Page 26 of Baby Take Me Home
Then again, maybe I would never see him again, and maybe that was for the best. The thought wasn’t comforting, though. What had happened between us had been unexpected and probably really stupid on both our parts, but I didn’t regret it. If I never saw him again, I wouldn’t know whether or not he did, and the realization made me inordinately sad.
A familiar woman arrived in the medical bay doorway and knocked on the frame.
“Come in, Kessler,” Dr. Bond said. “Ms. Armand, this is Kessler. She’s been authorized to debrief you on some of the details surrounding your kidnapping six months ago.”
“You’ll have to excuse the doc,” Kessler said, shooting a pointed look at the woman. “She’s always very direct. And you can call me Cynthia.”
“Ashlee, please,” I said. “And I remember you from the harbor cruise. Were you there at my rescue?”
Dr. Bond laughed softly. “She’s direct, too.” She glanced at me. “I like that.”
Cynthia didn’t take her eyes off me. She observed my face and my hands, my expressions, and my body language.
“And now you’re reading me for my reactions,” I stated.
Cynthia raised her eyebrows. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I assume you do some of that in your field as well.”
“I do,” I said. “And I also keep track of things, like people not answering my questions.”
Cynthia smiled at Dr. Bond. “I like her, too.” She focused back on me. “In a minute, I’ll tell you everything I’ve been authorized to release. But first, I want you to understand that we have expectations regarding your cooperation.”
I nodded. “With Luka Kovac. I understand.”
She nodded. “You’ll mainly work with me to prepare for the operation.” She smiled again. “For the meeting. And when you meet with him, you’ll be wearing one of our comms units so I can talk in your ear, guide you through how to move and react.”
“Giving subconscious signals that I’m trustworthy,” I said.
“Yes. I think we’re going to work well together.” She sat down across from me and took a deep breath. “Regarding the rescue, yes, I was there. My tactical team partner, Mai—the tall, dark-haired woman you also saw at the parties on the ship and at the embassy—ran point on your rescue operation.”
“So, all the people there that day were from HEAT?”
She frowned. “I’m authorized to say that HEAT was there to rescue you.”
The subtext of her response was that she was not authorized to discuss any other agencies that were involved. I could live with that, at least for now. There was more important information I needed. “What about my kidnappers? They were from the Carbonados group, weren’t they?”
She nodded but didn’t look surprised that I knew that name. I recalled another line in the fine print of the preliminary contract TJ had had me sign. I’d given permission for HEAT to examine my tech devices and my electronic files. Of course, a super-spy agency would have found my private cloud storage.
I leaned forward, closer to Cynthia. This was the most important question I would ask her, and I hoped to god she was authorized to answer it. “Why? Why did they do it? Why me?” I blinked back tears. “Why Aiden?”
She narrowed her eyes. Sympathetic but wary. “You know Mr. Brooks was investigating the Carbonados. They probably found out, or at least suspected him. We know his invitation to the harbor cruise was for him and his husband.”
I nodded slowly, realizing that the motive behind kidnapping and terrorizing me had been nothing more than a case of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Was that whole cruise just a complicated ruse to get to Aiden?”
“Not exactly,” Cynthia said. “You’re right, it was complicated. The man who orchestrated the whole thing was fairly low on the org chart and wanted to be promoted, so to speak. Putting corruption and organized crime reporters on a ship with scandal-ridden CEOs to entrap Mr. Brooks was part of their plan.”
I struggled to follow her. “And you? How did you and your friends get invited? The Wilder brothers are clean.”
She nodded. “They are. And they were not the target of our group.” She sighed. “I really can’t go into much detail, but I can tell you, they wanted to recruit my tactical partner, Mai Li, to work with Carbonados. We have reason to believe they didn’t know she was working for an intelligence agency when they made the attempt. That’s all I can tell you about the entire operation, Ms. Armand.”
“I see.” It was more than I could have found out in months of digging on my own, but didn’t feel the relief I’d thought the knowledge would bring me. “I have one more question,” I said, hoping the answer might be the key to my healing.
Cynthia shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you anything more.”
“This one is for Dr. Bond.” I turned toward the doctor, who looked up from my medical chart.
“No need to be formal,” she said. “Any friend of TJ’s can call me Samantha.” There was a twinkle in her eye as she said it that I decided to ignore.
I cleared my throat. “Okay, Samantha. I have a question about my friend’s death. Aiden’s husband said he had no symptoms of heart disease. He’d just had a full check-up and had been given a clean bill of health. Why did the stress of the kidnapping result in a fatal heart attack?”