Page 105 of Jep

“What files?” Gardener said.

“Documents go missing all the time,” Jep said, giving Em a warning look.

“You mentioned that to me before, Miss Chapman,” Gardener said. “You asserted that you remembered the details wrong. Has something changed?”

“No,” Em said. “All I mean is that Jep being a part of this team hasn’t made things worse.”

“They’re certainly not better. We almost lost you today.”

“Only because they found out that Jep and I were there.”

“How do you think that happened?”

“I don’t know.” She looked at Jep, unsure how to move forward. She’d revealed too much, and now she was making things worse by trying to fix it.

“They could have been watching,” Gardener said.

“Yes. That’s probably what happened.”

“If not that, then who could have told them? Who knew you were going?” Gardener’s voice was steady. Curious.

“It’s not something we can answer right now,” Jep said. “We’ve got work to do, but thanks for showing us what you found.”

“No problem.”

When Jep turned, his hand moved to his gun, but Gardener responded first and swung her arm around. Jep caught it at the last second and ducked, but it connected with his head, and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Em thought she had screamed but couldn’t remember hearing the sound of it. Gardener shoved her back against the wall.

“Be smart and don’t move.”

“What have you done?” Em couldn’t recognize her own voice.

Gardener shook her head. “If you had been satisfied to stay at your desk instead of traipsing around the city with Agent Booth, none of this would have happened.”

“He needs a doctor.”

“No. I don’t have a problem if he dies.”

Em thought she might throw up. “Please.”

“You’re a real pill, you know that? I thought you had potential. I mean, you’ve always irritated me with that goody-two-shoes thing you’ve got going on, but I thought you would prove useful.”

“How? I’m no one.”

“Until Jep arrived and flipped everything on its head. Having you by his side I thought would prove useful. And all I had to do to get your full cooperation was give you a little positive reinforcement. It was cute that you thought I’d suddenly become your best friend. Unfortunately, you turned out to be a bigger problem than asset.”

Em’s stomach churned. “And this whole time it was you.” Her mind spun with scenarios as she tried to put the pieces together so she could see the web clearly, but it was all mixed up. Shehadfallen for it. If Jep died, it would be her own fault.

“I really am that good.”

“But you sent people to kill us. Me. You know me. You might not like me, but youknowme.”

“What was I supposed to do? I knew I wasn’t going to talk you out of going, and I couldn’t risk you finding anything. You’re too clever for your own good, really. Stupid. But clever. That made you a liability, and the best way to fix that was to continuewith the narrative we’d set into motion already. Agent dies at the hand of terrorists. It’s been working for us so far.”

“Us?”

Gardener smiled. It was the same smile she always had, but somehow now it was cold. Almost evil.

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