Page 43 of Don't Let Go

That was an excellent question. Fallon stilled, head tilted. For all she had trusted us, she hadn’t revealed this part. She told us she strip-mined it all. Damn impressive, but not where it was or how to get to it. Was it in a physical or virtual location? Both? Neither?

If it were a physical location and she had issues with rememberinghowto get it, I’d take care of it. Virtual location? That would require her, specifically.

“They wouldn’t,” she said slowly. “Not until I acted on what I took. Not until I’d done what I said I would do. Then they would try to intercept.”

Fallon’s eyes went distant, the chilly look didn’t belong on her warm, animated face. If anything, it seemed downright alien. Then, I’d never really been able to “see” her while she worked. Maybe it was how she processed.

“I threatened them,” she continued in a voice that was almost too quiet. “I threatened them with more than exposure. Shadow ops only work if they can remain in the shadows. Governments hate to admit that they are running them, so when they are exposed?—”

McQuade snorted. “Exposure means scorched earth. Disavow the identified players. Senior officers fall on their swords, and if they are jailed—well, that’s the cost of doing business.” Disapproval echoed beneath each word. “It’s clever and stupid in equal measures.”

Remy folded his arms and merely shrugged when McQuade shot him a look. McQuade seemed like a lifer, so I had to wonder what made him leave that life behind. Particularly since what he did now was basically the same job—only he worked for himself.

That, I understood on a visceral level. I didn’t do acquisitions for others unless I approved of their reasons for wanting something. For me, it was never about the money. Okay, to be perfectly honest, it was never aboutonlythe money.

“The exposure would cost them their investments in time, budget, and manpower,” Fallon continued, tapping a finger against her plump, still kiss-swollen lower lip. Swollen from my kisses. Possessiveness slid through me. I wished I could just kiss her again and table the rest of this discussion.

Sadly, not an option at the moment.

Later, I promised myself. Definitely later.

“That’s not all it would cost them though,” she said. Lips pursed, she paced away from us, then back. The restlessness around her had transformed from chaotic energy to something far more laser-focused. The intensity of it demanded all of our attention. “International relations with allies could be forever damaged.”

Allies?

Remy raised his brows. “Do you know everything in the files?”

The harsh, cold reality of that question left my bones aching. If she knew it all…

“Yes.” No prevarication or play. Nothing coy or dismissive. If anything, she was blunt, hard, and direct. “Enough to be a threat, but without the files themselves, I’m just a crackpot conspiracy theorist and easily dismissed and painted into a corner. Like so many others before me.”

“But you have the files,” McQuade seized the thread. “That means you know the names of those involved…”

Well, shit… “You would also know who we might be able to trust with the info if you have to take it public. Cause if we go public with it, all their reasons for going after you evaporate. They are exposed.”

“Yes,” she said, only this time it was far softer. “They would also lose any rationale behind trying to be quiet about it. At that point, assassinating me could just be a drone attack if they wanted.”

“Retaliation,” McQuade said in a tone that suggested he agreed with her conclusion. “Right now, theyneedyou alive cause they don’t know that you haven’t set up a failsafe. You die and it goes public. You go missing for too long, it goes public—son of a bitch…”

The lack of anything resembling surprise on Fallon’s face told me she’d already reached that particular opinion.

“They let me go,” she said. “They wanted me to escape.”

Assholes. Except…

“You might not have made it if we hadn’t been there.” She’d been struggling so hard.

“Maybe,” she said. “Or were they the token resistance I wouldn’t have identified as token because I was drugged up, exhausted, in tremendous pain, and ready to believe anything… who says you didn’t scoop me up before their scoop team could—the team that had been set up to play my savior.”

I raked a hand through my hair, but it was Remy who looked grim now. “Operatives running as civilians. Someone to offer you a ride. Another a doctor…”

“We fucked up their plans.” Aggravation gave way to a kind of feral glee in McQuade. “Fucked them up good.”

A smile flirted around the corners of her mouth. “The truly frightening part of all of this, is how good of a plan it was. They truly could have gotten me.”

“Except, even when we first rescued you, you didn’t tell us where the information was.” I hated to rain on anyone’s parade, but it was the simple truth. “You didn’t trustus. No doubt exists within me, you wouldn’t have taken their bait.”

“Agreed,” Remy said firmly. “With that in mind, don’t tell us. We’re not asking unless it becomes something you think we need to know.”

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