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“I don’t know.”
Roshan Haider? Had he somehow gotten back into the country? A sudden chill iced her veins. If Haider had seen her and Lachlan together, then perhaps whoever was trying to frame Lachlan as a weapons trafficker had also seen them together.
Roshan’s vendetta against Lachlan was personal. Was it possible that someone else held a very personal grudge against him?
And, like Haider, was willing to make her a pawn in their deadly game.
It wouldn’t surprise her with all the secrets that shadowed Lachlan. Thank God Jared had come along when he did.
She frowned. “What are the odds you’d be the one to rescue me?”
“Pure dumb luck.” Jared shrugged. “I left right after you did, and I live in McLean. I didn’t want to deal with the Beltway construction either.”
He took hold of her elbow. “Come on. Your teeth are chattering. Have a seat in my car while I look at yours.” He guided her to the passenger seat of his Lexus and turned up the heat so it was blasting warm air before activating his flashers.
“Stay put and get warm.” He closed the car door and went to her Prius, reaching in to turn on her car’s hazards.
Circling her car, he examined her front right bumper, then traced the gouges along the driver’s side before stooping to run his hands along the bottom of the frame and over the tires. The hazards from both vehicles bathed him in asynchronous flashes of amber, the discordance further jangling Sophia’s already stretched nerves.
Jared’s hands halted midway across her back bumper. He stood, depositing something in his jacket pocket before dusting off his hands and approaching the passenger side of his Lexus.
Sophia lowered the window.
“Who’s had access to your car?” Jared reached into his pocket to show her a small, square black box.
“What is that?”
“A tracking device.”
Sophia’s body stilled as her mind raced. “Haider must have put it on my car. That’s how he tracked me.”
“Lachlan should have checked your car when he found out Haider was following you. That’s what I would have done.”
“He did.” A part of her hadn’t truly believed she was in danger before tonight. Roshan Haider had frightened her, but he’d delivered his message to Lachlan, and she hadn’t seen him after that.
But getting run off the road, and a tracker on her car? Was it possible the real arms trafficker knew that she and Lachlan had discovered the illegal shipments and were working to expose them?
Who had the ability and the access to run an operation under Lachlan’s nose and frame him for it? The audacity of the plan was breathtaking.
Jared.She stared at her lap to keep her thoughts hidden. As president of LAI, Jared could access anyone’s computer. Get into anyone’s files.
He had the ability, but what would be the motive? It was his company, his reputation on the line if LAI were ensnared in a weapons trafficking scandal.
And he wasn’t the one who’d tried to run her off the road.
She needed to talk to Lachlan.
“I have to go home.” Sophia gripped the door handle and pushed.
Jared blocked her exit, halting her escape. “We aren’t far from my house, and we need to file a police report.”
“I—”
“Please, Sophia. I’m concerned about you. I’ll call a tow to collect your car, make sure it’s drivable, and return it to your place.” He gave her a sympathetic look. “You’ve had a traumatic evening.”
She wanted to go home, but if the man in the BMW was lying in wait down the road? “O—okay.” The heat blasting from the Lexus’s vents had done little to chase away her chill. She rubbed her arms. “I need to get some things out of my car first.”
She located her phone, wedged between the passenger seat and door, and scooped up the contents of her purse. Shoes in hand, she slid back into Jared’s Lexus and pulled up Lachlan’s number while Jared moved her car further onto the shoulder. After several rings that went unanswered, her call rolled over to voicemail.