Page 48 of Bad Enough

“Several of the pictures inside the envelope she received were of her at The Library the night you two met up.”

TB pushed so hard on the desk, it skidded a couple of inches in Waters’ direction, and his chair overturned when he stood up out of it in his rage. He started to make his way to the door, but Waters stood between him and it, placing a hand on TB’s chest when he got within range.

“Dude, she’s still in the break room. She’s safe. Relax.”

TB’s chest was heaving, like he’d run a marathon across the desert.

“There’s more. You need to sit down.”

TB glared at him.

“You either sit down, or I won’t tell you, and I’ll lock your ass up. I can’t have you going on one of your typical rampages on this one.”

“Motherfucker, I swear to God I will?—”

“Sit. The Fuck. Down.”

Waters was smaller than him but scrappy. TB knew better than to test his team leader when he went into operator mode, despite the fact that he hadn’t been one in truth for almost two years.

TB began grinding his teeth, then whirled around, smashing his hand against the in-out trays sitting on the corner of the desk, shattering them on contact. Standing at the window, hands on hips, he tried to rein in his anger. It was several minutes with Waters standing in front of the door, waiting for TB to collect himself, and TB clenching and unclenching his fists as he stared out at nothing on the street below.

Get your shit together. She’s inside Tribe. No one can get to her here.

No place is impenetrable.

No one here is going to hurt her.

Damn straight.

Finally, TB turned, picked up his chair, and sat back down behind the desk. It was another minute before he was able to unclench his teeth and speak.

“What else?”

Waters sat back down on the couch but on the edge of it.

Whatever it is he’s about to tell me, I’m not going to like because he’s ready to cut me off at the door again.

TB could feel the cold coming over him. It was in these moments that he knew he was most dangerous. Because when he felt cold, there was no compassion, no faith, no mercy, and no justice. Only revenge and retribution.

“There was also a note inside the envelope.”

TB felt his heart pounding. His fists were clenched on top of his thighs. His upper teeth were grinding down on the bottom ones.

“He called her a whore. Said he always knew she was one. That participating at the club proves he’s always been right about her.”

“I know how your mind works. You think he’s someone she knows. Do you think she knows who it is?”

“Can’t tell. Too much fear there to cut through right now. That suggests to me, yes, she knows who it is and is legitimately scared. Midas is compiling a file on her while he waits for Cyclopes to do its A.I. thing on the photos, looking for shadows, reflections, whatever.”

“Fuckin’ computer program scares the shit out of me,” TB murmured. “Pretty soon, we won’t need Midas anymore. That or he and Cyclopes will meld.”

Waters pulled a photograph out of one of his cargo pockets and threw it across the desk. “Right or wrong, I held this one back. I don’t think she saw it, as it was stuck inside the envelope down at the bottom. Demon and I, and now you, are the only ones who’ve seen it. I’ll hold off on showing it to anyone else until I absolutely have to.”

16

JUNE 15TH

TB

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