Page 64 of High-Priority Asset

After everything she’d already learned, this truth was the most gut-wrenching. Uncle Emilio’s love for her, his attention, concern, generosity was bred from guilt for killing her father?

Isabel’s heart sank. There was a heaviness in her chest, making it hard to catch her breath.

This isn’t real. She must be trapped in a nightmare, unable to wake up. This was a movie, a sick novel. Not her life.

She looked at the red folder and shook her head, not wanting it to be true, but knowing deep down on some level that it was. She remembered the arguments and fights between her father and uncle.

Had she blocked it all out and simply gone along with the stories they’d told her?

“I asked to come here,” Isabel said, growing numb inside, needing distance, “even though I’d already decided to help you because it’s the right thing to do. This is what it has gotten me. The last truth I needed to know. Will you all please excuse me while I look at it?”

On her own, without any crutches.

“You don’t have to and definitely not alone,” Dutch said. “I’m here for you.”

The sincerity gleaming in his brown eyes and radiating in his voice was heartbreaking.

“This is something I have to do,” Isabel said. “Alone.”

FOLLOWING DRAPER AND ALLISON into the hall, Dutch hated to leave Isabel. Her life had been torn apart and she needed comfort. Not isolation.

Draper walked away as if relieved things were settled, with no concern to the impact this was having on Isabel. Allison hung back at the end of the hall, waiting, like she knew Dutch had a bone to pick with her.

“What the hell was that in there?” Dutch asked her. “A good cop, bad cop routine? You’re supposed to be the nice one.”

“Did Draper ever tell you my specialty?”

Taken aback, Dutch paused for a beat, taking a breath. “No.”

Allison clutched the folders to her chest. “Think of me as the closer. A witness gets nervous while waiting to testify, I put their minds at ease and bolster their confidence. An asset that we’ve reeled in needs the right push to seal the deal, they call me. I read the room, I read the person and do whatever is necessary.”

His gaze dropped to the files in her arms. “What’s in the other folders?”

“I was prepared for any angle I needed to exploit.”

“You went too far. You didn’t have to break her heart. She loves her uncle.”

“That love was the last hurdle. If there was any doubt in your girlfriend’s mind before she came here, I guarantee you there’s none left now. And I’ll sleep soundly tonight knowing that we’ve locked in our high-priority asset.”

“She’s a person, you know. With feelings.”

“Tell that to my seven-year-old son who I’m trying to protect. You chose your fake girlfriend and her feelings over us, your fellow marshals and our families.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “Getting the hard drive back is crucial. In the event you can’t, destroy it.” She took a small metal device that was the size of a hockey puck from her suit jacket pocket. “It’s a degausser and will wipe the drive clean if it comes in contact with it for at least two minutes.”

“You need to come up with an exit strategy for Isabel in case she decides to leave.”

“An exit for you two together? Or separate?”

He lowered his gaze and rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know yet.”

“Once you figure it out, let me know. I’m heading back to San Diego today. But there’s still a problem. Vargas has seen the files, which means every marshal in my office is in danger as long as he lives. I’m sure he has our personal information memorized. There’s no telling how long it’ll take the FBI to build their case. If you get a clear shot at Vargas, take it.”

“Are you asking me to kill him?” In Delta Force, eliminating targets was a part of the job, but those days were behind him. He was no longer an assassin for Uncle Sam or anyone else.

“I’m asking you to secure sensitive information and to end this once and for all.”

NO TEARS SHED. No screams of outrage.

Isabel pulled herself together and closed the red folder on the pictures of her father’s bullet-riddled body and the brutally killed informant who’d witnessed his murder and had intended to testify against Emilio.