“Maybe, but it isn’t always about trust,” Ryan sounded annoyed.
“Everyone but John and Nina, clear the room,” Austin ordered.
The guys from SSI stood but didn’t move towards the door until John said, “Go, I’ve got it.”
Got what?What the hell is going on?
After the door closed, Austin ordered Ryan to talk.
Ryan inhaled and held his breath for a second before saying, “I accessed an old audio file. In the transcript, the speaker references the Singers talking about a treasure.”
“Did they give details?” Austin asked.
A treasure? This can’t be real. My birth parents were fucking CIA officers who talked about a treasure. My life suddenly sounded like a bad movie plot.
When Ryan didn’t answer, Austin told him to spill it.
“Your call.” Ryan stared at John and me for a second before reluctantly filling us in. “The speaker references a conversation he had with the Singers during their last case. From what I heard, he was trying to incriminate them; he asked about them using their child to smuggle information. But there was curiosity in his tone, too.”
I smuggled information?I fell back into my seat as my knees gave out.
Austin held his hand up, causing Ryan to shut up.
“Are you okay?” Austin asked as he sank to a knee in front of me.
I laughed. An ugly, loud, cackling laugh that signalled I’d lost my mind.
“I have to be fucking dreaming.” I didn’t swear in public often, but the situation called for it.
Austin’s lips lifted in what I think was a smile, but it disappeared before fully forming.
“I’m sure it feels like it, but this is real.”
It couldn’t be, so I pinched myself to check.
“Nina.” Austin set one large, warm, comforting hand on my shoulder. “You’re awake, and this is real.”
I shook my head, wanting reality to disappear. “I can’t do this.”
“It’s okay, we’re done for today,” Austin said, standing. “If you’re willing, we’d like to see your blanket and teddy bear.”
If I gave them the only two things I had from my parents, would I ever see them again? What would they do to them? Could I risk Austin and Ryan destroying the only ties to my past?
But I wanted answers and maybe, just maybe, they contained some hidden code or something that would give us the answers we needed.
“Fine, but you can’t take them out of the bags.” I’d stored them in sealed plastic bags because they’d started falling apart when I was in high school.
Most people wouldn’t care about saving an old, worn baby blanket or a ratty old teddy bear with a missing eye and half a mouth, but they were all I had from my life before the Novaks.
They’re the only connection I have to the people who gave me away. To my parents.
“Can we examine them if we promise to wear gloves and not harm them?” Austin asked.
No!My heart skipped double time and went straight into beating at triple time.
They were all I had. I couldn’t risk anything happening to them.
But what if…
