Page 9 of Crossover

“Maybe he wanted to present the evidence in person,” I reasoned.

With the CIA mission in progress, why would he take that time, though? Seconds mattered.

“Maybe,” Seth allowed, but I could hear the doubt in his tone. “But it didn’t sit right with me.”

It didn’t sit right with me, either. What was he up to?

“So, after he left, I looked closer at the evidence you brought. Just a preliminary scrub.”

He was building up to something. I could push him on it, but I waited. Impatiently, mind you, but I waited all the same until, finally, he said it.

“And you’re right. Something doesn’t add up. The IT fingerprints suggest the evidence against that woman was manufactured.”

Appreciation bloomed in my gut.

Because that, evidently, was something Seth wasn’t on board with. I wasn’t sure if it was because of his conscience or because having any involvement—even failing to make an effort to intervene—in the termination of an innocent person could hurt his chances of a promotion, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was that he appeared to be on my side here.

On Ivy’s side.

I’d still be guarded and careful, in case he was laying a trap.

I didn’t think Seth was the type of guy to do that, but then I never expected Daniel wouldn’t give me a heads-up that they were about to target Ivy, either, and knowingly lure me away from her with the false pretense of that meeting. I thought our bond went deeper than that.

And if Daniel was acting shady on top of that…something else was going on here, too.

“There’s one more thing that Daniel said on that call that struck me as odd.”

I waited.

“He said he’d make the call to the mother.”

Ice crawled over my bones.

“The mother?” What didthatmean? “Did he say anything else?”

“No, that was it. He just said he’d make the call to the mother, then rushed out to his car.”

As I mulled over the information, an unsettling dread wove through the fabric of my skin. The pieces were falling into place, forming a picture that I didn’t like. Daniel’s cagey behavior, the suspicious timing of his actions, and now this cryptic reference to a mother figure…it all pointed to something sinister lurking beneath the surface.

Seth’s voice broke through my thoughts. “They’ve parked.”

When he told me the address, my blood froze.

The only time the CIA took suspects to a location like that…

Was if a lot of blood was about to be shed.

We had to reach her. Now. Before the unthinkable happened.

I leaned forward, every muscle coiled. “Drive faster.”

4

IVY

Daniel? So, it was true, then. My mom’s ex, Steve, did lie about his name, just like Detective Mitchell suspected, and it was actuallyDaniel?

They dated for two years!Who lies about their real name for two freaking years?

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