“I was alone, and I grabbed a burger on the way to the port.”
When she asked next if he’d gone anywhere near the hotel where she’d stayed, another frown deepened the lines between his dark, bushy brows.
“I have no idea where that is.” He shook his head. “And why the hell would I go there? I didn’t even know you were in Chicago.”
She watched him closely. Studied his dark brown gaze. But no matter how hard she tried—thanks to the man’s former CIA training—it was impossible to determine whether he was being deceitful or telling the truth.
“No worries.” Natalia kept her tone intentionally light and airy. “I’m sure your cell phone data will confirm. And just so you’re aware, we’ll be talking to Michael Hernandez to see if he corroborates your story.”
The look he gave her was on the verge of being compelling. “It’s not a damn story, Foster. It’s the fucking truth.”
She stared back at a man she’d once considered a teammate. “For your sake, Keith, I sincerely hope that’s true.”
Reaching down, she turned the metal knob and pulled open the door. Letting it shut behind her, she gave the uniformed man standing guard a nod to let her know she was finished.
Natalia walked three steps down the long, tiled hallway before stopping at the very next door to her left. Fully awarethat her interaction with Keith had been put on full display, she began talking before pushing the door open all the way.
“Well, that went pretty much as I expected. Don’t worry, though. I’ll keep at him. Keith’s too self-centered not to do everything he can to save his own ass.”
“Speaking of asses.” A face she did not expect to see turned her way with a grin. “Guy sure seems like a pretty big one to me.”
For the second time that day, Natalia found herself shocked into place by none other than Jagger Brooks.
“You. You’re…here.”
Was there a question in there somewhere, or did you forget how to coherently speak?
“I requested Mr. Brooks join me in observing the suspect’s interrogation.”
She turned to her boss, who was looking back at her with an unreadable expression. “If this is your way of asking whether I had prior knowledge that Keith Sinclair would be at that port, I can assure you, I did not.”
“Duly noted.” Ryker shoved his hands into his pockets and turned to Jagger with a sigh. “Told you.”
Wait…what?
“You thought I knew?” Natalia shot Jagger a frown. Her wheels began to spin, rapidly formulating another disheartening thought altogether. “That’s why you offered to fly me here, isn’t it?” She looked him square in the eyes. “You used the cancelled flight as an excuse to come here so you could…what? Use my interrogation of a suspect to determine whether or not I was a traitor to my country?”
“Easy, now,” Jagger drawled. “No one here thinks you’re a traitor.”
“But you admit your offer to fly me here was something other than a spontaneous act of selfless chivalry?”
“Oh, it was a spontaneous all right.” He took a step toward her. “And I’m almost always a total gentleman. But in the interest of full transparency, I should also probably let you know your flight was never actually delayed.”
She waited for the smirk to come, but it didn’t. She thought he’d start laughing and say he was only kidding about that last part. It took a moment after neither of those things transpired for Natalia to realize the man was telling the truth.
No way.
“But the board at the airport showed?—”
“Cutler hacked into the airport’s flight info board to make it appear as though your flight had been cancelled.”
“He what?” Natalia took an angered step toward him as a wave of rage rushed to the surface.
“Only for a little bit,” Jagger childishly defended his actions. “Just long enough for me to talk you into letting me fly you here, instead. The second we walked away from that board, I texted Liam, and he put everything back like it was. No harm, no foul.”
No harm, no?—
“Unbelievable.” She looked back at the man as if he’d grown two heads.
