Page 34 of Zero Hour

“But you know they’re planning something.”

She spread her hands. “It’s obvious. That’s what they needed my husband for.”

“Your husband?” He phrased it as a question, hoping she’d elaborate.

Her eyes narrowed. “Before I say anything else, I want to see some ID. I don’t have a clue who you really are. You could be some lunatic off the street.”

“I assure you, I’m not.”

She arched a brow. “Excuse me if I’m not convinced.”

He smirked and dug out an ID card from his back pocket. It contained little more than his name and the company, and was not an official form of ID, but it was all he had. “My name is Patrick Burke. I run a private security firm contracted by the government.”

“Contracted to spy on Amir and Riad?”

“That’s right.”

Her eyes dropped to the card. “Blackthorn Security?”

“Yeah.”

A beat passed as if she were trying to come to a decision. Eventually, she glanced back up at him. “Except he recognized you?”

“He knows he’s being watched. We have men on him constantly. Right now, he’s meeting two suspected bomb makers at a park in Columbia Heights.”

She frowned. “Bomb makers?”

“Yes. Now tell me—what did Al-Jabiri want with your husband?”

“I thought they wanted him to build a bomb,” she whispered, her eyes darting to the barista who kept glancing over at them. Pat suspected he might have a little crush on Dr. McCarthy. “But he couldn’t go through with it, so he… he…”

“He killed himself?”

“Yes.” She bit her lip, dropping her head.

Pat studied her. “How do you know he couldn’t go through with it? Did he tell you that?”

She frowned. “He said he couldn’t do it anymore. I just assumed that meant he hadn’t finished the project. Why else would he kill himself?”

“Because he couldn’t live with the knowledge that he’d created a bomb that was going to be used to kill hundreds of people?” Pat suggested.

She paled. “No, I’m sure he would have told me.”

There was a short silence, then he said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.”

“How did you get into this situation?” he asked.

She took a deep breath. “I thought that was it, that it was over. But two weeks ago, Amir showed up.”

“Go on…”

“He wanted to know how much I knew about Adam’s work. I told him I didn’t know anything, that I was a psychologist, not a scientist, but he didn’t believe me. He took me to his house and kept me locked up. He threatened me.” Her voice cracked, and she swallowed hard. “He threatened my son.”

“Ryan?”

She gasped. “How did you know?” Then she exhaled, shaking her head. “You probably know everything about me, don’t you?”

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