Page 86 of Dangerous Liaisons

Chapter Sixty-Three

Jesse fired up the Mercedes as Lanton slammed the passenger door closed. Her hand contacted the gearshift when Tom jumped onto the hood. Their gazes locked. Apparently, this was as far as he would let her go.

“Get off!” she ordered.

He shook his head.

“You don’t know what you’re doing,” Jesse began, then caught movement in the corner of her eye.

Too late. Cole yanked open the car door. Lanton jerked as if going into a seizure and cringed against the passenger door. Cole lunged across her and killed the ignition, then backed out of the car, smearing fake blood across her jeans as he dragged her out of the car with him. Tom slid from the hood.

Lanton fumbled with the latch, nearly falling out when the door swung open. He backed up, muttering, “You were dead. Twice dead.”

Jesse tried to twist free of Cole, but he yanked her back against him. “Let go of me, Cole,” she hissed.

“Cole?” Lanton’s eyes widened.

Adrenaline coursed through her. “Tomorrow, everyone will know you met Amadeo Perez in a deserted warehouse, framed me for treason, and falsified the kidnapping of a senator’s daughter.” She looked at Tom. “Tell him.”

“Sure, Jesse,” he replied. “We got him.”

She yanked free of Cole. “What’s wrong?”

“Jesse…” Tom faltered. “It wasn’t supposed to go down this way.”

She stared at him. “He admitted everything. Tell him.”

Tom remained mute.

She searched his expression. “Tell him we got it all on tape.”

Lanton whimpered.

“Jesse,” Tom began as Cole reached for her.

She stepped back. “Don’t touch me.”

“Where were you going?” he demanded.

She wanted to laugh. Murphy! It just didn’t matter anymore. “I was going to save a friend.” She looked at Tom. “Tell me I wasn’t wrong.”

Cole shifted. She took another quick step back. “Don’t fuck with me, Tex.”

His gaze darkened behind the latex mask and she was reminded of the hurt in his eyes that day in the hotel when he’d bandaged her leg.

She swung her attention back to Tom. “Tell him.”

“This is bigger than us,” he said in a rush. “If this got out—an affair with a Senator’s wife, using his daughter to send U.S. agents to attack a drug lord, sending a suicide mission into the jungle to get back a girl who wasn’t kidnapped—never mind squandering taxpayer money and our reputation.”

“Our reputation?” she snarled.

“This goes to the highest level,” Tom said. “OIA briefed the President on the operation.”

“What?” Jesse’s mind reeled.

“He knows about using Maria to get FARC and the sub base. We couldn’t do it without his go ahead.”

Jesse shook her head to clear the sludge of anger that threatened to drown reason. “I don’t believe you.”