Page 82 of Master of Lies

My whole body contracted. I held up my hand. “Don’t even start. Just don’t. We’ve been through this. I thought we’d left it behind us. We act together now.”

“We do, Frey. Always. But listen,” he said earnestly. “You’d be safe in the motel. He doesn’t have any way to find you there. But as soon as I go to Grifo’s, I could be on Boer’s radar. He has Grifo under surveillance for sure. It could be a trap.”

“So? Why walk into it at all, if it’s so damn dangerous?”

“We need that flash drive,” he said. “It’s the key to moving forward. But Grifo and his wife are weak links. They think they’re doomed. They act doomed. So getting anywhere near them is bad luck. Let me do this part alone.”

“If you go, I go,” I said stubbornly.

“If something happens to me, you can keep looking for Shane,” he coaxed. “You keep building on what we’ve learned, with Ethan’s help. Shane has a better chance with you still out there, fighting, solving puzzles, being brilliant. This pickup is an errand any dumb grunt can do. There’s no reason for you to expose yourself for this.”

“Then you shouldn’t expose yourself, either,” I said. “You’re no dumb grunt.”

“This window of opportunity is about to close. Grifo is losing his nerve. He’s about to bolt, or run to the cops and spill his guts, and my guess is, Boer will get him either way, and we’ll lose Mickey’s intel. Besides, it’s time to loop your brother into this. Do it tonight while I’m gone. If Ethan saw me now, he’d shoot me in the face.”

“I’ll handle Ethan,” I said.

“Tonight,” he insisted. “While I’m with Grifo. Tell him everything. Tell him where you are. Promise me you’ll do that. I don’t like leaving you alone.”

“So don’t,” I said.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. He just drove, mouth tight, looking miserable. I just sat there, feeling the snarling dogfight deep inside me, tearing me apart.

Because he was right. I was being childish. My presence would certainly have been helpful yesterday, when he went to Grifo’s practice, if he’d been smart enough to bring me. And it had made good sense for me to come to the gala. But for this meeting, I would just be tagging along because I didn’t want to be alone. It would be much more practical and time-effective to hang back at the motel and get to work on Ethan.

But oh God, was it hard to swallow.

To his credit, he wasn’t strong-arming me, as Ethan would have. That would’ve made it easier to spit in his eye and feel righteously pissed.

As it was, I just felt useless and small and scared. And abandoned.

Jed had the wisdom to leave me the hell alone as we sped through the dark. When we were on the loop road through the woods to the cabin, I finally spoke.

“Fine, then,” I said, my voice small. “Go alone, if you want.”

“You know I hate to leave you,” he said. “You know how I feel.”

“I get it. Just go, already.” I hated my own bitchy tone, but couldn’t control it. My choices were that, or tears, which was really no choice at all.

“You’ll call Ethan?” he demanded. “You promise?”

“Yes, of course, but you have to promise something, too,” I said. “Text me. Every twenty minutes. And let me put a trace in your phone.”

Jed pulled to a stop in front of the cabin, and killed the engine. “Seems a bit excessive.” There was a hint of amusement in his tone, which annoyed me. “How about I just text you when I get there, and then again when I leave?”

“Twenty-minute intervals,” I said, my voice icy. “Not one second more. Those are my terms, Clearwater. Read death in my eyes if you fail to comply.”

“As you command, my lady.”

“Oh, stop.” I slammed out of the car and stalked down the gravel path to the cabin. Or tried to. It was more like a wobbling lurch. I wished I had invested more time in my tender youth learning how to function well in heels, but I had skipped those days at girly-girl school. I liked combat boots, fuzzy slippers, kicks.

Jed caught up with me by the time I pushed the door open. My face was hot, my eyes wet, and I must have had a raccoon mask to rival Rachelle. So I slapped his arm down when he made for the light switch inside the front door. “Leave it off.”

He heard the tears in my voice, of course. “Oh, Frey,” he whispered.

I flinched away as he tried to embrace me. “Don’t. Please. I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

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