Despite It All by Reese Knightley
Forest
“Hey, I’ve got files from Hardier’s computer,” he offered up as a sign of peace when Parish answered his phone. “It’s going to take time to work through it, there’s a lot.”
Parish gave a heavy sigh. “Dare I ask why the hell you’re breaking into Hardier’s apartment?”
“To find out if he’s the mole?” Hadn’t they been over all this?
“Liam and his team are at Summer’s place. You stay away from there, damn it.”
“I did not go inside Summer’s apartment.”
“Good.”
“Do you want a copy of the flash drive or not?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t see why I can’t help in the search for Summer.”
“Do I need to remind you that you’re listed as her next of kin?”
“No.” He squeezed the steering wheel. Fuck regulations all to hell and back. There went another notch in his mental pole. He was running out of room. “Find out why Hardier painted his apartment.”
“I will. You stay away from Summer’s apartment.”
He snapped his teeth. “I’ll drop by with the flash drive later.”
“If I’m not here, just leave it in my safe. And Forest?”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful.”
He ended the call and a few minutes later, he pulled up and parked in front of Summer’s apartment building. He drummed his fingers on the wheel before he got out.
Skirting around the building, he jogged up the stairs at the far end and made it to Hardier’s apartment. A quick look left and right, the coast was clear. No big soldiers waiting in the dark to bring down the hand of justice. He tugged on a pair of slick black gloves and picked the lock.
With a slight click, the door opened and he slipped inside. Entering Hardier’s bedroom, the safe stood open and he replaced everything before locking it. Easy peasy. Over at the window, he lifted the screen back in place and shut and locked it before retracing his steps.
The only thing that lingered was the smell of paint. Locking the front door, he headed along the hallway. Hardier would be none the wiser any of them had ever been there.
His pocket vibrated and he tugged his cell phone out. The number unknown.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Taylor.”
A man said his name like a statement and less of a question in the same robotic, muffled voice that had sent him Summer’s abuse picture. He stopped walking, his heart jumping in his chest.
“This is Agent Taylor.”
“Ah yes, Agent Taylor. Thorn in my side,” the robotic voice said. “Golden boy of the government. You’re getting in the way of my plans.”
His gut dropped and soured. How did this mole know he worked for the government? Or was that just said to scare him? He didn’t know about Dave, did he? He pressed the phone tightly to his ear.
“You mean your paycheck from selling our information to fucking terrorists? How do you sleep at night?”
“If you ever want to see your agent alive, you’ll back off.”
“The FBI will never negotiate,” he bit out. “Whoever you are, I’ll hunt you down.”
“Then her death is on your hands.”
“What do you want?”
“Leave things alone or she’s dead.”
Click. The line went dead.
Shit!
He called Jerry.
“Hey, Forest?”
“I need you to put a trace on a number.”
“I’m firing up my laptop.”
“Call me back asap.”
He gave Jerry the number, ended the call, and slumped back against the brownstone hallway. The phone was against his forehead, so he tapped it against his head. Think, think.
He needed to think, needed to come up with a plan. He had to hold off searching for the mole or they’d kill Summer. He thumped the back of his head against the wall.
He had to lie again. Fucker! This guy was going to pay.
Shoving from his lean, he hurried across the landing. Turning the corner, he spotted Link and Eagle.
“Quite the little acrobat,” Eagle razzed him.
“I don’t know what you mean.” He calmed his erratic breathing and tucked his hands into his coat, his fingers wrapped around the box of toothpicks. “You guys lose something?”
Eagle laughed and normally, he liked the sound. When Eagle cackled, it was like he knew something the rest of them didn’t. In this case, he wasn’t sure he liked that cackle right then.
He cleared his throat. “Where’s Liam?”
Link studied him in the dim light from the apartment hallway before jerking his head toward the stairs.
While Link had kept quiet, a smirk curled the guy’s mouth.
He leaned against the railing next to Eagle and Link and pulled out one of his mint flavored toothpicks. He offered the pack up and both men took one. He sucked at the flavor before chewing it between his teeth, his mind spinning.
Tell them about the phone call or not? Tell them he needed to stop looking for the mole or they would kill Summer? If he could get to Summer first, then he could take care of the mole at the same time.
That made sense.
Kind of. What if the mole wasn’t in the same place as Summer?
Shit.
He’d cross that bridge when he came to it. Hopefully, Hardier’s flash drive didn’t have anything on it that pointed to the mole. Surely, Mason would have called him by now?
Which meant he was on his own.
With his mind made up, he’d have to offer Hardier’s flash drive up to Liam as a peace offering. It wouldn’t matter, they’d need him to decode it. He’d temporarily shield any documents he came across. A necessary evil to keep his secret. Easy as pie.
Just how mad were they in there? He glanced at Eagle and Link, and then the apartment door.
“So, on a scale between one and ten…” he began.
“Try eleven,” Eagle smirked.
“Fifteen,” Link countered.
He grimaced. How mad could Liam be? He’d go in there and show them who’s boss. Liam was a colonel, but he didn’t answer to the guy. It wasn’t like he didn’t have a peace offering.
He squeezed those flash drives, flipped the toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other, then leaned a hip against the railing.
Maybe he’d give them a bit more time to calm down.
“There’s pizza.” Link jerked his head toward the door.
Crap. Better get this over with.
He reached for the door.