Page 55 of Special Agent Isabella

“No doubt.” Bella agreed, knowing it was so much worse.

Jim’s shoulders sank further. His tired, lined face shook back and forth. “You can’t imagine. Where’s it all going to end?”

Nora entered the room carrying a tray with two mugs, cream, and sugar. Her presence interrupted their discussion, and Bella was glad. She wished she could promise that Governor Stacy was going to make a difference to their future but how the fuck could she say anything?

Who knew whether or not the woman was even alive?

Sweet Jesus, she felt sad.

ChapterForty-Two

Stacy and Vinny played cards together until she felt tiredness creeping over her. Stiff from the earlier nap, she tried to stretch the kinks out of her neck, but the observant veteran noticed.

“This is the last hand. We need sleep. I have a mattress to set up over here for myself while you use the bed.”

“Thank you. Is it possible for me to call my daughter? She’s only six and will be worried when she doesn’t hear from me. At the same time, I can let everyone know that I’m okay and to cut off the search.” She looked at him frankly. “That’s true, right?”

Vinny stared at her, his mind spinning.

“What, Vinny? Are you still worried that they’ll try and capture me again? I promise, I won’t be without my security until those assholes are caught.”

“I can’t keep you here against your will for much longer. I know that. But letting you go just to see you get killed is too much. You understand? Hank wouldn’t have liked that to happen.”

“Hank. You knew him.” Stacy brightened at once.

Vinny nodded. “I didn’t want to say anything before because I know it hurts you to speak of him. I saw your pain when his name came up.”

She waited with bated breath for him to continue, and finally he did. “He was my commanding officer. In fact, I was driving the jeep when they blew it up. I was thrown from the vehicle behind some bushes and came to when the medics had me airlifted to the camp. I didn’t know about the Major until I came out of surgery. They told me he went missing, and from the look of the explosion, they were pretty sure he’d been badly wounded. A few days later, they had info that he’d died. Look, I loved the guy. He was good people. I can’t sit by and see anything happen to his wife because I went off the rails for a while.”

Stacy approached; her hand lifted to take his. “Vinny, you can’t protect me from the life I chose. I have to get back home… to my daughter and others who care about me. But you can give my FBI bodyguards details about what you know. Maybe work with them to find the people behind the threats and the bombing. Tanner, an old friend who’s an agent, will understand your reasoning behind this situation. If need be, I’ll tell them I came with you voluntarily. That we had planned this together to get me away so I’d be safe from the threat you’d heard was about to happen.”

“You’d be willing to do that?”

“Of course. You probably saved my life and maybe even Gloria’s… Mayor Hensley. She means the world to me and the thought of anything happening to her would have been devastating.”

“Fine then. But we should get some sleep now as it’s very late. I’ll check my iPad in the morning and see what’s happening. If all seems safe, we can get you home.”

“You have an iPad here? Does it work?”

“Not in the cabin. I have to drive to town to get a signal. We can go in the morning.”

“Agreed. I do need some sleep. Whatever was in that drug you gave me made me bone weary.”

“It was simply a medication they used in the war, like a chloroform that puts a person out for a while. For some people, it just takes some time to clear the system. It isn’t harmful.”

“Good. And thank you for being so honest with me. When we get back home, I do have one request that would make all this go away.”

Vinny arched his brow in a questioning way. “A request?”

“Yes. I really,reallywant your soup recipe. My Abbie would love it.”

ChapterForty-Three

Tanner’s heartbeat quickened.A break. Finally.

He questioned Stacy’s assistant, again. “Are you sure, Bruce?”

“Yeah. It just came to me. We walk most days, and she always checks her watch pedometer so she can clock the steps. I’m not sure what brand she has now, her old one was just a straight step monitor. But the one she’s been wearing recently looks more elaborate. We can go through past videos and see if we can spot it on her arm.”

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