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Very easy, in fact, with cheekbones that could cut glass and eyes the color of a lake on a cloudy day. With pale skin that contrasted with short dark hair and a half day’s growth of stubble that wasn’t thick enough to hide his dimpled, square chin, he was damn close to perfection in the looks department.
Not that she was interested. As she’d learned last night, dating—or even hookups—weren’t a great idea for her right now. And the ring on his finger meant he was definitely not a prospect for either.
Still, the man had good manners and rose to his feet and offered his hand when no one made a move to introduce them. “Dr. Edwards, I’m Ian Boyd. I’m a consultant for a company that does security work in the Middle East, and Dennis has contracted with my employer to conduct this interview.”
She frowned even as she shook his hand. “Why?”
Boyd’s gaze flicked to Dennis, who must’ve nodded his assent. “Please, sit down.” He pointed to the chair that sat at an angle to his. “And I’ll explain.”
She settled on the plush chair. She wanted more than anything to prop her foot up, but didn’t see a footrest and wasn’t about to prop her boot on the coffee table. Boyd caught on to her dilemma and instructed Mason to call the front desk and request pillows to make a footrest.
The young heir looked affronted at being asked to do what an admin would usually be tasked with, but there was no administrative assistant in the room, so he followed his father’s barked order to do it.
“As I said, I’m Ian. Can I call you Diana?” Then he repeated the question in Arabic.
Now he had her attention. She responded in Arabic. “Please do.”
In Arabic, Boyd explained that he’d been hired because he had experience in the clandestine service and the ability to question her in both English and Arabic, which might aid her memory.
“What are you telling her?” Dennis asked.
“Why I’m the best person to conduct this interview. I want to get a feel for Diana’s comprehension level before we begin.” To her, he said in Arabic, “You understand the language better than you speak it, am I correct?”
She nodded and replied in the same language, “My fluency improved a great deal while there.”
In English, Ian asked, “Did you speak much English during the last six weeks you were in-country?”
“Not much.” She paused. The timing was specific. Obviously, this man knew she’d been abducted. How much did he know?
She wasn’t sworn to any kind of secrecy regarding her abduction. She was an American citizen working in Jordan. She’d been abducted. A team of SEALs had saved her. The only thing that would violate government secrets would be revealing Chris and Rand as SEALs, but even there, she’d never taken any kind of oath. She hadn’t even known their names until last night.
Her work for FMV, however, was different. Gardner didn’t know about that. She was sworn to secrecy there, but it was an oath to Morgan and Freya, not national security.
Clearly, Gardner had decided to bring in an expert for this debriefing, and she would have to remain vigilant for the boundaries of what she could tell.
For example, she could mention she’d seen Rafiq, but she couldn’t explain why she’d recognized him. Best to just leave out Rafiq’s name altogether.
By the time Mason returned with an actual footstool delivered by a bellhop, Ian had explained his role. He worked for Raptor, a private security and training organization. The CEO of Raptor was a former SEAL, as were several of the operatives. Ian himself was former Delta and a former case officer for the CIA. He spoke six languages and had worked in the Middle East out of the Istanbul office for several years. He smiled and added, “I think it’s worth noting my wife is an archaeologist. We met in Turkey when she was looking for an old Roman aqueduct, but now she works for the Underwater Archaeology Branch at Naval History and Heritage Command, which is based at the Navy Yard. When things settle down, she’d love to meet you.”
Her brain had been tripping over the fact that he’d been a case officer, the role she’d aspired to when she’d been accepted into the training class. But she didn’t mention that here. Gardner didn’t know about her lost dream of working for the CIA.
“I’d be interested in meeting her too. Were aqueducts her specialty?”
Dennis let out a grunt. “You can trade dig stories on your own time.”
Considering she wasn’t being paid to be here, she was on her own time, but that wasn’t true for Ian, and so far, he’d been kind, so she wouldn’t cause trouble. She nodded at the former case officer. “We’ll do that. Okay, so why are you here now?”
“Dennis would like a full report of your work in Jordan, as was outlined in your initial agreement. In addition, he’s concerned about the ramifications of your abduction having blowback on his company and wishes to know everything you can tell him so he can be prepared for his talks with the State Department.”
Diana jolted at that. She hadn’t considered that Dennis would be in talks with the State Department, but she should have. He was looking at selling Americans branded tours of Petra and other sites in Jordan, including setting up “dig for a day” tours that would require the Kingdom’s oversight, and he’d funded her work.
He actually did have a reason to be brought into the loop.
“The Board of Directors of Gardner Holdings asked for an outside investigator to work with the Gardners to show the company conducted a thorough investigation delineating your role and Gardner Holdings’ role in the looting of the archaeological site. To that end,” Ian continued, “I’ve been hired because I know the players and issues particular to the region well. I still have connections within the agency, and, as I’ve already explained, I can conduct this interview in the languages in which things happened, which will likely aid your memory for exactly what was said and things you might have overheard.”
She needed to give Dennis Gardner more credit. He’d been smart to bring in this man. She wished Freya and Morgan had thought of this, but it was almost better that they hadn’t. If she’d been debriefed in this manner before, it would show. She might screw up and repeat something she could only know through her work for FMV.
Ian set a digital recorder on the coffee table. “I’d like to record this interview so I can provide a written translation to Dennis. Do you consent to being recorded?”
