Deviation (Clone Chronicles #2)(59)

To compromise, I’m wary. “Do you still have access?” I ask.

“We need a key card. Or the override. Your boyfriend tells me he’s been stripped of both. Not surprising. Guess we’ll have to lift it off your new rent-a-cop in charge.”

“That’s easier said than done. He’s loyal to Titus,” Linc says.

Daniel shrugs. “I have faith in your abilities, Crawford. Make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

“Why are you doing all of this?” I ask.

“Love is a very strange motivator,” Daniel says.

“Are you talking about Raven or your mother?” I ask.

His head tilts and some of the old Daniel flashes in his eyes. “Does it matter if, in the end, you’re free?”

I don’t know how to answer. It reminds me of something Morton said the first time we met. About the means to protecting loved ones sometimes seeming “gray” in the eyes of others. He’d been referring to Daniel’s attack on me and I’d bristled at the suggestion Daniel’s actions might be justified by a “big picture” mentality. But now, with Daniel suggesting the same idea again, I found myself almost agreeing. Almost.

“We need to figure out a way to get you through the building,” Linc says, interrupting my wandering thoughts.

“Get me out of this cell and I’ll get us out of the building,” Daniel says.

“Now?” I ask, alarmed at the idea of it all happening so fast.

“No.” Linc sighs like he’s disappointed with his own answer. “Not yet. I need to figure out your GPS removal before we leave the premises. And we need to be prepared to hit Twig City as soon as we leave here so we have the element of surprise. But it needs to be soon. We can’t afford to wait much longer. Time’s running out. I can feel it.”

“If anyone can feel the pain of waiting, I think it’s me,” Daniel says.

Linc scowls. “I’m doing the best I can.”

“You’re doing it all. Give her some of the risk, man. She can handle it. She’s a big girl,” Daniel shoots back.

I stare at Linc, for once agreeing with Daniel. “What can I do?” I ask.

Linc’s phone buzzes before he can answer. He frowns at the screen, a wrinkle appearing between his brows.

“What is it?” I ask.

When he looks up, it’s to lock eyes with Daniel. They share a look that conveys everything. Daniel swears and Linc says, “Titus is on his way. And he knows we’re down here.”





Chapter Fifteen


I’ve been inside my room only minutes when Titus comes for me. Somehow, I knew he would. It feels strangely overdue, like it’s been weeks coming instead of hours or minutes. He asks me to follow him and leads me into his private study. The study that’s off-limits. The study I robbed.

The minute I’m inside the dark-paneled walls, the scrambler hidden in my pocket becomes like heated coals. It slow roasts a hole through my pocket. I imagine a neon sign lit overhead pointing straight toward the stolen contraband and my pulse races. I take a breath, forcing myself to relax.

He can’t know. He can’t.

The lamp is already burning when I enter. There is a mess of papers spread over the desk that weren’t there the other day. I force my eyes straight ahead, terrified to even glance at the cabinet against the wall. Titus motions to one of the leather chairs.

“Sit,” he says.

I sit.

He sinks into the remaining chair and leans back against it, arms resting lightly on the brown leather armrests. He looks like a king, completely at ease with his subjects. Completely confident in his ability to crush them if desired. My own chair is uncomfortably sunken, making me feel dwarfed in comparison. I try to sit up straighter. I’m not sure it makes a difference. This room, the expression Titus wears as he watches me shift in my chair, are both reminders that I’m completely out of my domain.

Titus watches me over his steepled hands. “You’ve had quite a day,” he says.

I wait for him to get to the point.

“Your boyfriend has gone too far this time,” he says in a voice that’s eerily calm.

“What are you talking about?” If I was ever uncertain about my complete deviation, my newfound ability to lie, my even tone is the final proof. Especially while the inside of me begins to crack under the weight of his gaze. Titus has always been better at this than me.

“Swiping a key card, tampering with listening devices, seducing you in darkened parlors … All of these are things I’ve let go for the greater purpose. For an agreement you made. I’ve been patient and more than generous with all of your weak attempts at covert betrayal, but I’ve had enough. Tonight you’ve gone too far with your little trip downstairs.”

“I don’t know—”

“What I’m talking about, yes, I’m completely sure you’ll pretend that you don’t.” He drops his hands and his eyes narrow with a twitch on one side. “Do not think for one moment that any of your progress has been your own doing. I’ve let you have your fun because it served the end goal. Tell me, daughter, have you learned anything useful from your little trysts with the Whitcomb boy?”

I stay silent. His admission is too broad for me to understand. Does he mean everything? Every time we’ve thought we were alone, we weren’t? Every time we thought we’d snuck away, we—