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Inhale…The shakiness in her voice

Exhale…The gun to her head

The video had coh my email, personally addressed topressed to Hadley’s head is when I decide the un would die, and I’d be the one to do it

Logical or not, the promise burns across my soul, as does: No one hurts what’s mine

“Boss?” Alex’s soft voice rips hts

I liftme carefully They need direction They need an order But I’ on here The senator trusted me to keep him and his family safe, and I’ve failed to keep that promise

I’ve failed Hadley

Though abducting her is a bold, desperate move that even I hadn’t anticipated from the black to do with a tax bill, as we had speculated There’s so on here I just need to find out what it is

Before s first I ask Alex, “Where’s the senator’s wife?”

“I believe at the hospital with the senator” Alex spins in her swivel chair, facing her co over her keyboard Soon, on theat the senator’s wife sleeping in the chair next to her husband’s hospital bed “Yep,” Alex reports “She’s still there”

“Good,” I say, relieved, especially to also see the senator doing so well after his successful surgery From the last report we received, the doctor predicted a full recovery, as the bullet blessedly didn’t hit anything vital Which gives me all the answers I need to know, really Hadley had arrived at the house just in ti so, she forced the blacke his plans, which is likely why they took her “How much security is there at the moment?”

“Dozens of cops and a few FBI agents, too,” says Alex, who begins typing on her keyboard again Then e of the hospital and the cops stationed outside the rooins to flash on the double rows of monitors on the far wall

While I would prefer to have ainst the senator’s shooter is out of my hands now Or at least by appearance, of course I like to keep a friendly relationship with law enforceether But our relationship has clear boundaries: I stay out of their way and they stay out of mine

Knowing that the senator and Mrs Winters are safe, I let o To Hadley

I straighten up from the desk and move to stand behind Alex There, I cross my arms and scan the faces ofs I want to do There are a hundred things I want to ask But no one can answer me Our leads have run out, and I can tell by the devastation on the expressions around me everyone knows it