevator doors open and we separate.
Uncle Ollie greets us at the entrance. He holds the door open and wraps me in a hug as soon as I’m close enough. “You did the right thing reaching out for help, Charlie,” he reassures me. Though I can’t help but feel that I’ve compromised the FIRE missions. Even if it was unknowingly.
We spend the next two hours going over every single detail of my interactions with Blaed.
Ian, Declan, and Oliver ask variations of the same questions, trying to see if they can get any more detail out of me.
The first time I saw him at happy hour with Ana.
The second time I ran into him at the coffee shop before work.
The brief interaction tonight where he asked about details I never shared.
I did not mention what happened when Declan came to get me. What happened after he threw the tracking device into the water. Declan doesn’t either.
“I’ll take the physical description you provided and run it through my database.
See if he is working with the Order or is just a run-of-the-mill weirdo,” Ian offers.
Is Ian trying to dismiss my worry as a girl being too sensitive, reading “the wrong” things into what a man at a bar did or said?
Or is he trying to explore all possibilities?
I expect Declan to jump in and explain that Blaed also has a connection to X.C. When he doesn’t, I decide to follow his lead and not say anything either.
“Any luck using that software to come up with more matches for our mystery buyer in Copenhagen?” Declan asks Ian.
“Nothing,” Ian says with a defeated nod.
Oliver rubs his head, thinking over the situation. “Charlie, you didn’t have that purse with you on our mission in Key West, correct?”
I shake my head. I brought a smaller one Ana lent me specifically to match my outfit.
“And you didn’t have it with you in Copenhagen?” Declan asks.
“No, I brought a cross-body bag for the flight and a FIRE backpack for my carry-on,” I explain.
“So on both of those missions no one would have been able to track you,” Oliver explains.
I realize he’s right. I think aloud with them. “So perhaps there’s another mole? Another tracking device?”
“We can’t do daily sweeps of every employee and their personal items for bugs,” Declan states.
I think about the incidents Oliver and Declan asked about.
Our official missions. I get why the mole would want to sabotage our reconnaissance efforts or subvert our covert missions.
But what was the point of locking Declan and me in the storage unit?
To scare us? Declan and I were still able to get out unscathed.
The person who closed the door and locked us in knew we were there; why not attack us then?
Maybe they were after something inside? It doesn’t make sense.
It could have been the security guard at the storage facility just closing it if he thought we were done.
Maybe they only wanted us contained for thirty minutes? But why? Then a new angle dawns on me.
“Maybe the mole isn’t a person,” I suggest.
The three of them look at me, waiting for me to elaborate.
“Clearly, whoever planted that device on me was using it for some information. But it would have been incomplete. I usually leave my purse in my desk. They would need someone else to fill in any gaps and no one person knows all of those details. But our computer system does.”
Declan crosses his arms and leans back against Oliver’s desk. “You think it’s some kind of computer virus?”
“I mean, all the details of our travel and the executive schedules are on our system,” I say.
That’s something Trey would have access to, so he wouldn’t need me out of the picture to get that info.
I cross him off my list of suspects. For now.
“Why else lock us in the storage unit if not to keep me away from my desk?” I see Declan and Oliver nod, considering this theory.
“You think I’m not constantly sweeping for these kinds of viruses?!” Ian demands. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard him raise his voice.
“Hey.” Oliver holds out a hand to calm Ian. I’m glad I’m not the only one who is jarred by his overreaction.
“It’s a theory,” I explain.
Declan jumps in. “Ian, we know your team is overloaded and working round the clock. It’s not unreasonable to think something may have slipped through.”
“We are working hard,” Ian responds, still heated. “Your girlfriend over here doesn’t know what she’s talking about!”
“Hey!” Declan barks back.
“I didn’t mean to imply anything; I just can’t see any person on this team willfully putting us in danger,” I backpedal.
“You’d be surprised,” Declan mutters without looking at any of us. He’s referring to Osaka, to the mission that killed X.C. and which nearly took him out too.
“Alright, team,” Oliver says, putting an end to the bickering. “It’s late. We’re all exhausted. Let’s get some sleep and regroup in the morning.”
I nod. I could fall asleep in one of Uncle Ollie’s office chairs right now.
“OK,” Ian agrees.
“First, we need to figure out where Charlie is staying tonight.”
These words from Uncle Ollie shock me. “Um, I’m staying at my home,” I respond.
“If you’ve been tracked for potentially a month now, Blaed knows where you live. Losing the connection with the tracker, the first place he’ll look is your home,” Declan explains.
A shiver of fear races through my body. I have been watched, spied on, this whole time. Did I have any private moments to myself ?
“You’ll stay at the safehouse this weekend; we’ll find a more permanent solution on Monday,” Uncle Ollie says after taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.
I’ve contributed to another mess that the team has to deal with.
A mess that will distract us from finding the weapons Castillo bought and preventing them from being used.
“Safehouse?” I say.
“Come on.” Declan stands and gestures for me to do the same. “I’ll take you there now.”
Declan leads me back out of the building and to his car. A lifetime has passed since I left at five to go to the bar.
For the whole drive over to the safehouse, I’m jumpy. My nerves surge at every stoplight. At each set of headlights that pass us. Any of them could be Blaed. Or the mole. Or someone else sent to harm us, to stop us from interfering with the Order.
The crowded streets are too busy, too packed. I can’t wait to be in the safehouse, but will I be safe there?