Page 50 of Stalked

“Damn it, Rosalyn, I’m trained to look for suspicious patterns. To see bad things before they happen.”

“And that’s what I was, right? A bad thing.”

“No, it’s just—”

She slammed her hand down on the table. “You put handcuffs on me like I was some common criminal that might try to run at any second. You didn’t ask. You didn’t give me a chance to explain.”

“Rosalyn—”

“We made love last night. And today you were convinced I was trying to have you killed. I guess that tells me how you really feel about me.”

He stood then. “No, it wasn’t like that. I had to force myself to try to look at you objectively.”

He reached out toward her, but she snatched herself back. When Steve touched her, she couldn’t think straight. Her attraction to him overpowered everything else. She didn’t want that now. Maybe never wanted it again.

She rubbed her eyes. She was tired, not just from today but from everything. The only thing good going for her now was the fact that everyone here believed her. The agents seemed ready and willing to put their resources and brainpower into figuring out who the Watcher was and what Rosalyn could do about it. It was more than she’d had in a long time.

“You know what? Just take me to the conference room. The faster we can get this situation resolved, the sooner I can get myself out of your life.”

Because Steve obviously didn’t want her there.

* * *

STEVEDIDN’TMAKEa lot of tactical errors. Nor did he make many errors in judgment. His job and the lives of the people on his team, not to mention those of the American public in general, depended on it.

But he’d done both with Rosalyn.

They walked to the conference room together in silence. Not the comfortable kind.

She was mad. He didn’t blame her.

But she was right. They needed to concentrate on figuring out all they could about the Watcher. Not because Steve wanted Rosalyn out of his life—he’d be damned if he was going to let that happen—but because obviously the Watcher had escalated in violence over the past few days.

Steve would do whatever was necessary to keep Rosalyn and the baby safe. Even if she didn’t want anything to do with him right now.

He held the door open for her as they entered the conference room. Jon, Brandon and Andrea were already there. Roman Weber, a member of Omega’s SWAT team, had joined them.

One entire wall of the conference room was made up of an electronic whiteboard. Brandon and Jon had already started making a timeline on it. Everything they wrote could be saved onto a computer file to be used later.

“Molly brought Rosalyn’s notebook back over from the lab,” Andrea said as they walked in. “Nothing suspicious about it.”

Steve nodded, not surprised.

Brandon turned to them from the whiteboard. “Basically, we have two inconsistencies that need to be addressed before we can go much further. First, why didn’t the Watcher have any contact with you for the six months you were at the Ammonses’ in Ellijay? What was different? Something in your life or something in his?”

“I don’t know.” Rosalyn shrugged as she sat down at the table.

“How did you meet them?” Andrea asked.

“I took a bus from Pensacola as far as the amount of money I had would take me.” She glanced over at Steve, then looked away quickly. “That ended up being Ellijay.

“The Ammonses own a small café in town. They’ve lived there all their lives. They live right on top of the café, although I know Mr. Ammons also has a fishing cabin somewhere.” Rosalyn smiled. “I got off the bus, went in to eat and felt like I never really left there again until I went to meet my sister in Pensacola.”

Her smile faded into a flinch at the mention of her sister.

“Anyway, I asked Mrs. Ammons if I could make some cash washing dishes or whatever. They’re not big fans of the government, so they didn’t mind paying me cash under the table.”

Jon smiled. “I like them already.”

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