Eye of the Sh*t Storm by Jackson Ford (most romantic novels .txt) 📕

of the number 5 freeway. I cannot do this by myself, Reggie – there is too much ground. Where is Annie now? I did not hear her say anything.”

“Africa, Moira doesn’t know.”

“What?”

“About Teagan. I… She doesn’t know Teagan is missing.”

“What?”

There is no other choice here. No way out of this particular hole Reggie has dug for herself. This is the problem with lies. You can’t just tell them and be done. You have to keep them alive, keep feeding them, so they don’t feed on you. And the problem with that is the myriad smaller lies that spring up to keep the big one alive.

Reggie is still coming to grips with why she lied in the first place. Still trying to wrap her head around it. There is a chance she can still salvage this, but not if Moira talks to Africa.

“I told her Teagan was still in the building,” she says, keeping her tone nice and even. “That we hadn’t found anything.”

Silence. Then Africa says, “I do not understand.”

“She thinks Teagan—”

“You told her a lie?”

“I didn’t have a choice. I wanted to give us time to find Teagan.”

“So she does not know. This is bad, Reggie. This is very bad. We cannot leave her in the dark like this, yaaw? Why you tell me now, anyway?”

Reggie hisses a frustrated breath. “They figured out how to fix the system. All video feeds will be back online soon.”

Another long silence as he digests this. For Reggie, it’s the longest silence of her life. At any moment, there’s going to be a connection request from Moira, a bright little notification on her screen.

After a few seconds, Africa simply says, “Mm.”

“Africa, listen to me. You cannot tell Moira about Teagan. If she thinks the girl’s gone AWOL, then all hell will rain down.”

“Mmmm-mm-mm.” She can picture him now. Head slowly shaking, lips pursed, finger up to his ear – something both she and Annie have told him to stop doing multiple times.

If he rolls on me, it’s over.

And she is not ready to leave. She is not ready to make the leap into the dark just yet.

“It is a very bad thing you have done,” Africa says slowly.

“I’m aware.”

“I do not understand why. We have to tell her the truth—”

“No! No. I’m going to handle this, but I need you to help me. We are going to find Teagan, and Annie, and we’re going to figure it all out.”

“Do not ask me to do this, Reggie.”

She should have seen this coming. Africa idolises Moira Tanner, so asking him to lie to her, especially when he’s been lied to himself…

Moira’s Join request blinks up on her screen.

She opens her mouth to plead with Africa, but finds she has no idea what to say. She’d just be repeating herself.

Her mind races. Moira’s rebooted the system, which means the issues with Annie’s system should be fixed, too. Reggie quickly brings her feed up on screen – she’s going to have to do this fast, get Annie on the same page.

Except: Annie’s feed is still dark. There’s nothing there. No audio, no video.

“Oh, hell,” Reggie murmurs. For a long moment, she doesn’t move. She has lost control of this situation, dug a hole far too deep to climb out of.

And she has no idea what to do next.

As if in a dream, she accepts the Join request. There’s nothing else to do.

“Tanner here. Mr Kouamé, report.”

No answer.

“Mr Kouamé.” Tanner sounds dangerous. “I said, report. Ms McCormick, are we still having technical—?”

“We find nothing in the building, Mrs Tanner,” Africa says in a flat voice.

For a second, Reggie is sure she’s misheard.

“It is not electrified any more,” Africa continues. “Teagan and Annie and me, we are now hunting in Glendale.”

Reggie’s breath releases in a choked gasp. Tanner, fortunately, doesn’t appear to have heard it. “What’s your strategy?” the woman snaps.

Reggie steps in, amazed at how smooth she sounds. “We’re going street by street. Africa’s moving south, Teagan north.”

“That’s far too much ground to cover.”

“We know. Right now, I’ve got Annie helping the LAPD work the scene – we may be able to find forensic evidence that will point us in the right direction.” She keeps her voice even, certain that this is the lie that will get her caught – the idea of Annie working with the LAPD is laughable. “If necessary, we can lean on the police to help coordinate the search.”

“I expected results by now,” Tanner says, but there’s no venom in her words – just ragged exhaustion. “If the situation has expanded beyond the original scene, then some real-time drone imagery might be helpful. I’ll coordinate it from here, and I’ll lean on the police department to provide some helicopter support. Ms Frost, what’s your status?”

Africa steps in. “We are having issues with the connection, for both her and Annie.”

Tanner’s fury threatens to boil over. “I see,” she says, icy calm. “Ms McCormick: is this a result of the intrusion?”

“I don’t believe so.” Reggie’s mouth is bone dry. “We think their comms may have been affected by… well, by whatever is behind this electricity business.”

“Mr Kouamé,” Tanner says. “Keep searching. You’re in charge on the ground. Let’s lock this down.”

“Ya, Mrs Tanner.”

“Ms McCormick, a word please.”

Here it comes. Reggie mutes Africa’s connection, tries to keep her voice steady. “Yes?”

Moira sighs.

It’s not a sigh of exasperation, or anger. It’s the sigh of someone who has gone beyond exhaustion.

“How are you holding up?” Moira asks.

Reggie pauses, not sure how to respond. She can count the number of times Moira Tanner has expressed interest in her well-being without even troubling the double digits.

“As well as could be expected,” she says.

“That’s good.” Another sigh. “I owe you an apology.”

“… OK?”

“After Mr Marino died, I knew we’d have to replace him.” The words come haltingly, as if she’s not sure how to arrange them. “And over the past few months, I’ve had to convince my superiors again and again of China Shop’s usefulness. That’s Washington for you. Results don’t matter,