“Sorry, guys. We wake you up?” He sighed and leaned against the wall near the entryway.
“Kind of hard to sleep with you two carrying on.” Hilliard yawned and scrubbed a hand down his face. “You get her under control?”
Hardly. “She’s back in bed now.”
Rafferty chuckled from where he sat on the couch. “Well, good to know someone is. But no worries, sleep is overrated.”
“She forgot this outside.”
Warrick glanced up, then whipped his hand out to intercept the black cell phone that Larson had thrown toward his face.
Larson crossed the room to look out the window. “Just how much does she know, Donovan?”
“I don’t think she knows much. She knows about the P.I.A.,” Warrick admitted after a moment’s hesitation. “There was really no way to keep that from her after we intercepted her at the lab.”
“No. I don’t suppose there was.” Larson turned and stared at him. “I want you to question her in the morning. Extensively. Find out how she learned of the shifters’ existence and just how involved she is with the ones that are out in the barn.”
“I intend to.”
Larson nodded and turned to look at the other agents. “There’s not long until dawn and I’m sure the shifters in the barn are going to be waking up soon. I’ll stay up the rest of the night with Hilliard. Rafferty and Donovan can try and get some sleep. We’ll have to take shifts.”
Warrick bristled, but didn’t protest. Damn. Sleep was just about the last thing on his mind. The idea of trying to go back to bed after the past few hours was not settling well, but he knew better than to argue. Couldn’t really argue, because Larson was right. With their sleep schedules all out of whack, it was definitely going to be a catch-a-few-hours-when-you-can situation.
He turned to head back to his room, when Larson called out, “Before you do, Donovan. We need to have that talk. Alone. Outside.”
With a short nod, Warrick moved past Larson and out the front door again.
Standing on the wood porch in the night air, he inhaled slowly and looked out at the shadows of the trees surrounding them. It was still pretty warm for this late in the evening—or early morning, really. But then the temperature wasn’t surprising with the heat wave that had been rocking the state for the past couple of days.
The door opened behind him, then closed with a soft click. He listened to the soft creak of the porch under Larson’s footsteps as the other man came to stand beside him.
“How you holding up, Donovan?”
“Just fine.” Cut the small talk, Larson, I know you way too well for that.
“So you and Sienna,” Larson began. “You kind of grew up together, didn’t you?”
The muscles in Warrick’s shoulders bunched as he attempted a casual shrug. Damn, maybe small talk would’ve been better. He could see pretty clearly where this was going to head.
“We were neighbors growing up. Her brother’s one of my closest friends…and you know who her father is.”
“Yes. I do know that.” Larson nodded and thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans he’d obviously changed into. “What I don’t know is if this is going to emotionally compromise you.”
No. He definitely didn’t want to have this conversation. “It won’t. Sienna is nothing but an old friend to me.”
Larson strode to the end of the porch and leaned his arm on the railing. Silent for a moment. Then, “Even the friend part worries me. Already she’s a candidate for having her—”
“Memory wiped?” Warrick snarled and moved to stand next to his friend. “You think I haven’t thought about that from the moment we picked her up?”
“We had no choice but to take her. She was there with the shifters. Whether you like the fact or not, she’s involved somehow.”
She was. He knew she was. And it made his gut twist around like a damned pretzel. He could only protect Sienna so much. If she was a part of what was being done to those shifters—
“They may not wipe her,” Larson added gruffly. “Because of who her father is. Have you contacted him about any of this?”
“I haven’t had a chance.” But that wasn’t a bad idea.
“You will tomorrow though.” It wasn’t a request.
“Of course.”
“All right.” Larson nodded. “You’re a damn good agent, Donovan. Just make sure your priorities stay in place. Your first concern is for those guys in the barn, not some chick you want to tag.”
Hot anger simmered in Warrick’s gut. His fingers curled into his palms, the nails digging into his flesh. He gave himself a few seconds to calm himself.