Page 63 of Duplicity

Peter stilled. “I couldn’t do anything then. You didn’t want to talk about it, and I didn’t want to ask. I knew what you went through.”

And at the same time, he didn’t have a clue. Though, he knew now.

“Dad was on our case. Freya was doing what she could, but no one would ever have gotten through to you without breaking something inside you. And I wasn’t prepared to do that.”

Simon said, “I’m not prepared for that to happen now to anyone else.”

“Then let me do this with you.”

Jasper appeared in the hall behind Peter, down where this hall fed to the main area. “Briefing, now.”

Simon pressed his lips together.

“He’s a good guy and a good boss.”

“He’s not Clare.”

Peter asked, “And you’re going to complain about that every minute?”

“I don’t have to think everything’s great.”

“You don’t like change. That’s what it is.”

Simon trailed around his brother.

“Unless it’s Cat.” Peter followed behind him. “Then you’re up for all the change. And I can get on board with it if you do it right and treat her with respect.”

“Agreed.” Romeo stood by the wall with his arms folded. Everyone else had heard, or they seemed like they had. Maybe not Cat. Peter hadn’t said it that loudly.

If only Simon could hit the elevator and make a run for it. They were all looking at him like they expected him to make a speech.

Simon looked at Cat. “We know who he is?”

In his mind, he heard a voice, low and full of authority. His vision obscured by the hood over his head. She’d been through it.

Now she knew.

“Lance North.”

Jasper took up right where she left off. “Run him down. I want to know everything, all his business dealings. Property he owns where he might be having this ‘party.’ Full financials. Everything you can find out about his personal life.”

Simon needed to get to work.

Romeo said, “I read Cat’s statement. Given what she said to Lance about Hayden, we need to look for him. Try to find him before Lance does.”

She gasped. “You think he’s going to hurt him?”

Simon crossed the room, walking between cubicles to pull up a chair next to her. As he did, her father said, “You said what you needed to say to keep yourself alive.”

She looked at her dad. “I didn’t think he would hurt Hayden because of me. I was trying to get some good faith, exchange information and try to find out more about what he’s up to.”

“You can’t bargain with a guy like that, Cat.”

She winced, not looking at her father. “I just… I don’t know. I was trying to stay alive. Like you said.”

Simon took her hand. “Would every crime committed as a result of the communication network be my fault because I’m the one who created it?”

She blanched. “No, of course not. You don’t have anything to do with them.”

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