Page 73 of Death is Familiar

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Great. Wonderful. Now, I was walking out of a bank with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, in a flimsy bag, with a man who shouldn’t be trusted. Great. Just great. Not only did I get another problem to add to my never-ending list, but I was leaving with more questions than answers.

Like why the hell did Lawrence get involved with Mads in the first place? Why did he give Mads the key if he no longer trusted him? And how the hell did Lawrence manage to save up this much money?

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

There was still a block to go before we reached our cars, and my phone was vibrating like it was intent on slithering out of my pocket.

“You gonna answer that?”

You gonna answer that? It took all of the mental strength I had left not to parrot the sentiment back like an angry fifth grader. Mads seemed to have a thing for wanting calls to be answered, and alarms to be silenced. Like anything that took my attention away from him was a nuisance. “You know for someone who knows so much about me, you clearly don’t know when to mind your own business.”

“I just know those agents of yours have you on a tight leash, and you’re expected to answer when they call.”

I was curious how he knew that bit of information when the details of my contract hadn’t been made public knowledge. One thing was certain, he knew a lot more than he was letting on.

But as an unknown number flashed on my screen, Mads had gotten at least one thing wrong—it wasn’t one of the agents who’d called.

Botan ignored my greeting as he rushed his words out. “Delilah, your guy, Mads, I did some digging. He’s bad news. Bad, bad, news.”

“Oh, yeah?” I tried to sound nonchalant, keeping my face unreadable, as my heart leapt into my throat. Since Botan had gone through all the trouble of using a burner, daring to call me on my FBI-given device in the middle of the day, I’d expected his message to be urgent. “I’m with him now.”

Mads shot me a look that made my skin crawl, I held up the one second gesture because while I had been telling Botan my predicament, I couldn’t have Mads figuring out what was going on.

“He’s doing a lot better than when I saw him last. Still doesn’t know who I am, but that’s what I expected.” That last bit, was a bit of truth, but was in reference to my brief visit at the nursing home, not Mads.

The sandy freckled man didn’t take his eyes off me. His glare was boring a hole into the side of my head. And while I was certain the volume on my phone was too low for him to hear, I didn’t want to take any chances.

“You need to get out of there now. Now, now. Do whatever you need to, but get the hell away from him.” I’d seen Botan calm, cool, angry, and frustrated, but hearing the worry in his voice was a first.

Still, I kept up my coded responses. “I’m just leaving him now. Were you just calling to check in on me Agent Hess, or do you have an ask?”

“This guy got Lawrence on the Seal case, Delilah. When I look further back, I found a lot more shit than I was expecting. I’m pretty sure he’s killed people, and he has a very keen interest in you. Stay on the line, I’m not leaving you with him.”

Mads got Lawrence on the Seal? If that was true, Mads was more of a risk than even I bargained for. But it did start connecting some of the dots in my head… and the picture it painted wasn’t pretty.

“No, that’s alright, I’m headed to the car now. I’ll talk to you soon. I’ll hurry back as soon as possible.”

Botan let out a frustrated groan. “You’re killing me here. Say ‘banana’ if you understand your risk.”

Easier said than done. Banana was not that easy to work around without alerting Mads that something was off. Botan really should have given his codeword more thought. “You’re bananas. Everything is fine. Promise.”

“It sure as hell better be. Take care of yourself, Delilah, because I fully expect you to reimburse me for this burner.”

The line went dead. And I was alone with the man who had a lot more involvement in messing up my life than I’d expected. He had a part to play in Lawrence’s death.

He was dangerous.

Mads and I walked in silence as I processed Botan’s warning. A trickle of sweat beaded down my neck, snaking its way down my spine.

If Mads was involved with getting Lawrence on a Seal, then Lawrence sure as hell wouldn’t have paid him to watch over me. Which meant Mads had been stalking me of his own volition, for other intents and purposes than ‘keeping an eye out for me’ for the sake of my brother, and while that was concerning, it also meant he must have known something about Solomon’s Seal, and that he had answers.

Mads was dangerous, but the information he held had the potential to keep me safe and make informed decisions.

So, this made being alone with him in the middle of nowhere an opportunity.

I could get to the bottom of what he knew, how deep his stalking and manipulation went, and find out who else was involved. Ideally, getting him tucked away behind bars where he could no longer interfere with my life in the process.