Page 19 of Hunt

“Of course not,” I replied far too sweetly.

“Do you want me to lose him?” the silent lackey asked because he couldn’t think for himself.

Judith hesitated a couple of beats before answering, “No. Pull up in here. " She pointed to the college garden entrance that leads to a sports field where I sat, sometimes dreaming about my other life. Maybe Mr. Kaiser would like a little chat.”

I scoffed at her comment as Gunner Kaiser wasn’t a ‘little chat’ sort of guy. Predictably, Gunner didn’t follow and instead drove further along the road, which was out of my view. “Don’t worry; he doesn’t know who I really am,” I assured her.

She snorted as if I were stupid. “Obviously. You’d be mysteriously missing, and maybe we’d find remains of your body ten years later in a refuge dump or by the river.”

“That’s so romantic,” I crooned sarcastically to disguise my anxiety because she was right. The Kaisers would kill me and toss my lifeless body away.

My mind drifted to Cheetos and Katerina, and my hand itched toward my phone to message her. Why was Ronan so pushy about finding out who my twin was? I hoped he didn’t organize someone to visit her and pressure them to discover her surname. And why did they want to know that? That socially awkward girl hardly posed a threat, and so what if she did? Why did they care?

The silent lackey parked the vehicle under a hanging bush, cutting out the sunlight. Still, Gunner was out of view, but I knew he was there. I always sensed him—the Rourke effect. Hairs prickled along my forearms, my stomach was twisted in knots, and my heart rate increased.

“Right,” Bitchtective exhaled impatiently when the engine was switched off, and she seemed convinced that Gunner Kaiser was gone. I knew better. “Update. Now. Have you managed to search Mikael’s office?”

I snorted, assuming she was joking. “Are you serious? How do I check his office when he’s always in there?”

She opened the glove compartment and took out a bag of hard-boiled aniseed sweets. She offered me one, but I declined. Then, she tossed one in her mouth and crunched down on it before addressing me: “Find the fire alarm.”

“What?” I was horrified at how dumb this suggestion was. “You want me to trigger the fire alarm so he leaves the office? Do you know who these people are? I mean…they virtually invented fake emergencies to bamboozle unsuspecting citizens. They’re criminals. Practically the mafia.”

“Practically?” she chuckled. “They are the mafia. That’s why we want information on them, so they don’t hurt any more people.”

“Like who? Who have they hurt recently? Got a list?” I challenged her smugly.

Yes, I knew they hurt people, but my impression was it was their enemies who they whacked, who were just as dirty as they were. So, it was hardly as if they were sawing body parts of children or busting into retirement homes and shooting the elderly residents. They had specific targets who were just as sordid and perilous as they were.

Unsurprisingly, she ignored my question because she would be unable to give an example of someone the Kaisers murdered who wasn’t a criminal.

“I’m starting to worry about where your priorities are, Riley, or should I call you Annika?” She swallowed the aniseed boiled sweet, then opened the lid of a drink bottle. “What else can you give me?”

“Nothing.” I snipped at her. “I haven’t had the chance.”

“We need you to take action on this, Riley. The next time we speak, I want something. Anything.” She took a sip of the liquid in the water bottle, and I wouldn’t be surprised that there was more than water. “Have you tried getting into the basement under the Science Library?”

“What? Basement?” I was confused, but I knew I wouldn’t like what she was about to say. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, I thought you already knew,” she blurted, checking the wing mirror as a vehicle drove in, but it wasn’t Gunner. “The Kaisers have an on-campus headquarters, a basement under the Science Library. I mean…don’t you study a science? What was it? Shrimp or seaweed or something. Since you spend time in that building anyway, we need you to search it.”

“It’s probably locked and alarmed,” I told her. “How do I get in? Do you honestly believe they’d have their headquarters open for anyone to walk in and snoop about when no one was there?”

She sucked in her lips, showing her shrinking patience with my attitude that she hadn’t seen before. Under her watch, I was always well-behaved and did as I was told because I was on a tidal wave directed by the people around me.

“Find a way, Riley,” she said sternly, putting pressure on her. She opened the glove compartment again, took out a small white box, and handed it to me. “Place those where they’re unlikely to see them, but in a good, clear viewing position. Understand?”

I swallowed over a lump in my throat, too reluctant to take the box from her hand. My trust for Judith had vanished, so whatever was in the box might as well be poison. “What is it?”

“Listening and viewing devices,” she informed me, placing the box on my lap since I didn’t want to touch it. When I looked at her blankly, she clarified, “Cameras. Bugs. Whatever.”

“Okay. Umm…” I was a little stunned as a brick of anxiety landed on my chest, weighing me down. There was no way I could escape this.

“Good. The next time we speak, I will assume that you’re not on our side if you don't have information on them,” Bitchtective concluded.

“I have loyalties to me and me only,” I told her, and she wasn’t pleased. I wish I hadn’t said it aloud because her suspicions would grow toward me, which meant she’d constantly be on my back.

“Don’t become a problem for us, Annika,” she warned as she tapped the forearm of the silent lackey for him to start the engine to leave.

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