Page 5 of Just Hide

Kieran sighed. He stared at Cami. She blinked tears away, staring back.

"Ethan was trying to find something out," he said.

"What, a case?" Even as she said the words, she guessed it wasn't. That wasn't how he'd sounded.

"No. This was something different. It was something else that he said he stumbled upon, and he was trying to find out in his spare time. He was getting close to finding out more. I don't know what it is, but I think someone wanted him out of the way."

Now, Cami stared at him, appalled, as he continued speaking. "The other night, a month or so ago, we were out on the street, him and I, heading home, and a car pulled up, and the driver started firing shots. We both jumped out the way. I got the fright of my life. We weren't hurt. I thought at the time that it was some drunken hooligan, out of control. But afterward, he told me that he thought it was meant for him. That someone had targeted him."

Cami felt unable to breathe as she processed this news. Kieran ran a hand through his hair, the movement agitated.

"Cami, I don't know what he was into, but I think you should be careful. If someone wanted him out of the way, they may want to get rid of anyone who was close to him, and who they think he might have told about … about whatever it was. I don't want that to be you."

Cami shook her head, feeling utterly blindsided by this. She'd thought that all of this was her doing. After all, she’d suggested the outing to the bar.

But it had been a dodgy bar, well known for being frequented by unsavory types. Perhaps a good meeting place for people who were doing unsavory things. While there, Ethan had recognized Liam. He'd hustled her out of there.

Had Liam seen him? Or had someone else seen Ethan there? Cami wished she’d been able to pick up on what had happened. Either way, they’d been tracked by a gunman. Was it the same one who’d driven past Ethan and his brother a month ago? Cami now wondered. That shooter could have aimed for either her or Ethan, there on that road, but they'd targeted Ethan first. Cami now realized this.

So, perhaps they'd targeted him first because they'd tried before, and he was their target. Cami was just his partner, who also needed to be taken out. That was what she was now concluding.

Her head was spinning with all of this. She’d had no idea that Ethan's life had been at risk before she'd even met him. He'd been investigating something. Off the record, for sure. And he'd recognized Liam.

This was all important, but she was way too shocked to be able to fit the pieces together. At this point, she didn't even know if they did fit. All she knew was that things were different than she'd believed. Way different.

"Thanks for telling me," she managed to get out.

"I think it's important," he emphasized. He paused. "Can I stay in touch?"

He sounded anxious. He was getting up from the bed, not wanting to stay longer now that he'd said his say.

Cami wasn't going to say no. She knew what it was like to make a decision that ended up backfiring.

"Sure," she said.

She scrawled her number down and passed the page to him. He tore the bottom half off, wrote his number, and passed it back. Cami put the torn page under the empty water glass on her desk.

"Thanks," he said. "Take care, okay?"

"You, too," she said.

He stood up and walked out, and Cami sat with her mind spinning, unable to take in the full extent of what he'd said and what it meant. She needed the whole day for this to sink in, but she didn't have it, because the ringing of her phone interrupted the maelstrom of her thoughts.

It was Connor, her boss and manager at the FBI, and Cami knew, with her heart plummeting, that this meant there was trouble afoot.

CHAPTER THREE

"Connor?" Cami said, picking up quickly and doing her very best to sound normal. She didn't want him to know she'd been crying. Right now, she needed to come across as calm and controlled. That was what Connor would expect, and if he guessed something else had gone wrong, he’d ask her about it.

Cami didn't feel in any way ready for questions after the bombshell of Ethan's past.

"Cami, I called to find out how you're doing."

Cami blinked, feeling touched that he cared. She was sure there was another reason for his call, but the fact he'd asked was proving to her that there really was a softer side to this agent, who she'd always thought to be so brisk, hard, and factual in his approach. In fact, Cami was discovering that he cared deeply about his people.

And even though she was just co-opted for cases she could help with, it seemed she was now counted as one of his people.

"I'm okay—"

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