Page 46 of Covert Past

Ellie slowly raised herself to her knees. “Daniel?”

It couldn’t be. Impossible. No. She must be dreaming. The sight of the man she once loved sent shockwaves through her body. Daniel.HerDaniel?

“You’re alive.” She stumbled to her feet and started for him then stopped.

The truth, far more horrible than any of them expected, began to fall into place.

“Daniel. No.” A sob escaped. “You did this? You were the traitor?”

She couldn’t comprehend it. It didn’t make sense. The manshe loved would never betray his country in such a way. Would never betray her.

Daniel’s mouth twisted into a smile. “You had no idea, did you?” He seemed in shock himself. “The great Ayla had no idea she was being set up.”

“H-how.” She forced the word out. She had to know everything. “I recognized your belt buckle. It was you on the ground.”

He laughed in her face. “That was the Syrian. My contact within their intelligence. He figured out it was me and was going to ruin everything. I couldn’t allow it, so I killed him and put my belt buckle on him so that you would believe it was me.”

“Why?” The question came out on a sob. “Why, Daniel.”

He shrugged indifferently. “I’m sorry, but it had to be this way, Ayla. Too much was at stake. I couldn’t risk him blowing my cover.” Daniel took a step closer, the venom on his face nothing like the man she’d once loved with all her heart. “Where is it, Ayla? Where is the information Gideon hid?”

He’d fooled her. She believed the lies he’d told her.

She slapped him hard. “You faked your own death!”

His jaw tensed as if her response angered him. Good. She hoped it hurt like crazy. If nothing else, she’d get one last blow in.

He slowly smiled. “Look at you. So proud. So loyal. Just like Gideon. He knew someone from his team was working for the enemy. He tried to figure it out only he failed. For a while, he thought that you were the one who killed me and had been selling secrets, but then something changed. He reopened the investigation. Started asking questions. That’s why he had to die.”

Daniel, the last person Ellie would suspect of being a traitor, was the one who had betrayed her.

“You killed Gideon? You loved him. He was like a father to you. You told me so many times.”

Nothing showed on Daniel’s face. He stepped closer. “I need that information. Gideon put it inside the ring. He confessed before he died. It has the name of the undercover Mossad agent working within Syrian Intelligence. I promised todeliver. It will be bad for me if I don’t. My boss needs it.” He glanced behind him at a man she didn’t recognize.

“I’m not giving it to you. You’re going to kill me anyway. Why should I help?”

He clasped a strand of her hair, and she tried to pull free but he didn’t let her. “We were a good team once. I thought about bringing you in with me, but you were always so loyal to Mossad and Gideon.” His eyes narrowed. “You’ve seen the information. Who is it?”

Ellie fought back tears. “Was any of it real? Did you ever love me, Daniel? Why did you even propose to me?”

Just for a second, something of the Daniel she knew and loved showed in his eyes. But that Daniel was gone in a blink of an eye. The anger returned. “Who is it,” he barked, making her jump.

Ellie squared her shoulders. “I’ll never tell you.”

“You will. Soon, you will. Gideon always thought you were the better agent over me, but you had no idea I faked my death. No idea the tracker in the Ruger wasn’t the only one.” He dug his finger into a spot at the back of Ellie’s neck. “The most powerful tracker is in here. It was designed especially for us. Set to last more than ten years.”

The spot Ellie thought was left by a needle injecting medicine was really where they’d implanted a tracker. Daniel wasn’t taking any chances of losing her.

Daniel motioned to one of his men who hauled Boone to his feet. “You don’t want to talk to me, well, maybe he can get you to talk. We’ve been watching you. I’ve seen how you look at him. You used to look at me the same way.”

Daniel grabbed Ellie and pulled her close. “How much will it take for you to talk?”

His captor jammed his fist against Boone’s injury. Boone screamed.

“No,” Ellie yelled and tried to break free.

Daniel laughed. “So I was right. You do care about him. Too bad watching him die will be the last thing you do.”

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