Page 25 of The Bodyguard

“All right, then.” Boss Man grinned. “Shall I send them packing?”

“I already said goodbye. They should be on their way out if not gone already.”

“All right, then.” Jared rubbed his hands together. “Let’s see what we can learn about Pham.” He reached for the phone. “Parker’s been working his contacts since about an hour before we arrived at the hotel.”

Her eyebrows rose. “He had been trying to find you.”

“As had everyone else. I needed time to figure out what your mother was up to.”

“How did you know?” she asked.

“Very few options made sense after you were attacked.” Then, into the phone, he said, “Hey, Parker. “Got anything good yet?” A moment later, “Hang on.” Jared put Parker on the speakerphone. “Sawyer and Angela are here.”

Greetings were exchanged. Parker began, “We’ve got a lot of unsubstantiated hot air.”

Angela retrieved a notepad and pen from her purse. “Sounds like Washington, DC.”

Parker continued, “Pham’s attorneys are negotiating for something analogous to a political prison exchange. He shares where the person is, and then he returns home.”

Sawyer glanced at Angela. “As in no jail time?”

“None other than time served,” Parker confirmed. “That’s what they’re asking for.”

“No.” She looked from Jared to Sawyer and then leaned toward the phone. “Absolutely not.”

“I’m just the messenger,” Parker said. A keyboard clicked in the background. “Regardless of negotiations, the Feds are investigating. Their working theory is—if someone’s still out there—that person worked the military operation where his daughter died.”

“So not like me,” Angela added quietly.

“They wouldn’t rule that out. I don’t think they know much,” Parker replied.

Jared rubbed his temples. “Anything else?”

“If there is, they’re not letting me know.”

Parker had more connections and ways of discovering information than almost anyone. “Do you think your mom knows more?”

“Maybe.” Angela bit her lip. “She’s power-hungry, but she doesn’t want me dead. She wouldn’t have concocted this marry-Paul scheme if she thought I would come home and Pham was still a threat.”

“She came out here and put a bull’s-eye on you,” Sawyer pointed out.

“True…” Angela considered for a moment. “She might know more and isn’t telling. She always holds her cards close to her chest.”

Jared grabbed his cell phone and pressed it to his ear. “Samantha, have you left?”

Sawyer glanced at Angela’s unreadable face. Was she upset about Paul? The faux marriage proposal had blindsided her, but she hadn’t answered his question about wanting to date Paul.

“Leave the bozos and meet us back in the war room.” Jared tossed his phone onto the desk. “Parker, get patched into the war room, and let’s get everything on the table.”

Angela faltered. “I’ll stay here.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna work.” Jared beckoned her out of the chair. “Get up.”

“I already said my goodbye.”

“And then you marched in here and told me you wanted to help find the woman. This is how you’re going to do that.”

Angela glanced Sawyer’s way.

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