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While I was telling my story, Cassie got a text saying there'd be another conference call. I was worried about everything—Gracie Layne, Jim, Tom, Chance, myself. I had no idea if I'd done the right thing by telling these people what was going on or not.
We were back in the loft office in front of the monitor at the appointed time. "Cassie, I forgot one thing. Dr. Bellamy's death wasn't accidental."
A small gasp escaped her lips. "What did you get involved in?"
The screen opened on the same scene as before. "Let's get introductions out of the way," the older man said. "I'm Bertram Meecham, director of BITES, on my left is Jared Dickenson. On my right is Greg Talbot. Joining us by phone today is Jim Stafford."
"Jim? How do you people know Jim?" I asked.
"All in due time, Ms. Mason," Meecham said. "We've got a lot of ground to cover. We have a lot to discuss, but right now we need to focus on the disappearance of Gracie Layne Mason."
He told us that Gracie landed in Spokane on her scheduled flight and checked into her hotel. I kept interrupting with questions, and it was clear that Mr. Meecham didn't appreciate it. "Guys, give us a minute," Cassie said, muting the call.
"I know there's a lot of stuff hitting you all at once. I get it. I've been through similar situations. We will help you get your sister back, but you have to let Mr. Meecham handle this his way. I promise, you'll be happy with the outcome. Now, take a deep breath." I did. "Another." I did as she asked, and she took us off mute.
"Please continue Bertram."
"I'll 'cut to the chase' as it were. The only reason for anyone to kidnap your sister is to use her to get you to provide the information on the bigfoot family that escaped from the lab. Has anyone contacted you?"
"No, but I'm not in Wilkins' Gap."
"But Gracie would know how to reach you via email or your cell phone, correct?"
"Sure."
"We believe Dr. Trevor Wilhelm is involved. They may have taken Gracie back to the lab though getting her past security would be challenging. It’s more likely she's being held in a remote location. We have our research department working on that. Cassie, I think it would be best if we had the team here in one place. Jared's already notified them. You and Ms. Mason are booked on a flight out of Laredo."
They talked about what I should do if I received a message from the people who were holding Gracie Layne. Mr. Meecham seemed to pass on the instructions to Cassie rather than me. "Is anyone going to explain what's going on to me? It's my sister we're talking about," I said after remaining silent as long as possible.
"You don't have much time to make your flight," Mr. Meecham said. "Jim, why don't you call Everly. You can explain some of this while they drive to the airport."
With that he closed the connection. "What the fudge was that about?"
"I know you have a million questions. I'll answer what I can when we're in the air, but I have to pack. We need to be on the road in less than an hour. She printed out some information and shut down the computer. "Do you have your luggage with you?"
"Yeah, I planned to drive to Dallas when we were finished today."
"Good. We won't need to go back to the hotel." I followed her downstairs, but I was in a daze. Cassie walked out of the bedroom a few minutes later with a duffel bag and a rifle case. "We'll take your rental."
She opened the front door and motioned me out. I picked up my totebag and headed for the car. "Give me your keys. I'll drive."
We pulled up in front of the main house. "Wait here. I have to tell Jared's folks I'm leaving for a few days." Helen Dickenson met her on the front steps. They had a brief conversation before Cassie hurried back to the car.
"We'll be on the road for a bit if you want to call Jim."
"Do you know Jim?"
"Never heard of him until today."
"So, he doesn't work for BITES?"
"Not that I know of."
I pulled out my phone, checked messages, then dialed Jim's number. "Hi, Jim. Care to explain what the fudge is going on."
"I'm sorry about all this, Everly. I hope you believe me. It never should have gone this far. No one thought Trevor would go this far."
"Who are you really?"
"I'm Jim Stafford, your friend."
"Right?" I know I sounded pissed. Why shouldn't I be? I didn't know what was going on, but it was clear that Jim had information he didn't share. Information that might have put Gracie Layne at risk along with the rest of us.
"You know those comments you kept making about my being a spy."
"Yeah."
"You weren't far off. I'm an investigator for DHS internal affairs. Since the BFFam escaped from the lab, I was put in place to monitor the situation. At first the focus was on Dr. Bellamy and your Uncle Harry. Look, Everly, someday you and I need to sit down and go through everything in detail, and I promise, we will do that."
"You're good," I said, seething with anger. "I really believed you were interested in me."
"That wasn't part of the job," Jim said. "I was interested. I had no idea how I could date you and keep my true identity from you when you'd already gotten the idea that I wasn't being completely honest. I do care about you, Everly. And before you ask, my interest in Laurie is real too. I may have been an agent working undercover, but I'm still a man."
"Fine. Let's focus on Gracie Layne at the moment. How much trouble is she in?"
"It does them no good to harm her. Her only value to them is in getting the information they want out of you. Now that this is coming to a head, we should be able to resolve the situation peacefully."
"If that's the plan, why did Cassie feel the need to pack her rifle?"
"I guess you'll have to ask her that. I've heard that she doesn't go anywhere without it, sort of like you and you're Earl Grey tea." He chuckled, which only made me angrier.
"We'll definitely have a very long talk when this is over. Don't think you can slink off in the night. I will hunt you down."
"I have no doubt. Listen, we're going to try to get Chance here too. I thought you should know that. We're sending one of Jared's team, John Robichau to take over Chance's hunt. With any luck I'll see you both in Montana in the morning."