Page 78 of Extracted

Knock, knock

Gemma bolted from the bed and swung open the door.

Charlene waltzed inside and took a seat in the armchair near the desk. “Sit,” she said to Gemma, gesturing to the bed.

Gemma returned to where she’d sat moments before and folded her legs in, knotting her hands near her ankles. “So, where am I going?”

“I don’t have the exact location yet, but it will be somewhere close. We got word Silas landed in Ecuador a couple of hours ago. We have a drone on him, but we need closer eyes.”

Gemma bit back a snarky comment. Her eyes, of course, needed to be the close ones and were worth the risk, as far as the CIA was concerned.

“Will there be another bomb?”

“No. You have my word.” Charlene held up her hand, a solemn expression on her pinched face.

“Don’t you think I should have known about the last ones? I almost didn’t make it out.” Mostly because she’d taken it from behind in the hotel’s broom closet, but Charlene didn’t need to know about that.

Charlene shifted in the seat, and the leather crinkled. “Had it been my choice, I would have mentioned it. As you know, things move quickly—”

“The bombs would’ve needed to be planted, Charlene.” A hint of disdain clung to her words.

“Yes, well. All I can say is it won’t happen again.”

“Fine.” There wasn’t anything else she could do or say. All that mattered now was getting this whole thing over with.

“Once you have eyes on Silas,” Charlene continued, “we’ll make a move.”

“Aren’t you concerned someone will recognize me? He’s looking for me, you know.”

“He is. So he won’t anticipate you being right under his nose.” She huffed out a breath. “If I could get a field agent here in time to do this job, I would. But all of this happened at lightning speed. We had no idea Silas was coming to Ecuador today. We can’t pass up the chance to nail him now.”

That made sense. Dallas was the one who’d staged the meeting on Ecuadorian soil—her stomach jolted as realization dawned on her.

Oh god. Dallas. He might be there when all this went down. She lifted her fingers to her forehead and the room spun.

“Are you okay?” Charlene’s concerned voice penetrated the wall of fog closing in around her.

Oh no. Oh no.

The odds of Dallas not being with Silas when the attack occurred were slim. She had to warn him. Waving off Charlene’s hands, which were fluttering around her, Gemma shook away the anxiety that wanted to pull her to the mattress.

“I’m fine.” She cleared her throat.

Charlene knelt in front of her, her pale face full of questions.

“I want a gun,” Gemma said, with a note of finality. “Or I’m not doing this.” She folded her arms across her chest.

Charlene stood and returned to her seat. “Fine. I’ll have the driver bring one. Any other demands?”

She drummed her fingers on her elbow. “Yeah. I want my name cleared. I’m sure my family thinks the worst of me right now.”

“Done. And don’t forget, as soon as this is over tonight, you can head back home for a month.” Charlene folded her hands on her lap and smiled as if she’d just offered her a huge bonus.

But Gemma wasn’t coming back after this. She’d already gone back on her word to Dallas once. This was her chance to follow through. Better to tell Charlene later, though.

“There’s one more thing . . .”

Charlene raised her eyebrows, waiting.

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