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Was there any more complete a rejection than someone taking a gift, a peace offering of sorts, and tossing it aside? Was he trying to be cruel? It didn’t seem like him. But what did she know? Just as he didn’t really know her, the same could be said of the opposite. It had been foolish to let herself fall for the strong man with the southern lilt.
Still, trying to convince herself how to feel was an effort in futility. She couldn’t help that seeing the meal she’d prepared dumped unceremoniously into the trashcan made her feel like garbage as well. She pressed her lips together and fought back the tears that threatened to spring from her eyes. She would not cry in front of these men. She would not give Will the satisfaction of seeing how he had hurt her. Hannah Stone was stronger than that. She’d been through worse.
That was the understatement of the century. Rejection and cruelty? That was basically par for the course.
She cleaned up the dishes and packed away the leftovers. When she was finished, Hannah stood awkwardly in the kitchen, unsure what to do next. Did she stay out here? Find a chair and force Will to acknowledge her existence?
Or did she retreat back to the safety of the dreary bedroom? Neither felt particularly inviting.
She straightened her shoulders and found a seat on the edge of the couch.
She watched carefully to see Will’s reaction. His eyes landed on her and then kept moving, as though the space were almost empty.
She finally broke the heavy silence. “What are you thinking? Can we find him?”
It took a minute for Will to tear his eyes away from the screen. Hannah couldn’t say whether it was because he was engrossed in his work or because he was considering ignoring her altogether.
She suspected it was the latter.
“I tried to send him an email. We’ll see if he bites.” Will didn’t seem optimistic. “Stephen finished analyzing your video, and he got a face.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? That’s good news, isn’t it?”
Will pursed his lips. “Maybe. It could help us find him.”
“Can I see it?” she asked hesitantly.
Will turned the laptop around, revealing a blurry still shot from her video. In the depths of the shadows, she could see it. Just barely. But there he was.
“Stephen was able to enhance the image. Here’s the close-up.” Will clicked, revealing a sharper image, zoomed in on the shadows.
There was something about his face that was familiar. In this photo, he was intense and his eyes were narrowed. Hannah’s heart squeezed as she took a short breath. “I recognize him! He was at the Screaming Peach.”
“Was it the one you mentioned? Headed to the restroom?”
She shook her head. “No. Before you came in, this man was emptying the trashcan.”
Will’s expression tightened. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Yes. I said hello, and we joked about minimum wage jobs.”
She couldn’t believe it. The man seemed friendly, normal. He was a cold-blooded killer?
She stared at the worn, geometric pattern on the rug. “He wiped off the table next to the trashcan for me.” Her voice was emotionless, her mind lost in the memory of the innocent exchange.
“Tank. Where are we with the security footage from the Screaming Peach? Get it to me. Whatever it takes.”
“Yes, sir.”
She couldn’t tear her eyes from the blurry snapshot. This was the man trying to kill her to protect his own identity. The man who had placed explosives in the trashcan right next to her table. At the cafe, he’d seemed nice, if a little unsocial. But in this photo, the cold countenance of a killer stared down the barrel of a rifle, taking fire at the agents protecting the fallen president.
She had to help catch him. Whatever it took. Not only because it was the only thing that would set her truly free from being a target. Or because it would be a good story to make her career. Hannah was going to help because he had done the unthinkable by taking out the leader of her country. She might not be an ex-military special forces hero with muscle-strapped arms, but she wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
She turned to Will. “So what’s our next play?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
Will sawthe change come over Hannah at the sight of Darkshade. Perhaps putting a face on the mysterious person targeting her made it all the more real, but she had tucked away the emotion and apologetic nature she’d carried since their confrontation.
