Page 77 of Sundowners
I still wanted to pull him in close and hold him until my heart stopped pounding with fear…and need.
I loved him, and it was killing me to see him suffer.
He made eye contact with everyone else in the room seated around the long conference table—Sterling, Captain Rojas, the FBI agent Todd Barringer—before he looked to where I was standing against the wall.
I could practically hear his apology as we stared at each other, me pleading for him to trust us, him looking for an escape route.
Captain Rojas cleared his throat and all attention focused on him.
“Mr. Lowell, thank you for coming. I want to reiterate that you are not a suspect in any of the attacks, nor are you being interrogated for any crimes. However, we have been led to believe by Officer Cabral and Mr. San Angelo that you possess a unique insight into the people behind the attacks that took place on the Boardwalk and the attempt on Donna Hicks’s life, as well as her abduction, so—”
“Donna Hicks?” Creed asked, frowning. “I’m afraid I don’t know who that is.”
His accent was much thicker than usual, probably because he was exhausted. He moved slowly as he took a seat across from the captain, next to Rey.
Vanessa placed a picture of Donna in front of him.
“Let’s catch you up,” she said. “The four men who committed the attacks around town—”
“They’re dead,” Creed said, swallowing hard.
“They are believed to be deceased, yes,” she continued. “They were all employed by BioBourne, a Silicon Valley company where Donna Hicks is head of research and development. Mrs. Hicks had been working on a way to replicate the blood of a…person of interest, we don’t know who—”
“The Source,” Creed said quietly.
Vanessa blinked and looked to Rey, but she remained composed.
“Mrs. Hicks and her husband Timothy are members of a private organization called EVE, or Elite Ventures Enterprises, does that ring a bell?”
Creed shook his head. “No, ma’am.” He seemed genuinely confused.
“The current CEO of BioBourne, according to Mrs. Hicks, is the founding member of EVE, Mr. Stephen Adams.”
That got a cold glare from Creed. Before he began to talk.
“Formerly known as Stephen Allman, born April 1, 1948 in Abilene, Texas. Graduated University of Texas, Austin, 1968, moved to the Haight Ashbury in San Francisco later that summer and was recruited to join The Gateway of the Sun, a spiritual community focused on healing and meditation. He lived with the community until 1971, when he and three of his associates mutinied against the leaders of the community, killing several members in the process.”
The room was silent except for the shuffling of papers as those gathered wrote notes, scrambled through files, anything to try to figure out what the hell Creed had just shared.
Vanessa was the first one to speak. “How do you know this?”
Creed folded his hands on the table in front of him and glanced at me once before looking back at her.“Because I was there.”
The paper shuffling stopped and those gathered, other than Rey, sat back in their seats, disbelief evident on their faces. Rey, however, remained focused, his body turned in the chair toward Creed, and I wasn’t sure if it was out of support, or if it was in case Creed tried to make a run for it.
“Creed, if you need medical attention—” Vanessa began.
He shook his head. “If you really want me to talk, I’m going to tell you things you won’t believe.”
He stared at his hands and twisted his fingers while the law enforcement personnel murmured their thoughts to each other.
I couldn’t tear my eyes off of Creed. I wanted to go to him, but I was frozen in my spot, in my position as a witness.
“Mr. Lowell,” Agent Barringer said. “What can you tell us about the Source?”
Creed swallowed and ducked his head. “Telling you about the Source goes against everything I was taught, everything I’ve been trying to accomplish for the past fifty years. And it will likely get me killed.” He glanced up at the FBI agent. “If you compel me to talk, I’ll do so. But then you have to let me go. I won’t let anyone else get hurt.”
Vanessa blanched. “Fifty years? How is that possible?”
