I held back my laughter; it hadn’t clicked for her yet. “Actually, you can. I’ll cover the bill until you settle your inheritance.”
I wouldn’t let her repay me; covering the expenses after bringing professional killers to her door was the least I could do.
Nina pulled away as she remembered that she could now afford care for her grandmother.
“What about a nurse to stay with her?” Nina asked.
“Can you sit?” John asked. After she sat and blew her nose, John continued. “We considered that option, but she’s more vulnerable in a private home than in a public hospital.”
“Do you think they’ll hurt her to make me give them my parents’ money?” She still didn’t call it hers.
Growing up in the middle class, I understood how hard it might be to unexpectedly inherit a lot of money.
A lot for her. John and his boys had three times that value invested in SSI. I had twice that if I liquidated all my investments.
The two CIA officers hunting Nina had spent at least that on the revolving sets of men they sent to Weatherford to shadow us.
A million dollars was a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t the payout our traitors expected.
“We do.”
“They can have the money if they just leave us alone,” Nina cried into her hands.
“It’s not that simple,” I said, handing her another tissue.
“Because they think I know something, but I don’t.”
“They’ll assume you know what your parents knew.” Gibson added, “What we now know.”
Nina clasped her hands in her lap like they were a lifeline. “Was there something else in the locker?”
“There’s enough evidence to put two corrupt CIA officers behind bars for the rest of their lives.”
“If you know who they are, can’t you just arrest them?”
This time I did laugh; it was mirthless, but still a laugh. “If only it were that easy. They run an elite global protection service company. It’ll be nearly impossible for us to get close to them.”
Chapter 45
Nina
The bad guys were bigger than life and untouchable.
“How will you stop them?”So I don’t have to hide for the rest of my life?
“We’ll set a trap,” Austin said.
“I’m bait?” I screeched.
“No, I swear, we’re hiding you away and dealing with them ourselves,” Austin rushed to answer.
“With a little help from some friends,” Ryan added.
“Friends?” What kind of friends did they have?
“Let’s just say we know people who eat traitors like the scumbags we’re hunting for breakfast.”
“Gibson.”
