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“Be that as it may,” she said wickedly, wiggling her brown toes in his direction, her eyes dancing with devilish delight. “But I looked them up in the databases on your phone. Seems your parents didn’t make a single Medicare claim after the initial diagnoses for their cancers. And although you and Jack could have put them on your military insurance, they seemed to have refused that too. The only prescriptions they ever got filled were for medical marijuana.” She cocked her head, narrowed her eyes. “I’m no doctor, but from what I can tell, both their cancers were caught pretty early. They had a lot of promising options, all of which would have been covered by Medicare or your insurance. They might still be alive right now if you’d been able to convince them to trust the doctors, trust the science, trust inyou.” She shrugged pointedly. “But even with all your experience at getting people to do what you want, you failed to get your own parents to do what you wanted.”
Ice grinned in disbelief, not sure how the hell this woman had put all of that together just from simple medical records—or rather, thelackof medical records. In any other situation Ice might have been impressed by the way Indy’s sharp mind connected the dots to form a pattern, to make spot-on inferences based on sparse data.
Yeah, any other situation and Ice might have openly acknowledged that she was one hell of an analyst, that Benson was right to recruit her, that the CIA and the country was better off for having someone like Indy O’Donnell on their side.
But not in this situation.
Not when Ice was seriously compromised.
Compromised not because his hands and feet were bound and he was shackled to the damn plumbing.
Compromised because she had gotten under his skin, was making him feel things he didnotfucking want to feel.
Mentally.
Emotionally.
And yeah, physically.
“My parents made their own choices,” he said with a feigned coolness that took some effort. He looked firmly into her eyes, hoping to hell he was hiding the heat simmering behind his gaze. “Just like you’re making choices right now, O’Donnell. What’s your end game here? You’ve already showed your hand by still being in this damn room.”
Indy nodded. “Exactly. Which should tell you that I’m innocent. Or else I’d have slit your throat instead of wasting all this military-grade plastic tying you to the plumbing.”
Ice shook his head. “It just tells me you’re smart. The CIA is onto you, and you know damn well you don’t have a chance without me. The guy who wants you dead isn’t going to give up because his first attempt went wrong.”
“It’s not as simple as that and you damn well know it.” Indy stood now, her bare toes digging into the carpet as she stomped over to him, stopping far enough away that Ice wouldn’t be able to lunge at her feet with his upper body. “I heard those men ask if you were Moses. They didn’t know about you. But whoever set me up would have known Kaiser already sent someone to get to me. So why wouldn’t he warn his own wet team instead of sending them in blind?” She shook her head again. “Whoever set me upwantedit to get messy. Hewanteda firefight. So now we have to ask ourselveswhy.” She shrugged. “Well, you need to ask yourself why. I already know why.”
Ice reddened at the challenge in her tone. He gazed into Indy’s sharp dark eyes, tightening his jaw as he ran through the possibilities.
Then he blinked twice and took a quick breath. “If it really is a set up, then you’re probably not the real target. And if this guy wants it to get messy, it’s because he wants the CIA to look bad.” He blinked again, nodded sharply as the realization hit him. “Maybe Director Kaiser is the target. He’s the one who takes the fall if it gets out that the CIA has a traitor on his watch.”
Indy nodded, folded her arms beneath her tight little breasts, the outline of her nipples making Ice swallow hard. “Twotraitors on his watch. I think this guy is daring and cocky enough that he wants the trail to also lead to someone high up in the Agency. That makes it look doubly bad for Kaiser. It’s one thing to have a low-level analyst like me go bad. Different ballgame if it’s a conspiracy involving someone high up in Langley, maybe with an office down the hall from Kaiser himself.”
Ice stretched his neck. His temples throbbed from dehydration, but the adrenaline was surging now, his mind sharp and alert. Indy was pulling him in with her story, and it was damn convincing.
He huffed out a breath, nodded up at her, trying his best to not let his gaze wander down to where her tight black pants were stretched tantalizingly over the V of her crotch. “Which means whoever’s pulling the strings is damn confident the trail won’t lead all the way back to him. He must have a top-notch hacker covering his tracks—probably a CIA tech insider.”
Indy nodded, began to pace the carpet in her bare feet. Ice watched her go past him, then gulped at the sight of her nice round ass move in those black stretch pants.
He was hard in his own pants, Ice realized as he stared shamelessly at her rear globes before averting his gaze just in time to not get caught when she turned. He took a sharp breath, forced his body into a sitting position, moved himself back until he was leaning against the bathroom threshold.
His bound wrists were behind him, and Ice slowly moved his fingers along the door frame until he found the bottom hinge. The steel hinge-panel wasn’t quite flush against the wood, and a trickle of excitement went through him as Indy turned away again to continue her pacing.
Keep her talking, Ice told himself as he lined up his plastic handcuffs with the sharp edge of the steel hinge-panel. Slowly he began to saw his way through the plastic tie, stopping when Indy turned, just in case she was sharp enough to detect the subtle movement.
“If you’re right, then you realize you’re in even more danger.” Ice watched her eyes as she paced back towards him. “And not just from the guy who’s setting you up. Maybe from Kaiser too.”
Indy stopped her pacing and blinked twice. Then her eyes went wide. “Shit,” she cursed, biting her lower lip and mouthing the f-word silently. “Because now maybe Kaiser himself has more of an incentive to get rid of me fast and quiet. If whoever’s setting me up can’t be connected to me, then I’m not an asset but a liability. I can’t give up a name I don’t know. All I can do is make Kaiser and the CIA look bad. I’ve already outlived my usefulness. Which meanseveryonemight want me dead.”
Ice shrugged pointedly, using the motion of his shoulders to cut all the way through the plastic tie. His wrists were free now, but he stayed in his position.
Not that he had much of a choice. His feet were still bound at the ankles and tied to the sink-pipe. He might be able to wrench himself free from the pipe, but Indy had bound his ankles together tight with two sets of the plastic cuffs, and there was barely space to get his fingers beneath the plastic. No way he could get enough leverage to break the bonds fast enough to get the jump on her.
Which meant Ice had to draw Indy closer to him.
He shrugged again, then relaxed his shoulders and gazed lazily up at her. “Not everyone. Benson doesn’t want you dead or else you already would be. And since he’s my boss, it means I don’t want you dead either. So how about untying me before the next wet team comes storming through that door.”
Indy smiled tightly, shook her head with that same tightness. Ice could see the wheels turning in her mind. He could sense the paranoia rising behind those dark eyes.
