Page 79 of Her Fearless Warrior

“What’s on offer tonight is ice cream and-or bourbon,” Linc said as he sat down on the other corner of the table so that their knees were touching.

“Leila, he’s a poor bet if that’s all he’s offering and you’re this new into a relationship. Choose me. I would have made sure that hot sex was on the menu, too.”

Leila laughed. It felt good. Most of the time she didn’t think about it, but there was heavy lifting when it came to Miray Cloud. Her mother could be fierce about some things. But something happening to her husband? Nope. Grant was her rock, and Miray wouldn’t be able to cope. Leila would definitely not be able to take any assignments until her dad was up and functional again.

“Sweetheart, what has you thinking so hard?” Linc asked.

“Just know that it isn’t about sex with Jase.”

“Dammit,” Jase whined.

“Do you want to talk about whatever it is?”

“Before I answer that question,” she gave Linc a wan smile, “how about if you tell me if I’m right about something?”

“Okay, what?”

“You’re already buttering me up with booze and sugar because you’re about to deliver bad news, right?”

“It could be bad news, yes.”

“Then we’ll stick with your topic and put mine away for some other day.”

“Fair enough. Booze or sugar?” Linc asked again.

“Neither. I just want to take whatever you’ve got to tell me straight.”

Linc moved his chair a little closer to her so he could put his hand on her thigh. She covered it with hers. Having his heat there on her body helped.

“Everything that happened while you were in Syria, how you were beaten, questioned, and tossed in a hole? That information didn’t make its way upward to some of the highest levels of the CIA. Vugar Gadirov is definitely on their watch list, but none of what he has said—or his complex in Syria—were ever updated in his file.”

Leila leaned down and propped her head on the table with her free hand. It was exhausting. It was all so exhausting.

“Okay, so Jerry Earnst is a bad guy and keeping all of his report silent. Or they have a spy in the CIA who works for Vugar, which, by the way, the three of us were all pretty sure about, and I told Jerry in my statement.”

“Baby, I’m saying your statement never made it into any CIA file.”

So tired. Just so damned tired.

“Can’t this wait until tomorrow? I’m not processing this real well, and we’re talking about something that happened five months ago. This isn’t affecting anyone anymore, because somehow the prisoners got released through normal diplomatic channels, and that was the endgame. Game over.”

“Kostya and Gideon are coming over tomorrow. Kostya has already been in touch with Caryn Hannover at the CIA; that’s how he knows the information hasn’t gotten into the system.”

Leila pulled her hand out of Linc’s clasp, then rubbed her shoulders with both of her hands. “According to Elijah, this was a top-secret op,” she said as she looked from Jase and then back to Linc. “He said only the first assistant director and the director really knew what was going on. Everybody else in the CIA only knew the cover story. If that were true, that would explain why it didn’t hit Hannover’s desk. It’s under her paygrade,” she said as she yawned. “There you go, mystery solved. Can I go to bed now?”

“Not quite yet. I want to get you ready for tomorrow’s meeting with Kostya, Gideon, and the three of us. I explained to everyone what you said in your witness statement about the attempted kidnapping of your dad. I really think they were attempting to kidnap you.”

Leila’s hands dropped from her neck to the flat of the table. “Are you kidding me?”

Jase wasn’t smiling. He looked serious. This was bad.

“But I had to physically hold on to my dad to stop them from taking him. They wanted him.”

“Or could it have been they were trying to pull him off of you, so that they could get to you, and take you?”

Bile rose in her throat. “Are you telling me I got my dad almost killed?”

Linc moved his chair then did some fancy SEAL superpower magic, and she found herself sitting on his lap…again. “You did not get your dad almost killed. An operation went south and you’re still a target. Hell, Leila, would you have volunteered if you knew what the actual operation was? No.”