Page 87 of Hidden Ascent

He spit blood. “You made me bite my tongue. Come on, Isla. You’re not well. You can’t fight me on this, and I don’t want to force you.”

He lifted her, but when she got to her feet, she thrashed to get away from him. “Let me go.”

She’d hurt herself worse than she already had if he kept pushing, so he did as she asked and stepped back.

She stumbled sideways into a brick wall and stood still, breathing hard. “Don’t touch me.”

“I won’t.”

After a minute, she looked at him. “Why are you still here?”

“If I was your enemy, I would have forced you into the car or killed you.”

“You are my enemy.”

“I told you, I had to make it look like I was working for them—otherwise, we’d both be dead.”

“I may have hit my head, but I remember what you did.”

“It was my only option. There was no other way for me to keep us safe.”

“Maybe it keptyousafe. But not me. You pointed a gun at me.”

“I heard someone coming. I knew we would be found. I had to do something.”

“What about when that guy Simmo came at me in the office? I could have taken him. You stopped it from happening.”

“I couldn’t be sure it would work. I didn’t know who else was around. I made a split-second decision to reinforce my position so Simmo believed I was really on his side.”

“It was very convincing.”

“It had to be. I couldn’t risk you blowing my cover.”

“Then how do I know you’re not still playing me?”

“You don’t. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“No.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “Well, I guess nothing has changed.”

“If you’re really on my side, why’d they let me go with you?”

“Because I met with John Sharpe.”

“How’d you get him to agree to meet with you?”

“He wanted to meet the man who’d brought him his missing DEA agent.”

“Why would he let me go?”

“I told him I could use you to get him Whitlock.”

“He wants Whitlock?”

“He didn’t think he did, but when I told him I could get the AG for him, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. That’s when I told him I needed you to do it. And it’s a good thing too, because Hulk was going to kill you.”

“Hulk?”

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