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And that sickening sensation ofwrongnessin his gut spread.
“Why am I only now being notified of this?”
“Well, Miles, I’ve got a lot of prisoners under my watch, and things went to shit after the attack where Harriet was injured—Jimenez didn’t make it.”
“Agent Hawkins,” Miles snapped even as his mind supplied him with an image of a stocky Latino in his early fifties, a man with somber eyes and matching expression, but one who had a keen wit. Dead. “When were you placed in your current position?”
“The day after the attack,” Jackson replied stiffly. “If you can tell me what this call is related to, I’ll see what I can do to help.”
“We’ll discuss it when I get there.”
Several moments of silence passed, followed by a short, “Sir?”
“I’m on my way to the facility. I’ll be putting in a call to the regional director to find out just what the fuck has happened and why I wasn’t notified about these issues the moment I hang up. Please use the time to update yourself on the following two inmates—” He checked the dates of birth for both although they were imprinted on his mind and read them off. “—and have an updated report ready.”
“Hawkins, I don’t work for you and I’m a busy man—”
“You’re a busy man who may soon find himself out on his ass, as I have a man currently walking around free when he should have been serving out another three years of his sentence, minimum, and that man has somehow located a woman in witness protection—a woman he hasharmedin the past. I want to know about his release, his parole officers, what the fuck he ate the night before he left your custody and I want all of it together within the next couple of hours. So I suggest you get your thumb out of your ass and get to work.”
Eyes gritty with fatigue, Travis moved onto his deck and stripped off his shirt, then went to the farthest end where the water was deeper. The tide was in so it was safe enough for him to jump in and he did so, pushing his body as he swam long and hard before turning and starting back to the house next to Isabel’s.
A team of FBI agents dressed in overalls and other work gear was at her place, going over everything with a fine-toothed comb even as they set up a top-of-the-line security system, one that would rival Miles’ ... and Miles had a set-up that could make any security geek weep.
One of the agents would be staying behind, too.
Travis needed somebody else on hand besides him. Miles found one of his men who bore enough of a surface resemblance to Travis that, at a quick look, a casual bystander would probably assume the personwasTravis. Travis had to do some traveling, very shortly, because thanks to Beresford proving he did know at leastsomethingabout Travis, he needed to talk to his family—his twin.
Travis couldn’t do it over the phone, not after lying for as long as he had.
It was best to get it done now, too. Miles had gotten word from his people that the call from Beresford had originated from West Virginia. An APB for Beresford to all law enforcement agencies in between there and Maine already been issued. It would take the prick time to get here, traveling backroads, avoiding cameras, highways, minimizing the risk of encountering law enforcement, so Travis had a very small window of time.
He at least had to see Trey, talk him and Ressa into going to Arizona or California to stay with the rest of the family for a few weeks.
Everybody else lived out west, so they were far away from Beresford and any lingering reach Wilson Steele might have had, although they’d all have security. But Travis had to take care of this.
Twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours, and he’d be back.
In the meantime, federal marshals, accompanied by security specialists Miles had handpicked from the years he and Travis had worked together were being sent to look over Isabel’s twin sisters, and hopefully relocate them.
Apparently,relocatingwasn’t always easy.
Mary Kate—or Marilyn, as she was now called—didn’t do well with the relocations she’d been forced to endure, and Ellison—or Ellen, as Travis had known her—went nowhere without her twin.
Isabel had told him that the twins might end up coming to stay with her until everything was settled. If it was the only way to keep Marilyn from being alone in her house, it was what they’d do. He hadn’t seen the problem, but then Isabel hadtoldhim the problem—it washim.
Ellison hates you. They don’t know many details, but they know a few and she hates your guts. I won’t be able to undo that damage in just a short time.
Travis could live with Ellison hating him. Hell, he’d lived with his own self-hate for more than a decade. What he couldn’t live with was either of the twins being harmed so he wanted them here.
As he finally climbed out of the water, muscles somewhat refreshed, he grabbed the T-shirt he’d discarded and used it to dry his face. Before his swim, he’d collapsed on his bed and grabbed a short nap, feeling safe enough to do so since he had backup on site.
Thanks to the nap and the swim, he felt fairly energized, so he grabbed a quick shower. He was on the deck and heading toward the steps when his phone rang.
“Tell me you’ve found out what the hell happened,” he demanded, having recognized Miles’ number when it came up on the secure app.
“I have a few answers, but even more questions—are you going to be ready to fly out in a few hours?”
Travis shoved a hand through his wet hair. “Yes. But tell me what’s going on.”
