No Peace for the Damned

mind-manipulate the guards so he could stay behind and find out who was in his office?”
    I took a long sip of water.
Just stay focused
. But his hand was so warm. So strong against my leg. I closed my eyes tight.
    “If security was making all the senators leave the building, there would have been questions,” I said quickly. “People wouldhave reported his absence and, as powerful as Uncle Max is, he can’t keep track of every single person in the building at one time. And if the media were there, it would have already been on TV that he was still inside. He and Father rely too much on their public images to risk something like that.”
    I gulped more water then shrugged. “Or, hell, maybe he was just so thrown by the idea of someone actually trying to break into his thoughts that it didn’t even occur to him to mess with security’s minds.”
    Theo’s fingers traced circles on my calf. “Yeah, I can see how you’d throw someone off like that,” he murmured, his voice rough.
Oh. My. God
. To just be alone right now, curled up beside Theo. The trace of his fingers—I felt it everywhere. So much more than just a touch sliding along my leg.
    From the doorway behind Theo, Jon stepped into the room. I jumped. How long had he been there? I hadn’t even noticed his arrival.
Shit
. That wasn’t good. I should have felt his presence in the house. When he glanced my way, accusations were all over his face.
    “We still have some questions,” Jon announced. Theo frowned and pulled his hand from me. His thoughts were jumbled again. He got to his feet and stepped away from the bed as Jon walked into the room.
    “We still don’t know what Senator Kelch’s intentions are against the Network. We need—”
    “Yes, we do,” I interrupted before Jon’s rant could really get going. “Uncle Max has no intentions.”
    Jon and Theo both gaped. “What?”
    “I
saw
into his head, just before everything went black. Policies and politics, and even some very not-nice things that might be happening soon.” I turned to Thirteen. “The Network needs to up its protection on Senator Claussen, but we can talk aboutthat later.” I turned back to Jon. “But there was nothing, absolutely nothing, about the Network. Nothing about recent tortures or atomic weapons; nothing about
l’annuaire
. Nothing. Maxwell isn’t behind the attacks. He doesn’t even know about them.”
    I sank completely into the pillows. The hit that my mind and soul had taken in the last several hours was catching up with me. Then to have Theo pull away like that—I closed my eyes and moved the sheet a little farther up my body.
    “Well,” Thirteen said finally. “That’s going to change some things.”
    My eyes stayed shut but I felt the bed move when Jon leaned over and pressed his hands down at the foot of the mattress.
    “Are you sure?” he asked. “Because that just doesn’t make any sense. We all agreed that an attack against the Network would have to come from the brothers, most likely with Maxwell at the helm. If he’s not behind this, then who? Do we go after Magnus? It has to be one of them.”
    I shook my head. God, I was so tired. “No. It doesn’t work like that. If Uncle Max doesn’t know anything, then neither do the others. They can’t keep secrets from each other. Their minds are too closely linked.”
    At least it had never worked like that in the past. But Uncle Max was blocking his thoughts now.
Why?
I was too tired to explain this new development and they wouldn’t understand anyway.
    Jon didn’t like my answer. “What do you mean it doesn’t work like that? Doesn’t work like what?”
    Exhaustion tugged at my consciousness. The pillows were so cool and soft.
    “Magnolia, what do you mean…” Jon started again.
    “Jon,” Thirteen’s voice was low and soothing and commanding all at the same time. “We can discuss it further in a few hours.For the time being, it’s been a long day and we all need some rest. We have enough information to begin rethinking our next steps. Let’s just leave her be for now.”
    Thirteen’s big hand patted my forearm. His warmth felt good, safe. He wouldn’t pull away from me just because other team members were around. I heard the shuffle of feet and felt a dip in the bed as everyone moved to leave. I cracked open an eye.
    Theo still stood in the doorway, and that new look of possession was back. I shivered under the weight of that look. He stared down at me for another