Page 60 of Delta Force Defender

She considered that. “Eventually, sure. I suppose itdepends. We walked away from a life people don’t get to walk away from. It’s not hard to imagine there might be a lot of reasons the people still in that life might like to use us as examples of why no one else should attempt such a thing.”

“But you disappeared. As far as most people know, you died. Why go to the trouble to hunt you down and drag you back, when it would be easier to claim that you really did die? To put it out there that anyone pretending to be Julia or Lindsay Sheeran was full of it?”

Outside, the sun was starting to poke through the fog. A patch of light fell through the window, a wedge of a glare across the table his grandfather had made right here on mornings like this one, cool and bright in turn.

“People who sell illegal weapons, arming hateful groups who then take great pleasure in murdering each other, probably aren’t rational.” She shrugged. “My father was obsessed with respect. I have to think that anyone who would chase us down would think that’s what this was. A matter of respect, that’s all.” Her mouth curved into something bitter. “Remember, Lindsay and I aren’tpeopleto them.Our lives only matter if they can be leveraged.”

Isaac felt that muscle in his jaw twitch.

Caradine’s eyes gleamed, as if that sign of his temper pleased her. “What I was thinking was that I wouldn’t dare go by myself to see if Lindsay was okay. I’d be too afraid that someone could be following me, the way you were, and I’d never see it until it was too late, getting us both killed. Or worse. Butyoucould go find her. You would know if anyone was tailing you.”

Isaac actually laughed. “Was that a compliment? Wrapped up in there somewhere? Because it sounds a lot as if you’re suggesting that we might actually be good at what we do here. ThatImight be more than a weird guy on an Alaskan island who plays Rambo games for fun.”

“Complimentis a strong word.” She pressed her lips together. “And I only said that a few times. In the early days.”

He tried to imagine what she would do if he went over there and hauled her into a hug. And the imagining was almost as satisfying as the hug would have been, so he grinned at her instead. Especially when she frowned at him.

“Yes, Caradine, we can certainly go places without being followed. We know how to identify tails and, better still, how to dislodge them. That’s part and parcel of the services we offer here. Speaking of which, we haven’t gotten around to discussing your payment plan.”

“Don’t worry,” she said, a little hotly. “I pay my bills.”

“I’m not going to want your money, baby.”

Isaac saw a flash of something on her face, but she looked down almost at once. He let it go, because he could see the way she was gripping her own arms as she sat across from him.

And because it probably wasn’t the longing he’d wanted to see there.

Or even if it was, she had no intention of giving in to it.

“I think we should go find my sister,” she said into the tension.

“We?”Isaac shook his head. “There’s nowe, Caradine. I get that you spent years keeping yourself hidden and preparing for an attack, and it’s impressive. But it’s not the same thing as military training.”

“All the military training in the world won’t make my sister talk to you when you find her,” Caradine replied coolly. “Only I can do that.”

His jaw hurt again. “It’s out of the question.”

Her gaze slammed into his, and all he could see was that blue, haunted straight through. Ghosts and secrets and too many lies across the years, even this morning after.

And that was the trouble, wasn’t it? He didn’t just want to help her.

He wanted to banish her ghosts, exorcise her demons. Fight her battles and win them all. And that was just for starters.

But she would punch him if he tried.

“I won’t risk you,” he said gruffly. “That’s unacceptable.”

“We have to go and find her, Isaac,” Caradine said, with more urgency this time and what he realized was panic all over her face. “Before they do. Because they will. They found me. And Lindsay doesn’t have Alaska Force, does she?”

Sixteen

Three days later, an Alaska Force team flew out for Hawaii.

Caradine went with them, fully aware that while everyone had agreed with her that she would be the key to any interactions with her sister, that didn’t make her any less of a liability. It was something they’d all discussed right in front of her during the briefings Isaac had grudgingly allowed her to attend.

“That doesn’t look like your game face,” Bethan said in the middle of one briefing, while Isaac and Oz were called into a different room to handle an ongoing mission situation.

“Weird. It’s my only face.” But she relented when Bethan grinned, because it was possible Caradine had a weakness for people who weren’t even remotely intimidated by her. Something she tucked away to look at... never. “I’m not exactly helpless.”

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