Brain Storm by Cat Gilbert (ebook reader computer .txt) 📕

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HE DID, I noted with no small amount of satisfaction. I was making my way through one of Mama D’s huge omelets when Jonas arrived in the RV, and Brown climbed out the door. I’d felt the buzz long before they’d arrived. I’d known he was coming, so the feeling of danger that snapped my senses into full alert when I saw him step out of the RV and begin limping toward the house came as a shock.

“Easy there. He’s on our side, ” Mac cautioned as he reached over to top off my coffee. “At least, that’s what he says.”

The Camaro roared into the driveway and slid to a stop next to the RV, causing Jonas to stop mid-stride. Trinity popped out of the driver’s side, and I watched as she slammed the car door, ignoring whatever he was telling her as she strode past him and Brown on her way to the house. She disappeared from view seconds before the kitchen door flew open, banging against the wall.

“You’re up, thank goodness!” She rounded the table and flopped down in the chair next to me. “How are you feeling?”

“Better than I look, but not by much.” The lop-sided smile I gave her dying as Brown walked through the door.

Tension fairly crackled in the air as my gaze narrowed on him, and he backed toward the door that Jonas had just closed behind them.

“Taylor.” Mac nudged my leg in warning under the table. He had refused to tell me what had happened until the others arrived. The others apparently, now included Brown, who he had assured me, no longer posed a threat. I’d agreed to hear him out, but that didn’t mean I intended to drop my guard until I had judged that for myself. I nudged him right back but dialed it back a notch.

Brown visibly relaxed and moved to take a seat across the room from the table. I watched him pass by the table, limping badly. He was a big man, tall. Mac had said 6’4” and I could easily believe it. He was quite a bit thinner than I’d thought, but then he’d supposedly been being held captive for several weeks. He looked like he’d been beaten with a baseball bat, and I felt I moment of chagrin that I had probably been responsible for that, but it was fleeting at best.

Caleb Brown had some explaining to do. I could only hope that Mac and Jonas were right in their assessment and Brown was, in fact, on our side. He knew who we were and where to find us, making him a very potent threat.

“Okay, let’s hear it.” I tossed my fork down, pushed my plate away, finding I’d suddenly lost my appetite. I crossed my arms and leaned back in the chair, never taking my eyes off of Brown. “Convince me you aren’t working for them.”

“I can’t. I’m a victim here, just as much as you are. More, if the truth be told, but there’s no way to convince you of that.”

He gave me a look that said it all. If what he said was true, he was indeed a victim. And everything that had happened to him was my fault. His little dig was to remind me of that fact. Like I needed any reminding. If possible, I disliked him even more than I had before.

I sat and stared at him, slowly sipping my coffee, letting the silence hang in the air. I was perfectly happy to sit there and wait. I’d learned a long time ago that one of the best ways to get the information you needed was to keep quiet. Silence made people nervous. And nervous people talked too much.

Brown was good, I’d give him that much. He sat and met my stare for longer than most. When he finally started talking, it wasn’t what I had expected.

“I told them you were in the area. Hughes already suspected. He’s not without talent.”

I glanced over at Mac. We had figured that Hughes was part of it, and Brown had just confirmed it. I just wasn’t quite sure what all ‘it’ entailed.

Brown got up from his chair, agitated and went to stand by the window, the buzz in my head from him rising sharply. It was a milder version of what I had felt the first time I’d come across him, but still intense. I instinctively flinched, ready for it to go full on, but he reeled it back in. No one else in the room realized what was happening, but I was impressed by the control he could exercise. Especially since I didn’t have it.

Jonas had pushed away from the table, ready to go after him, but I motioned him back down to his seat as Brown turned to look out the window. He wasn’t going anywhere and now that he was talking, I didn’t want to do anything to encourage him to stop.

“I simply told him what he already knew. It didn’t seem worth the risk not to. But that’s all I told him. Nothing else. Not the rest of it. Hughes isn’t stupid.” He turned back around, his emotions in check, and leaned against the counter. “He figured Sean was with you, and you'd head to the Agency for help. That’s pretty much SOP. Once he knew you were in the area, he planned on using me as bait to lure you in. He didn’t know, and I didn’t care to enlighten him to the fact that you were a couple