“In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a big fat liar.”

The grin widened. “Yeah, you are. Alright, I’ll be right back.”

I watched him walk away, fanning my cheeks as soon as his back was turned.

Work.

Right. I had lots of work to do.

I hit spell-check, loaded my column into an email for Felix, and had just hit the send button when a new window popped up.

Hey, Bender.

That familiar flip hit my stomach. Man in Black.

Hey.

Missed you last night.

I scrunched my nose up. Right. Last night.

Yeah, sorry about that. Something came up.

There was a pause. Then, No problem. You okay?

I took a deep breath.

Kinda.

Tell me.

I wondered how two simple little words could convey such concern. But they did. I suddenly felt the entire weight of the last few days crushing down on my shoulders and realized I was dying to unburden it on someone. So I did, spilling everything that had happened in the past two days, from that first weird phone message to the break-in last night and my tenuous position here at the Informer ever since Miss Jugs walked in. When I finally finished, I had paragraphs of text filling up my little IM window. I hit send and sat back, watching the cursor blink, waiting for his reaction.

Wow.

No kidding.

You okay?

My first reaction was to say yes. But somehow my fingers typed the word No instead. I’m scared. Which, as I stared at the words on the screen, was true. I know, I know, I’d played macho for Felix, because, frankly the idea of losing all the contacts I’d made in the last three years since I started here scared me even worse. But that didn’t mean that having someone break into my home hadn’t shattered my illusion of safety and security into a million little pieces.

You think maybe you should go to the police? he asked.

I shook my head at the screen. No. I can’t lose my informants. No police.

You sure?

I have Cal.

There was a pause. Then, The bodyguard?

I nodded at the empty room. He’s good.

I thought about the way he’d searched our condo last night, gun drawn. The way he made me ride around in his tank, shadowed me like a puppy everywhere I went. There was no way anyone was going to get the jump on me with Cal around.

I trust him, I typed.

Again with the pause. Then I do, too.

Thanks.

Be careful, Bender.

I will.

We on for tonight?

I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Be good, he typed.

Bye.

And then he signed off.