Page 101 of Crossover

Cleveland rose to his feet, buttoning his blazer. “As I said, if proven true, this is one of the biggest breaches in CIA history. I will not rush this. If you and your family feel you are in danger, I can provide accommodations to keep you all safe.”

My stomach dropped.

“The problem is, sir, I’m unsure if Daniel may have others working with him—even unintentionally. If intel gets leaked back to him where my family’s location is, they would be in grave danger.”

Offense washed over Cleveland’s face. “Are you accusing more agents of being corrupt?”

“If anyone was helping him,” I hedged, trying to soften the blow, “they’d likely be doing it unwittingly.” In theory. “I’m the prime example of this, sir. I unknowingly carried out what turned out to be an unsanctioned termination of a civilian. If he’s capable of pulling that off, he is more than capable of getting intelligence from others within the organization.”

“We’ll flag your case as confidential,” Cleveland said. “But the choice of CIA protection is yours.”

My heart raced, calculating their best shot at survival.

I trusted Cleveland—I did. But Daniel was like a leaky hole in a boat. How many other leaks might be in it?

What if CIA’s protection inadvertently dispatched their location straight to Daniel? While Hunter’s team had been breached in that ambush, they were expecting it now, and therewere far more of them. Out of the two groups, I trusted Hunter’s team over the CIA right now.

“I think my family will be okay without CIA protection, but I have a request that will help to guarantee their safety.”

Cleveland put his hands into his pockets.

Chances were, they were already going to do what I was about to say, but their confirmation would help me sleep tonight.

“Can we please put a CIA team on Daniel to ensure he doesn’t flee?”And doesn’t come after my family…

Cleveland looked at his two silent associates. As he chewed his cheek, a dread settled into my bones.

“Unfortunately, all efforts to contact and locate Daniel have been unsuccessful.”

It felt like the air had been knocked out of my lungs.

“He’s already fled,” I spat.

What was the purpose of this entire dog-and-pony show of going through all this evidence if they already knew Daniel had fled? After all, only a guilty man flees.

What a waste of time! All of us could have beenhuntinghim rather than sitting here, proving he was dirty.

I wanted to call him out on it, career suicide be damned. But even in my fog of anger, I suspected why Cleveland had proceeded with this meeting. He, undoubtedly, had a team out there, actively looking for Daniel, while he met with us in parallel, needing to go through this evidence in careful detail.

The question was, what would Daniel’s next move be?

56

GRAYSON

“Are you okay?”

The street became a blur of headlights and taillights as I pushed the gas pedal harder, frustrated that I couldn’t meet her. Not now, not yet.

My attention flicked to the rearview mirror and both side mirrors, searching for any evidence of being followed. I didn’t see any, but the gnawing uncertainty in my gut wouldn’t subside. CIA operatives were highly skilled in evasion. That’s why I couldn’t run straight to Ivy, pull her close, and shield her from the world until this nightmare was over.

In theory, she should be safe with Hunter’s security, but nothing felt safe until Daniel was caught.

“I’m fine,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “Where are you?”

“No locations over the phone,” I reminded her.

“Right…” The tension in her tone tore at my heart.

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