Chapter 39:
Valdez didn't knock this time.
She walked through the gate like she owned it, with two agents behind her and a folder in her hand and the same gray coat and the same tight blonde ponytail and the same smile that wasn't a smile.
Kael met her halfway across the yard.
"Back so soon?"
"I never really left." Valdez stopped in front of him. "We've been parked on the county road for two hours. Waiting."
"For what?"
"For a judge to sign this."
She held up a piece of paper.
Kael looked at it.
Then he looked at me.
I was standing on the porch steps with my hand still on the doorframe.
"Ella Rae Donnelly," Valdez said. "You're under arrest."
---
The yard went silent.
Every man in the compound stopped moving. Every bike stopped. Somebody's drill stopped in the garage.
Kael
