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“Mick vouched for you. And honestly, I was desperate. I can’t spare the guards here and none would be able to balance the need of protection here and the duty of the problem I have right now. We’re under attack. I didn’t plan to bring any other people in until I could be sure we had it under control.”
“I’m sorry if Nathaniel and I have complicated things for you.”
“You can’t imagine,” Kenan admitted, rubbing his hand against the plush leather of the chair he was sitting in.
“Just tell me what I can do to help.” She blinked hard at him. “We can stay out of the way. I can give you my word that whatever I know about this place will never be something I tell anyone.”
He nodded. “That’s not really what complicated this situation. You see the problem I have here involves you directly. There are times we, as an organization, have very difficultchoices to make. They can look cruel. They can look heartless. But I promise you everything we do has a purpose. A look toward the greater good.”
Rose felt the kind openness of her chest slam shut. His words frightened her because they made no sense. “What do you mean?”
“Harry,” he said, dragging his guilty looking eyes up from the ground and up toward hers.
“What about Harry?” she gasped.
“He’s alive. Or he...” Kenan shook his head. “He was here. Working for us. Helping. Trying to keep this place safe. Hidden.”
“Harry is alive?” She lost her breath like a child who’d cried themselves empty. “I don’t understand.”
“We have to make tough choices. We have to look at the greater good. Harry survived his injuries in that apartment building. But the best thing we could do was make it look as though he’d died. For his safety at first. Then so that he could be a valuable asset.”
“Asset?” The word felt like sand in her mouth. As if people were only pawns, this man, these people felt they could move around as they saw fit.
“I gave him a choice and he chose to help. He wanted to do this.”
“Do what? Where is he now?” She stood, propelled upward by the boiling over of her confusion.
“We don’t know. I can explain. Just give me a chance, please.”
She paced the room, the books now fading into the background. Their earthy smell no longer a comfort. When she didn’t speak, Kenan continued.
“There is a woman here; she’s in grave danger. Moved her for her protection. Unfortunately, not all our protocols were followed and, on her way here, some of her technologywas tracked. Now it was only tracked to the area, not specifically here. The people hunting her have been searching the surrounding towns to try to figure out what they know. Who might have seen her and if they are hiding her. I needed Harry to try to find out who specifically they were looking for and how close they were to homing in on Verde Lago.”
“Surrounding towns? There was nothing for miles. This place is in the middle of nowhere.”
“It’s true. But the people in the nearest towns know of the existence of Verde Lago, even if they don’t know exactly what we do here. It’s been an incredibly symbiotic relationship for decades, but now that danger has come to their doorstep, we might be compromised. Harry was supposed to be the eyes and ears.”
“The shield,” she corrected. “The bait?”
Kenan looked guilty. “The distraction. The stalling tactic that bought us more time here.”
“Because what did he really matter, he was already dead?” She covered her mouth with her hand as she punctuated the words with a sob.
“I assure you, every life matters to us. We had no intention of sacrificing Harry. He knew what he was signing on for and took it willingly. He has his own demons. Guilt.”
“Right, you knew he’d be looking for some kind of penance. What better way to get what you want than offer him a way to absolve himself of the guilt. Where is he now?”
“We got word from someone in town. He’d been jumped. Tased. Taken.”
“And you’re worried he’ll lead them here?” She chuckled humorlessly. “Is Mick here to tie up loose ends?”
“No,” Kenan asserted seriously. “There are no loose ends. Harry doesn’t know where this place is. We are careful with how we operate. That’s not why Mick is here.”
“Then why?”
“To find Harry. To help.”
She gulped back the emotions rising up in her. “Do you think he’s dead?”
