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Miles came back on the line. “Travis, Bella ... I’m sending a team to watch over the twins, just in case. Travis, you’re on Bella for now. Are you fit for duty?”
A mask fell over Travis’s face and his posture subtly changed. “Yes, sir.”
“What’s going on?” Isabel demanded.
“Undetermined as of yet. I have to go to my office and make some more calls.”
“Damn it, Miles!” She wanted to reach through the phone and shake him.
A weary sigh escaped him. “That’s the truth, Bella. What I can tell you is that I just got off the phone with someone working at the federal prison where Stephen Beresford is being held and ... as of six weeks ago, he was released on parole.”
A cold chill raced down her back.
“That’s not possible. I’m supposed to benotified!”
“So am I.” Miles sounded coldly furious. “And that’s why I need to get the fuck into my office.”
Chapter 23
If he stared any harderat the phone, Miles thought it might just explode in front of him—either that or his head would.
Finally, it rang and he answered with a terse, “Yes?”
“May I speak to Miles Hawkins?”
“Speaking.” Miles had an excellent mind for recall and the voice on the other end of the phone was unfamiliar to him. He checked the number once more, just to be sure. The unease that had been growing inside him over the past eighteen hours expanded, spreading through every inch of him, just as invasive as a cancer. “Why am I not speaking with Harriet Bingham? She’s the warden at Big Sandy and I specifically said I needed to speak with her.”
“Yes, well ... Miles, we’re going through a difficult patch here—”
“First,” Miles said, interrupting with a cool bluntness that had the agent in the driver’s seat sliding him the side-eye. “It’sSACMiles Hawkins. You can call meAgentHawkins, or just Hawkins, butnotMiles.Second,I want to know who the fuck I’m talking to.Third, I don’t give a fuck about your difficult patch. I want Warden Bingham on the phone. Now.”
There were several chilly moments of silence before the man cleared his throat then said, “Of course, Agent Hawkins. This is Acting Warden Ashton Jackson; we’ve met before. I was working under Harriet’s second in charge, Julio Jimenez when you were out here a few years back.”
“And you still haven’t put Bingham on the phone. Fix that. Now.”
“Well, sir ... ” He cleared his throat. “I can’t. She’s currently in the hospital.”
