Page 74 of Edge of Danger

“Save it. I have bigger problems on my plate at the moment. I’ll talk to you when you get back to D.C.” The line went dead in her ear.

Oh, that was so not good. André was a European and the soul of courtesy at all times. But the man had just hung up on her. She was dead meat.

Holding out Ian’s phone to him, she looked up at him bleakly. “Satisfied? I’m off the case and have undoubtedly lost my job. The career I’ve dreamed of most of my life is over.”

She turned away sharply lest he see the tears gathering in her eyes all of a sudden. She tried the steel door and was dismayed to find it locked.

“If you’ll let me out of here, I’ll get out of your hair. Good luck, Ian. You’ve got to find that virus. There’s no telling how many people will die if it runs unchecked.”

A big hand landed on the door above the latch. His arm stretched disturbingly close to her shoulder, and damned if she couldn’t feel his body heat radiating toward her back.

Oh, God. Not only had she lost her career, but she’d also losthim. A black pit opened beneath her feet and she gave herself over to it, falling, falling. She’d lost everything. She had nothing--

“Crucify yourself later,” Ian growled. “Right now, we have a terrorist attack to stop.”

“Didn’t you hear me? I’m off the case. Fired. Gone. Security clearances revoked, Need to know erased. I’mdone.” She spared him a single anguished glance over her shoulder, but it was too much. If she looked at him anymore she was going to break down and sob like a baby. And she’d be damned if she cried in front of him. She turned back to the door, yanking futilely at the immobile latch.

“In the meantime, Americans are dying.” His words pounded at her skull like hammers. “They don’t know it yet, but a whole bunch of innocent civilians have likely got viral time bombs ticking away inside them.”

Did he have a point to make? Frowning, she turned under his arm to face him. The steel door was cold against her back. As unyielding as the man in front of her.

“We’re agreed that the attack has already happened. Yes?” he asked rhetorically. She nodded as she stared at a spot somewhere in the middle of his chest, and he continued grimly. “We’re in damage control mode, then. We need to know where to concentrate medical resources before all hell breaks loose. Which means this is a race against time.”

“I’m aware of all this,” she told him gently. “But it’s not my problem anymore. It’s yours, alone.”

“I need your help, Piper.”

Her stare snapped up to his. He didn’t look demented.

“Come again?” she blurted.

“I need your help. Like it or not, you’re the expert on PHP. You know more about them than anyone else in the intel establishment.”

“But you said it yourself. You can’t trust me. Even if I am telling you the truth to the best of my ability, it’s bound to be skewed to some degree. None of my intel is reliable or actionable.”

“It’s the best we’ve got. And we’re running out of time.”

“André all but fired me.”

“Okay. Then you’ll just ride along with me for lack of any other ride to where you’re headed. You won’t technically be working with me. But I need you to get your head back in the game. Help me figure out where Yusef turned his virus loose. You can sort out your job or lack of one later. But right now, I need you.”

Ian stared hard at her, and she stared back, weighing whether or not he meant any of it. Was this all part of an elaborate interrogation ploy to get her to spill her guts? Thing was, she’d already laid her guts on the table for him. She just didn’t know if he believed her or not.

“Be square with me, Ian. Are you playing me or not? We’ve got no time for this.”

“You’re right. We don’t.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I don’t make a habit of working with people I don’t trust. But there is no one else. I need you to look me in the eye and swear you’ll be dead honest with me from here on out. No lies. No evasions. About anything. No matter what I ask you, I need the truth to the very best of your ability to give it to me. That’s the only way this is going to work. I can’t work with you if you’re not honest with me.”

She stared at him long and hard. Honest had never been part of her M.O. Ever since she could remember, she’d survived by hiding her true self. By being less like her mother than she reallywas. By pretending to agree with her father’s brand of madness. By hiding her dreams. Hiding her feelings. Hiding everything about herself.

“Take it or leave it,” he prodded.

She ought to walk away. Let Ian and the government flail through this crisis on their own. But she still felt a responsibility to do the right thing. To atone for stopping Ian from destroying the virus in Sudan. To make up for her family’s crimes. To redeem her own reputation.

She capitulated to that little voice all at once, abruptly, not daring to second guess the impulsive decision. “Fine. I swear to tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth from now on,” she blurted.

“Can I believe you?” he challenged.

She shrugged and risked a look up into his eyes. “That’s up to you. I can make you promises all day long, but what matters is how your gut answers that question.”

---