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“I’m not sure if I should be offended. You and Cate were both asked to join this secret underground society, and I was ignored completely.”
“You joined the Army. Maybe that decision told them you didn’t fit their mold.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
Samantha let her eyes wander the space again. The warm color scheme of the ornamental woodwork and frescoes seemed to glow under the golden sunlight. Then she noticed it. The symbol. “Look.” She pointed above a door.
“How did we not see that sooner?” Gavin asked.
“Easy. We didn’t know to look.” Grayson said. “Good job spotting that, Sam.”
“Let’s get Pierce to look into any connection between the Continental Alliance and the Fisher Library. Scott can you make that call?”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Chapter Fourteen
Gavin’swatchedasScottwent to do their bidding. Sometimes he hated being a boss. It tested the limits of friendship when the people you hung out with off-the-clock answered to you at work. It felt like he was always ordering them around, but Scott had been trusted to keep Cate safe, and he’d failed to do so. And as much as Gavin understood that nobody could watch his sister around the clock, it irked him that her bodyguard had let her out of his sight. Recognizing that he was being irrational, he attempted civility.
He was mad at himself more than Scott anyway. Ever since he assigned Sandra to Emily and sealed her fate, he didn’t trust his own decisions. And once again he’d made the wrong call. Maybe it would’ve been better to stick with Kenneth. But second guessing himself wasn’t helping.
Shaking off his thoughts, he locked eyes with Samantha. Something was happening between them. There was no denying it. The question was would he sabotage it as per usual? She’d driven three hours to bring him her book. Glancing around him at the shelves lined with books, he wondered if a similar book may have been hidden here in plain sight all along. It wouldn’t have occurred to him, had Sam not spotted that crucial clue. “Good catch on the carving, Sam.”
“Hope it leads somewhere.”
“Same here.” Grayson stood and stretched. “We need to do something.”
Scott rejoined them.
“What did Pierce have to say?” Gavin asked.
“He’ll get right on it, but it’ll take time.”
“Time we don’t have.” Gray tapped the face of his watch to emphasize his point.
Gavin stood. “I’m going to take this book to the research librarian and see if he can help us.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Gray asked.
“No. But I don’t have a better one, and time is wasting.”
He stalked over to the desk and set the book along with a picture of Cate down on the counter.
A white-haired man identified as Fraser on his name tag raised his eyes to meet Gavin’s. “How can I help you, sir?”
Gavin handed him the book. “We’d like to see if you have any books on the Continental Alliance.”
“Let me check for you.” He punched some keys and frowned. “Nothing is coming up, but I can do a deep dive. Do you mind if I take a photo of the title page?”
“No. Go ahead.”
Fraser snapped a photo of the title page and another of the spine. “Check back in tomorrow, and I’ll have something for you.”
Gavin liked the man’s confidence in his own abilities. If he did have something the next day he’d offer him a job. “One more thing.”
The librarian raised an eyebrow.
“Have you seen this woman?”
