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“She had such nice things to say about you,” Ashlee told Luka. “I thought she might be able to offer what we call color commentary to the piece. I hope that’s okay.”
It was a statement, not a question. More likely to elicit his agreement. Smart.
Her eyes went wide, and she mouthed to me, Muted.
I didn’t like that. He had others in the room, possibly strategizing, which meant he was suspicious. I made a cut sign across my throat, advising her to make an excuse and cut the call short. It appeared she was no longer taking orders from me. She turned toward the picture window with the view of the quiet residential street.
I stepped back into her sightline, putting my own back to the glass, something I couldn’t remember doing in years. Don’t agree to anything, I mouthed, but she didn’t respond to me. Instead, her fake smile returned, indicating Luka was back on the line. Her eyes went wide, then she pursed her lips. I scowled and shook my head. Whatever he was saying to her and whatever plan she was formulating in response, I didn’t like one damn bit of it.
“Name the time and place,” she said.
I nearly snatched the phone out of her hands. Instead, I balled my hands into fists and decided that the first time I got the chance, I would enjoy throwing punches directly into Kovac’s face.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Ashlee said to Luka. At least she had the decency to glance at me sheepishly.
Sure, I would tell that to the Senate subcommittee, as well. “At least while she was planning a meeting with an international criminal, she grinned sheepishly, indicating she knew it was the wrong thing to do.” That should go over well. Give them one more reason to throw around the threat of defunding HEAT. Or maybe just enough ammunition to finally do it.
Ashlee said goodbye and slid her phone back into her pocket. She stared at me, waiting for me to say something, I guessed. I sighed and leaned against the wall where, just minutes ago, I’d been making her beg me to pleasure her.
“Fuck me,” I muttered. I ran a hand through my hair. “When, where, and why does he want to meet?”
“Tomorrow, 1:00 p.m., ostensibly to show me interior design plans for a high-profile client but really to keep me from talking with Renalda.”
Getting that information was easier than expected, which made me very uneasy. “You know you can’t keep that meeting.” I said it as gently as possible, hoping not to raise her reporter’s hackles.
“I can’t cancel. He might get suspicious of Renalda.”
“You’ll get sick at the last minute. Perfectly plausible.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and gave me her annoyed look, one that I enjoyed but probably shouldn’t, given what was likely to follow. “I’ll do no such thing.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, as well, and took advantage of our height difference to glare down at her. “So, you plan to pursue this Kovac story at any cost?”
“It’s not about the story.”
That caught me off guard. “Then what the hell is it about?”
She pressed her lips together and returned my earlier glare, then held up one hand. She raised her index finger. “One, sleeping through the night. I need to know more about what happened to me six months ago, why I was kidnapped, and who was really behind it, because I don’t believe Malone was acting alone like the feds said he was.” She lifted her middle finger. “Two, making sure whoever backed Malone gets brought to justice, and not with another plea bargain like the one the feds gave him.” She raised her ring finger. “And three, exposing the group’s role in my kidnapping and a whole host of other heinous crimes to the world.”
“Group?” She’d had my attention all day long, even before I’d shown up on her doorstep, but now she had every molecule in my body focused on her. Again. Or still. I’d been under the impression she didn’t know anything about the Carbonados. Was her research further along than we’d thought? Was she hiding files somewhere other than the private cloud we’d hacked? “What makes you think it was a group with a whole host of other heinous crimes to its name?”
She stared at me wide-eyed. “That’s what makes the most sense. The federal prosecutor told me Malone got the plea deal because he was turning state’s evidence, so...”
I wasn’t 100 percent sure I believed her innocent act, but what she knew about the plea deal was true. I took her hand in mine and rubbed my thumb over her ring and middle fingers in turn. “Those last two items on your list are not for you to pursue.” I kissed her index finger. “As for the first one...”
I hesitated to give her false hope that she could ever know everything about her attack. She’d been a pawn, that much she’d already figured out, but she didn’t know about the existence of HEAT or the Carbonados, so she couldn’t know she’d been caught in a battle between our two sides. “I can tell you some things about your kidnapping. Not everything, but enough to give you peace of mind so you can sleep better.”
She pulled away her hand as if my touch burned her. “Are you saying you know what happened to me? That you know who was behind it? Have you been lying to me?”
“I haven’t lied to you. There are some details I can tell you now, some I can’t, but I—”
“You have been lying. Not telling me things. That’s lying by omission.”
Well, if she was going to use that definition of lying, she had a point.
“Who are you?” she asked, backing away from me.
The look on her face... I couldn’t stand it. Like I terrified her. Like she thought I worked for Malone, the Carbonados agent who had been the mastermind behind her kidnapping. “One of the good guys, I promise. You have to trust me.”
