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The agent cast a pointed stare at Lachlan and Caleb, his voice sharpening. “You gentlemen can take a seat somewhere out of the way. You’ve had enough excitement for one night.”
Gia, Caleb, and the Dìleas team watched as the standoff dragged on.
Finally, the plane’s door opened. Ramón emerged first, head high. Even from a distance, Caleb could see the arrogance in his posture.
Unapologetic. Untouchable.
He wouldn’t stay that way. Not when Diego Lopez learned who orchestrated his son’s death.
Emilio followed, then the pilots.
Walton returned after Ramón and the others were cuffed and led away. Disgust pulled his features tight. “The bastard’s son is dead, and all he said was to call his lawyer. Cold son of a bitch.”
Caleb checked his watch.Nine p.m.“Gia needs rest. We’ll get a hotel and give our statements in the morning.”
Walton shook his head. “Doctor Barone’s coming with me to Phoenix. Tonight. Assistant Director Caldwell and DEA agents from Miami want to question her first thing in the morning about the missing agent. She’s a material witness.”
“Am I under arrest?” Gia asked, her voice monotone.
Caleb tightenedhis grip on her hand.
“No,” Walton said. His voice softened. “But you may want a lawyer.”
“I’m going with her.”
Caleb had just gotten her back. He wasn’t letting her go.
Walton glanced at the hangar, now bustling with crime scene techs. “You all are coming with me.”
He turned to glare at the men from Dìleas. “There’s five body bags being loaded into the medical investigator’s van. You have some explaining to do.”
Lachlan sighed. “I’d better call Sophia in case we need a lawyer, too.”
“Shit,” Nathan muttered. “Emily’s going to kill me if I end up in jail and screw up this wedding.”
“Never mind Emily,” Ryder added. “Admiral Dane is the one you need to worry about.”
Caleb tuned them out. He feathered his lips over Gia’s ear. “Are you ready?”
If only there was somewhere quiet he could take her.
Just to hold her. Feel her heartbeat against his bare skin.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Gia stepped back, smoothed her jeans, and squared her shoulders. “If I’m going to have a life again, I have to stop running. No more secrets. Mine or Vincente’s.”
“You’ll get your life back sweetheart, I promise.”
One way or another, it was a promise Caleb intended to keep.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Phoenix,Arizona,sprawledacrossthe Sonoran Desert—a desert metropolis where February days hovered in the seventies, pleasantly balmy. In the summer, the city turned into a furnace, heat rising past one hundred degrees for days on end.
The morning after Albuquerque, Gia stood on the steps of the concrete and glass government building that housed Phoenix’s FBI field office. The sun warmed her skin, but it couldn’t chase away the chill of nerves.
The people waiting for her inside would decide her fate.
A hand pressed to her back.