Maybe he sent her on a wild goose chase.
Or maybe she was in trouble.
I tried to push off my paranoia. This wasn’t the time to think about how much power O’Donald had to screw us over as agents. Or what dangers within PIB that Liz might find. She was a big agent. She had other members of the force to back her up if needed.
She wouldn’t take anyone she didn’t trust.
I pulled up to the office building and got out. I glanced around to see if I could see Liz’s car. There was no sign of her, but O’Donald’s car was still there.
I grabbed my lunch and took the stairs up. I walked into the hallway, the door of the stairwell clinking shut behind me. O’Donald was standing outside my office, his hand on the doorknob. He looked up, surprised to see me.
I wasn’t sure who he was expecting to come out of the stairwell. There weren’t many agents who took the stairs.
“Did you need something?”
He shook his head. “I was coming to talk to you again. I forgot to mention that Liz might be out of touch for a little bit. She’s going undercover for the case.”
“Who’s her back up?”
“She chose her own backup. She wasn’t willing to tell me who it was. I just made it clear that it couldn’t be you. Have you heard from her?”
“Nope. As far as I knew, she was just going from scene to scene.” I didn’t like the sound of any of this. Agents didn’t just suddenly go undercover. Last time I went undercover, it was to go after an AWOL agent, and I had been cut off from all my PIB contacts. “Thanks for the heads up.”
I reached for the handle of my office door, and he wrapped his hand around my wrist. A strange thrill went through me, and I pulled my hand away from him. “I’m sorry, there’s no need to grab me.”
“Agent Collins, I don’t know what it is that you’re hiding, but you’ll find that I have ways to find out your secrets.”
I snorted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I want to do is go to my office and eat my lunch.”
He took a step back away from me. I opened the door, finding that I didn’t need my key card. Which meant he had to have swiped his beforehand.
He couldn’t get into my office. I tilted my head to the side. “Would you like to come in and chat about what you think I’m hiding?”
He shook his head and walked away.
He couldn’t walk into the office. Which meant that he was planning on causing me harm. But he had been able to get into the house.
Something wasn’t right here. I grabbed my phone and texted Oliver.
‘I need all the information I can get on our new boss, and I want Liz’s locations tracked.’
‘On it. I’ll have results tonight.’
Was what I got back a few minutes later.
I wrinkled my nose and shot back. ‘I’m without a bodyguard right now during daylight hours.’
‘I’ve got digital tabs on you, you’ll be fine.’ Was what he sent back.
I could almost hear him laughing about my thoughts.
I went back to my desk to find the files right where I left them. I glanced back at the door, waiting for O’Donald to come back under some false pretense of needing to talk to me, but it didn’t happen.
I gathered up the files, keeping them turned different ways, so I knew where one pile started and another one ended and made room to eat.
I pulled out my food and woke up my computer. Chances were that if O’Donald was curious if Liz had contacted me, any search regarding her or her case would set off an alert in his system.
There wasn’t much I could do without possibly putting her in more danger than she might already be in.
My phone rang. “Special Agent Collins speaking.”
“Abigail. I need you here. Now.”
Mason’s voice broke up as it came over the phone. “Say nothing and get here. Address incoming.”
I frowned as the phone went dead in my hand, and a moment later, an address came from an unknown number.
I grabbed my bag, put my lunch back in its bag, snagged my files, and headed out of my office.
I double-checked the door shut behind me before heading downstairs.
Our receptionist had a little sign that said, ‘Out to Lunch.’ I took a moment to set the files there and write notes about which pile was which.
I headed to my car, trying to shake the feeling that someone was watching me as I made my way across the parking lot.
I got in my car, put the address in the GPS, and headed out. If O’Donald came to check on me, I’d have to make up an excuse as to why I left. I’d deal with him when I had to. Mason needed me now.
I’d eaten my lunch on the way, but I probably shouldn’t have. I found myself standing at the edge of a blood-stained basement. Dried blood was everywhere, leaving a brown stain on everything it touched.
But there was a lot of it, and the smell clung to the air. I glanced at Mason and then back to the scene. “What the fuck?”
“This is our third scene like this.”
“How old is it?” I couldn’t take my eyes off the room. The walls were perfectly clean, only the floors had stains on them. Some of the furniture had spots, but it was almost like someone had been careful about where the blood went. Then there were
