CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Friday, September 25th
Kate hated Elijah Cox.
She knew she should retain at least some sort of detachment.She didn’t need to be a robot, but hatred affected her judgment.It narrowed her vision.It blinded her to any factors that might disagree with her preconceived notions and to hitherto unseen factors that support them.
She couldn’t help it.She fucking hated him.
The door to the office opened, and Marcus stepped inside.He hesitated for the briefest fraction of a second when he saw that Kate was there but Winters was not.He tried to mask it with a friendly smile that hurt worse than if he’d cursed and run from the room.
“AD not here yet?”
“She’s here.She’s hiding behind her desk.”
Kate didn’t even bother keeping a civil tone, so the sarcasm in her response bit hard.Marcus banished his smile and sat in the chair next to her.They stared at Winters’ immaculately organized desk and said nothing else to each other.
That was another thing Cox had taken from her.Not Marcus as a boyfriend.Hindsight showed her that expecting him to move on the literal second, he realized his marriage to Cheryl was ending was unfair and foolish.But they’d given it a shot, and if they’d had the chance to talk it through then maybe in the future, they’d have a chance again.
Instead, they’d spent the past two days going straight from wrapping things up in Miami to flying back to Portland and driving straight from the airport to Northbridge SMU, then from there to assist with the manhunt.Not in person by strict orders of Winters, but by consulting with the Bureau and offering expertise and advice to the various other agencies involved.
By the time they did talk about it, their hurt feelings had calcified, and neither of them had the energy to crack through that shell.Kate didn’t anticipate having that energy until far too late for it to make a difference.She told him that, and he agreed.They would remain professional partners.They said they would also remain friends, and Kate believed they would, but she also believed it would be some time before that friendship enjoyed the easy quality it had possessed in the beginning, before either of them had entertained the possibility of something more.
That was what Cox had taken from her.He’d destroyed the one thing in her life that was easy, that made sense.
Not by himself,her conscience insisted.You made mistakes too.So did Marcus.All Cox did was expose them.
Kate hated the truth of that.
Marcus finally grew uncomfortable with the silence.“Any news yet?”
“If there was, I would tell you.”
“Right.”
They fell silent again.Kate imagined this was going to be their new normal.
Her thoughts drifted back to the prison, presumably the most secure in the country, apparently not secure enough to hold a murderous former priest-slash-burgeoning cult leader.
A badly shaken warden, Frank Cirillo, informed her that there was one casualty, a corrections officer who was bringing Cox his dinner when the explosion occurred.It appeared that Cox had sabotaged his ventilation system somehow.One of his disciples had posed as a maintenance worker and planted a bomb timed to go off Wednesday at dinner.The same disciple had arrived with a fake Corrections Department ID and spirited Cox away.
Cirillo fell all over himself promising a full and thorough investigation with the harshest possible punishments.He told her that he was already in meetings with contractors to improve the prison’s security, including robots that could manage all of an inmate’s care from transportation to meals to cleaning to maintenance.
“Rest assured that if Cox is returned to us, he willnotescape a second time.”
“A third time,” Kate reminded him.
Cirillo lowered his eyes and didn’t reply.
Marcus sighed.“Listen, Kate—”
Kate was spared the need to listen when the door opened, and Victoria Winters stepped inside.The cold look she flashed Kate told her she wasn’t happy.What else was new?
With her usual lack of preamble, Winters sat and said, “Is there a reason the two of you didn’t disclose your romantic relationship to me or the Bureau?”
Kate didn’t think she had the capacity to be surprised any further, but that question surprised her.“That’s really what you want to talk about?”
She didn’t mean to be disrespectful, but Marcus winced, and Winters’ eyes flashed with fury.“That’s exactly what I want to talk about, Agent.There’s a reason fraternization is discouraged among field agents.It affects your ability to do your job.”
