Page 15 of Laura's Truth
He continued down the road, a confident smirk on his face now that they’d lost the troopers. “You won’t shoot me.”
She waited, letting the gun speak for her. His arrogance would be his downfall, she’d make sure of that.
“You’re a hard woman,” he muttered. “I like that.” He took a big breath. “Being presumed dead made me the easy fall guy for that incident, but I wasn’t the leak that got Carpenter’s men killed,” he said, all traces of the grin fading.
“Presumed?” She shook her head. “How did you pull it off? We had charred clothing, DNA confirmation and eye witnesses. Ross’s team saw you engulfed by the explosion.”
“Do you want that story or today’s story?”
The man gave her a headache. “I thought they went together.”
“Not quite the way you think they do.”
“Fine.” She’d dealt with cagey spooks before and hadn’t lost yet. She had a better shot of making charges stick in this more recent situation. “What is it about Charleston that pulled you back into the states?”
“Ever since that op blew up—literally—I’ve been tracking the real leak. It’s taken me years to unravel the knots and find the source. But I followed that source to Charleston and if I have anything to say about it, his next stop will be federal custody.”
“You can share a cell.”
“That isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but if that’s what it takes, I’m up for it.”
“You have to provide an explanation for the original incident.”
“Why?” He shot her a look so full of fury her breath caught in her throat. “I’ve done my time. Paid for another man’s greed more than anyone ever should.”
“Garner—”
His hands slid from the top of the steering wheel to the bottom. “My friends call me Drew.”
If he considered her a friend, the man had serious problems. “Okay.” But she couldn’t quite push the name past her lips. She wasn’t ready to be friendly or familiar with him.
“Look,” he began. “How I got here isn’t the big problem.” He took another on-ramp and they were heading west once more. “Why I’m here doesn’t have to be your problem.” He sighed. “Give Carpenter a call and I’ll drop you off wherever he can meet you. Tell him I’m no threat. I won’t even be there. We can put this misadventure behind us.”
“You’d like that.”
“No, I wouldn’t. It’s a safe bet that if I leave you alone for long, they’ll make another move. You’re likely to get killed.”
“The two at the airport are in custody by now,” she insisted.
“And who hired them? They were professionals, Laura.” He settled in with the flow of traffic on the interstate. “Whoever hired them won’t let them stay in custody long enough to talk.”
He was right, though she refused to admit it. She thought about her hotel room, her car back in the city. Had she ever made so many mistakes in the field? “It doesn’t make sense. Give me the name of your target. Let me help you handle this the right way.”
He laughed, the sound bitter. “You know too much already.”
She felt like the opposite was true. Between his vague comments, theories, and risky actions, she only felt more in the dark, more incompetent. The pieces weren’t going together. Hell, she wasn’t sure she was dealing with pieces from the same puzzle. What she thought she knew about Garner when he’d been with the CIA didn’t match up with the man beside her.
“You’re thinking about it aren’t you?” his voice cut into her thoughts. “Who set this in motion? They were too close, they found you too quickly in town and at the airport.”
She took her phone apart again, held it up for him. “You know who’s behind today’s fiasco.”
He shook his head. “I’d only be guessing.”
“But—”
“No.” He cut her off. “Telling you where I’ve been and how I got here only jeopardizes my plan and ultimately limits my chance at redemption. You’re too big a risk.”
“I beg your pardon?”