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Meet me outside. We need to talk.
Then I turned to Diana. I sighed when I saw that she’d curled her arms on the metal table to make a pillow for herself. Her eyes were closed, but she didn’t look like she was resting at all. She still looked terrified, but there was nothing I could do about that yet.
“Hey, Diana,” I whispered.
At the sound of my voice, she shot upward. “Are they letting us go yet?”
“Not yet. But I’m going to take care of things. Just wait here.” I brushed her hair back from her face gently and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.
She nodded wearily and put her head back down on her arms. When she noticed me staring, she gave me a wan smile. She didn’t believe my words, but I would prove to her that I would always protect her.
Now I just had to get Alan alone and figure out how to get us out of this mess. I really hoped I hadn’t made a mistake bringing her here. Perhaps it would have been better to have her submit her statement remotely after I’d hidden her away somewhere. Noah could have probably found me a place within a few hours that was untraceable.
I opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Alan was right outside talking to Emilie. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it looked like an argument. No doubt Emilie was trying to come up with a reason we needed to be detained. When they saw me, the conversation stopped immediately. Emilie glared before turning and walking away.
“What the hell, Alan? I told you about her because I trusted you to do the right thing. Hell, I could have just walked her out of here and left you guys in the dark.”
Alan held his hands to his temples. “Jesus, DeMarco. You’re really killing me today. Do you have any idea the kind of pressure I’m under? These fuckers are wanted by about five different countries for human rights violations, so Interpol is all up in my ass to get this case closed. It doesn’t look good that one of our agents has been harboring a fugitive.”
“Formeragent. And she’s not a fugitive. Her brothers are the ones listed on Interpol’s Red Notice. Not her.”
Alan glared at me. “That’s a technicality, and you know it. She might not be officially wanted, but she came in with actionable intel. No way her hands are clean in this. You really think she had no idea what her brothers were up to? She had to have known something.”
I could already see where this was going. Alan had already decided that Diana was guilty. It didn’t matter what she said or how much information she gave them. He was never going to be someone we could count on to help us, which meant that I needed to get her out of here. Now.
The tension in the back of my neck spread throughout my body. If I was going to make this happen, I had to remind them of whom they were dealing with. I’d held the line for more than a decade, working the cases that no one else wanted and the ones no one else had the skills to handle. I wasn’t above reminding them of all the bodies I’d buried on their behalf.
Alan must have been able to see the change in my face. “I hope you aren’t going to do anything stupid.”
“I already did something stupid. I trusted the system.” I glanced at the clock on the wall behind Alan’s head. If I sent a message to Noah now, he could have a place ready for us by tonight.
“We’re just taking some time to verify her story.”
“Why do you need to keep us here then? You can verify anytime.”
Suddenly Alan wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Agent Durand is more concerned about your friend being a flight risk.”
“I probably don’t need to remind you that she has immunity. She’s not going to run. Besides, I’ll be with her every moment.”
“You can’t watch her constantly. Plus it’s not so much her running away that we’re worried about. We don’t want her contacting her brothers and warning them.”
Alan narrowed his eyes and thrust his hands in his pockets. We’d never been friends exactly, but I had always respected him. He was an agent who put the job first and did what had to be done.
“Who is this chick to you? You’re really sticking your neck out there for a piece of ass.”
I had my hand around the other man’s throat before the last word even left his mouth. Alan sucked in a strangled breath as I leaned closer.
“Don’t worry about what she is to me. Do your fucking job and stop trying to do mine.”
“Is there a problem here?”
I released him, and we turned to see the same young agent that I’d left Diana with originally.
The guy eyed me with trepidation before he spoke to Alan. “Agent Granger, sir. I was told to tell you that her story checks out. She can leave if she’s under protective custody.”
“She is.” I interrupted. “She’s with me. And if you need us, you know how to contact me.” I turned to leave before I could say or do something else that would get us locked up.
If everything I’d worked for was going up in flames, I’d prefer not to light the match until I was at a safe distance.
