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“Because I know the same things she does, and more. For a long time, it was my job to know how both enemiesandallies operated from a military and intelligence perspective. I have studied them in-depth.”
“Who did you work for?” Kat asked.
“Israel,” Jabarin replied. “You are welcome to check my bona fides with Grover, but I can assure you, I’m qualified for this detail. Plus, I have one advantage that those big boys do not. It’s the same advantage that Pierce used to fool all of you. Do you know what that is?”
“No one notices you,” Kat said.
“That’s right,” Jabarin confirmed. “I am small. At first glance, I do not look particularly imposing. I am not very attractive. Just like Pierce, I’m the kind of person that others overlook and underestimate.”
“Butthat’smy concern,” Mitch countered. “We’ve seen what Ash Pierce is capable of. Wouldn’t it be better to have someone watching Kat who has a physical advantage over her? No offense.”
“None taken,” Jabarin replied, and unlike when Mitch said it, she seemed sincere. “But as you may recall, a size and numbers advantage didn’t do those four guards in the prison transport vehicle much good when she eliminated all of them in a matter of seconds during her escape last week. Size is immaterial. What matters is preparation, anticipation, skill, and when the time comes, decisiveness.”
“But not humility,” Mitch noted.
“Mitch,” Kat chided.
“I do not traffic in false modesty, Deputy Connor,” Jabarin said. “I know I’m good. The key is that I know she is too. That is why, in public, whenever possible, Kat and I will not be seen together. I’ll stay at a safe distance, outside of her zone of immediate safety. If Pierce is watching her, and she may be, I won’t show up repeatedly in her visual frame. In addition, my shoulder bag comes complete with multiple wardrobe changes, so she doesn’t pick up someone wearing the same thing nearby all the time. I also have wigs, glasses, and various other concealment tools at my disposal. If I am doing my job well, Ms. Gentry, you might not even notice I’m there.”
Kat was heartened by Jabarin’s certainty but dubious that she could prevent Ash Pierce from getting to her.
“First of all, please call me Kat,” she said. “Secondly, what’s to stop Pierce from taking me down with a sniper’s rifle?”
“To be honest, nothing,” Jabarin said, apparently not the sugarcoating type. “But if she wanted to do that, she most likely already would have. Even just driving to and from work, you are a target. From what I have gleaned about her, she wants to get close, to make it personal. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to kidnap you again, to put you in the same vulnerable position as before.”
Despite Kat’s proclamation to herself that she wouldn’t live in fear of Pierce anymore, the prospect of being taken and tortured again sent an involuntary spike of coldness down her spine.
“And you can prevent that?” she asked.
“I cannot make any promises,” Jabarin said bluntly, “but I am more likely to stop her if she doesn’t know I’m there. By the way, you may call me Gila.”
"Okay Gila," Kat replied. "That makes sense, but I'm not sure how long you'll be able to keep up that ruse while I'm working my case. At some point, you’re going to have to enter the same buildings as me and be close by when I’m interviewing folks.”
“What do you mean ‘working my case’?” Gila asked, looking surprised for the first time since she’d arrived.
“I’m sure Grover told you that I’m a private investigator,” Kat noted.
“He did, but I assumed that you would put all your cases on hold for the time being to better ensure your security. Didn’t Pierce initially come to you under the guise of being a client?”
“Yes,” Kat acknowledged, “but I can assure you that my current client is completely trustworthy.”
“How can you ever be sure of such a thing?” Gila demanded.
“Because my client is Jessie Hunt.”
CHAPTER SIX
Jessie finally sat down, exhausted and a little sick to her stomach.
It had been an ordeal to get to downtown’s Central Community Police Station. Under normal circumstances, the trip would have taken fifteen minutes, but because of all Grover Nix’s evasive maneuvers, it took double that.
But after the near nausea-inducing drive, the subsequent entry into the station’s parking garage, and the stealthy walk up the stairs and down the hall to the research department (all while wearing a hoodie on a warm late summer day), she was finally here. Once she was inside the department with Grover, Ryan closed and locked the door, then turned to address HSS’s research team. Neither Jamil Winslow nor Beth Ryerson had known Jessie was coming, and they looked equally shocked at her arrival.
“Hi guys,” Ryan said as if everything was normal. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” they said in unison, though it clearly wasn’t.
“You’re probably wondering what’s going on,” he guessed.
