her two medium spuds.
An hour later, Lanie was sitting on the couch with an overstuffed belly and barely able to keep her eyes open. The soft purring of Bob lying beside her wasn’t helping to keep her awake at all.
“Why don’t you go get some sleep,” Cin suggested with a grin. “I’m just going to throw everything into the sink and do the same. I’m exhausted, and I know you have to be as well.”
Cin picked up their plates and put them in the sink. He was surprised to see Lanie standing nervously in front of him when he turned around.
“Cindrac, I can’t even think of how to say thank you,” Lanie admitted with a catch in her voice. “I don’t know many people who’d help me cross the street, much less gather all his magical friends and find me who knows where in the universe.”
Cin ran a hand down Lanie’s arm. “You just did. Besides, you did more to help us than we did you. Because of what you found in the cargo containers, we know that the Consortium is somehow acquiring items they shouldn’t be able to get near.”
“Thank you, Cin.” Lanie threw her arms around him and suppressed a groan at how wonderful it felt to hold him, to hold anyone for that matter.
It had been so long since Lanie had been able to trust anyone and longer than that since she’d felt comfortable enough to hug another person. She slowly pulled back from him and smiled as she stepped away.
Lanie turned and walked to her room with Bob on her heels. She turned at the doorway, and Cin held his breath. He didn’t know why.
“Good night,” Lanie said before going into the bedroom with Bob.
Cin was halfway across the living room, heading to Lanie’s room, when he stopped himself and went back into the kitchen, wondering what the hell he was doing. Cin was more than a little happy for the distraction when Robbie called him.
Looking at the late hour, Cin was wondering what was going on when he answered the phone. He didn’t even get a chance to say anything before the Sheriff began talking.
“They’re heading your way first thing in the morning, Cin!” Robbie warned. “They know Lanie was in the area, and someone at the grocery store mentioned you having a woman over the last couple of days. They’re coming to your place to try to pin the explosion on Lanie.”
Cin was already tapping into the FBI communications to determine what the Feds were doing and where they were. It didn’t surprise him to know they had agents watching his cabin right now.
“Well, Robbie, it’s going to be a shame that they won’t find anyone but the love of my life who only recently arrived. Thanks for the heads up.” Cin had utterly forgotten about the Senator and her family.
“Love of your life? Cin, they got a picture of the girl,” Robbie argued. “Even if you disguise her, they’re running fingerprints on every woman in town that looks remotely close to Lanie. I can’t help you.”
“I appreciate your concern and the warning, Robbie.” Cin cared about his friend and needed to protect him. “You need to leave the rest of this up to me. They should be gone by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. It’ll be talked about for a day or two before the media suppresses the story, the people will forget about it, and it’ll be memory-holed.”
The Sheriff sighed heavily. “I hope you’re right, Cin. I don’t like any of this. Don’t let anything happen to that girl. No one deserves the railroading the damn Feds are trying to give the poor thing.”
“Lanie will be a different woman by the time they get here in the morning. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Cin promised. “After the FBI leaves town.”
Robbie hung up the phone, and Cin held his palm out and released a handful of nanites. He watched them head out the back door before flipping on the TV screen to see what they viewed as they traveled. It didn’t take long to find the two FBI agents, parked in a dark sedan, at the end of his driveway.
Pulling up the FBI communications log, Cin found out where the rest of the government agents were staying and wasn’t surprised to find that the ATF had arrived as well.
Since the FBI spent most of their time committing false flag operations and covering up crimes for their elite overlords, they needed another agency to