Page 50 of High Density

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

With a tight smile, I start walking toward the stockyard where my truck is parked, and sigh a breath of relief when Jericho doesn’t follow me. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I call JD’s number, which rings five times before bumping me to voicemail. I leave a brief message, telling him I’ll be waiting for him by the truck, but as soon as I end the call, my phone rings. I see it’s him calling me back.

“Hey, where are you?”

“Janey?” I stop in my tracks when I recognize Stephanie Kramer’s voice.

“It is. What’s going on?”

“Listen to me carefully. I need you to get to your truck and drive straight home. One of my agents will be right behind you. Don’t stop for anything, just go straight home.”

Something is very wrong.

“What’s happening? Where is JD?”

“He’s here with me. Listen, I need you to go home right now. We’ll see you there.”

She hangs up before I can ask to speak to him. Something is obviously happening, giving me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I start walking again, a little faster now.

I catch sight of Logan when I pass our improvised clinic. He watched things while I was at the auction.

“How did it go?” He wants to know, walking up to me.

“Fine. Nothing major. You?” I ask, mostly by reflex.

“Same. It’s been quiet for the last forty-five minutes or so,” he shares.

“Good, good. Go home,” I tell him. “I’m heading out too. Long day, and it’ll be another one tomorrow. I’ll see you at eight?”

“I’ll be here.”

He shoots me a wide grin, reminding me of one of those happy-go-lucky puppies. Normally that would’ve triggered a smile, but right now I’m feeling nauseated with worry.

I’m not sure how I manage to get home in one piece. After getting stuck in a bit of a jam getting out of the park—everyone seemed to be leaving at the same time—I wove like a maniac through traffic in my rush to get here. I’m lucky I didn’t hit anyone and escaped getting pulled over. I never even thought about the agent who was supposedly following me home until I see the SUV pulling into my driveway right behind me.

He doesn’t follow me to the house though, but instead steers toward the clinic, driving around to the back of the barn. There are no vehicles parked in front of my house and the lights are off. I sit here for a moment, wondering what the hell is going on, but when I look back at the barn, I spot someone standing in the shadows outside, waving at me.

I’m a little spooked, so rather than get out and walk over, I take the truck, following suit and pulling around the back of the barn. There are three vehicles already parked here, including the one that followed me home. I assume they’re tucked out of sight from the road. None of it does the sick worry in my stomach any good.

Neither does Stephanie Kramer’s serious face when she opens the clinic’s back door for me.

JD

I’m pissed.

For a multitude of reasons, but right at this moment I’m mostly angry at the fucking feds for scaring the crap out of Janey.

Her face was ghostly white and her expression panicked when she walked in a few minutes ago. She’s a little better now, sitting beside me, clasping my hand in a viselike grip while Special Agent Kramer gets her up to speed.

Of course, I’m ticked off at whoever hit me over the head hard enough to knock me out, leaving a nice gash in my scalp at the back of my head. The cut bled like a stuck pig, which makes things look way more dramatic than they should.

One of Kramer’s colleagues, who’d apparently been monitoring the transport trailers, interrupted the attack. Unfortunately, the guy who knocked me out took off running before the agent could get a good look at him. Instead of going after the asshole, he decided to check on me.

I was still on the ground between the trailers when I opened my eyes to find Kramer leaning over me. A brief discussion ensued on whether or not EMTs should be called in, which wasn’t something I was a fan of. For me to end up in the hospital would create a snowball effect no one would be able to control.

In the end, it wasn’t that difficult to convince Kramer not to compromise her investigation like that. I told her I worked with a trained medic, who could have a look at my head, but it had been her idea to ask Bo to meet us at Janey’s clinic.

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