Jeremy got out on the curb in the middle of the city, a couple blocks away from the hotel where Maddie and Rachel were sequestered. He waited long enough to be sure Julian wasn't sticking around to follow him (though he put such subterfuge beyond the cheery man), then headed straight for the hotel lobby and right up to the reception desk.

  "Excuse me," he prompted.

  The handsome man sitting behind the counter looked up, shocked back to full awareness. Jeremy couldn't fault him too much, given the hour. Besides, in that suit and well-trimmed beard… If I wasn't so fuckin' tired and in a hurry… "Hi! How can I help you?"

  "I need to get to my room and I lost my card."

  "Okay… What's the room number?"

  "...I don't remember." And I don't have my phone to ask her, either. Fuckin' hell.

  "What name is it under?"

  "Ashe, probably. A-S-H-E."

  "Can I see some identification?"

  Screw it. Let's show off a bit. Jeremy pulled out his FBI envelope, with the full badge and details. "Jeremy Ashe, FBI."

  "Oh!" The guy turned to his computer and started typing very fast. "I… err, the room isn't registered to you, sir."

  "Yeah, it's under my sister Maddie. And I really don't want to wake her up, if you don't mind."

  "Well, sir, it's not exactly allowed…"

  Goddammit… competent employees. "Okay, call her then. I'd hold the phone a bit away from your ear though."

  One amusing angry rant and hurried apology from Maddie later, the receptionist was handing him a new key card. "Sorry about that," Jeremy added. "Guy like you doesn't deserve that, just doin' your job right. Keep up the good work."

  "Thank you, sir."

  Jeremy took the elevator up. It wasn't the nicest floor, but not the cheapest either. Plenty comfortable for Maddie and her guest, though of course Rachel wasn't listed on the system. Jeremy took a deep breath before he opened the door.

  Instantly, a pillow slammed into his face.

  "And another thing!" Maddie shouted.

  "Nice to see you too," Jeremy grumbled, closing the door behind him before they woke up the whole floor.

  A second later, the pillow was followed by Maddie herself, hugging him tight. "Where the fuck have you been all day? I thought you were dead!"

  "It's a long, long fuckin' story." Jeremy glanced around. "Rachel awake?"

  "She's always fucking awake," Maddie muttered.

  "It's not all it's cracked up to be," Rachel added, coming around the corner to the little entry hall, gazing over Maddie at him. "What happened?"

  "Well… Lani's gonna be pissed for one." Jeremy grimaced. "His car's probably totaled."

  "What did you do?"

  "More like what did Brian do."

  "Jesus," whispered Maddie. She sat down on one of the office chairs in the room. Jeremy followed her in, to find piles of papers scattered everywhere on the floor. They'd set up several cork boards hanging from the walls with tons of sticky notes, pinned papers and more notes. Multiple laptops on each desk had more information. "You were attacked?"

  "Not as bad as this place was…" Jeremy could only see two clear spaces besides the bed, which were the hallway he'd just walked down and the space right in front of the balcony sliding door.

  "Is Jonathan Hudson all right?" asked Rachel.

  "As far as I know. I lost my phone."

  "Well, that explains a lot," said Maddie. "Didn't you get that one guy? Stebbins?"

  "Yeah. Stebbins probably kept him safe. I came right here after I lost Brian."

  "He chased you?" said Rachel, raising an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like him. He doesn't have any reason to attack you. You aren't awakened."

  And neither was the reverend, but you said Brian killed him. Somethin's not addin' up here. "Well, I'm not exactly on his side," Jeremy pointed out.

  "True." Rachel frowned. "We should contact your team and make sure Jonathan's all right."

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Jeremy held out a hand. "Can I get a phone, then?"

  After confirming with Stebbins that Jonathan was still safe and sound in the motel, Jeremy let him know he could shut down for the night, out of Rachel's earshot. No reason to make him stay up all night when Brian's not gonna hit 'em anyway.

  "All good," Jeremy reported, returning to the hotel room. "Lani's car didn't survive, but I guess my phone did. Stebbins found it under the seat. So what did I miss, anyway?"

  "Not much, to be honest," said Maddie, still grumpy from being woken up. "I've had my people trying to contact Hailey, but I think she's totally dropped off the grid. There's a couple crowd videos of her flying out of the building after the interview shut down, but nothing else."

  "Soon as I get my phone back, I can try her personal number," Jeremy offered. "Maybe she'll talk to me."

  "I suppose you still won't share that with me?" asked Rachel.

  "You said you weren't gonna talk to any of them yet," he pointed out. "She trusted it to me, and you people are real big on secrets, is what I'm gettin'."

  Rachel nodded. "Fair enough."

  "What about Laushire?"

  "Same deal. One hundred percent incommunicado," said Maddie. "Even through Courtney's business contacts that've been dealin' with her for weeks now. They all knew she was alive," she added bitterly. "Guess we aren't good enough to join the billionaire club."

  "Hell, Maddie, we barely crack the half-millionaire club. And you're in politics."

  "The life of an honest politician," she grinned.

  Jeremy saw his chance and took it, praying Maddie would remember their old signal. "Come on, you aren't totally honest. Remember that heckler at the campaign stop in Walla Walla?"

  "...Yeah, but he deserved it. Couldn't keep his mouth shut for all the money in the pool."

  To his relief, Rachel didn't react in the slightest, digging through a pile on the desk for something.

  "Well, I'm too hungry to sleep. I'm gonna go find a bite to eat before I turn in." Jeremy turned to leave. "Rachel, you gonna be awake to fill me in on everything when I get back?"

  "Of course," she replied absently.

  "Thanks."

  Ten minutes later, Jeremy was sitting on the edge of the hotel pool ten floors up with his legs in the water, enjoying the view out the window.

  "It's been a decade since we used that goddamn code," Maddie grumbled, walking up and taking the seat beside him. She peeled up her pant legs and dropped her feet in too. "Oh God, that feels great."

  "Glad you remembered it."

  "So what's going on? What did you need to talk about in private?"

  "I wasn't attacked. Not exactly." Jeremy explained everything that happened in brief, with all the important details he could remember.

  "So you're thinkin' that Rachel isn't who she says she is," concluded Maddie, laying back on the warm stone floor and staring out the window too. "That she's what… corrupt? Evil? Crazy?"

  "Nah, that's just you."

  Maddie laughed and nudged him. "But seriously, Jere-bear."

  "I talked to three people tonight, and all of them told me she's done some terrible fuckin' things and can't be trusted." Jeremy sighed. "None of them are the most reliable people. Hell, I don't even know that girl's name. I just know she scares the shit out of me."

  "Me too, and I've never even seen her," agreed Maddie, shuddering.

  "What's your take on Rachel? You've been workin' with her all weekend."

  She shrugged. "Honestly, she seems okay to me. She's got some serious pent-up guilt, but I don't think that's what's driving her. She wants something."

  "Everyone in your business wants something."

  "Yeah, but I can usually figure it out. Rachel's a real trip."

  Jeremy splashed the water with his feet idly. "Any chance she's genuine? Actually just wants to save the world?"

  "That'd be a first in politics."

  "Isn't that what you wanted?"

  Maddie laughed. "Come on, you know better than that. I got into this because I love telling people what to do. It just so happens that what I'm tellin' them to do will probably save 'em in the end."

  Jeremy snorted. "You're gonna save the world by coincidence."

  "Better than not at all, right?"

  They both fell silent for a while, listening to the gentle lapping of the water against the sides of the pool, watching the moon pass by through the huge window.

  "I'll keep an eye on her," said Maddie quietly.

  "Yeah?"

  "Yeah. I gotta say, some of her ideas for handling everything have rubbed me the wrong way. I thought I was just biased for a while there, let a lot of things slide, but after hearing all this… I dunno. Kind of… Totalitarian."

  Jeremy sighed. "Sorry to ruin the bright and shining future."

  "You know, Courtney actually called her out on it."

  "Really? Our Courtney?"

  Maddie grinned. "Guess the devil doesn't like company." She nudged Jeremy back. "You gotta keep doin' your job though. Keep these people safe."

  "It'll be a lot easier when I get Lani back."

  "He's done with his PT, right?"

  "Mostly. Still a couple weeks, but it's all pretty light actually. Then another few weeks of required medical leave, but we can smudge that."

  "Aww, let him rest."

  Jeremy laughed. "Have you visited him lately? He's practically jumping off the bed to get back in the field. If it were anyone else they'd milk that medical leave for all it's worth."

  "I haven't actually. I've been so busy… You?"

  "Not for a week, actually." Jeremy sighed. "Things kept… coming up."

  "First thing in the morning, then. Let's go. I'll be there to help beat you up when he finds out you totaled his car."

  "Don't you mean keep him off me?"

  Maddie gasped in mock outrage. "Jeremy, the man's been shot!"

  "He'll live." Jeremy tried to suppress a yawn, but it forced its way out.

  "You might not if you don't get some sleep. It's four in the morning and you spent all day on a stakeout."

  "Yeah."

  Neither of them moved though, still relaxing with their feet in the pool.

  "Things are gonna get crazy, aren't they?" Jeremy muttered.

  "Things were already crazy," she replied. "Now we're gonna see crazy with a dose of mass hysteria, an arms race, and every single government on the planet wanting a piece of the pie."

  "...Fuck."

----------------------------------------

  "Lani!" Jeremy called, letting himself into Lani's little house. "Lani, pick up your damn phone!"

  "We brought doughnuts!" added Maddie, following him in. "And a guest!"

  "Did you really need to—" murmured Rachel.

  "Yes. Lani's part of the team, so deal with it. You gotta meet him."

  Plus, we want his impression of you, because neither of us are sure if we can trust you anymore. Jeremy climbed the stairs two at a time. "Lani, where the fuck…"

  Lani's bed was empty. The TV across the room was still paused on the Hailey interview from the night before, which he'd evidently recorded. The computer monitor had satellite maps of the Rallsburg forest open, which he'd been too careless to shut down before leaving.

  Too excited, actually, Jeremy corrected as he picked up the hastily scribbled note laying on Lani's desk next to the keyboard.

  Jeremy,

  Went to find some answers. Will be off-grid. Good luck with everything.

  See you soon,

  Lani