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The last statement from Bennet has Six narrowing her eyes. “You might be in charge in the bedroom, but I am my own person and I make my own decisions. This would work.”
“It’s too dangerous, Six.”
She looks at Agent Tova. “There’s only one thing they want badly enough to make a mistake like that.”
“You?”
She nods.
The room runs out of air as we all stare at her, incredulous. Luis stands up, knocking his chair back, and walks out of the room. Wait staff scramble out of his way as he stalks out, his fists balled up, a vein in his forehead threatening to explode.
Bennet looks at the agent. “It’s not happening.”
He nods, not arguing, but looks pensive as he studies the plate of pasta in front of him. “I have to ask. What is it about her that would make her important enough for Johnson and his staff to want to come after her?”
“We can’t answer that,” Lukas says plainly, his discomfort with the situation clear on his pained expression.
Micah nods, reaching for Lukas’ hand. “We’ve all been through a lot, Agent Tova. And much of it was to protect this girl right here.”
Six stands, her posture defiant. “I have some…knowledge that they want. Without what I have, they can’t continue their main experiments and lose everything they’ve worked for. We need them shut down, and we need it done now. I’m in danger. You’re in danger, either way. This is the only way to pull them out of their safety zone and push the timeline.”
She looks at Bennet. “You can make whatever deals and stipulations that you want, but I’m doing this. It’s the right thing to do. To stop them from hurting people. To stop them from threatening my family.”
To Agent Tova, she says, “The sooner we can set this up, the better. They’ll be scrambling after what happened to the Raleigh lab, and they’re probably looking for me as we speak. The time to act is now.”
She walks away from the table, chasing after Luis. I consider following her to see if I can help, but I annoy Luis on the best of days, so I let her go, trusting that if anyone can bring him down, it’s her.
Bennet watches her walk away, but then looks back at all of us. “It’s not happening,” he says with finality.
Micah pulls his buzzing phone from his pocket, looking down at the number curiously before shutting it off.
“Who was it? My phone was going nuts earlier, but I shut it off before I could check who was calling.”
“I don’t recognize the number, but my mother has been trying to reach me and I’m not interested.”
Lukas’ phone buzzes next. Curious, concerned, or both, he answers. “Hello?” Listening to whoever is on the other line, he stands as his eyes grow wide and worried. “Where are you now? Are you safe? Okay. Stay there, stay hidden. We’re going to send help.”
“It’s the Coolsons,” he tells us. “Someone, or a bunch of someones actually, just broke into the B&B and ransacked the place. They’re locked in their attic, but either they haven’t noticed there’s another house on the property or they aren’t interested in it.”
Fuck! If anything happened to them…
Bennet stands and leans forward, his hands on the table as he addresses Agent Tova. “Do you have anyone you can send? There’s an older couple living on the grounds that are hiding in the attic of a nearby property. Keeping them safe is a priority, but if we can prove that these people are from BioCere, maybe we can use this as a way in.”
The FBI agent is already on the phone. Lukas passes him a notepad with the address for the B&B.
“We’re sending in a team to check the perimeter and secure your people. We need to hang back for a few while they suit up. Once they confirm the house is safe, we can go in ourselves.”
Grabbing the phone from Lukas, I stay on the line with Mrs. C while we wait for updates. “Mrs. C? It’s Jackson. Don’t worry, help is on the way…”
Six
I finally catch up to Luis in a now deserted hallway outside of some double doors. There’s a sign above the door that says “ballroom.” Luis shakes the handles, but they’re locked. He nearly runs into me as he looks for a new escape plan.
“Luis, stop, talk to me!”
“I need some air, Six.”
“There’s plenty of air for both of us in this hallway. Just calm down…”
