“Which one?” Hell, he knew which one he’d ignored. Had been waiting for her to ask again. At least now she’d calmed enough to listen and, hopefully, understand.
“Who were those two guys in the parking lot?” she asked. “Were they there for me?”
“Don’t know.”
Turning to face him, she drew her shoulders back in defiance. “You don’t know? Or you won’t tell me? This arrangement will work much better if we’re both on the same page all the time. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Fair enough. The sooner he gave her the specifics, the sooner she could do her crying or screaming or cursing jag, and he could get on with the job.
“Bottom line, until the police run them through the system and let OPAQUE know their identity, I have no idea who they are. They sure as hell didn’t attack like CT agents. Didn’t fight like them, either.” He shot her a sideways glance. No reason to tell her he doubted she and he were random targets. “Now, tell me about yourself.”
“Why?”
“Helps me understand what might be going on.”
“I thought Drake already told you everything.”
He’d need to figure out why she was so adamant about not talking about herself. Maybe if he asked her to write everything down, that would help her communicate better. “Drake told me about the case. Now, you tell me about you.”
“I grew up in Utah. I’m an only child. My mother died when I was in middle school.” Batting her eyelids, she stretched her neck and swallowed. “I went to college at UCLA. Came out with a major in journalism and political science. And, if it hadn’t been for French, I’d have had a 4.0 GPA.”
GPA? Was she kidding? College flashed in his mind, landing straight in the middle of homework, working two part-time jobs, and ROTC.
“And, if it hadn’t been for math, English, and science, I’d have nearly had a 3.0.” He laughed, then regrouped to protector mode. “What happened between middle school and college?”
“Since we’re sharing info, why don’t you tell me more about yourself?” she asked.
“That’s a need-to-know basis. You don’t need to know.” He raised his eyebrows as he shrugged. “I asked what happened between middle school and—”
“My dad just became more of an ass than when my mother was alive.” Her tone was now laced with venom. “A scholarship to UCLA got me out.”
She tilted her head in his direction, eyed him as if daring him to ask anything else. Finally, she turned back to watch the road.
Long, uncomfortable silence filled the drive. He made a note to ask Drake if he knew what had happened to her during that period in her life. This wasn’t the time to keep pressing the issue. Besides, crashing her world with what he had to tell her would be about all she could take today.
On his flight to Florida, he’d checked out her online presence. She was an award-winning journalist. One who did good research, didn’t back away from a good story, and was known for staring down anyone trying to feed her a lie. He wouldn’t.
“What did Drake tell you about all of this that’s going on?” she asked.
If he talked fast enough, they could have this all out of the way before they reached the house. “Once upon a time—”
“For all that’s holy. Now you’re going to tell me a story?”
“Yes, I’m going to tell you a story. And you’re going to pay attention. Got it?”
She crossed her arms over her seat belt. “Fine.”
After turning on one of the Sanibel side roads, he glanced in the rearview mirror. Looked clear. He eased on down the road, pacing his speed to hold back on getting to the next curve in the road.
“Close to thirty years ago, your dad was making good money working for a fast-rising tech company in the Chicago area. Gradually, he noticed some strange dealings at the company, so he shared his suspicions with Drake, his best friend from college, who’d gone into law enforcement.”
Mitch sped up once he saw his own surveillance car turn onto the road. “Drake convinced your dad to turn state’s evidence on what they thought might be some mob dealings.”
Liz nodded then looked over her shoulder and out the back window of his car. “Are we being followed?”
“The headlights you see are okay. That’s the team member who had been stationed outside the Mariner’s.”
She nodded again.
