Free Girl Undercover 10 & 11: The Abduction & Dante's Inferno by Julia Derek Page A

develop complications afterward, having been so near death surely had the power to screw with your head. Was this what was going on here? I couldn’t think of another reason.
    Brady gave a light, incredulous chuckle. “The articles were planted by the government?”
    “Yes, but it wasn’t an official move obviously,” I fired back, getting increasingly frustrated. “As I explained to you earlier, a faction of the government is involved in the conspiracy and their tentacles are far-reaching. They have people working for them in every level of society. Certainly in the media. That’s how they managed to get the articles in the papers. You know, in case he got it in his mind to try to stop them. So they played it safe by discrediting him.” I paused there, waiting for Brady to say something. His silence spoke louder than any words ever could.
    I exhaled with exasperation; it took all I had not to raise my voice and yell at my boss. “Captain, I know it sounds insane—it took me months and more evidence to finally believe it myself. I couldn’t understand why Ian was still alive if he was such a threat to them, and I’m still not sure about that part. My fear is that they believe themselves to be invincible at this point and have good reason to believe that. My hope is that it’s because they’re learning something from keeping him—and me—alive. All I’m absolutely sure of is that I’m not crazy. I swear to you, it’s all true. And we have to stop them. It would be easier for us to do that with your help. So please help us.”
    I knew I had reduced myself into a beggar, but I didn’t care. I needed for my boss to open his eyes and see what was coming. I was willing to do whatever it took to make him believe me.
    I could hear him take a deep breath and after another couple of beats, he spoke. “Longoria. It pains me to have to say this, but given your current mental state, I’m going to have to prolong your paid leave. And it will only be paid if you agree to get help. We need to find you another therapist to work with. Dr. Sokoloff is not going to cut it. Not after her performance today. I will make some phone calls and then get back to you about who you can work with.”
    Closing my eyes, I wondered, Why is he refusing to believe me? I decided to give it one last shot. “Put me through a lie detector test.”
    “That would be pointless. You know very well how it works. As deeply as you believe all these creations of your mind to be true, I can’t see how you’d ever fail a polygraph. That’s why doing a session with Dr. Sokoloff was the only viable alternative. I think we’re done talking about this now. You’ll hear from me as soon as I find the appropriate person for you to talk to. Take care until then, Longoria.”
    With those words, he disconnected the phone. I stared at the shiny gadget in my hand, hoping to wake up and find that this had all just been a very weird daydream. But of course I didn’t. On a whim, I tried Ian again. He picked up on the second ring.
    “Hey, sorry I missed your call,” he said, breathing shallowly like he’d been running. “Jonah came out of Nikkei before I could answer and I got busy following him. A waste of time again. He only went to the bank and then came back to the club. What’s going on?”
    I gave him an abbreviated version of my successful session with Dr. Sokoloff followed by the downer conversation between me and Brady.
    “Bloody hell,” was Ian’s response when I finally finished my report.
    “Yeah, you could say that again,” I said, leaning back against the car seat, feeling helpless. “Bloody fucking hell.”
    “So you’re saying that up until today, he has never once questioned her diagnoses because he respected her ability as a therapist that much?”
    “Precisely. Her words were like the law to him, not up for debate.”
    “Hmm. It sounds to me that your captain has switched teams.” Ian’s voice was matter-of-fact.
    I sat up.