Brain Storm by Cat Gilbert (detective books to read .TXT) 📖

right. The only thing I knew for sure was that Hughes was definitely involved, and if Connors and Jenny were in on it with him, there wouldn’t be any need for all this subterfuge. Hughes would have just walked in and taken me.

“Taylor, what makes you think someone here is responsible for this?” Hughes broke into my thoughts, and I looked down, choosing to pick at the air blanket rather than risk looking at him.

“Because the man the Agency sent to watch me, attacked me. He threw coffee on me and followed me around. Sean told me he worked here. He told me he was called back to the Agency after things started happening with me. That’s when this guy showed up. Someone here had to have set it up.”

“How did Sean know who he was? Did he see him?”

I wasn’t about to tell Hughes that Sean had hunted Marcus down and killed him, although I was sure he suspected as much and was just fishing to see if I’d bite.

“No, but he didn’t have to. He saw the police sketch, and I guess he recognized him.”

“The police were involved?”

“He tried to kill Jonas,” I explained, barely remembering to use the name they knew him by. “He shot at him. Everyone was looking for him.”

I leaned back into the pillow and closed my eyes, waiting for Hughes’ next move. My head was starting to hurt, and I was tired and hungry. I hadn’t had anything to eat since dinner, and it had been a busy night.

“This was what I was worried about.” Hughes stood up abruptly, his fingers tapping his pants leg as he turned to face Connors, effectively cutting me out of the loop. “I hadn’t said anything because there wasn’t any proof, but I suspected someone here in the Agency was selling secrets, and it turns out I was right. She’s talking about Marcus Adams, who was sent to replace Sean while he was being debriefed.” He turned back to me. “Taylor, what happened in Little Rock? What about the fire? We thought you had been killed. There were bodies.”

“I know. I know there were,” I answered, the emotion in my voice real this time. “Marcus disappeared, and I don’t know, maybe he told them about me, or they panicked or something, but they attacked us. Jonas and Trinity were there, and they just attacked us. They cut the power and came crashing through the door. Jonas tried to fight back, but they were all over us. They were going to kill Jonas and Trinity. They were dragging me out the door, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

“Sean got there in time. He killed them to protect you,” Connors chimed in, and I nodded in agreement. Mac and I had already decided to reveal as little as possible about the extent of my so-called talents and that he was going to be the one responsible for the deaths in the condo. That was what I was going to tell them, but Connors beat me to it.

I felt my anger rise, remembering what had really happened and knowing that Hughes was to blame, if not fully, then at least to some extent. I’d killed to protect the people I cared about, and I’d been forced to do it. I didn’t dare look at him, as I struggled to tamp it back down. The last thing I needed now was to give in to my emotions and go after him.

“It’s alright Taylor. It had to be done.” Connors’ voice was soft and oddly comforting. “Where are Jonas and Trinity, now? Were they with you at the cabin?”

“No.” I shook my head and tried to gather my thoughts. Stick to the truth, as much as possible, I reminded myself. Get the names right. Don’t mess this up. Too much depended on them buying my story. “They went after Trinity’s grandmother when they lost us. We barely got her out in time. They’re not safe with me. I sent them away. We got them some money and sent them away, so they’d be safe.”

“Why didn’t you just call the Agency?” Hughes asked accusingly. “We’d have kept them safe.”

“Sean wanted to. He knew I needed help, but I was scared. Someone sent Marcus after me. Someone here at the Agency. I didn’t want to come, but Sean was right. I needed help. We were on our way here when we found Dr. Brown.”

“Yes, I was wondering about that, Taylor.” Hughes cut in. “How exactly did you manage to find Brown?”

“That part was pretty easy, actually,” I answered him back. “He told me where he was.”

“He told you?” asked Hughes, like he didn’t already know. “Brown knew you were there? In Denver?”

“I guess so.” He’d just slipped up. I hadn’t said where we’d found Brown. Just that we’d found him. Nice to know he wasn’t infallible. “I don’t know how this works, but I heard him. I guess he could hear me too because he knew who I was. He told us he’d been kidnapped. I assume by the same men who attacked us.”

“So you decided to rescue him.”

“I couldn’t just leave him there. Sean had told me Dr. Brown had handled my case. They’d taken him to try to find me. It was my fault. Besides, it was Dr. Brown who we were going to see. Sean told me that if anyone could help me control this thing, it was him.”

“How did you break him out?” Connors asked. “There must have been guards.”

“There were, but it wasn’t hard. I think they wanted us to find him. They had a tracking device planted on him. I guess they figured if he got away, he’d lead them right to us. Sean found it and got rid of it, but I guess it was too late. They found us anyway.”

The room was quiet for a minute, as what I had told them started to sink in, letting them draw their own conclusions. I could practically see Hughes’ mind twisting around, trying to put the pieces together. He was the one that put the tracking device on Brown. He knew it wasn’t working. The only way anyone could have found us was if Brown had told them where we were. He knew Brown hadn’t been in contact with him, so who did he tell?

Hughes was sitting there, right now, wondering that same thing. Had Brown double crossed him and sold me to a higher bidder, or had his boss decided to cut him out of the picture entirely? Either way, it was trouble for Hughes. He might not be needed anymore. I’d be lying if I said the thought of Hughes walking around scared that the next minute might be his last wasn’t appealing, but I knew it wouldn’t last for long.

I didn’t know of any professionals that used shotguns. Hard to conceal hardware that large and they were exceptionally noisy. I could attest to that. Not the best choice in covert situations. I had no way of knowing how much they’d be able to tell from what was left of Brown, but I knew that once they started sifting through the wreckage, they’d find evidence of what really happened. It was just a matter of time before they got suspicious.

“Tell me something, Taylor,” Hughes finally asked. “How is it, with Dr. Brown dead, and that’s supposing the body is actually Dr. Brown, and Sean incapacitated, that you escaped?”

There it was. Finally. The question I had been dreading. Now we’d see how good a liar I really was because the answer wasn’t going to be anywhere near the truth.

“Dr. Brown stopped them,” I paused, hearing my heartbeat race across the monitor, unable to control it. “He stepped in front of the gun and told me to run. That’s when they shot him.”

“Dr. Brown told you to run?” he asked, a puzzled look on his face.

“Yes. So I ran and hid in the woods.” I nodded, sick at the need to paint Brown as a hero, and waited for him to put it together. I was beginning to think I’d given Hughes too much credit when a smile slowly spread across his face. He thought he’d figured it out. That Brown had told me to run meant that he hadn’t known the attackers, indicating to Hughes that he was still a player in their little game.

“Taylor, I don’t think the men that killed Dr. Brown were after you.”

“You don’t?” Now I was the one that looked puzzled. In both my scenarios, the bad guys were after me. Hughes had apparently come up with something else. I could hardly wait to hear it.

“No. I think this was a robbery, plain and simple and Dr. Brown got in their way.”

Okay, that came out of nowhere. I suppose, now that I thought about it, it was possible. I thought Hughes would jump to the conclusion that Brown had double-crossed him because I had already made that assumption. After all, our good Dr. Brown was prowling around the house on his own when all he had to do was make a simple phone call for help. No, Brown had been up to something, something that didn’t involve Hughes, but for whatever reason Hughes wasn’t seeing it. Or maybe he was and didn’t want anyone else to know. What a tangled web we weave.

“Dr. Brown probably thought the same thing you did. That they were the same men who’d taken him and he stepped in to protect you from them. It’s my guess that when they realized you’d gotten away, they panicked and torched the house to try and cover up what had happened.”

“You think this was a robbery gone bad?” Connors asked.

“I do. It’s fairly common up here in the mountains, but we’ll know more once my men have had time to gather some evidence. In the meantime, Taylor is still in substantial danger. There’s no doubt, someone is after her, and we need to take precautions to make sure they don’t succeed. I’d like to place a guard on her, around the clock.”

“You think that’s necessary? The Agency is well protected. If this was a robbery, then they don’t know that she’s here. Surely she’s safe enough.”

“There’s still the fact