Page 113 of Running to You

Sam stood between the beds. “I think you have some ’splainin’ to do, bro.”

“About what?”

Sam crossed his arms and waited.

Finally, Michael lowered the cell and looked up.

“Do all machine parts salesmen have friends who can deal with a dead body?”

Sam had expected his brother to flinch or look away. To evade. But Michael held his eye contact. “It’s possible I haven’t been completely transparent about what I do for a living.”

Huh. So Sam wasn’t going to have to force the information out of him. “International jewel thief?”

That brought a smile. “I love that your first guess has me doing something illegal.”

Sam shrugged one shoulder. “I guess that eliminates smuggler and arms dealer.” Not that Sam would ever believe Michael could be involved in anything like that. He’d always been passionate about justice. About standing up for the innocent. Well, once he’d grown up, anyway.

“Which leaves…” The thought that came to mind was outlandish, but no more so than international jewel thief. “Spy?”

Now Michael did look away.

When Sam didn’t say anything, he turned back, though it seemed to take effort. “I work for the CIA.”

Oh. He’d been half kidding. “Like…like Jack Ryan and…and Robert Redford in…what was that movie Dad loved so much?”

“Three Days of the Condor?” At Sam’s nod, Michael said, “They were analysts.”

“And you’re…?”

He rubbed his lips together, held Sam’s eye contact.

“Not an agent,” Sam said.

A tiny shrug.

Sam sat hard on the opposite bed. “Wow. Seriously?” He tried to process, then remembered something. “Back in college, you applied for a job with them. We all got interviewed. But you said you didn’t take the job. But obviously… Have you worked for them since then?”

“Yeah. Right after graduation.”

“Do Mom and Dad know? The guys?”

“It needs to stay between us.”

“They made you lie to us?”

Michael blinked, focused on the bedspread. “It seemed easier—”

“To lie. To everybody? To your whole family?” Small comfort that Sam hadn’t been the only one in the dark. But still… “Why would you do that?”

“I didn’t want Mom and Dad to worry. But I hate keeping it secret, especially from you. I’ll tell you about it sometime.” Michael glanced at his watch. “But it’s late, and our flight leaves early.”

“I haven’t even booked it…” Wait. “Our flight? You’re going with us?”

“Unless you don’t want me to come. But I think I can help.”

“Obviously. We’d be dead if not for you.”

“I doubt that.” A small pause, and then… “You’d be dead, maybe. She’d just be gone.”