“Yeah, he’s a douchebag.”
Ethan explained.
“He’s hesitating and going back to what his father taught him to do. He’s not a confident person. His father made himlike this, but I guarantee under it, he’s a coward. When the walls begin closing in, he’ll make mistakes. He’ll panic.”
She thought about that.
They needed a way to make him be afraid.
“There has to be something we can find. He’s had time, but so have I,” she stated. “I’ve been doing this a goddamn long time, and I’m accustomed to games. He’s not.”
Ethan wasn’t done.
“The poison he used against us, and what took Vivian’s life, is from a case you worked a long time ago, so that had me thinking.”
She listened.
“He has had access to your files. I’m going to bet that at some point, his father bought them from someone. You’ve been compromised and likely have been forYEARS.”
Oh, no doubt.
“They weren’t electronic copies at the beginning. Getting photocopies and slipping them back would be easy. We’ve had people compromise the FBI and us before,” she admitted.
He was aware.
“He likely also had access to your psych profile, and that’s what he’s using against you.”
She stood there.
“Okay, so you know what’s in my profile. There’s no doubt you’ve read it, the real one, not the one that now sits in its place. You were the Director of the FBI, so tell me his plan. What’s his game?”
Oh, he had seen it.
And it was impressive.
Not only were her skills there, but her weak points were too. Gabe had her analyzed to make sure she’d be the woman he needed to run this shitshow down the road.
“He knows which buttons to push. He’s going to try to hurt you as best he can. He knows your weakness is family because I know your file contained all the information about your attachment to Sam and Charlie—how much your mother’s death changed you, and how you had deep emotional scars from your stepmother.”
None of that hurt her anymore.
It had been a long time since it did, so she considered what he was saying.
“EJ, my parents are dead. Sam is dead, and so is Abigale. You guys are my family. I need more.”
He kept trying to help her.
“He’s going to see that you are all about justice. You were raised by a man who put it above everything else.”
She considered it.
“Well, yeah. Charlie was no saint, but he was anti-break the law,” she admitted.
Now, it made her ponder one thing.
“Do you think he knows aboutThe Hunters, or what I’ve done?” she asked, keeping it vague.
While she trusted everyone here, there were limits.
