The Rules for Breaking Read Online Free PDF

called me about the journal and note, I was very concerned that he decided to make contact with Anna. And in such a familiar way. But since it had already been a week and nothing else happened, I was stumped. But now that you have experienced a break-in, probably two, it seems like whatever this is, it’s escalating.” He turns to me and asks, “Where’s the journal now?”
    I point to the small book in the plastic bag on the coffee table. The journal I once found so comforting now disgusts me. It was the only outlet I had when we were moved from town to town and it was devastating when I lost it. Agent Williams pulls a pair of gloves from his pocket and puts them on before reaching for it. I didn’t let Ethan or Dad look through the pages, but I know I won’t be able to stop Agent Williams. Or, it seems, Agent Parker—since she’s peering over his shoulder now.
    As he flips through, a hole opens in my stomach. I cringe at the thought of all the suits reading what I wrote since most of it is about how much I despised them. And I was particularly unkind in my comments about Agent Parker after my makeover. Every feeling, thought, emotion, bad hair day, and bout with PMS I had while wasting away in the program for almost a year is written about in great detail in that journal. I may as well be walking around naked.
    Agent Williams skims the pages, but thankfully closes it quickly. “Where is the note?”
    “Folded up in the back of the journal.”
    “And you received flowers last weekend as well?” Agent Parker asks.
    Could that have been only a week ago—getting dressed with Catherine and Julie and greeting the delivery guy, wielding a huge vase of flowers, at the door?
    “Yes. But I threw them out. After I got the journal, I realized they were probably from him.”
    “He sent you flowers, too?” Ethan asks. He throws his head back in either disgust or anger. Or maybe a little of both.
    I silently plead with him to come back to the couch and he finally drops down beside me.
    “Anna, why didn’t you tell me this was going on?” Ethan asks me in a quiet voice.
    I lean in close when I answer him back. “I don’t know. I think part of me didn’t want to admit it was really happening.”
    This may be the last time I see him—the white, windowless van that moved us from placement to placement is probably gassed up and waiting outside. My hand moves to Ethan’s and I catch Dad’s look. He’s not crazy about how close we’ve become in such a short amount of time. And sometimes it feels weird to me, too, when I realize just how much I don’t know about him. But I still don’t pull my hand away.
    Agent Williams pulls out the taped-together note and reads it out loud.
    “ ‘Dear Anna. I’m sure you have questions, and someday maybe I’ll answer them for you. I thought it was important for you to have this back. I hope the nightmares that haunted you are gone. Maybe one day we’ll meet again.’ And he signed it with just a ‘T.’ ‘P.S. Tell your friend the tracker was a clever move. ’ ”
    Agent Williams leans back in the chair, letting his head drop and his eyes shut while Agent Parker paces behind the couch. The clock’s ticking seems louder than normal as we watch them.
    Tick. Tick. Tick.
    Just when I start wondering if he’s fallen asleep or something, he sits up in the chair and says, “I’ve debated how much of this to tell you, but it’s time for me to put it all on the table. The reason we didn’t bring a full team is because I believe we have a mole in our program.”
    Dad comes in closer but still won’t sit.
    Agent Williams takes a deep breath before continuing, “For lack of anything else to call him, we’ll just use Agent X. There’s no other explanation for how Thomas was always one step ahead. Or how he so perfectly impersonated a U.S. Marshal. Or how he contacted your father at his work and knew where to find you.”
    “And the little details that were in your personal