CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

Zane entered a holding room at the DEA headquarters to meet with Cass, who sat at a small table, waiting for him. He got the sense that she’d been put through the wringer. Deep, dark circles hung under her pretty brown eyes. And yes, they were pretty. He was having a hard time getting back to where they’d been—the friend zone.

This bombshell she’d dropped on him had somehow brought them even closer. She’d hidden stuff from him, yes, but he got it. He had an awful relationship with his family. The fact that she was willing to lay everything on the line for her brother showed what kind of woman she was. He only wished she had come to him. He had more money than he knew what to do with and could have easily helped her. Although it occurred to him that he’d never told her about his money. They both had their family secrets.

All this Boy-Scout stuff had messed with his head. Did Cass really see him like that? He didn’t see himself like that, but he wondered if somewhere along the way he’d given her the wrong impression. Yeah, he had a problem with perfectionism, but he was far from perfect. And he was beating himself up, because maybe that had caused her to do something that threatened not only her career but her freedom.

“Cass.”

“I wouldn’t have held it against you if you hadn’t come. You still have your reputation to protect. You don’t want to be known as the man who partnered with a thief.”

He took her hand. “Don’t talk like that. What are they saying?”

She looked at him. “My lawyer is working with them, trying to cut a deal.”

That gave him a little hope. “What kind of deal?”

“One that avoids jail time, given my pristine record, but I won’t be able to be a DEA agent anymore.” Her voice sounded strained. “I have no idea what I’ll do.”

“Why don’t we take it one step at a time?” Just the revelation that she wouldn’t have to face jail time was huge and took a big burden off his shoulders. They could figure everything else out.

Her dark eyes widened. “We? You can’t seriously act like you’re going to stand by me through this. I’ve hidden things from you, and let’s not even get into the other stuff I tried to pull.”

“Yes, Cass. We. We’re stronger than that. Yeah, you messed up, but that doesn’t change our friendship. Our partnership.” And whatever else there might be to come.

“It does, though. We’ll never work together again. I’m done.” Her voice got much louder.

“You might be done at the DEA. That’s a harsh reality, but it doesn’t mean your life is over. If you’re able to take some sort of deal, you could start fresh. The DEA might be off the table, but there are other options.”

“You mean in the private sector,” she said.

“Yeah, totally, or there might be other agencies willing to overlook one lapse of judgment.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re talking CIA.”

“You know I am.” He couldn’t help but smile.

She sighed. “Like you said, I’m not really in a position to make any plans right now. We can focus on one day at a time.”

“Good.”

She studied him for a moment. “Why, Zane? I don’t get it. You had every right in the world never to speak to me again.”

He took a deep breath, not sure what to say or how to say it. “You know, I’m not even sure myself. I just know that I really care about you.”

“As a friend.”

“For sure.”

“As anything more?” she asked softly.

He stilled at her words. He didn’t want to avoid the issue. That wasn’t his style, but this was difficult. “Honestly, Cass, I’m not sure what I feel.”

She nodded. “That’s fair.”

“We don’t have to sort all of that out today, but I wanted you to know that I’m here for you.”

Her eyes misted.

He couldn’t believe he was seeing this from tough-as-nails Cass. That let him know she was really having a rough time, and seeing her in this weakened state broke his heart.

After Layla’s discussion with Nick, she realized she wanted to be a part of questioning Bryce. At first Nick had pushed back against the idea, but once she agreed not to be in the room, he had relented.

Hunter wasn’t with her but was back at the safe house, working on the DEA investigation. He had been more than understanding about being left behind, given all the internal political issues this situation would cause within the Agency.

So now she found herself at Langley, watching from the surveillance room as Bryce’s questioning began. Was she finally going to get answers to many of the questions that had been plaguing her?

True to his word, Nick appeared to be taking the lead and doing the questioning, along with Frank Gibson. In the surveillance room with her was the other, more junior investigator, Monty Hicks.

Bryce looked beaten down. He was normally completely put together, but tonight his hair was disheveled and his navy dress shirt was wrinkled.

Nick cleared his throat. “Bryce, this will go a lot easier if you don’t play any games. We already know a lot. Your being forthcoming with us will go a long way in determining how this situation is going to be treated. If we feel like you’re holding back or lying to us, I can personally guarantee we will push for the harshest penalty possible. Am I clear?”

Bryce didn’t respond but didn’t break eye contact with Nick either.

Layla’s nerves were frayed as she waited to see how this was going to play out. She had no idea what Bryce was going to say.

Frank opened the thick manila folder sitting in front of him. “We want to talk to you about Layla Karam. You worked very closely with Layla while at the Agency, correct?”

“Yes, I did.”

“How would you describe your relationship?” Frank asked.

“Before she betrayed me, you mean?” Bryce’s nostrils flared.

This was going to be harder to watch than she’d expected. Bryce clearly held more animosity against her than she’d ever imagined.

“Let’s start there,” Frank said.

“Layla initially reported to me, but then she was promoted quickly. Way more quickly than anyone else I’d ever seen, by the way. We became peers and worked together on multiple projects, even though I’m a good ten years her senior. She was my go-to analyst and helped me get prepped for multiple missions.”

Frank looked down at the papers in front of him. “I wasn’t the person running the investigation that took place into your behavior and ultimately resulted in your expulsion from the Agency, but as I understand it, Layla, your friend, was the one who went to our office about what she believed you were doing. Am I right?”

“Yes.” Bryce ran his hands through his hair, only making it messier.

Nick leaned forward. “Why don’t we cut right to the chase, then? Did you retaliate against Layla because you were angry with her?”

Bryce averted his eyes and then reconnected. “You better believe I did.”

Layla gasped at Bryce’s forthright admission. He must have realized that they had him over a barrel, and he wanted to get out his version of the story. This could get really ugly. Fast.

“Tell us about it,” Nick said.

“Layla was my friend. We had each other’s backs. I watched out for her when people got mad about her climbing the ladder so fast. I could tell she was gifted, and I tried to show her the ropes. I stood up for her time and time again.” His voice started to get loud. “And what did I get in return? A big, sharp knife right into my back.”

She held her breath, waiting to hear what he was going to say next.

“Go on,” Nick said. “What did you do, Bryce?”

Bryce straightened up in his seat. “I came up with a strategy to get Layla investigated. I wanted her to feel the heat just like I did. I wanted her to feel that kind of pain.” Then he called her an awful name that made her sick.

“So you created these photos of Layla with Omar Assad?” Frank slid some photographs from the folder in front of Bryce.

He studied them for a moment. “Technically, I didn’t create them, but I hired someone to. I’m good with photo manipulation but not nearly good enough to make it look completely legit like these do.”

“So you wanted to get Layla in trouble?” Frank asked. “Really bad trouble, right? Because you would have known the consequences for this type of activity. If these pictures were true, then it could’ve been catastrophic. Much worse than the consequences for your conduct.”

“After all she did to me? How she destroyed my CIA career? Absolutely.”

“But that’s not the worst of it, is it?” Nick asked. “It gets much worse than that, doesn’t it?”

Bryce shifted in his seat. “When Layla came to me, asking if I was involved in the IG investigation, everything came flooding back. Her betrayal and the end of my Agency career. All those years of blood, sweat, and tears that I spent building up my reputation. And she just threw it all away like I was trash because of some moral high ground she thought she had. So, yeah, when she told me about the cartel attack, I thought I might have a golden opportunity.”

“An opportunity to take her out. Kill her, you mean?” Nick asked.

Bryce’s face turned bright red. “You’re right. I wish the cartel had killed her.”

Nick stood so quickly that his chair was knocked backward across the room. Layla sucked in a breath. She’d never seen Nick this angry.

“Maybe we should take a brief break,” Frank said.

“No way.” Nick walked around the table so he was on the same side as Bryce. He yanked Bryce up out of his chair and threw him against the wall. His hands closed around Bryce’s throat.

Nick was going to kill him. Layla jumped up from her seat, but Monty touched her arm and pulled her back.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “They’ll be okay. We have to let this play out.”

Much to her surprise, Frank didn’t do a single thing to try to stop Nick. Thankfully, after a few moments, Nick dropped Bryce from his viselike grip. “Tell me what you did.”

“I used a friend here who owed me big-time to get Layla’s safe house location, and then I reached out to an old cartel source and gave him the info.”

Nick muttered some curses that made Layla’s skin crawl. She really feared what would happen to Bryce, even if he had almost gotten her killed. She stared at Bryce. This cold, unwavering shell of a man was not the friend she’d once had. She didn’t even recognize the person he’d become.

Nick’s jaw twitched. “Because of what you did, a hit man killed two members of an Agency security detail and almost killed Layla. Their blood is on your hands.”

Bryce looked defiantly at Nick, not showing any remorse. “I don’t know what else you want me to say.”

Nick walked out of the room and a moment later entered the surveillance room where she sat. “Can I talk to Layla alone?”

Monty nodded and exited.

“I thought you were going to hurt him,” she said.

Nick groaned. “He deserves that and a lot more. What a sorry excuse for a man. I could’ve strangled him.”

“You kind of did. Now what?”

“We’ll get you completely cleared on the IG side of things, but the cartel is still seeking payback.” He took her hand. “I’m sorry about all of this, but we’ll get you through this and back to work. I give you my word.”

“Thank you, Nick. Thanks for stepping up to the plate and fighting for me. What’s going to happen to Bryce?”

Nick let out a low whistle. “I’ll have to get the Agency lawyers involved, but if it were up to me, he’d be locked away in a cage for the rest of his miserable life.”

“He does have rights.”

“He sure didn’t care about yours, did he? He gave you up, Layla. Even if he wasn’t the one pulling the trigger, he killed those men on your security detail and tried to kill you.”

She nodded. She knew he was speaking the truth.

“Hang tight in here for a few more minutes while we sort some things out.”

Her heart broke at Bryce’s betrayal, but she feared that all of this was far from over.