The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy 2)

Then Kash was there, his back to his grandfather, and he was speaking in low tones to the Hawking staff.

To their credit, they didn’t look like they wanted to be there. Their faces were reluctant, wary, but resigned at the same time. Seeing Kash suddenly in front of them, his eyes locked on them, they sucked in their breaths.

Then they leaned in.

They were listening to whatever Kash was saying. So was Calhoun, whose face was storming up. It was twisting, and rage was showing—steam could’ve been coming out of every hole on his face. He opened his mouth, his hand raising, but even with his back to him, Kash knew his grandfather’s move. He shifted an inch to the side, effectively cutting him out, and he was still speaking. Low. Calm. Contained.

The staff’s heads jerked back when he was done. Their eyes cut to Calhoun, to Kash, and then back again to Calhoun.

Kash spoke, and this time I heard, “You decide now, or I walk. Peter Francis walks. Bailey Hayes walks.”

The threats impacted them. One swallowed tightly. Another one looked terrified, her hand shaking at her side. But the head guy, the one in the lead, he was more together, and he looked at Calhoun, extending his hand. His voice boomed out, “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Bastian, but as you can see, your business is no longer welcome at Hawking University.”

Just like that.

Just. Like. That!

He was out.

The crowd hushed, and a surge of volume ripped through everyone, even though most didn’t know what had happened. They just knew something happened, something big.

Calhoun Bastian was rooted in place.

His fury was clear on his face. The lines around his mouth were white, and he slapped the university staff member’s hand away. He grabbed for Kash—or he would have. His hand was going up. Kash turned, as if he was expecting it, but he wasn’t the one who stopped Calhoun. It was the security guard who had seen Kash coming. He moved in and merely stood between grandfather and grandson. He folded his hands together, the same Secret Service stance. Then he spoke, a low baritone, but one with patience. “You should remove yourself from these premises, Mr. Bastian.” He paused a beat. “For your safety, sir.”

Kash stepped to the side, squaring against his grandfather.

He didn’t speak. He didn’t move again. He was simply waiting for something.

Then Calhoun exploded.

That’s what Kash had been waiting for.

Calhoun looked from the security guard to Kash and back, then back to Kash, and his restraint vanished.

He didn’t say a word. That was the scary part of it. He simply lunged for his grandson, but again he was blocked—by his own guards. His own guards! Not even the one that moved in the first time to block Kash, but the other three around Calhoun. One barked a command. The door to Calhoun’s SUV opened. The three guards caught their employer and half carried, half guided him to his SUV.

Into his SUV.

They closed the door.

The SUV took off; the one before it, too. The last one waited.

The first guard looked at Kash and I heard Kash’s one word. “Stay.”

The guard nodded, moving to the driver of that SUV. They exchanged words, and then that SUV moved on, too. The guard remained, stepping back onto the sidewalk, but waiting.

Those guards, Calhoun’s guards, were Kash’s. Not Calhoun’s.

They worked for Kash!

And now Kash was coming to me.

I realized it with a jolt. I’d been watching the guard, and then he looked at Kash and I looked at Kash, and Kash wasn’t as contained now. His face wasn’t granite. The seething I saw in his eyes was all over his face, and the crowd felt it. People moved back a step. The path was cleared right up to me, and he turned, said something to the university staff. Their gazes moved to me, back to him, and they nodded. The man shook Kash’s hand before all of them left.

Kash was coming my way, striding over in a few steps.

He reached forward, his hand grabbing my arm, and he led me briskly and with purpose to his car. The front passenger door was opened. He was not messing around, and he set me inside, waiting while I quickly pulled my feet in. Then he was rounding the car for the driver’s side. Calhoun’s guard shut my door. Erik and Fitz descended on Kash, listening and getting orders.

Erik nodded, and both he and Fitz hurried away.

Kash’s hand went to his door handle but didn’t open it. He spoke over the hood of his car to Calhoun’s now ex-guard. I couldn’t catch what he said, but the guard moved away. He disappeared into the crowd of students who were still lingering. A third of them were watching the guard that was heading into my building. The rest of our audience was gawking at us, some with phones pointed at us, others with their phones pressed to their ears.