His head was back down.
They wouldn’t get anything from him. He was good. Too good. And there were things happening I didn’t know, and I needed to know. So, weighing the pros and cons, I decided to pull my card.
“I want time with him.”
Both agents reacted. Bright’s head snapped around to me, her eyes wide and unbelieving. And I heard Wilson’s swift intake of breath.
“No.” Bright shook her head.
“Yes.” I leaned toward her. Before she could make more protests, I laid out my argument. “You will get nothing from him.” They didn’t know he could hear us, but I did, and so this message was twofold. I wanted him to know what I knew, and then I would go from there. “I had him before.”
Neither knew.
I felt the tension fill the air.
They were not happy to hear that.
I kept on. “I did not know about him until he showed up at my apartment. He broke in. We caught him, but he let us take him. He was testing us. He was testing me. We waited to question him. I wanted to see Calhoun’s reaction to his disappearance because all three of us know that he came from Calhoun. There is no other explanation for his sudden appearance and his identity not being known before now. Once I ascertained what I needed to know, I went in. The questioning lasted five minutes, and he was gone. He’s remained hidden until his move on Bailey. He had Chrissy Hayes in his possession. He’s good, and you all know it. You won’t get anything from him.” Now was my card. “But I will. Let me talk to him.”
“No!”
I looked at Wilson. His gaze was wide and alarmed. He was skirting from Bright to myself, and back again.
“Wilson?”
He hesitated.
Bright turned to him, her arms folded over her chest. “No, Wilson. No. No way.”
His phone buzzed.
Wilson pulled it out.
Bright stepped toward him, her hand outstretched. “Don’t answer that. We can’t let them near each other. Not any more than this.”
I studied Bright, hearing her wording: “Them.” “Near each other.” She spoke as if… I frowned. She was talking as if we weretogether? A team? Or was it the twin thing? Did she believe in twins?
Wasshea twin?
But he answered. “Wilson.” He waited, listening. It wasn’t a long call. He sighed, hanging up, and looked at me.
I saw the capitulation at the same time Bright started sputtering, “No!”
I smiled.
Wilson nodded behind me. “Go ahead.”
I hesitated for just a second.
Chrissy Hayes wasn’t scared of him. I knew Bailey’s mother enough to know this was not enough time for her to be brainwashed, so if Chrissy wasn’t scared, that gave me hope.
The second was up.
FORTY-SEVEN
Kash
Each time I’d been in the presence of my twin, something new was revealed. The first was just that he existed. The second was the first inkling of a connection. It shouldn’t be there. We didn’t grow up together. He was a stranger to me. And yet it’d been there.