16. Erik
ERIK
Makari wakes me at six-twelve with a photograph of Callie Bennett crossing the south campus lot and a gray sedan half a block behind her.
Rowan is still asleep in my bed. She came in after midnight, covered me with a blanket while I was sleeping at my desk, then stayed when I asked.
I ignored the twinge from my injury and carried her to bed sometime after two when sitting on the floor stopped making sense. Nothing happened beyond sleep.
I leave the bedroom door partly open and take Makari's call in the kitchen. "How long did they follow her?"
"From the recreation center to the residence hall." Makari sends two more photographs while I open the first. "The campus operator picked them up after the second turn. He changed route, and the sedan kept going."
"Rahil?"
"Not driving." Makari enlarges the second image from his end. "The passenger matches one of the men from the storage facility."
I look toward the bedroom.
Rowan appears in the doorway wearing my shirt from last night and nothing on her feet. "Who?"
I don't soften the answer. "Callie was followed from campus."
She is fully awake before I finish. "Where is she now?" Rowan crosses the kitchen and reaches for my phone.
I turn the screen toward her instead of making her take it. "Her dorm. Two operators are with her, and Makari has another team with your mother."
Rowan looks at the photograph. "Callie knows?"
"Yes."
"Mom?"
"Not yet."
She hands the phone back and heads for the bedroom. "I'm calling both of them."
I catch myself before telling her I already have people in place. That would be exactly the wrong answer after everything she told me yesterday. "You should call them."
Rowan stops at the doorway and looks back at me. She notices the correction. "Thank you."
Makari is still on the line. I walk farther into the kitchen. "Move Laura and Callie to the north safe house. Harper too, if she agrees."
He snorts. "She won't."
"You haven't asked."
"I've met her."
Rowan hears that from the bedroom. "He's probably right."
I ignore both of them. "Ask anyway."
Makari makes a quiet sound that could mean agreement. "I'll send you the vehicle images. We've seen the same sedan near Fenwick three times this week."
That changes the problem. "Get Harper the photographs. She knows the campus better than your operators do."
Makari pauses, and I wait. "I was going to tell her to leave campus," he says.
"You still can."
"She'll refuse."
"Then use her while she's refusing." Rowan won't approve, but I'm keeping them alive.
Another pause follows, shorter this time. "That's irritatingly reasonable."
Rowan comes back into the kitchen with her phone against her ear. She points at me as if I'm responsible for Makari learning flexibility.
I probably am.
Callie answers Rowan first. I hear only Rowan's half of the conversation while she paces between the island and the windows.
"No, you're not in trouble. I want to know exactly what happened." She listens, then stops moving. "You didn't leave the detail?"
Whatever Callie says changes Rowan's posture. "You walked from the recreation center alone?"
I hold out my hand.
Rowan gives me a warning look and keeps the phone.
"I'm not yelling. I'm trying very hard not to yell." She closes her eyes for a second. "Makari is moving you somewhere else today. Mom too. I'll meet you there."
She disconnects and immediately calls Laura.
I wait until that conversation ends before speaking. "What happened?"
"There was a fire alarm at the recreation center. Callie's detail went toward the building because campus security asked for assistance." Rowan picks up her own phone again and checks the time. "She walked back toward her dorm because it was two hundred yards away."
"They created the gap."
"Yes." Rowan looks at the photograph on my screen again. "She didn't ditch anyone."
"No."
The difference matters. I'm glad she sees it before fear turns the facts into another argument with her sister.
Makari calls again before eight. Laura and Callie are moving. Harper has refused relocation until she finishes helping him identify the gray sedan, which is exactly what he predicted.
I put the call on speaker while Rowan packs. "She stays in Fenwick another thirty minutes," Makari says. "Then she comes with me."
Rowan zips her bag. "Did she agree to that?"
"She agreed after I stopped asking."
I look at the phone.
Makari corrects himself before I can. "She agreed after I explained the vehicle has appeared outside her apartment twice."
"That sounds better," Rowan says.
"I liked the first version." He sounds unapologetic.
"You would."
Makari ignores her. "Harper identified the vehicle near the north faculty lot on Tuesday. It was also outside the legal clinic yesterday. She's checking parking-camera timestamps before we leave."
I take my jacket from the back of the chair. "Bring everything to the safe house."
Rowan shoulders her bag. "I'm coming with you."
I nod. "That was already the plan."
She studies me for a second, perhaps checking whether I mean it as agreement or ownership.
I leave the path to the elevator open, and she goes first.
Laura Bennett has been inside the safe house for ten minutes when she starts reorganizing the kitchen.
Callie sits at the dining table with both arms folded across her body. Rowan stands near the windows trying not to pace, while Makari and Harper work at the far end of the room with three printed vehicle photographs.
The house is smaller than the last property, with three bedrooms upstairs and another two on the lower level. Two teams cover the perimeter. Nobody outside Makari's command knows the Bennett family is here.
Laura opens another cabinet. "Where do they keep coffee?"
"There." I point to the cabinet beside her.
She looks at me. "You know this house?"
"Yes."
"That's not reassuring."
Rowan almost smiles despite herself.
Callie notices and points toward her sister. "Stop before you start."
Rowan's attention snaps toward her.
Callie holds up one hand. "You're about to tell me what I should've done differently."
Rowan doesn't deny it. "You walked alone while somebody was following you."
Callie tenses. "There was a fire alarm."
"You could've waited for security to come back."
Callie sounds frustrated. "I was two hundred yards from my dorm."
"That was enough."
Callie pushes her chair back. "I know that now."
Rowan takes a step toward her. "You've known for weeks that people are watching us."
"I'm also nineteen." Callie stands. "I went from practice to a dorm. I didn't drive to a private estate at night with spray paint."
Harper looks up from the photographs, and Makari looks down, which is worse.
Rowan presses her teeth together. "That was different."
"Of course it was." Callie moves around the chair. "You only think control is a problem when somebody else uses it on you."
The room quiets.
Rowan looks at her sister for several seconds. "That isn't fair."
"It's completely fair." Callie points toward me. "You make him ask before he changes my security. You make him ask before he changes Mom's. Then you call me and tell me where I'm going before you ask what happened."
Rowan starts to answer, then stops.
Callie's anger loses some force when she sees that. "I'm not saying I should've walked alone. I'm saying you were scared, so you decided I was stupid before you had the facts."
Rowan looks away.
Laura puts the coffee on the counter without opening it. "Callie."
"No. She does this to all of us." Callie's voice drops. "Dad did it too."
That gets Rowan's attention again.
"He decided what Mom could know. He decided what we could handle. You've spent eighteen months saying he was protecting us." Callie steps closer to her sister. "Maybe he was. It still left us blind."
Rowan sits down. She doesn't defend herself.
Callie does too after a moment, leaving one chair between them.
I walk away before either sister has to continue with me listening.
Makari follows me into the small office near the back hall. "That went well."
I manage a half smile. "You have a generous definition."
He closes the door halfway and puts the vehicle photographs on the desk. "Harper found the sedan outside Fenwick Monday, the clinic Wednesday, and Callie's recreation center this morning."
"Same driver?"
"No. Same passenger twice." Makari taps the image from this morning. "Storage-unit man."
I look through the narrow opening toward Harper. She's still at the table working, despite two operators waiting to move her upstairs. "You were going to send her away."
He inclines his head. "Yes."
"You changed your mind."
Makari looks at me. "She knew which faculty lot had no permit camera because students use it for overflow. My people didn't."
"That isn't what I meant."
"I know." He leaves without another word.
By early evening, Laura and Callie are upstairs. Harper has finally stopped working after Makari threatened to remove the laptop battery himself.
Rowan stands alone in the living room with Jeremy's letter in her hand. I gave it back to her an hour ago, but she hasn't read it again.
"I brought all of them into this." She keeps her attention on the paper. "Mom, Callie, Harper, and Aaron. Everyone who gets close to me ends up on somebody's list."
I remain near the fireplace instead of crossing the room. "Orell targeted your father long before you knew any of this existed."
Her frown deepens. "That doesn't change what's happening now."
I take a step closer. "It changes who caused it."
Rowan looks at me. "Callie was followed because of me."
"She was followed because Orell needs leverage against the investigation."
She's flushed and breathing heavily. "That investigation exists because I wouldn't let Dad's name go."
I shake my head once. "You aren't important enough to have caused this."
Her mouth opens, and she looks devastated.