Page 98 of Elusive Promise

"Send them over when they get here," he said shortly.

Seeing the determination in his eyes, she knew she wasn't going to stop him, nor did she really want to. Jasmine was safe. It was Jared's turn now to call the shots.

"You're supposed to be at the airport in…" She checked her watch. "An hour."

"We need to find Isaac. That's all that matters."

She made a quick decision. "Go. I'll catch up."

He gave her a hard look. "This isn't good-bye."

"I know," she said, really wanting to believe that. "I'll talk to the police. You do your spook thing."

She moved down the sidewalk, planning on distracting the officers from questioning where Jared was going, but two neighbors had finally come out of their house from across the street and were now conversing with the police, so she left them alone.

"Thank you, Parisa," Anika said, moving over to her as the EMTs sat Jasmine on the back of the ambulance. "You saved Jasmine's life and mine, too. Who are you?"

"You know who I am."

"I don't think I do. Are you a police officer?"

"No."

Anika gave her a sharp look. "You're not going to tell me, are you? Well, it's fine. I'm still grateful."

"What you did was very risky, Anika. You should have had backup. You should have told someone what you were doing."

"Westley and I didn't think we had a choice. But for a moment there, I thought I'd probably made the stupidest decision of my life—until you showed up. Why did you follow me?"

"Because I saw you and Westley meeting in secret the other day. I wondered if you and Westley had something going on."

Her eyes widened. "Really? You followed me the other day, too? I certainly raised your suspicions. Why?"

"Because you lied to me when you got the text from Westley and told me it was from your boss. I knew you were up to something. I'm just glad it was about saving Jasmine and nothing else."

"I guess I'm not a very good liar. But I would never be interested in Westley. He is far too arrogant and controlling for me. However, he does really love my sister. He only asked me to help because the kidnappers told him it had to be me."

"You're very brave, Anika."

"I have a feeling I'm going to start crying as soon as the adrenaline wears off." She paused as a stream of black SUVs came down the street.

Damon was one of the first people to hit the sidewalk, followed by a dozen other agents. Police detectives and other law enforcement personnel were close behind. But it was the car that pulled up next that made her heart fill with emotion.

The Kumars—Raj and Kenisha—and the Larimers—Phillip and Westley—ran toward the ambulance. Anika went to join them.

"That's a happy scene," Damon said, as he joined her.

"It could have very easily gone the other way."

"Thanks to you, it didn't. What made you follow Anika?"

"I had a hunch," she said lightly, knowing that Damon would have a lot more questions.

"We'll get into all that later. What has Jasmine told you? Start with the bombs. Is there an attack forthcoming?"

"She doesn't know what their plans are. I haven't been in the house, but I heard there was evidence of bomb-making materials. Jasmine said she'd speak to Ben. Maybe she can get him to tell us more. She still seems to believe he has a good heart. I don't know why she's not blaming him for what happened to her, but she's not."

"I'll try to make that happen as soon as possible. Anything else I need to know?"

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