White Hot: A Patrick & Steeves Suspense Read Online Free Page B

story of how she almost wasn’t born, she wanted to know more and resolved to ask him about it later.
    “Not that simple, no. First I quit. A couple of months later, they offered me the other job.” He pursed his lips. “It wasn’t easy at first. I mean, Jack was glad to have me back, but he didn’t take well to me being his boss.”
    “I’m sensing a but,” she prompted.
    “But we got through it,” he said, putting his coffee cup down to close the matter.
    Something that had been niggling at her since he first stepped into the room upstairs - a thought she hadn’t been able to pin down, like trying to catch smoke - came to the forefront and she blurted it out. “Are you the reason I got the job at the NSA?”
    He tilted his head. “You know I put in a good word for you with Jack.”
    “Yes, but …” She glanced out the window. “Knowing what I went through in Afghanistan did you think putting me back in the line of fire would be helpful for me? Some kind of tough love healing?”
    “Good grief, Em. No.” He reached across the table and grasped her hand. “We meant for you to have a desk job at the Embassy. Not be chasing the cartel for the NSA.”
    “We?”
    “Me and your Uncle Jack.”
    Uncle Jack. The words hung in the air between them. She couldn’t believe that her normally intelligent father could still be so taken in by Jack. “Dad, he clearly no longer has US concerns front and center.”
    “I know it probably looks that way, Em, but—”
    “No, Dad.” She pried her hand away from his. “He’s working both sides.”
    “Trust me, he’s not.” Her father’s mouth set in a grim line. “He’s deep undercover. He’s been working this mission for a long time.”
    Emily shook her head, and traced a stain on the maroon linen tablecloth, searching for inspiration.
    “I know you want to believe that Jack loves me like a daughter—”
    “He does. He’s been a big part of your life for many, many years. A huge part.”
    “Then why was he so willing to kill me down there?” She regretted the sharp edge to her voice but how the hell else was she going to get through to him?
    “Like I said, deep undercover. He couldn’t risk the mission and helping you would have put you both in danger.”
    She leaned back, placed both palms on the table. “Dad. Come on. I was alone with him at one point, there was no reason for him to keep up the ruse. Why the hell didn’t he tell me then? I mean, I was counting on him to come and save me … he could have given me something. Some assurance.”
    Her father shook his head. “I know it probably seems that way, but trust me, he couldn’t.”
    “There was no one there to hear us.” Frustration ripped through her, she may as well bang her head against the wall.
    “I’m certain, a hundred percent certain, that he had a very good reason for how he let things play out down there.”
    Emily blurted out a laugh. “Including everything that happened on the boat? Come on! You’re the most intelligent person I know and you can’t at least consider what I’m telling you here? Jack is more invested in himself, or in the other side, than he is in his ‘mission’, as you call it.”
    Throwing her napkin on her plate, she pushed her chair back, almost knocking it over, and stalked out of the room into the main lobby. She ducked into a washroom, pulled out her phone and dialed Dal. The call went directly to voice mail. She leaned against the counter, took several deep breaths, and tried to ignore the thoughts ping-ponging through her brain. After some time, she splashed cool water on her face, applied a touch of lipstick and stepped back into the lobby where she came face to face with her father patiently waiting for her.
    He jangled his keys and shrugged. “I think you need a ride at least?”

7
    E mily pulled off the service road into the employee parking lot at the back of the NSA West Coast Regional Headquarters. At her father’s suggestion, which was