The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents #6)(30)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Her breath caught in her throat.

“When it’s over, that’s when we can talk,” Cooper growled.

Another phone rang then—her phone. She instantly recognized the familiar beat of music that alerted her to the caller’s identity. Gabrielle hurried across the room, vaguely aware that Cooper had ended his call and followed her.

Her fingers trembled a bit as she picked up her phone. She took the call saying, “Penelope, look, this isn’t a good time for me—”

“Something is happening here,” Penelope whispered.

“What?”

“After you left a man and a woman in suits—you know, the boring, government-type suits—came in to the Inquisitor. They went into Hugh’s office. They closed the door, and now Hugh is about to leave town for a trip down to the Cayman Islands.”

What? Hugh was heading off to the islands? That made zero sense to her.

“Get in here!” Penelope ordered.

Then the woman hung up on her.

After her day, Gabrielle really didn’t need Penelope’s drama.

Gabrielle hurriedly tried getting her boss on the line. Only he wasn’t picking up. The guy never ignored a call from any of his reporters. And Hugh also didn’t just rush out of town. In fact, he usually stayed at the Inquisitor until after midnight most nights.

What’s going on?

She looked up. Cooper had his eyes on her. “My boss is leaving town.” She rubbed the growing knot of tension in the back of her neck. “Some strange folks in suits came in, and Penelope was pretty much saying they’ve pressured him to leave.” Government-type suits. “Feds,” she muttered.

Cooper’s brows climbed. “Uh, you think Feds are pressuring your boss to get out of D.C.?”

Her gaze cut to the window. “I have to get down to the Inquisitor.”

“You just told me that you don’t like storms.”

“No, I don’t,” she agreed quickly. “They scare the ever-loving hell out of me. But I can’t let fear stop me.” She never had, never would.

She headed for the bedroom.

He blocked her path. “Maybe we should get out of town.”

Her eyes widened. “What?” But, before he could reply, Gabrielle shook her head. “I can’t! I have a story, people counting on me—”

“You have a killer calling you, threatening you. You need to get out of sight and get some place safe.” He gave a hard nod. “I can keep you safe. I can take you someplace that no one else would ever be able to find.”

His words held an ominous ring that unsettled her. “I don’t want to vanish. I’m not hiding.” She brushed past him.

“Fine.” That word was bitten off. “I’ll take you to the Inquisitor.”

Gabrielle stopped at the bedroom door and swung back to face him. “Uh, try that again.” She motioned to the window. “I’m not getting on your motorcycle. We’ll take a cab. My whole facing-your-fears bit only goes so far.”

For an instant, she thought he’d smile at her.

But then he did that little trick of his—that trick where all emotion vanished from his face and eyes. “When you want to vanish, tell me. Remember that, okay? I can get you out of this game anytime.”

“It’s not a game.”

“Isn’t it?”

Life and death shouldn’t be a game.

And Cooper’s words shouldn’t have reminded her of the killer.

But they did.

The killer’s voice seemed to echo in her mind.

“Winner kills all.”

* * *

HUGH’S COMPUTER WAS GONE. His files were boxed up.

And he was sweating.

Gabrielle stood in the doorway of his office, frowning. “Hugh?”

His head jerked up at her call.

“What happened here?”

He cleared his throat and gave a shrug. “Vacation time,” he told her with a too-jovial tone in his voice. “Got some coming, so I thought I’d head out for a few days.”

Bull. She glanced at Cooper. He shrugged. Raindrops clung to the sides of his hair.

Gabrielle marched into Hugh’s office. “Come in and shut the door, Cooper.” Because this conversation wasn’t going further than the three of them.

She slapped her hands against the surface of Hugh’s desk. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he watched her.

“You don’t run from anything,” she told him. “And you taught me not to run.”

“I’m not running.” That false jovial air weakened. “It’s a vacation, I told you that.”

The door clicked shut.

“Who got to you? Did the cops put pressure on you because of that call I—”

He reached across the desk and grabbed her left hand. “You’re in too deep.”

Gabrielle shook her head. “I’m a reporter. You taught me that there can never be a ‘too deep’—this is our job. To follow the truth, no matter where it might take us.”

“What if it takes you to the grave?”

“Hugh…”

He freed her and rolled his shoulders. “Feds confiscated my computer. They told me they believed that the killer had hacked into the system here at the Inquisitor, that he’d been using my own intel to get close to you. That was how he knew where you lived, knew your phone number… The Feds said they traced him, they found evidence he’d been in your personnel file. Every bit of info I had on you…” He paused and his chin lifted. “The killer’s got it now, too.”

“How do they know that?” she demanded. “They can’t know! They—”

“Were they just trying to come up with a reason to take my computer? My files? Maybe,” Hugh allowed, “but they had a court order, so it wasn’t like I could stop them from taking everything.”

Cooper, standing just behind her, remained silent.

“Why the trip out of town?” Gabrielle asked.

Hugh’s gaze slid away from hers. “I’ve made a lot of enemies with my stories over the years.”

“And you never ran from any of those enemies.”

His head inclined. “But I’d leave in an instant if it meant I could keep my people safe.”

He’s leaving for me. The knowledge was twisting her insides into knots. “What did they tell you?” Gabrielle demanded.

Hugh reached for his bag. His attention shifted to Cooper. “Should have realized it sooner,” Hugh mumbled. “But maybe it’s a good thing that you’re here.”