Agent U7: Keegan (The D.I.R.E. Agency Series Book 7) by Joni Hahn Page A

okay?”
    Monica shoved a bottle of water in his face. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to throw up, too.”
    Taking the water, he unscrewed the top and downed half of the bottle. He wouldn’t look at her, or anyone, his eyes closed tight. Setting the bottle on the floor, he bent and put his face in his hands and groaned.
    “What is it, Clint?” she said, genuine alarm setting in. “Do you need to go to the medical wing?”
    Austin looked at her over Clint’s head. “He has orders to stick around.”
    Clint jumped up from the chair, startling her. He started for the door without a backward glance. “I’ll be back in a few, Rose.”
    The three of them stared after him. Dumbfounded, she watched his wide shoulders retreat.
    “I’m going after him.” She started forward.
    Monica stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Give him a minute.”
    Austin said, “Yeah, something upset him. He was fine a few minutes ago.”
    Keegan ran the last few minutes through her head. He must’ve remembered something—or figured out something. Nodding her head, she decided that had to be it. An answer came to him; one he didn’t want to share with any of them.
    All the more reason to hound him until he confessed.
    The phone rang in her hand. Private.
    It had to be Cyrus.
    This time, Clint wasn’t there to protect her.
    You’re stronger than you think. You have to do this, if you want any chance at peace.
    “How did he get my number?” she mumbled with feigned sarcasm, before pressing the speaker button.
    Cyrus’s voice carried in the silent room. “I expected you with the others, my love. Where are you?”
    She stared at Austin and Monica who gazed back at her with sullen eyes. “As far away from you as possible.”
    Twin smiles appeared on their faces before Monica gave her a thumbs up.
    Silence filled the room before his voice carried low and lethal. “That’s too bad. I had hoped to avoid hurting the others, but I see you give us no choice.”
    Guilt gouged her stomach as Natalie’s face popped into her mind like a thousand flash bulbs. “There’s always a choice, Cyrus. In this case, you’re choosing to hurt me.”
    Austin did a fist pump, while Monica nodded in solemn agreement.
    She acknowledged them with a wink.
    “I would never choose to hurt you, my love. You know that.”
    Clint walked back into the lab, his ashen face dotted with perspiration, his eyes bloodshot. Horrible didn’t do justice to the way he looked and the only thing that ran through her mind in that moment was that she needed to make whatever ailed him go far away. With Cyrus.
    “You have my sister, Cyrus.” She scanned Clint’s wide-eyed face, which took on a murderous expression. “Of course, that hurts me.”
    “I thought you would be with her.”
    “Why did you have to take them at all? I don’t understand.”
    “Did you think we could allow D.I.R.E. to stop us? We have plans for the world. Those plans can’t happen as long as they exist.” He lowered his voice to a seductive whisper, making her skin crawl. “This is all for you, my love. We’ll bring up our children in peace, make a new world for our family.”
    “Who is we, Cyrus?” Keegan said. “Who are you working with?” Her eyes zeroed in on Clint with lethal intensity. “You’ve never mentioned anyone else before. I thought this was all your plan.”
    His swallow echoed in the silent room. “Our visions are each pieces of the master plan. Come to me and I’ll reveal all.”
    Perhaps, it was her destiny. To live with Cyrus to keep her family and Clint, safe. If she went to him, perhaps it would give the others time to stop this. Maybe she was never meant to have peace. Maybe, she was meant to be a sacrifice for the greater good.
    As though he’d read her mind, Clint’s glittering grey gaze bored into hers. “Like hell.”
    She turned her back on them and spoke low. “I’ll come to you if you release them.”
    Turning her to face him, Clint gripped her by the