tabby

you mean your desk. Sorry about that. I grew bored sitting here, waiting, and just happened to be tapping my fingers when the desk opened up. Surprised me, too. What a neat idea. You must tell me who made this for you, as I need one for all my makeup. My bedroom always looks so messy because the makeup is everywhere. Being able to press a button and have it all hidden away would be a godsend.”
Mr. X rolled his eyes. “And the computer?”
I shrugged. “Like I said, I was bored and thought that I could check out some gossip. I’m anxious to find out if there are more reports about how Brad is cheating on Jace with Sylvie or if she’s run off with Stephen, but your stupid thing has a password thingie on it.” I cringed inside just saying thingie when talking about computers, but I didn’t want him to know about my skills.
He lifted the lid and then cleared his throat, asking me to move from his chair. I forced a blush onto my cheeks. “Um, right. Sorry. I’ll just go sit on that chair unless your butler is here to take me back?”
“I’m sorry, but he’s unavailable at the moment, so you’ll have to grace me with your company for a little while longer.” As I walked around the desk, I watched him from the corner of my eye as he punched in his password. I couldn’t see what it was but knew from the length of it that it would have taken more time than I had to crack. Score one for the mini DICC.
He grunted and then shut the laptop. “Well, there’s no sign of entry.”
I sat on the chair, allowing the wide-necked opening of the sweater to slip down one shoulder. “Of course not. I had to have all those password thingies removed from mine. I was forever locking myself out and having to call the support people to get me back in. Computers and I don’t get along. I guess that’s why I prefer to dance. I don’t have to do anything with that computer stuff. I just have to move to music.”
His eyes narrowed as he stared at me, but I continued to twirl my hair and swing my feet until he gave up trying to crack me.
When I didn’t say anything, he went back to his laptop, booting it up. Within seconds, I heard the telltale clicks of a man typing away. When five minutes passed without us saying a single word, I pushed myself off the chair and walked over to the bookcase. His typing slowed when I stood but sped up the moment I started to pull random books from the shelves.
“I’m sorry, dear—”
His words were cut off by the sound of loud sirens ringing throughout the house. He grabbed his phone. “What?”
I didn’t know what was said on the other side, but his face turned a mottled shade of purple. He hurled his phone against the wall, grabbed his laptop, and marched over to me, gripping my bicep in a bone-crushing grip.
“What’s going on? Where are you taking me?” I asked as he dragged me from the room.
“We’re being infiltrated. So you’re going back to your room.”
A rush of joy filled me, and my heart tried to stretch out for any sign that Bae, Arin, or Kasim were nearby. It could only be them. Who else would storm his compound the same night he kidnapped me?
He shoved me roughly into the room and slammed the door. I tried to pull it open, but nothing happened. I pounded on it, yelled, and even kicked it, but no one came.
Unable to do anything else, I took a seat on the couch and waited as the sirens continued to blare.
At some point, someone would come. I just had to be patient.

21
Arin
Kasim turned down one corridor and Bae another, leaving me to search this one for Tabitha. I prayed she was still here.
When the three of us arrived on the edge of the forest compound high up in the mountains, we found sirens blaring and the clearing lit up by powerful spotlights. People and shifted animals ran around fighting while two outer buildings burned. The lights, instead of helping to illuminate the area, only served to knock out our night vision. Smoke from the burning buildings along with the ground fog obscured much of the scene before us. Not knowing what was going on or who the fighting people were, we slipped through them all, heading directly to the house. From the stuff contained in the files, it looked like the mystery man had kidnapped my blueberry to force Bae and me into the open. The only thing we couldn’t tell was if he knew we were FUC agents or if he thought we were something else. But either way, he appeared suspicious of us and wanted to see what we’d do.
At least with whatever this was, we’d been able to slip into the mansion without anyone knowing. It might help to keep our cover intact if he didn’t know that we were here to rescue her. And with everything going on, whoever these other people were, they could have been the ones to find her. Or she could have escaped on her own in the confusion.
With each step, my tension wound tighter. I wasn’t built for this stalker, on-the-hunt shit, preferring to stand and fight when I was being attacked. But that wasn’t possible this time. I had to go in on the offensive. She deserved that from me.
She’d only been gone for less than ten hours, and I already hated the sensation of her not being there. Never again would we spend long periods apart. Not without knowing that we’d be back together in a short time.
Where are all the people? The house was devoid of them, which didn’t seem right. Shouldn’t some of them be inside, protecting the occupants and the information?
After a blank stretch