No action involving the child is required.
Like Juni was a bargaining chip, not an innocent little girl.
Kyle picked his phone back up and called Lachlan. It rang once.
“Talk to me, Pup,” Lachlan said.
“We have a problem.”
“Scale of one to ten.”
“Eight.” Kyle paused. “Maybe nine.”
Lach didn’t hesitate. “We’ll be right in.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Juni was playingwith her stuffed animals in her room and Maren was sitting on the couch reading when Colin’s phone buzzed.
“Yeah, Boss?” As he listened, he paced away from her into the hallway, then back again. She knew something was wrong the second he got off the phone with Kyle.
“What is it?” she asked him when he stopped in front of her at the couch.
“Kyle’s called another meeting. We need to go in.” His voice was gentle, but she could see the stress in his face. “Someone’s connected Watchdog to you.”
Her stomach dropped. “Who is it? Are they here?”
Colin held out his hand to pull her up and she took it, moving straight into his arms.
“No, baby, they aren’t here. And they won’t be. We’ll see to that.”
“When is this going to end?” she whispered.
He stroked her hair. “Kyle is well and truly pissed. It won’t be long now.”
By the timethey reached the conference room, Kyle was already seated at the head of the table, Lachlan beside him with his chewed pen casing between two fingers. Gina stood near the wall with her arms folded. Mac sat across from Charlie, who was silent in a way that made Maren’s skin prickle. Flint was at the opposite end of the table from Kyle and Elissa’s face filled the screen of his laptop.
Kyle already knew something. She could see it in the set of his jaw—not just angry, butcertain.
Colin grabbed her hand, surprising her. She looked from one face to the next. But no one else in the room looked surprised. Mac even nodded.
“About time,” he said.
Colin pulled out a chair and Maren sat beside him.
“Maren,” Kyle started. “I want you to know this is not your fault and we’ll do everything—everything—to protect you. This is an act of war against all of us.”
“Oh, God, what happened? How did they find us? Who are they?”
“I got a voicemail earlier telling me that Watchdog has been flagged for a review for the Lackland program. Then I got this.” Kyle turned his laptop so she could see the screen. There was an email.
She read it once. Then again, trying to make sense of it.
That concern is Maren Walsh.Make her available for a private interview.
“I don’t know who would want to talk to me. I don’t know anything, I swear.” She looked up from the screen at Kyle, then Lach and Gina.
“We know,” Kyle said. “We believe you.”
