Page 97 of The Bodyguard

That elaboration didn’t help her rushing thoughts. “Then the Feds might still cut a deal with Pham, and he won’t stay in prison.”

Neither man disagreed.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Sawyer offered.

“Not find her?” She jerked back. “Like hell I’m not.”

His lips quirked.

“You might not like what you see,” Parker added.

“Where is she?” Angela asked.

“If it’s her…” Parker’s keyboard clicked. “She’s about thirty minutes away.”

She recalled when ACES exploded into the facility where Pham had kept her and Chelsea. It was such a barren place to live. With concrete bars and chain-link fences, she’d reimagined her surroundings into a livable house. The food was good. They tried to make sure she was never bored. But it was just an ignored commercial industrial depot. “Is she in a warehouse?”

“Actually, no. She lives in a regular house.”

Betrayal hit again. She didn’t know why. Pham kept Mylene in a house but not Angela? Or did Mylene live in a house as a traitor on Pham’s payroll? Her stomach roiled.

Sawyer’s gaze narrowed, but he said nothing to her. “Anything else we need to know?” he asked Parker. “Otherwise, we’ll probably finish breakfast and game out our next move.”

What was with all the game and puzzle talk? She pressed her fingers into her temples.

“I’ll send over everything I have—and Angela?”

“Yeah?”

“No matter which way this goes, you figured out something major. The Feds should’ve listened to you years ago.”

“Thanks,” she managed before Sawyer disconnected the call. “You knew something already, didn’t you?”

He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I knew there were possibilities that you might not like.”

Her shoulders slumped.

“I’ve always known this could go a lot of ways.” He studied her and added, “Yeah, I knew a few hours before dinner lastnight. Parker said it was possible, that he didn’t know enough to say, and that he had more to look into.”

“He knew enough to mention it to you.”

“Yeah,” he admitted.

“But you didn’t say anything last night?” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you.”

After an overly long moment, Sawyer said, “There were two very different possibilities about Mylene. She was either a victim or a traitor.Possibilities. Working hypotheses that Parker had to figure out. Not intel. There was nothing we could do.”

“So you didn’t tell me.”

“I figured, why fuck up a good night with a woman that was so damn excited about a pretty dress—when there was jack shit that we could do about it. I didn’t burden you with news that could wait.”

She wanted to yell. Angela pushed out her chair, stood up, and stormed toward the window. But her frustration with Sawyer wasn’t there. He was right. There had been nothing they could do.

The person she was really upset with was Mylene.

Or maybe herself.

She rubbed her temples. Ibrahim would have some catchy piece of advice that would help. Something about realizing what was in her control. For all the therapy, she couldn’t recall anything that would assist her.

---