Page 6 of The Eagle and the Shrew

That sent a ball of anxiety to Nari’s stomach. She was certain Cass would string her up by her talons if she rendered her precious sports car inoperable. “I guess we’ll find that out soon. Is there anything else in the house that was non-digital that could help us find your sister?” Nari didn’t want to give up yet. Something about this trip had to be useful, or it was all for nothing.

Anson scoffed. “What year do you think this is? Nineteen-ninety-something? No one leaves an actual paper trail anymore.”

“Tin-foil-hat-wearing people do.” She fought the urge to tell Anson she was born in nineteen-ninety-something and was only a few years older than he was. How was she supposed to know Dr. Grimm operated digitally? “A lot of these baddies are too paranoid to operate digitally. They know ASS and FUC can hack them.” She couldn’t help but state it, wanting badly to wipe that smug look off Anson’s face. He was so arrogant at times, and it drove her nuts.

“Well, this is my place, and I kept everything digital.” He crossed his arms.

“If Dr. Grimm was here and set that trap, maybe he left something else behind. Something that could help us.” Nari couldn’t give up. In the time Anson had been in FUC custody, he’d given them nothing to go on that would help with tracking down Grimm. This had been the first and only lead he’d given. What if there wasn’t anything else he could lead them to?

“If you’re expecting a treasure map with an X where Ariel is, forget it.” He sculked back off toward the car, dragging his feet on the concrete driveway. He picked up the not-empty backpack, sculking toward the car.

Nari followed Anson, shuffling her feet a little, too, and not because her knee was throbbing. Guilt was a boa constrictor wrapped around her guts. She was the one who triggered that trap. If they couldn’t find Ariel, that would be on her. With any luck, the FUC agents who would comb the house later for other clues would find something useful. Maybe they could turn something up since Anson was reluctant to go back inside. Somehow, they would have to find Dr. Grimm’s trail.

Until then, she couldn’t give up on working Anson, in the hopes that he might lead her somewhere useful.

5

Luckily, the EMP did not render the car inoperable, even if all of his devices were dead. His laptop with all his notes to put Dr. Grimm away for life was a large paperweight at this point. He’d put himself—and Ariel—at risk by saving any of it anyway. Did Dr. Grimm know that he’d secretly been holding on to evidence?

Whether he did or not, Dr. Grimm would know that the EMP was triggered—assuming the device had been planted by Grimm. Anson had to assume so. He’d been very careful to bury his ownership of the house, so it was unlikely that FUC could know about it, and even then, why would FUC want to trash his devices? They’d much more likely want to confiscate them and pull any information from them that they could.

The EMP had to be planted by Grimm. What’s more, Grimm hadn’t been targeting Anson, that much he was sure of. The device had been in a drawer that Anson rarely opened, holding paperwork he rarely accessed, but the drawer would definitely be rifled through if agents were investigating his place.

Exactly like Nari had done.

Anson pressed his lips together, refusing to share these thoughts with the woman who was clearly already upset with what she’d done. He focused on a bigger question: how did Grimm find his house? Perhaps he’d actually cared enough to follow Anson at some point in the three months Anson had been working for him. Or… maybe he’d forced the information out of Ariel…

Anson didn’t want to think about Ariel enduring torture. Especially if he was the cause of it, now that he was no longer controlled by Grimm.

He wished he could turn back time and prevent Dr. Grimm from finding his sister altogether. If he couldn’t rewind time that far, he’d make different decisions and never allow Dr. Grimm to force him to become his henchman.

Anson sighed. There was no such thing as turning back time, though. He’d have to live with the consequences of his choices. They already haunted him at night.

“I’m really sorry I blew it back there,” Nari said after they rode in the car in silence for a few miles. She didn’t even glance his way. Anson assumed she was afraid to make eye contact with him, which was odd for her. Up until now, she’d been annoyingly confident, if not almost arrogant. This humbled side was new for him, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. It was unnerving, to say the least.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he found himself saying softly, though he had no idea why he cared to make her feel better.

Nari exhaled sharply. “But it was.”

“The only bad guy here is Dr. Grimm, remember? The man who set the trap. You can’t be so hard on yourself for accidentally triggering it.”

“That’s nice enough for you to say, but imagine how this is going to look. I’m here, trying to show that ASS is better than FUC, and meanwhile, I really shit the bed.”

“I have something that might make you feel better.” He couldn’t bear her sounding this down on herself. “I was able to access my encrypted email, and there was a message from Grimm.”

Her eyes widened, though she kept them on the road, but before he could elaborate, her eyes flicked to the rearview mirror and narrowed. “Hang on, I think we’re being followed.”

“By whom?” He whipped around in the bucket seat to try to look out the back window. A large black SUV was trailing them. Though seeing it didn’t help him identify the occupants. It could be FUC, or any number for Dr. Grimm’s cronies. They all seemed to enjoy buying black SUVs.

“I don’t know!” Nari shouted as she passed a vehicle in front of her with a car coming in the other direction. She swerved to the right just in time. The oncoming vehicle honked angrily.

Anson’s stomach flipped. He did not want to die in a car crash. Nervously, he rubbed his hand up and down his seatbelt. If he did it the correct number of times, it would keep them safe. He knew that wasn’t true, but it helped him to feel better. It kept his brain off the image of him bleeding to death in a car wreck.

Anson turned to look out the rear window just in time to see the mysterious vehicle passing the same car to keep up. “They’re still following.” He wiped at a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face. It had nothing to do with the heat of the summer day.

“I know!”

His heart thrummed in his ears as Nari passed another slow vehicle in a no-passing zone. The SUV behind them followed suit. She turned right at the next intersection, nearly taking out the vehicles waiting at the traffic light. The tires squealed beneath them. Anson closed his eyes, holding on to whatever he could grab. His stomach felt like it leaped into his throat. As Nari made a quick left at the next street, Anson nearly hit his head on the side window.

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