This whole life is so far removed from anything I could have ever imagined. Seeing the way Ghost’s office was set up actually made me feel more uneasy about the entire situation. I was in serious danger, and nothing that either of the guys said to me could take that fear away.
I tried to act as if I’m strong, but on the inside, my whole body is reacting to the nerves.
The chatter is that the guys in prison accused of the murders and transportation of drugs are furious that I have disappeared, even though the WITSEC database still shows that nothing is wrong, and I’m tucked away right where I should be.
There are only two people who know I’m missing: Scott and Davina.
Both Kurt and Ghost are certain that Scott has nothing to do with the danger I’m in or the attempt on my life and he is on our team now. I’m hoping that one day I will get to meet him again and apologize for misjudging him and thank him for protecting me and getting me back to Kurt.
Davina is the dark horse, and it really shocks me if she’s the one who has put me in this position, but if I’ve learned anything in this whole experience, it’s to expect the unexpected. The guys believe she is the person responsible for the water being tampered with and that it was too much of a coincidence that she and Scott decided to visit me around the time I collapsed at home. No one thought about testing the water bottle, but I had only taken one small mouthful and then collapsed, so it was most likely spiked as well. No one besides Davina and Scott had access to my house.
While we were talking, I remembered what Jodie had said about seeing Davina walking without her cast and then Kurt and I had both looked at each other. I thought about when she was leaving that last day, how she walked a few steps normally before quickly relying on her crutches again. Ghost had hacked a few places for her medical records under all her names, both aliases and her real name, including her employee files. There is nothing showing up in the files about a broken leg at all.
It all seems a bit coincidental that she contacted Kurt to take on the job to protect me because she broke her leg, even though she knew he wasn’t an active agent anymore.
I feel sick to the stomach about her. She was my confidante, the person I turned to because I thought she was the only one who I could truly trust and would have my back.
There are just too many coincidences mounting up to ignore them all.
Then there’s Oscar.
Someone who from the moment I met him, I never trusted. He gave me a bad vibe, which is unusual for me. Although he was someone Kurt had known for a long time, and he thought he trusted, to me he just didn’t fit. There was something not right about the way he looked at me.
He didn’t stay around for long, but he was in town when I collapsed, so could it have been him?
But surely, we would have known if he had been to the house, unless the tampering didn’t happen in the house.
My head is like a whirlpool, trying to process so much information.
I can’t believe how much Ghost and Kurt have already pieced together, and I’m thankful that this time they are happy to share everything with me. Occasionally I can add more to it.
What my biggest concern now is that while we’re busy trying to piece all this mystery together about who is trying to kill me from the inside, we’re losing sight of the real threat.
Growing up, I never would have pictured my life to be one where someone wanted me dead, let alone that there would be multiple people trying to kill me.
If I finish this book on time for the publishing deadline, it’ll be a miracle.
How am I supposed to be writing a story that ends in a happily ever after when I don’t even know if I’ll be alive tomorrow?
For the first time, my writing isn’t working. There is nothing transporting me to that other world, the happy place that I build in my head.
Instead, the darkness is creeping in, and all I can see is the vision of the men shooting, smell the gunpowder, and hear the screaming.
My greatest fear is that in those visions it’s not the Warringtons I see lying covered in blood.
It’s me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
KURT
Asha is struggling, and I was hoping writing would help.
Yet watching her from a distance, I can see by the look on her face and her body language that that’s not the case. The afternoon shadows from the trees are casting across her, and although she looks beautiful, there is such a sadness to her.
It’s been a few days since we told her everything, laid it all on the line in Ghost’s office.
While she has known fear in her life even before the last few days, the graveness of the situation now has really taken a toll on her.
Like her, I needed a bit of time on my own to process my thoughts. Normally I would pick up my surfboard and head straight for the ocean. It’s always been the best way to clear my head.
At the moment, we know what has happened to lead us here; what we are having trouble with is trying to preempt the people after Asha’s next move. Ghost is glued to the computers most of the day and night, but he doesn’t want me in there. He’s used to working alone and complains my tension is giving him a bad vibe.
I know part of it is that he’s trying to make sure I’m looking after Asha. He’s lived the life we are in, for a long time. He knows the toll it
