Page 41 of Only the Hunter

“Personal leave,” she repeats slowly.

“Yes. I need time. You’re right—I’ve been under stress. I need to step away.”

A long moment passes. Rebecca’s calculating something, and I can see the moment she decides this works in her favor.

“Alright. Transition your active cases to Harridan. Anything your team can handle, brief them. Two weeks for transition⁠—”

“Effective immediately.”

Now she looks genuinely confused. “Evie⁠—”

“You said if I need a mental health break, I should take it. I’m taking it. Today. I’ll brief my team. I’ll be reachable if they have questions. But I agree. I need the break and I appreciate your understanding and support.”

Rebecca’s expression hardens. “By end of day, then. Clear your desk.”

When she leaves, I sit down slowly, staring at the case file still open on my screen.

I just quit my job. Or something close to it.

And instead of panic, what I feel is relief. Clean and uncomplicated. Lina is overseas. Astrid confirmed it. I’m going. If I don’t, no one will.

I pull out my phone to text Gabe, then stop.

What do I tell him? That I’m leaving the country? That I made a unilateral decision—exactly the kind he’d argue against—and I need him to drive me to the airport?

I type: Need to talk tonight.

Delete it.

Try again: Can you pick me up at 5?

Better. Easier. I’ll tell him in person.

I hit send before I can second-guess myself.

Chapter 11

Gabe

Noah drives up outside Alicia Morgan’s offices. I step outside the glass building doors to greet him, the cold air fogging around my hello.

“All quiet?” he asks, looking past me.

“She’s in her office. Phone meetings all morning. Lunch meeting in the Capitol. Thanks for heading over early.”

“No problem.”

Noah scans the area, taking in the gray sky and the mostly empty parking lot. The faint scent of wood burning travels through the air, likely coming from one of the residential areas that back up to this office complex. The quiet hum of wheels over asphalt can be heard from the nearby street.

“I’m hearing rumors you’re about to be reassigned.”

That catches my attention. I have zero interest in leaving the DC corridor with everything going on with Evie. But we made it through the holidays without a drop of intel that anyone is after Morgan. Still, if anyone was going to get dropped from protective detail, I’d think it would be Noah given he’s openly dating Alicia.

“Oh?”

“We’re shifting to remote monitoring. Digging into persons of interest.”

“Shifting to remote monitoring on Morgan makes sense,” I say. “Get ahead of threats instead of reacting.”