Page 76 of Cold Light of Day

He hesitated, then huffed. “I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this alive.”

His words shocked her. She reached across the table and grabbed his hand. Willed him to feel how much she cared. Willed him to believe they were getting out of this alive. He would survive, and when the dust settled, he would be free. “You don’t mean that. Of course you’re going to live. And I’m going to help you.”

The waiter brought their food and asked if they needed anything else. Autumn quickly dismissed him.

“You don’t think Icanhelp you, do you?”

“I don’t want you in this. I should go meet Sarah myself, but there’s the issue of this Mateo guy who’s still at large. I would have preferred you stayed with your brother and he protected you. And then I could learn what I can from Sarah.”

“And disappear again.”

Lines appeared in his forehead. She’d never seen Grier this serious about anything. “First, I want to make sure you’re safe. I hope they take down Mateo soon. This isn’t how I thought things would turn out. I thought I had time. That Krueger would clear my name.”

“Now that you brought him up, tell me everything. I want to be ready for our meeting with Sarah tomorrow.”

He hung his head again and nodded. A few seconds ticked by, then he finally said, “I was a Navy SEAL.”

Her heart lurched. “I knew it.”

She waited a few more seconds, hoping he would tell her more.

“A cryptology technician, to be specific. But I went on to work with the NSA in their Scorpion Program—SCS, Special Collection Service. Officially, we don’t exist.”

“I’ve never heard of it. What would I find if I searched on the internet?”

“You would find sites that say it doesn’t exist and others that say it does.”

Realization dawned. “And that’s why you’re not on any official fugitive list.”

“Exactly. SCS is a joint NSA-CIA program.”

“Highly classified.”

He nodded. “I shouldn’t be telling you.”

“But you think you’re a dead man walking.”

“Possibly.”

“Well, you’ve told me this much. What happened to put you in the wanted fugitive category?”

“My job was to insert eavesdropping equipment in difficult-to-reach places. We went in under diplomatic cover to penetrate foreign communications networks. Does it sound like gibberish?”

“No. It’s fascinating, actually.” And her admiration for him exploded. Her instincts about him had been correct.

The waiter returned.

Of course. He planned to interrupt them every step of the way. “Is everything all right?”

She glanced at her burger. Grier’s burger. Neither of them had touched their meal. Then she looked up at the waiter apologetically.“I’m sure the food is great, thank you. We need time to talk.”

“Of course.” He gave a nod, then stepped away. She stared at him until he got the message and went across the room to another table.

“I want to know what happened. Who was Martin Krueger?”

“Krueger was one of the CIA intelligence officers, operatives, I was working with, along with two others, including a technician. We intercepted and transmitted information, and often deciphered it. Unfortunately, we learned a foreign government official—”

“You’re not going to tell me the names of the other agents or the official?”