Page 23 of Wild Fever

“A friend.”

“A friend?” I said, doubtful.

“Another operative. Freelance. We’d worked together on a few ops and gotten close.”

“I’m sorry about your friend.”

She gave a grim nod.

"You don't have any idea what kind of data those files contain?”

"No. I haven't done anything with the files. Hacking’s not really my forte.”

I stared at her for a moment. "Take off the sunglasses.”

She hesitated, then pulled them from her face, revealing ice-blue eyes that looked weary and sunken. "You'll have to excusemy appearance. As I mentioned, I'm feeling a little under the weather.”

She really didn't look bad at this point. Like she had the flu, maybe. On her worst day, a woman like Kara still looked pretty good.

I gazed deep into her eyes, searching for the truth. "I need you to be 100% honest with me. Did you kill Yan Zheng?”

Without blinking, flinching, or hesitating, she said, "No. I don't take those kinds of jobs anymore.”

I could relate to that.

"Does this mean you’re gonna help me? Or are you going to turn me over to the feds?”

I shared a look with JD.

It was against my better judgment, but I knew if we handed her over to the feds, we might never find out who killed Yan Zheng. At least, that's how I rationalized it. Maybe she was playing me for a sucker, maybe she wasn't. Kara was the kind of woman who could make a man do silly things. Helping her was downright stupid.

"The first thing we need to figure out is exactly what we’re dealing with and if there is a cure,” I said.

“You read my mind on that one,” she said, not hiding a grin. “Part and parcel with that is finding out who's responsible.”

"Let's establish a few ground rules.”

She listened intently.

"You do exactly what I say, when I say it. You don't have time to argue, and I don't have the bandwidth.”

"Affirmative," she said.

"If I think you're lying to me, that's it. I'll hand you over to the feds and won’t think twice about it.”

She gave me a mock salute. "Yes, sir."

"The objective is to find a cure and to figure out who killed Yan Zheng. You got that? This is not a revenge mission.”

Her face tightened. "I can tell you one thing. If I'm going to die, I’m taking some people with me.”

"Not on my watch. We do everything by the book.”

She laughed. "There's nothing by the book about this.”

I couldn't argue with that.

"And I want the data. Now. Hand it over.”