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Sheridan twists around until he’s sitting on his ass. “The vice president told me to spy on you. He said to stay by your side and text him everything we do.” He pulls out a new cell phone from his pocket. “He gave me this, and he said he’ll give me immunity when the investigation begins if I do what he says.”
I take the cell and turn it over. It’s a burner, not government issue. Untraceable. Everyone in the White House has a half dozen of these squirreled away in their desk drawers, ready to give to a journalist, a secret contact, a paramour. A burner can squeak around the Federal Records Act. If the feds can’t find it, it can’t be recorded or subpoenaed, can it?
There’s one number saved.
I pass the phone back.
“I’m going to flush it.”
“No. Do what Marshall says.”
“I’m not going to spy on you—”
“Sheridan, this is all going down hard. Do what Marshall says. If he thinks you’re not involved, you can survive this.”
He swallows. His lips thin, go white.
We sit in silence. I finish the granola bar and drink half the Gatorade, then pass the bottle to Sheridan. He finishes it as if it’s his last meal before being led to the gallows and then chucks the empty bottle against the wall. His eyes are red, his jaw clenching and unclenching, knuckles cracking as he makes fists between his knees.
Henry would have told the vice president to go fuck himself. He would have shoved that phone up Marshall’s ass, too. My best friend, my right hand, my partner in crime. The man who kept my—and Brennan’s—secret.
It hits me then, like a car slamming into a brick wall: Henry is gone.
He’s gone, and so is Brennan.
All of this is my fault.
I’m not the only one in agony right now, though. Henry had taken Sheridan under his wing, mentored him, guided him. I’ll turn that knucklehead into a decent agent. Just you wait.
We are the two agents with the most-shattered hearts.
“Sheridan…” My voice breaks.
Will you help me cut the ropes that hold this world together?
Will you stand with me and kick open a door in our souls that should never be unlocked, and unleash a fury that can never be taken back?
He doesn’t hesitate. I don’t even need to finish my thought. “I’m right beside you.”
