that’s not why I quit. Listen, I can’t really go back to Emelia and Bran’s. There’s someone there I’d rather avoid. You think I could stay in the guesthouse?”
Rory scratched his head. “Avoiding is what you do best. But you can’t stay in the guesthouse.”
I nodded in acceptance. “Thanks, anyway. I know, would’ve been awkward, you marrying Lucy and all. I’ll catch up with you over dinner sometime.” I turned to leave, but Rory clamped a strong hand on my shoulder.
“Big B, I trust Luce. If you could see her face when your name comes up, you’d understand. You can’t stay in the guesthouse ’cause it burned down five years ago in the Big Rock fire.” Rory pointed to the barn. “I used the insurance money to finish the barn loft. If you don’t mind climbing a ladder, it’s yours.”
“Daddy!” From the fence at the edge of a field, a girl with Rory’s dark brown hair and Lucy’s angled cheeks sprinted, out of breath. “I was over at the Larsons’, and we went to feed her pony.” Tears streamed down her face as Rory swept her up in his arms.
“It’s dead. It’s everywhere.”
For reasons even my dad never determined, meat-skins attacked horses and other ruminants with a ferocity that made even the best-prepared operative uncomfortable. I walked back to the truck and took out my knives, sliding the sheaths onto my belt. I looked over to Rory. “Can you show me?”
Twelve
GRACE
Brynner’s phone stayed silent for exactly four minutes, thirty seconds. Then it rang with a new tone, one that blared like a warning siren. I reluctantly answered, grateful for Emelia staying by my side. “Grace Roberts speaking.”
“This is Director Bismuth. Where is Brynner Carson?” “He quit.”
Her sigh worried me more than the sharp tone. “I’m aware of that. Please answer my question. Where is Brynner?”
I looked to Emelia. Given how loudly the director spoke, she’d heard. Emelia shook her head.
“We don’t know. He just handed me the phone this morning and drove off. I’m at his aunt and uncle’s house now, so if he comes back—”
“Is Emelia Homer present? I’d like to speak with her.”
I handed the phone to Emelia. She whispered into the phone, “He said he didn’t think he could do it anymore.” Emelia glanced over at me. “Give my best to Tom and the kids.”
She handed me the phone back and went inside.
“Ms. Roberts. I’m sorry you are caught up in this drama. You may book a flight to Portland and take a few days off.” Director Bismuth stopped, sounding almost broken.
“No.” I couldn’t believe I spoke the word, but I’d be damned if I didn’t give it a try. “I’m not done yet. I just started in on the notebooks, and I can figure them out, I know I can.”
“May I call you Grace?”
“Of course.”
Director Bismuth paused to bark orders at someone. “Grace, I only wanted the heart because the Re-Animus wanted it. You haven’t read sit-briefs in the last few days, have you?”
I hadn’t, but she didn’t give me time to answer.
“We’re facing a surge of co-org activity, the likes of which are unmatched in BSI records. I have every field team in service working round the clock and have allowed more than one retiree to return. We have greater concerns than the demands of one creature.”
Assuming the activity wasn’t because of the heart, her priorities made sense. “So you need Brynner back to work.”
“I need Brynner to be seen working. Like his father, the man is as much a symbol of the BSI as the emblem on your badge. When other field teams hear about him, it gives them courage. It tells them they aren’t fighting a losing battle against an enemy that grows stronger every day.”
I shivered in the hundred-degree heat at her implication. And now more and more made sense. “Do you arrange media coverage of his operations?”
“Of course we do.”
“And his extravagant vacations?”
“It takes time to heal. Now, I refuse to accept Brynner’s resignation. When, not if, he shows up, I expect him back on the job.”
I thought of his stitches, done and redone when the man just couldn’t rest. I left my job at the office every night. His followed him home, waiting in dark alleys and around every corner.
I couldn’t imagine living like that.
The question in my mind wasn’t, Why did Brynner quit? It was, How did he manage to last as long as he did? “All right, but we’re going to need another field team out here. The