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She frowned and looked up at Mal. “Are you guys sure you’re with Homeland?”

  At the moment, he wasn’t sure about anything. Except he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.

  Force strode toward him. They were about eye to eye in height and close in weight. It’d be a hell of a fight if it came to it. “You know we need to corroborate anything she might’ve said to you. It’s the only way to clear her.”

  Mal bit back a threat.

  Pippa looked from one to the other. Then she moved toward Wolfe, holding out her hands.

  Wolfe gingerly removed Kat from his pocket and handed the furball over to Pippa.

  Mal’s shoulders relaxed just enough to be rock hard. Wolfe wouldn’t have given her the animal if he intended any harm. Probably.

  “Trust me,” Force muttered, stalking past him and following the other two through the doorway, which he closed none too gently.

  Mal stood there with the German shepherd by the elevator. Had he just made a huge mistake?

  “Hey, Malcolm.” Brigid exited the control room and gestured for him to come that way.

  He paused and then strode toward her, the dog at his side. “What?”

  She smiled, her green eyes sparkling. “We have video in the interrogation rooms now. Angus figured you’d want to watch.”

  Mal’s chest settled. Force couldn’t let Pippa know he was going to watch. “Trust, huh?” Mal followed Brigid into the computer room and took one of the three chairs. Maybe it was time to trust his team.

  Even with the woman he was prepared to die for.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Angus Force finished the fourth hour of what could only be considered a grueling interrogation. Oh, not grueling for the sweet Pippa Smith.

  For him. Between Pippa’s flip remarks, Wolfe’s growing adoration of her, and the meowing kitten, Angus wanted to put his own head into the wall by the time he’d learned everything he possibly could about Pippa. The woman had taken great pains to explain how well Malcolm could bring a woman to orgasm, because she’d promised to tell everything.

  Angus could’ve gone his entire life without knowing how skilled Mal’s tongue was or how large his dick.

  Several times, Angus had glared at the camera Pippa didn’t know existed. He could almost hear Malcolm laughing his ass off. Well, until she got to the part about his ball sac.

  The woman had also been adamant that she had to go back into the family. That Isaac would tell her the truth.

  She was probably right. There had to be a plan that would keep her safe, though. And Angus was convinced that she had had no contact with the cult the last seven years. In addition, her clients, even the construction company, weren’t involved with Isaac in any way.

  Finally, Angus stood. “We’re done. It has to be breakfast time by now.”

  “I could use a coffee,” Wolfe gave Pippa a shy smile while gently assisting her up. Then he put Kat back in his pocket. “There’s a coffee shop just a few miles down the road that puts salty caramel on top of everything. I could get you one.”

  Angus shook his head. It was hard to believe this was the same guy who’d put Eagle into the wall. Several times. But his instincts with people seemed to be spot-on. If Pippa Smith was a terrorist, Angus was an astronaut. And he hated heights.

  He stomped out of the room, figuring the other two could follow or not. Malcolm was already waiting in the bull pen. “Well?” Angus snapped.

  “Same story. Repeatedly,” Malcolm said, not looking nearly as happy as he should, considering he’d been declared the world’s greatest lover at least twice by Pippa during the interrogation. His irritation served to cheer Angus up, however.

  “I figured.” Angus had asked the same questions a myriad of different ways, and Pippa’s answers had been consistent. “I told you to trust me.”

  Mal paused. “She wouldn’t have gone in there with you if I didn’t trust you.”

  Well, now. That was true. Angus gave a short nod. His team was coming together. Excellent. Then he noticed the googly eyes between Malcolm and Pippa. Oh, she looked pissed and he looked determined, but close enough. Angus needed to separate those two to get shit done.

  “Pippa, please go through all the photos Orchid got for us, as well as anything and anybody you remember from your time with the family. If Isaac calls on the burner phone, answer and say you’re driving as fast as you can and will reach him sometime after midnight tonight. Maybe more toward tomorrow morning.”

  Pippa rocked back on her heels. “You want me to show up on my birthday.”

  “You’re not showing up at all,” Malcolm said, his face set hard.

  Angus rubbed his chin and tried to focus. “Isaac will think there’s something prophetic about you arriving on your birthday.” He held up his hand before Malcolm could object. “Supposedly arriving on her birthday.” Right now wasn’t the time to argue about it.

  “Wh-what about Trixie?” Pippa asked, her eyes a wide blue.

  “She’s fine as long as you’re not there,” Angus said. “She’s leverage and he knows it.” The key was Pippa’s birthday. Isaac wanted her there for his plan. Oh, he’d probably go through with the attack without her, but she was the prize. He wanted her there, and he wanted her to pay. Right now, the bastard had to be kept off balance, whether anybody here wanted it that way or not.

  Mal shoved his hands in his pockets, no doubt to keep from reaching for Pippa. “I have to go back in. It’s our only chance of figuring out the location of this attack. He already has people in place.”

  Angus nodded. “Yeah. I know.” He needed to get a bead on Malcolm to make sure his head was still in the game. The guy’s feelings for Pippa might get him killed. “You call Isaac and let him know you have a lead on both Eagle and Leroy, and that you’ll be in touch as soon as you can.” That would appease the cult leader temporarily.

  His phone buzzed, and he read the text. “A buddy with the Boston PD has agreed to meet with us in DC. He’s there on some other case, and he has the file on the two bodies found outside Boston. Raider and Mal, you’re with me.”

  Mal started to object.

  Angus held up a hand. “I need everyone concentrating. You can deal with any shit between you and Pippa later.”

  Mal glowered but held his tongue. This time.

  Angus ignored him and stepped onto the rickety elevator, wincing when Raider and Mal followed, and the entire car dropped several inches. A plan was starting to form in his brain that Malcolm wasn’t going to like. At all. It’d help to have Nari’s take on both Pippa and Mal. As a shrink, she was the best. So long as she was shrinking other people’s heads and not his.

  The elevator doors closed.

  Raider leaned against the wall and cleared his throat. “We could just take out Isaac and bring in his entire family.”

  Angus shook his head. “He has women in place somewhere and has for years. If we take him, they might have orders to go through with the attack, and we don’t know who or where.” For now, he’d talk to the Boston detective.

  He hated having his hands tied like this.

  * * *

  Pippa kept the panic attacks at bay by concentrating.

  It was okay to be around these people. They were in a basement, protected by walls. They were good people, Malcolm’s friends.

  And, oddly enough, they were careful not to crowd her. That alone let her relax a little bit.

  After hours of trying, she had been able to identify two of the women in the pictures, but so far, Brigid had been unsuccessful in tracking them down in the real world. They surely had false identifications, and apparently, facial recognition software wasn’t as miraculous in reality as it was on television.

  Figured.

  It had to be late afternoon. She sat in Mal’s chair in the depressing middle desk area of the HDD, petting Roscoe, who had his head in her lap. Wolfe worked over papers on his adjacent desk, keeping a close eye on her, his kitten sleeping peacefully near the stapler he’d found in
a drawer.

  “Do you really think Angus can protect me from being prosecuted for killing Mark?” she asked. “My prints are definitely on the knife.” If all else failed, Isaac would definitely set her up. She’d told both Mal and Isaac the whole story, and shockingly, it seemed they had believed her.

  “Yeah,” Wolfe said. “Nobody has your prints on file, I don’t think. Besides, I understand why you were scared about it all these years, but it’s the least of your worries right now.”

  Those words probably weren’t as comforting as Wolfe thought. “I should really get into place at the commune,” she murmured, eyeing the elevator door.

  “You won’t make it, so don’t try.” Wolfe didn’t bother looking up from the maps he was studying of a parade path in Boston.

  Her burner phone buzzed again.

  She stiffened, her body turning cold. “Should I answer it?”

  Nari Zhang strode out of her office on kitten-heel pumps. With her black slacks and pink shirt, she looked like a lawyer about to head to court. “We’ve ignored the last three calls. I think you should answer this one.”

  Pippa drew in a deep breath. “All right.” Her hand shaking, she lifted the phone to her ear. “Hello.”

  “Mary, why haven’t you answered your phone?” Isaac snapped.

  Just hearing his voice again made her want to puke. “I’ve been driving in and out of service, Isaac. I’m getting there as fast as I can.” She didn’t have to try to sound exhausted. She was already there.

  “How much longer?” He sounded like a spoiled child.

  “I don’t know.” She let the panic she was truly feeling enter her voice. “It’ll be really late tonight or even early tomorrow morning. I promise I’m coming.” And she was. Whether Mal liked it or not. Then she swore. “There’s a cop behind me. I don’t think I can talk on the phone and drive here. ’Bye.” She clicked off, her breath starting to pant.

  “Good job,” Wolfe said.

  “You guys know I have to be there, right? If there’s any chance to figure out where the attack will take place, it’s with me.” She looked at both Wolfe and Nari, but neither answered.

  The elevator door dinged, and everything inside her grew still.

  Malcolm, Angus, and Raider exited, all looking as if they’d been through a cement mixer. They’d been meeting with the Boston cops about the dead bodies.

  “Bad scene?” she asked, her gaze staying with Mal.

  Mal nodded. “We identified Mark Brookes and a woman—a girl really—named Louise Stratford. She had a notebook with the name Tamarack on it.”

  Sharp knives slashed into Pippa’s chest. “She was a nice girl who helped me escape. But she didn’t want to leave.” And Isaac had killed her for that? Tears filled Pippa’s eyes.

  “We’ll get him,” Mal said grimly. “I promise.”

  “How did she die?” Pippa asked, trying not to puke

  “Strangulation,” Raider said, looking beyond them toward the computer room. “I hope my charge didn’t escape today.”

  Nari’s narrow nostrils flared. “Brigid isn’t going anywhere. She likes working here already.”

  “Humph.” Raider nodded at Pippa and then continued to the computer room. “We’ll see about that.”

  Angus paused in front of Pippa’s desk. “I know it sucks, but we need to concentrate right now. We’ll mourn the dead later. Did you identify anybody in the pictures?”

  “Yes, but we can’t find them. Or rather, we haven’t found them yet,” Pippa said, trying to concentrate but only seeing Mal.

  Angus studied them both. “Pippa? Mal? I need you in case room two.”

  The look Mal gave Angus did something funny to Pippa’s stomach.

  Wolfe looked up and studied the group. He turned to Pippa. “Do you want to take Kat?”

  “No kitten,” Angus snapped, sounding like a guy who’d reached the end of any patience he might’ve had. Stress lines cut into the sides of his mouth, and his pupils had narrowed, as if his head was pounding.

  Pippa swallowed. “Angus, are you all right?” She couldn’t help but ask the question.

  “None of us are right now,” he said tersely. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.” He’d almost reached his office when he called for Raider.

  The guy stepped out of the computer room and followed them into case room two.

  Angus shut the door and waited for everyone to sit. “Pippa. You’ve been living with this all day. Give me something.”

  She settled her body and tried to think. “Well, Isaac likes hurting women. He’ll like the idea of using women to make the attack, especially if it’s a suicide attack. And he’d love using women to hurt other women.”

  Angus nodded. “Okay. We’ll do an analysis of that idea. For now, Raider is the strategic expert of the group, I’m the profiler, Mal is the operative, and Pippa is the wild card.”

  She blinked, sitting next to Mal. The heat from his body washed over her. She was the wild card?

  “No,” Mal said, pushing back his chair. “Absolutely not.”

  Pippa cringed at the venom in his voice. What was going on?

  “Raider?” Angus asked.

  Raider gave Mal a sympathetic look before standing and leaning against the wall. “Strategy-wise, the only way we’re going to get a location is from Isaac. You both need to be on the inside.”

  “I’ll go,” Mal said. “It’s too much of a risk for Pippa.”

  “She’s the one thing that puts Isaac off-balance,” Angus said. “She’s the key, Mal. At the moment, you’re more likely to be shot when you show up after failing to secure Eagle and Leroy. He won’t kill Pippa, at least not at the home.”

  Pippa stilled. “What do you mean?” The guy spoke as if he knew what he was talking about.

  Angus met her gaze directly, his eyes a slightly darker green than Malcolm’s. “He wanted you pure and chaste for your wedding at eighteen. You’ve been gone for seven years, and chances are, he’ll think you’ve betrayed him.”

  “So he’ll kill me?” she breathed. Yeah. She actually hadn’t considered that. For years, Isaac had treated her as if she really were set apart, even though he’d tortured her emotionally.

  Angus lifted one muscled shoulder. “Could go either way. He’s punishing the world with fire, and he might think you need punishment to be cleansed as well. Or he might see the others dying for your perceived sins the same way the Bible says Jesus died for our sins.”

  “Either way, you’re not going,” Malcolm said, crossing his arms.

  She thought about the situation, her mother, and Trixie. About the brainwashed women about to not only kill themselves but potentially many other innocent people. “I don’t have a choice, Malcolm.” Her choices had been taken from her the second her mother had joined the family with Pippa in tow.

  It was time to take those choices back.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Malcolm drove the van past the city center of Cottage Grove with Pippa sleeping quietly in the passenger seat. It was an incredibly bad idea to let her go back into the family mansion. She’d been adamant.

  Did he have a right to stop her? He understood her need to try to protect her friend and her mother. But what if she was killed in the process? If he stopped her from going, even though she’d probably hate him forever, at least she’d be alive to do so.

  “Stop thinking so hard,” she mumbled, sitting up in the seat.

  “Can’t help it.” The clock on the dash showed it to be ten at night. Almost her birthday. Coordinating the Op for the next day had taken several more hours than he would’ve expected. Raider was a stickler for every detail. “I don’t like this. Any of this,” Mal muttered.

  “Neither do I.” She pushed unruly hair away from her face. “A part of me wishes we could just jump on a plane and go somewhere warm. Live on a beach and eat coconuts.”

  “Say the word and I’ll make it happen. Right now.”

  She chuckled. “You can’t turn
away from this mess any more than I can.”

  No, but he could send her ahead to a beach and meet her when this was done. “You’re clear on the plan?” He wanted to go over it one more time, just in case.

  “We’re both clear. Thank you for taking me back to my home one more time.” Her voice was wistful. “I’ve been happy there. Mostly.”

  “You’ll be back there tomorrow night,” he said, hoping to God it was the truth.

  She didn’t reply.

  “Pippa—” he started.

  “No.” She held up a hand. “We’ve hashed it out repeatedly, and the plan is in place. No more arguing, no more strategizing. We’re there, Malcolm. On Op, as you would say.”

  He should never have agreed back at HDD, but yeah, the plan was in place. Angus had even arranged for somebody from the HDD to fetch Pippa’s car and bring it back to her driveway.

  Mal turned into his driveway and pressed the garage door button he’d taken from his truck. “We’re not on Op for two hours. So we should probably talk.”

  She blinked. “Um, okay.” Confusion blanketed her delicate features. “About what?”

  “Us,” he blurted out, his voice rough. There was a good chance one of them wasn’t coming back from this. Every instinct he had bellowed for him to pull the van back out and drive away. Far away.

  “Oh.” She opened her door. “Well, okay. I have some cookies left over. Why don’t you come over and we’ll have dessert and um, talk?” They’d eaten pizza several hours before at the office.

  He nodded. “Give me about fifteen minutes to clean out the back of the van and I’ll be over after a quick shower.” He only needed to ditch the shovel and wipe up the blood so it couldn’t be seen. It didn’t have to be a thorough cleaning job, just enough to please Isaac if he looked inside. The work would give him a chance to think about what to say to Pippa.

  The words weren’t coming easily.

  Not with the threat of death hanging over their heads.

  But this might be his last chance. He was taking it.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Pippa walked through her beloved cottage, her heart aching. There was a chance she’d make it back home, but not a very good one. Even though she’d been alone for much of her time here, she’d been happy. Then even more so when she’d met Malcolm.