Deeper (The Deep Duet 2)

He’d been on her shit list since he terminated their fling in Germany. Now she was on the warpath and determined to take it out on Diana… Lara… whatever her name was. He didn’t fool himself that they hadn’t seen through his story that Diana was just a contact. They weren’t idiots. Anyone could see the way he looked at Diana.

Rafe took several deep breaths and tried to regulate his spiking heartbeat. Because it wasn’t going to take much to have him hulking out. The last thing they needed was for him to end up in handcuffs. That would probably make Emilie happy though.

“This is bullshit,” he muttered through clenched teeth.

Diana watched him warily. He tried to get it together for her sake. She’d been brave enough to come into the lion’s den and tell her story, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let the assholes at the FBI turn this around on her. She could have easily disappeared and not told them anything. The information she’d disclosed was the biggest break in the Vandergraff case they’d ever had.

Rafe wasn’t going to allow her to be punished when she was only trying to help.

He pulled out his phone and sent a message to Alan, asking him to come back in. Maybe if he offered himself up as a sacrificial lamb, they would let Diana go. He could see the little bubbles that indicated that Alan was typing a response.

Granger: You’ve really started a shit storm this time.

DeMarco: What the hell is going on out there?

Granger: We’re running down the info she gave us. But you have to know this isn’t going to be a cakewalk.

DeMarco: Meet me outside. We need to talk.

Then he turned to Diana. He sighed when he saw that she’d curled her arms on the metal table to make a pillow for herself. Her eyes were closed, but she didn’t look like she was resting at all. She still looked terrified, but there was nothing he could do about that yet.

“Hey, Diana,” he whispered.

At the sound of his voice, she shot upward. “Are they letting us go yet?”

“Not yet. But I’m going to take care of things. Just wait here.” He brushed her hair back from her face gently and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

She nodded wearily and put her head back down on her arms. When she noticed him staring, she gave him a wan smile. She didn’t believe his words, but he would prove to her that he would always protect her.

Now he just had to get Alan alone and figure out how to get them out of this mess. Rafe really hoped he hadn’t made a mistake bringing her here. Perhaps it would have been better to have her submit her statement remotely after he’d hidden her away somewhere. Noah could have probably found him a place within a few hours that was untraceable.

He opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Alan was right outside talking to Emilie. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it looked like an argument. No doubt Emilie was trying to come up with a reason they needed to be extradited back to Canada. When they saw him, the conversation stopped immediately. Emilie glared at him before turning and walking away.

“What the hell, Alan? I told you about her because I trusted you to do the right thing. Hell, I could have just walked her out of here and left you guys in the dark.”

Alan held his hands to his temples. “Jesus, DeMarco. You’re really killing me today. Do you have any idea the kind of pressure I’m under? These fuckers are wanted by about five different countries for human rights violations, so Interpol is all up in my ass to get this case closed. It doesn’t look good that one of our agents has been harboring a fugitive.”

“Former agent. And she’s not a fugitive. Her brothers are the ones listed on Interpol’s Red Notice. Not her.”

Alan glared at him. “That’s a technicality, and you know it. She might not be officially wanted, but she came in with actionable intel. No way her hands are clean in this. You really think she had no idea what her brothers were up to? She had to have known something.”

Rafe could already see where this was going. Alan had already decided that Diana was guilty. It didn’t matter what he said or how much information she gave them. He was never going to be someone they could count on to help them, which meant that Rafe needed to get her out of here. Now.

The tension in the back of his neck spread throughout his body. If he was going to make this happen, he had to remind them of whom they were dealing with. He’d held the line for more than a decade, working the cases that no one else wanted and the ones no one else had the skills to handle. He wasn’t above reminding them of all the bodies he’d buried on their behalf.

Alan must have been able to see the change in Rafe’s face. “I hope you aren’t going to do anything stupid.”

“I already did something stupid. I trusted the system.” Rafe glanced at the clock on the wall behind Alan’s head. If he sent a message to Noah now, he could have a place ready for them by tonight.

“We’re just taking some time to verify her story.”

“Why do you need to keep us here then? You can verify anytime.”

Suddenly Alan wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Agent Durand is more concerned about your friend being a flight risk.”

“I probably don’t need to remind you that she has immunity. She’s not going to run. Besides, I’ll be with her every moment.”

“You can’t watch her constantly. Plus it’s not so much her running away that we’re worried about. We don’t want her contacting her brothers and warning them.”