“I don’t know, but he’s demanding to see his employee. Someone has to deal with him.”
“You want me to?”
“No,” Dr. Roberts said. He pointed to Kayli sleeping. “She has to.’
Brandon tilted his head. That didn’t seem likely right now. “What do you mean?”
“Blake keeps getting roped into your assignments, and now this kidnapping. She’s the one calling him.” Dr. Roberts patted the file. “It’s in here that she’s getting involved with him. If you’re going to keep hosting her at your apartment, she needs to either let go of Mr. Coaltar or you need to keep her at distance. We don’t want this new guy getting too much information. We strongly advise against contact.”
Brandon shook his head. “We can’t let her go now. We promised to hang onto her while we searched for her brother. He’s missing.”
“What does it matter where she stays if she’s looking for her brother?” he asked. “Rent her another apartment. On the other side of town.”
Brandon frowned, looking at the floor. This sounded more like an Academy request, one that he might not be able to avoid. “So either she gets rid of Blake or she has to move.”
“You’ve got it,” Dr. Roberts said. “There’s a rumor going around that his friend Doyle has been getting access to Academy intel, and they’re examining our little organization. I have a feeling she might be feeding them information.”
Brandon stood up this time, fists clenched. “That’s not possible.”
“We wish to eliminate the possibility. She’s on our closed adoption list, and she’s learned way too much for someone your team hasn’t yet established trust with.” Dr. Roberts stood, carrying his file, and headed toward the door. “Think about it, Brandon. If she’s leaking information, there’s no way she’ll be invited into the Academy, and there’s a good chance her adoption will come under investigation, and she’ll be redirected to another team that can keep an eye on her better.”
Shit. That wasn’t good. The Academy, if it wanted to and thought it was necessary, would remove a person from any group. Leaking secret information was bad for the Academy. Lives were at stake. Reputations were important to them. Exposure risked them all.
It also meant if their team was exposed in some way as being part of some secret group, the Academy would remove the team. Brandon, Marc and the others would have to forfeit their own positions within the Academy in order to save the entire group from becoming discovered. Limited liabilities. They might be under protection of the Academy forever, but they wouldn’t be able to take up an assignment for a while.
“Won’t happen again,” Brandon said. “I’ll keep an eye on her. I’ll make sure Blake stays out of contact.”
“We may take your team off of accepting assignments for another month. Not just for recovery time, but to allow you to focus on her brother and straighten out your situation before we risk exposing anyone further.”
Brandon’s head lowered and he stared at the ground. He wished Axel was here, or Marc. But they might not be able to do anything about it. The decision had already been made.
He had to get Kayli to understand. Was she really giving up Academy secrets to Blake? He avoided looking at her now. Didn’t she understand what she was doing? They’d told her it was a secret. He wanted to believe she’d only turned to Blake for help.
She needed training, then. She needed to know who was acceptable to turn to for help.
Dr. Roberts opened the door and stepped out. He stopped, popped in his head again and said, “By the way, when you’ve got time, you should really go see Mr. Henry Anderson.”
Brandon lifted his head. He recalled the older man from another team, who’d helped them out at Ethan Murdock’s party. “Henry? Why?”
“I’ve got a feeling you might want some help with Miss Winchester. If you’re going to keep her under a closed adoption, you’ll need to know how to handle her since she’s been so deeply involved.”
Brandon nodded quietly, consenting.
Dr. Roberts closed the door.
Brandon looked over at Kayli. She slept on. He was surprised she managed to stay asleep.
Brandon yawned, and rubbed gently at his severely bruised ribs. Every muscle in him hurt.
But he couldn’t sleep. He needed to talk to Axel and the others. The Academy might remove Kayli from the group, or if the team refused to let her go, they could remove the group from the Academy altogether. They couldn’t risk that. He had to get them to agree to stand together to keep her.
He couldn’t let her go. He’d told her that already and he’d been dead serious. He kept his promises. He’d make sure Kayli was safe, that Wil was safe.
He had his own growing need now, too. He had to keep an eye on Kayli. Alice and Mr. Murdock were still out there somewhere. If they weren’t caught, who knew when they might look for revenge, or try for something else.
Kayli had turned to Blake for help, though. That was a problem. She didn’t understand why that would be dangerous. He didn’t know what s
he saw in him. Sure, Blake had helped them out. Twice.
Didn’t matter. He was dangerous. His very existence right now threatened Kayli and their team with the Academy.
And the last person he’d lose Kayli to would be Blake Coaltar.
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Books by C. L. Stone
The Academy Ghost Bird Series:
Introductions
First Days
Friends vs. Family
Forgiveness and Permission
Drop of Doubt
Push and Shove
House of Korba
The Other Side of Envy (April 2015)
The Academy Scarab Beetle Series
Thief
Liar
Fake
Accessory (Summer 2015)
Other C. L. Stone Books:
Spice God
Smoking Gun
BONUS!
Turn the page for an exclusive sneak peek at ACCESSORY, the next book in The Scarab Beetle Series
The Academy
The Scarab Beetle Series
Accessory
Book Four
Coming Summer 2015
Written by C. L. Stone
Published by
Arcato Publishing
HARD ROAD
After a battle with a poison and taking a couple of days off to recover, I’d spent an entire day with Corey playing video games. Eventually, Corey needed to go with Brandon to some secret Academy meeting, and I was left with Raven for the evening. I told them I didn’t need a babysitter, but as usual, no one listened.