Page 95 of Silver Secrets

“You mentioned that on the phone, but never got around to telling me how you know that for a fact.”

“The envelope was from him. The mask inside would have been enough for me to believe it, but the name on the envelope… He used her boyfriend’s name. The one from college that he killed.”

“I saw that in the report Hawk forwarded to me.”

Gage nodded. “No one could make that connection to Sloane. We’ve kept everything sealed tight in our team. So if that information is out there, that’s on you guys. But there is no doubt in my mind. It’s definitely him.”

“Shit.”

Gage rested his back against the wall, tapping his head onto the solid structure over and over.

“Someone’s walking this way, Gage. Don’t give yourself a concussion before you get to check on her.” Agent Liu smiled as she typed away on her phone.

“Gage Walker?” the nurse asked.

“That’s me.”

“Ms. Donovan has been asking for you. If you’d like to follow me?”

He tamped down the rage at yet another person not getting her name correct.

“Fuck,” Gage groaned. “Can you give me just one second?” he asked the nurse, whose scowl told him what she was really thinking even as she nodded and moved to the far side of the hall. Gage turned back to Kimi. “I have to fucking know. Why didn’t you put her in WITSEC?”

His whispered question was met with a blank stare as the screen on Kimi’s phone lit up with what Gage assumed was an incoming message. “Excuse me?”

“She should have been offered WITSEC protection, and we both know it. You talking behind my team’s back when this all started to get her a new identity without offering it through the proper channelsagainmakes me wonder what the fuck else you’re hiding. And I need to know that I can fucking trust you. Because he knows where she is, and the only reason I’m not tearing this place apart to get to her is because I trust the deputy she’s with to keep her safe.”

The FBI Agent’s eyes crinkled at the corner and her tongue peeked out to lick her lips before she seemed to scratch the bottom one with her teeth. Interesting nervous tick.

“I wasn’t in the wrong for what I did. Around the same time we found Sloane, there was chatter in our organization about a leak within WITSEC. Some big gun runner in New York City, from what I can remember, was able to track down a witness and it didn’t end well. My team lead at the time had a contact outside the normal channels and we made good use of it. I explained all of this to Sloane at the time and she agreed that she did not want the chance to be in a system that may have been compromised.”

“And now? If I told you I want you to put plans in place to get the both of us out of here? Because that’s how it would work, Kimi. It’s not just Sloane going off on her own. I’m there every step of the fucking way. How would you plan it? WITSEC or some black market identities?”

Kimi nodded. “I’d get in touch with my contact. He’s still in play.”

“Okay.” Gage pushed off the wall, taking a step towards the nurse. “Reach out and start the process. If this goes one fucking step further before your team can take down this psycho, I’m getting Sloane out.”

“I understand. Go. I’ll debrief with the team and we’ll make sure you’re looped back in.”

“Thanks.” Gage ran his hand over his face. “Oh, and Kimi?”

“Yeah?”

“Not a word of this to Sloane, or my team, unless it’s as we’re leaving town.”

Kimi sighed, her head dropping back down to the phone in her hand. “You let her know I’m not going to let this end like last time.”

He nodded, knowing the sentiment was more likely to soothe Agent Liu than Sloane.

* * *

“I’m not comfortable with that. Honestly, I’m fine and I’d rather just go home than continue looking for something wrong that just isn’t.” Sloane sighed, reaching up to rub at her temple.

“I’ll have to document the refusal for testing in your chart.”

Tears welled in her eyes. God, she was so ready for the day to just be over.

“I think she’s made her position clear,” Colton Ford, Dolly’s son and her current protector, said from the corner of her room. The man was a brick wall. Emotionless. His eyes constantly scanned the room as his hand rested on his belt. Colt had been on high alert the entire time since walking in, and she understood why, but it didn’t make it any easier.

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