Page 75 of Hot Intent

“What do you mean?”

She spoke quietly enough that her uncle had to lean in closer if he was going to hear her, saying, “I got shot last night. Was it one of your guys?”

He leaned back hard in his seat, visibly acting shocked. She wished she could believe his reaction. Crud. Alex’s paranoia was rubbing off on her.

“No!” Charlie exclaimed. He amended, “Well, not that I was aware of.”

If that wasn’t genuine surprise, he was a fantastic actor.

He asked quickly, “Are you okay, Katie?”

“I’m fine, only because a surgeon was right there to stop me from bleeding to death and took care of my injury.”

“Mmm. Lucky,” was Charlie’s noncommittal answer.

“Alex said it was a pro. Used some sort of Teflon-tipped round preferred by snipers to shoot me.”

“Christ, Katie. What’s that all about? How are you, really?”

“I’ve been better. Good news is I’ll live. As for what this is all about, that’s what I’m hoping you can tell me.”

“Thank God you’re safe.” He reached across the table to squeeze her hand in what she took as a real gesture of concern. Then he asked casually, “How was your trip?”

“Interesting. Did André tell you what we found?”

He frowned slightly. “No. Should he have?”

She lowered her voice even further, even though no one was sitting near them. “I have no idea what your chain of command is. We found Sarin or something similar, after a release of some of it killed several dozen locals.”

Charlie stared at her intently, clearly assessing the truth of her words.

“We went looking for the source of the mystery illness with symptoms like nerve gas poisoning and found a bunker. With a lot of barrels inside it. The labels were printed in Arabic.”

Charlie visibly paled before her eyes. He leaned forward to mutter under his breath, Did you get proof?”

“We collected samples of the liquid in the barrels and we took air samples. But we lost it on the way out of the country. We do have pictures of victims, the bunker, and the barrels stored inside it.”

“And you told Fortinay about all this?”

“Yes. I told him nearly a week ago.”

Charlie’s gaze went hard and opaque. So. André, or André’s boss, had kept that little bombshell under wraps, huh? Maybe that person was waiting for the proof to come out of Cuba before her or she blew the lid off of it.

Or maybe the White House was using the delay in releasing information about her and Alex’s find to prepare for a coming showdown with Cuba and big brother, Russia. All of it was way, way above her pay grade.

“Where’s Alex, now?” Charlie fired at her.

“Safe house.”

“Any idea who might have shot you?”

“None. I’m a nurse, Uncle Charlie. I thoughtyoumight know.”

His eyes, so like her mother’s, were troubled.

Katie leaned forward across the tiny bistro table. “What can you tell me about something called Cold Intent?”

“Where on earth did you hear that?” he blurted.

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