“Of course, Vannah. Whatever you need.”
As he spoke, Ben slowly circled the table. Jensen captured the image on his screen, and his computer began identifying parts of the device.
“Keeping you and Howard safe is all I care about,” Devlin said.
I furrowed my brow. Somehow, he’d conflated his guru and his stalkee in his mind. But maybe that wasn’t so strange. The common denominator between us was Devlin’s obsession.
“Remember your twenty-fifth birthday?” Devlin asked.
Not really, but if he remembered it, it must have been important to him.
“Um…” I shuffled through the pages of his confessions and found a reference. “We had lunch with our staff. There were only four of us at that time. We went to the little Mediterranean restaurant you liked so much.”
“We did, but you’re the one who liked it so much,” he said.
I hadn’t, actually, but Devlin probably hadn’t noticed. He was too busy constructing fantasy me to notice the real me.
“And the Christmas gift I gave you after we broke up. I gave you such a special gift, even though you broke my heart.”
We’d broken up last January, which meant he was talking about a gift he’d given me four months ago. My mind was drawing a blank. I shuffled through the papers, but if the reference was there, I couldn’t find it.
“Savannah, where are you?” Devlin glared over Ben’s shoulder.
Shit. An image popped into my head. “It was one of those special cups that reminds you to drink water.”
Devlin beamed. “See? See how much I care? How much I want to keep you healthy?”
Several things happened at once. As Jensen and Pasco conferred over the bomb information, Lang gave me the wrap signal. They needed to talk Ben through disarming the device. Out of the corner of my eye, the GPS tracker raised his hand. He had a lock on Ben’s location. Wordlessly, Kat gave out commands, and the operatives headed for the door.
And I’d be damned if they’d go to Ben without me.
“Dev, I know you worry about my health,” I said. “Remember my sensitive stomach when I’m stressed?”
“Of course. I brought you those holistic acid reducers.”
“Yes.” I didn’t remember that, either. “But Dev, this situationwith Anson has me so upset.” I faked gurgling sounds. “I have to…”
“Vannah, yes, I understand. We’ll talk when you get back.”
I ran for the door like I would if I were really bolting for the ladies’ room. I caught up with Mai and Kat.
“No!” they said at the same time without breaking stride.
“You saw him,” I said. “He’s unhinged. If someone needs to talk him down, who will have the best chance of getting through to him?”
“We have a hostage negotiator on standby,” Kat said. “She’s the best.”
We headed out the back door and into the parking lot.
“Not for Devlin.”
We’d reached one of several vans where operatives were loading in. I held up the pages and looked from Kat to Mai. “They’re all about me. Every confession. Every page. Every line.” I blinked back tears. “Ben’s life is on the line because of Devlin’s obsession, and that’s me.”
Kat groaned as she shoved me into the van. “Mai will get you into a flak jacket and helmet on the way to the bird, and you’ll stay as far back as possible when we’re on scene.”
I opened my mouth to thank her, but she held up her hand.
“Not one more word,” Kat said through clenched teeth.
