Page 282 of Silent Target

So did I.

“Vale approached me before the explosion,” she said. “He wanted me to stop investigating three incidents.”

“What incidents?”

“I’ll explain when we meet.”

“When we meet?”

She glanced at the burning garage behind her.

“Your people tell me Washington is no longer safe.”

“It isn’t.”

“And Alaska is?”

I looked toward the command center windows. Smoke drifted above the dock where men had tried to kill us less than ten minutes earlier.

“No.”

“Good. I’d hate to be bored.”

The call ended.

Rook entered the command center carrying an assault rifle. Blood streaked one side of his face, and a tear crossed the shoulder of his shirt.

He looked at the photograph of Kate still frozen on my monitor.

“Maverick is taking her to the extraction point,” he said. “Our plane will bring her here.”

“When?”

“She’ll arrive tomorrow afternoon.”

I nodded, trying to ignore the unexpected tightening in my chest.

Rook noticed.

He noticed everything.

“She’s a witness,” he warned.

“She’s a federal agent.”

“She’s also the reason Black Banner attacked us tonight.”

“No. They attacked because she found something.”

“And what happens when the people above her decide she’s the enemy?”

“Then we protect her.”

The answer came too quickly.

Rook studied me for a long moment. “You haven’t even met her.”

“I kept her alive.”