Page 10 of Security Breach

David threaded his fingers through hers. “Do you want the truth or a pretty lie to make you feel better?”

Her heart sank. Oh, no. “The truth.”

“No one survived the blast.”

“Oh, David.” She’d hoped for a different outcome. “They didn’t deserve to die because of me.”

“They died in the line of duty because of a serial killer who gets a charge from hurting others. Their deaths aren’t on you, Emma. Place the blame where it belongs, on the Butcher.”

“I still feel guilty.”

“Survivor’s guilt. The best way to honor them is help us catch the killer and testify against him so he’ll never have the chance to hurt anyone else again.”

“Of course I will, but testifying doesn’t seem like enough to honor their sacrifice.”

“It’s all you have to offer.”

“Their poor families,” she whispered. “They expect their spouse or father to come home, not see a supervisory special agent with the bedside manner of a hedgehog on their doorstep to break this horrible news.”

After another hand squeeze, David made another call. A familiar voice came through the cabin’s speakers.

“Heard you never came home this morning. What’s up?” Elliot, David’s brother, asked.

“I was called in to retrieve an HVT.”

Emma frowned. HVT? What was that?

“Need help?” Elliot asked.

“Lock down the ranch and set up a perimeter watch around the house. Make sure the security system is running without glitches.”

Silence, then, “ETA?”

“Ninety minutes. I’ll be coming in hot.”

“Copy that. We’ll be ready.” Elliot ended the call.

“What’s an HVT?” Emma asked.

“High-value target. That’s what you are.”

She didn’t know about high value, but she was definitely a target. “Elliot sounds good.”

“He puts up a good front.” David glanced at her. “Hungry or thirsty? I don’t want to go into a restaurant, but we should be safe enough in a drive-through lane.”

Her appetite was nonexistent. “I can’t handle food right now, but I’d love some hot tea.”

David smiled. “Still have that tea addiction going, huh?”

So what if she had two cabinets full of different kinds of herbal teas at her home? “Drinking tea is a sign of intelligence.”

He laughed. “Keep telling yourself that. I’ll take a good cup of coffee any day over your weak concoctions.”

Three minutes later, he pulled into the drive-through lane of a coffee shop and ordered a large herbal tea for her and the same size of coffee for himself along with a breakfast sandwich and a scone.

“Hungry?” she teased.

“Starving. I had just finished a 20-hour workday when Jordan called me. I’ve been awake more than 24 hours.”

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