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Hurrying forward, I replay every word I’ve exchanged with Rafael, trying to find clues, but I’m back to square one. I’m even trying to convince myself our paths crossing was just luck.
I enter my house and it’s frustrating to feel that I need to search it before I can even make the call. I grab my gun from the hall table where I left it before my run and do my search. When I’m done, I sit down on my bed and try Rafael again. I reach his voicemail again, and this concerns me. I thought we had a connection. I thought there was something between us. Call Blake, he’d said several times. I immediately punch in Blake Walker’s number.
“Priscilla Miller,” he answers. “Blake Walker. Rafael told me you’d be calling.”
“How did you know it was me?” I ask. “I didn’t give Rafael my number.”
“I’m good at finding out things. I’m sending you a text with a private Dropbox with references. There are some powerful people on the list, including a few inside the White House. Feel free to call them.”
“Can you include a fee list?”
“We’re not cheap,” Blake says. “But can the DA afford to lose the case or make a lesser deal in an election year?”
“The trial isn’t going be over in time for the election anyway.”
“The case may be if you let him walk.”
“Rafael told you he wants to make a deal.”
“Yes,” he says. “He did.”
“Rafael says he’s here on a job for Walker?”
“Everything he does is with Walker. We’re family. And we don’t get bribed or turned by the likes of Waters. We also don’t get scared. You need to act now before someone else dies.”
“I know that.”
“Before you make a deal, at least meet with one of my men.”
“Isn’t that what I did with Rafael?”
“I’d like to send Adam to meet with you at the office.”
“And Rafael?”
“Will step back in at the appropriate moment, but Rafael said I was to be a reference for him with you. I’m offering that to you in Adam. Ask him about Rafael.”
“What about you?” I ask. “What do you think of Rafael?”
“I only employ men I trust, men that I know will always come through. Rafael would take a fall to save anyone on this team. And we would do the same for him.”
“This case is personal to him, isn’t it?”
“That’s between you and him.”
“I know who he is.”
“A hero, Ms. Miller. He’s a hero. What time can I send Adam over to meet with you?”
“Two o’clock.”
“Two it is. What can I do for you before we hang up?”
“I need to speak with Adrian Mack.”
He’s silent a moment, before he says, “I’ll see what I can do.” He disconnects.
I grab my MacBook and pull up the references Blake has sent me and I’m blown away. The Secretary of State is on the list. The Secretary of State! There’s a number inviting me to call him. It’s way too early to make that call, but I’m already won over. We need Walker Security on this case. And as for Rafael—I don’t know if he’s Rafael or Adrian, but I hope like heck I didn’t make-out in a bathroom with our key witness. And really, truly, it would be the definition of my screwed-up love life if I did. My lashes lower and I think about him catching my fingers this morning. I’d felt that touch all over. I’d felt connected to him. My lashes lift. If he’s Adrian, was anything that happened between us even real?
Maybe he learned a little too much about games from the King Devil himself.
***
ADRIAN
I ignore her calls.
I have no option. She’s the one with options now. What I do next depends on what she does next.
Once Blake has a fresh heads up about Pri, I shower and dress in jeans and boots, heading to the kitchen to fill a cup with steaming coffee.
“What’s your feeling on this?” Adam asks, joining me, also freshly showered, his sweats exchanged for jeans and a “SEALs do it better” T-shirt meant to be a jab at Savage, who started his career in the Special Forces. That he ended up an assassin for our own government is not a pleasant subject, unless, for instance, you want him to kill someone like Deleon.
“I don’t know,” I say grimly. “I just don’t know, but I hope like hell she calls Blake.”
Once his cup is steaming, we take up opposite sides of the island and he says, “I’m not sure her calling or not calling tells you what you want to know, man. Sounds to me like she doesn’t trust anyone.”
My cellphone rings and I pull it from my pocket to find Blake on the caller ID. I show it to Adam and then answer on speaker. “You have me and Adam here, Blake.”
