Free The Kill Order by Robin Burcell

side.”
    He was right. It didn’t seem like it. Not that she was foolish enough to say so out loud. “Thank you, sir.”
    She left, and headed down the corridor, and it was everything she could do to keep calm. She jabbed the elevator button, then lost the effort, fuming as she waited.
    Scotty ran up just as the doors opened, and they rode it down in silence. It wasn’t until they reached the parking garage that he said, “We need to talk.”
    “Ya think?”
    “Come back to my place.”
    “Why would I do that?”
    “Moral support? Company? Someone to vent to?”
    “Thanks. But right now, I just need to be by myself. Think things through.”
    He studied her face for a moment, as though making sure she really should be alone. “Call if you need anything.”
    Both turned toward their respective cars, but after a few steps, Sydney stopped, called out to him. “That offer of taking the weekend at the B&B? Is that still on the table?”
    “Of course. I can’t use it. And Amanda doesn’t want to go without me.”
    “The prospect of sitting in the middle of the forest completely alone is suddenly very appealing, even if I do have to wait until next weekend.”
    “It’s on my desk. We can go back up and get it.”
    “If it’s all the same . . . ?” Running into Pearson was not high on her priority list right now.
    “Back in a few.”
    She waited at the elevator, glad for a moment to just regroup. She could deal with being under the microscope. Nothing new for her. The fact they’d found the files Scotty had given her on her laptop had shaken her, though. The last thing she wanted to do was jeopardize his career.
    When he returned, handed her the envelope, she reached up, hugged him. “Thanks.”
    “I should be thanking you,” he said quietly. “For not throwing me under the bus.”
    She looked down at the envelope, fingered the edges. “I’d never do that. Not after . . . you know. I’m only sorry I dragged you into it as far as I did. I never meant—”
    Scotty reached out, lifted her face so that she was looking right at him. “I’m not sure I would have done any different. If I were you, that is.” He smiled at her.
    “But you’re glad you’re not me?”
    “Pretty much.”
    She smiled back, relieved that they had come to an easy truce after all this time. “I’ll call you.”
    He nodded, then walked to his car, leaving her to hers. The moment she got in, slammed the door shut, she checked her cell phone, saw she had missed a call from Griffin and three from Carillo. She ignored Griffin’s call and phoned Carillo instead. “You’ll never guess who just searched my apartment and office. Pearson,” she said, before he could even get a word in edgewise. “They were after the numbers.”
    “Tex was at my place earlier, so I figured it was a matter of time. Had you answered your phone, I would’ve mentioned it, right along with his request that I let Griffin tell you about his involvement.”
    “Let’s just say I drew a logical conclusion.”
    “Hard not to. I assume he’s back in D.C., since he wasn’t here with Tex last night. Have you talked to him yet?”
    “No. But I can’t wait to hear his explanation for all this.”
    “So what now?”
    “Regroup. I’ll call you when I come up with a plan.”
    “Stay safe.”
    “Likewise.”
    She left, navigated through commuter traffic, and eventually pulled onto the freeway, trying to decide what her next step should be. It was then she looked into her rearview mirror, noticing a dark-colored vehicle that twice changed lanes when she did.
    Her phone vibrated in the cup holder, and she glanced down, saw it was Griffin.
    Maybe she didn’t know his full involvement in all this. Plenty of time to find out later. Right now she had more important things to focus on. Like whether the black sedan trailing two cars behind was actually following her, or whether she was merely being paranoid.

10

    S ydney took the long way home, after several