Zane didn’t make eye contact. “I didn’t do anything.”
“How did you not know she’d ordered you a suit? And gotten it altered? And why didn’t she tell you? What is going on with you two?”
Zane still didn’t look in his direction. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
Luke stared at Zane’s back. He’d never heard his friend speak with so much bitterness. Or was it anguish? Had there been a real thing, beyond friendship, between him and Tessa? “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
Luke waited.
Zane turned then. “When this is over. Not now.”
Fair enough. “I’m here for you, man.”
“I know.” Zane strapped on a holster. “Let’s stay focused on surviving today.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
28
FAITH HADN’T SLEPT GREATbut had dragged her exhausted body to the river for a row and then dropped by Hope’s house to check on her. When Faith’s phone rang at ten-thirty, she didn’t answer it. Luke Powell could take his texts and his jokes and his strong arms and his handyman skills and his soft lips, and he could just—
“If you don’t answer it, I will.” Hope rolled past her. “Stop acting like a teenager. Give him a chance.”
“I shouldn’t have given him the first chance, and I don’t do second chances.”
“Maybe you should start.”
The phone rang again. Hope lunged and snatched it before Faith could get to it. Her finger tapped the screen, but instead of putting it to her face, she held it out to Faith. “Talk to him.” She mouthed the words, but there was still a threat in them. If Faith didn’t, Hope would.
Faith took the phone. “Special Agent Malone speaking.”
Hope gave her a “why do I even try” look before having the courtesy to leave the room.
“Good morning, Faith.” Luke’s deep voice sent shivers down her spine. Three words and she was a mess. “I won’t keep you, but I need to let you know two things. I talked to Sabrina this morning. She’s widening her search parameters for David Lee and trying to locate Mi Cha’s dad, and she’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks for letting me know.” That was good. Professional. No hint of the tears threatening as Luke’s now-familiar voice came at her in such a formal way.
“Which leads me to the next thing. I asked her to be sure to include you on any findings.” There was the knife to her gut. “And not to go through me.” And the twist.
He cleared his throat. “I won’t have reception most of the day, and I don’t want anything missed.”
Wait. This wasn’t him trying to get out of talking to her? Then why—?
“Once we leave for the airport, we’ll be at the mercy of the security detail in charge of this. They aren’t getting paid to cover our backsides—totally volunteer—and we don’t want to do anything that will make their jobs any harder.”
The airport? Security? The lights came on then. Not a light bulb. More like the lights of a football stadium. “You’re going to Jared’s funeral?”
The screech. The panic. No way he could have missed it. Well, she didn’t care. “You ... you can’t! All of you together? You’ll be sitting ducks. He could have, I don’t know, something to take down an airplane. You know how this works better than I do. You cannot take this risk. I’m sorry Jared is dead. But it doesn’t make any sense for you to die just because you need to go to his funeral. I’m sure that’s not what he would want.”
Hope had returned to the room and sat staring at her, eyes wide in shock.
“Faith.” When he said her name that way it sounded like a caress. She crumpled into the recliner. “You’re right. We do it all the time with very real threats.”
“You don’t have an entire presidential detail there. No Air Force One. No armored vehicles. We don’t even know who we’re looking for. How can you stop him?”
“I can’t go into detail over the phone, but we have a good plan. Jacob’s been working on it most of the week, and Jacob’s the best at this. I’ll text you when we’re back.” There was a long pause. “If you’d like me to.”
