“Did you find Naomi’s phone?” Lorne asked.
“We weren’t looking for it,” Sydney said.
Lorne vanished down the hall, returning a moment later.
“Crafty had it,” Lorne bit out. “Sydney, you need to go dark, get off the grid?—”
“What?” Sydney blurted.
“We don’t know if he saw Naomi’s texts to you. She might have given you up?—”
Sydney fisted her hands on her hips. “Sir, she wouldneverhave done that. There’s no way that scumbag broke her.”
Defiance raged through her. She refused to believe that her friend and fellow Special Op would cave. Naomi would have done exactly what Sydney would have done. Died before she’d given up the mission or anyone associated with it.
“I agree, but we don’t know what Crafty learned, especially if he got into her phone.” Lorne raked his fingers down his cheeks. “We don’t know if Number One was here, learned about you, and bolted, leaving Crafty to finish the job. I’ll have you relocated to another country?—”
“That’s not happening,” Sydney ground out. “I’d been chasing Todd Petersen for—what—a year and a half? There’s no way I’m going into hiding, not when Number One is vulnerable?—”
“Number One isextremelydangerous.” Lorne pulled his phone from his pocket. “Either you go into a safe house or you leave the country.”
“I’ll walk,” Sydney threatened.
“Sydney, please,” Lorne said. “That’s worse. I don’t want you out there on your own.”
She barked out a laugh. “I’ve been gone for months—on my own—all over the world. What’s the difference now?”
“Now, you might have a target on your back… a big one,” Lorne explained
The air was charged with angry energy. Sydney wasnothiding. She was going to avenge her friend.
“Take a few days,” Lorne said. “Lay low, butnotat home.Think about my offer. Let’s see if there’s any chatter, some new information we can dig up.”
“I’m going after King A and I willannihilatehim.”
“My fear isn’t that you’ll find him,” Lorne said. “My fear is thathe’lltakeyouout.”
“That would never happen,” she pushed back.
“I’m sure if you asked Naomi about Crafty, she would have said the same thing,” Lorne said. “Sydney, you need to exercise extreme caution going forward.”
After she and Tank shook Lorne’s hands, they left.
At his SUV, he opened the back door. “This is bulletproof, so you’ll be safe.”
“I’m not sitting in the back.”
He flicked his gaze up the street. “We gotta get outta here.”
She opened the front passenger door, climbed in.
“Wow, you are stubborn.” He got behind the wheel, started the engine. “I can offer you protection, but you gotta tell me what you do. Eyes wide open.”
“I can’t.”
“I won’t put others at risk.”
“I’m not asking you to do that.”
