Page 100 of Delta Force Defender

He waited for them to go away, but neither one of them moved.

“Jimmy Sheeran, on the other hand, is not fine,” Jonas said. He and Templeton were staring at Isaac like this was the opening gambit in a tough interview, so Isaac kept his expression locked down. “Someone took him out in police custody.”

That thudded in him. A direct hit. “What?”

“It turns out that your average dirtbag doesn’t really like it when another dirtbag lies about who he is for almost ten years.” Templeton shrugged. “They found him in a cell. Whoever did it didn’t even bother to dress it up like it was a suicide.”

Isaac thought of that look on Caradine’s face, back in Boston. In that cursed lobby. The gun in her hand and that bleak acceptance on her face, because she’d been prepared to do what had to be done.

What he’d wanted to do, too.

He was fiercely, deeply glad she hadn’t had to do it.

And maybe a little sad that he hadn’t had the opportunity to do it for her. Maybe all he knew how to do was fight. But he was really, really good at it.

“I can’t really work up any particular sadness about that,” he said now.

“The two idiots he had with him have been throwing everyone and everything under any bus they can find,” Templeton continued. “Just like the one you left up in Maine. They can’t accuse each other fast enough.”

“Good,” Isaac said. Maybe a little gruffly. “I like it when they eat each other alive.”

“Julia Sheeran did a media tour,” Jonas said, and it didn’t matter what name they used. It was her, and thinking about her... hurt. Though that was a tame word to describe the raw thing in him. And Isaac couldn’t really place the expression on his friend’s normally stark, unreadable face then. His dark eyes actually gleamed. “All the talk shows. All those news programs.”

Isaac had a lot to say about that but settled for a curt nod.

“The level of stupidity it would take to go after her when she made herself such a public figure...” Jonas shook his head. “I don’t think anyone would be dumb enough to do it.”

“And if there was someone dumb enough to do it,” Templeton chimed in, “there would be no point now. Not with Jimmy dead. There’s no one to curry favor with anymore.”

“She’s always been smart.” Isaac meant that. He did.

“And then,” Jonas said, his gaze still gleaming, “she announced that she was retreating to Europe to write her memoirs.”

Isaac let that land. “I’ll admit I didn’t see that coming.”

“She boarded a plane to Germany, then disappeared,” Templeton said, with great satisfaction.

“What do you mean, she disappeared?”

Templeton nodded sagely. “There were heated calls from the feds. You know what they’re like when they can’t find someone.”

Isaac thought about the wigs. About Caradine in Texas, all those curls and a drawl to match. He thought about how she’d played him, ruthlessly and unapologetically, and would again, no doubt, if necessary.

He wondered what kind of woman she would be next. What kind of life she would arrange around herself this time. If she was truly free, who would she become?

Who do you like, Isaac?she’d asked him. WhoisCaradine Scott?

And he hated how that question bounced around inside him the way it had been doing for almost two months, making it all too clear that he was far emptier than he ought to have been.

He’d had all these weeks to get used to it, but it still snuck up on him.

Or maybe,that voice inside him, sharp like hers, chimed in,it’s always there.You just can’t drown it out with machine gun fire every second of the day.

“I appreciate the update,” he said now, and managed not to sound as stiff as he felt.

He nodded at his friends, both of whom he currently wanted to cause physical harm to. But didn’t, because he was in control of himself and not a complete animal, thank you. Then he moved toward his desk, indicating that the conversation was over. That he had work to do.

When he looked up again, Templeton had vanished. But Jonas was still there, still standing in the doorway.

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