Static, she told herself.
He had the appearance of ex-military, maybe it was his short hair, which was cut close to his head, but he claimed he’d never served in the army. He was head of Security at CR International. He’d let slip that he’d held the position since Christian started the company, which would make him a hell of a lot older than he appeared.
Someone else who’d been hitting on the Botox?
She didn’t think he seemed the type.
Carl took her home to shower and change and then dropped her off outside the entrance to her office. She leaned in and spoke through the window. “I think I’ll be safe from here.”
“Okay. I’ll have someone watching the entrance. They can give you a ride home when you’re ready.”
She schooled her features to blankness as she entered the building, but she didn’t recognize the guard on duty. The man from the white van last night was nowhere in sight.
As she passed through the security checks, she tried to come up with a plan. She wasn’t sure whether it would be best to plead ignorance and pretend she knew nothing of MI13’s involvement or whether she should admit that she knew they had taken Tara. If she did, she’d have to make believe she approved.
Because she wanted her goddamn security clearance.
For that to happen they had to trust her. In the end, she decided to wait until she’d seen the colonel and make a decision afterward. She didn’t have to wait long.
As she sank down at her desk, the door to the colonel’s office opened and he came out. Security had probably alerted him to her presence. He strode toward her a frown forming between his eyes.
“Faith, what are you doing here? You’ve been shot, you should be resting.”
She pasted a smile on her face. “It was just a scratch. They let me out this morning with some painkillers.”
The frown deepened, and she rolled her shoulder to show it didn’t hurt. “See. No problem. I lost my gun, though.” She didn’t know where it had gone, probably picked up by the police.
“Go down to the armory—they’ll issue you with another.”
He was studying her, maybe a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
“Christian Roth came to see me in the hospital,” she said.
“What did he want?”
“You mean you didn’t have the room bugged?”
His lips quirked in a smile that didn’t reach his pale eyes. “Of course not. You’re in danger of becoming paranoid, Faith.”
“I’m guessing that’s par for the course around here. But Roth wanted to thank me for attempting to save his wife and to ask me what happened.”
“And what did you tell him?”
She stared into the colonel’s face and made a snap decision. “Well, I didn’t tell him that the people I worked for had taken her if that’s what you want to know.”
The colonel smiled and this time it did reach his eyes. “Adams suspected you recognized him.”
“The bastard shot me.”
“You said it was a scratch.” He studied her head cocked on one side. “Though he thought he’d winged you through the shoulder.”
“Maybe you’d better book him some time on the shooting range. So why didn’t you tell me what was going down? And why the fuck didn’t you tell me you had my phone tapped?”
“We didn’t want your new friends to suspect you were in any way involved. They’ll trust you now.” He was almost rubbing his hands together, the smug bastard.
It was becoming increasingly clear to her that she didn’t want to work At MI13. What sort of organization sacrificed their people?
Gritting her teeth, she forced her lips into a pleasant smile. Strangely, if she’d been in on the whole thing, she might not have been so pissed off. As it was, she had to grip onto her cup to stop herself jumping up and punching him on the nose. She took a sip of her coffee while she thought about her next move.
“So where is Tara Roth?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“Why do you want her?”
He pursed his lips, but when he spoke, it wasn’t to answer her question. “Your security clearance has come through. Perhaps you can finish the paperwork and afterward, we can talk some more.”
“So the boss is in? Do I get to meet him?”
“Sorry, Raphael has been and gone.”
“Raphael?”
“Yes. I’m sure you’ll get to meet him soon, but not today.”
How convenient.
The paperwork took the rest of the morning. More nondisclosure agreements. While Ash was presumably busy helping with the search for Tara, she’d thought he might call, suggest they had lunch. But no one contacted her from the outside and her phone remained stubbornly silent. It was probably just as well considering her phone was tapped—she didn’t want to bring Ash to the colonel’s attention, any more than she already had.
Tara.
Where was she?