Whispered Lies

The whispered threat should have sent a shock of fear scurrying along her spine, and on some level it did, but she’d survived the unimaginable yesterday. That she sat here alive gave her strength and resolve to fight her way out of this, too.

Besides, showing emotions would be perceived as a weakness these operatives would exploit any way they could.

“I am not lying,” she told Carlos in a tone intended to allow no room for dispute.

“Really? So you what?” Carlos sighed. He lifted his hand, palm up, as he turned to her. “Got a postcard from a long-lost girlfriend who figured you were the one and only person who could help an American diplomat’s daughter being kidnapped?”

Sure, that sounded ridiculous, but he wanted the truth. “You ask me questions, then refuse to believe what I tell you. If you don’t like my answers, don’t ask questions.”

Smooth eyebrows lowered over the two narrowed black slits with thick lashes. Carlos stood and paced away, fingers absently massaging his neck. He dropped his hand. Anger rippled off him so thick the air should have clogged the vent system.

Her heartbeat jumped in the silence.

“Why didn’t you just contact the FBI or CIA?” Hunter asked.

She swiveled, pushing her gaze past Rae to take in the cocky new arrival. His burgundy turtleneck sweater created a beautiful base for a living bust of perfection she had no doubt women adored. He sat in profile, elbow on the table, head propped on his palm. Elegant golden hair styled just the right length to be daring, yet civilized.

She knew his kind all too well and was not impressed.

“That would have put Mandy at greater risk,” Gabrielle answered, shifting back to address the whole room. “The FBI and CIA would have thought it was a hoax or just locked me up until they figured out if I was mentally imbalanced, which might have cost Mandy her life. Those agencies tend to act quicker if they believe they gained the information from a credible source. I think it’s fair to say Mirage is known as a credible resource.” Sure that had been snippy, but she’d earned that right.

“Who sent the card?” Korbin asked.

A fair question, but one Gabrielle really did not want to answer. “I told you, a girl at my school.”

“What did you say yesterday?” Carlos asked her. “Don’t be obtuse. We want the girl’s full name.”

ELEVEN

GABRIELLE STOOD AT the crossroads to her future and a chance of saving Linette. Tell Carlos Linette’s name or not?

Would she put her friend in greater jeopardy by sharing her identity? Could these people possibly find Linette? Her friend was already in danger or at the very least being held against her will. Maybe this was a chance to save her.

If these operatives, and that had to be what they were, rescued Mandy, they had to be what they contended. Right? The anger behind Carlos’s words when he’d said they’d made a jump in a blizzard had felt genuine.

“Gabrielle?” Carlos said pointedly.

“I’m not ignoring you.” She addressed all of them with that before returning to Carlos. “I’m trying to answer your questions without compromising my friend’s safety.” She nibbled on her lower lip then had a thought. “Can you tell me what happened to the kidnappers after you rescued Mandy?”

“No!” echoed around the room.

Her shoulders drooped. “I see.”

“What would be the threat to your friend?” Rae asked.

Gabrielle weighed her selection of replies and finally realized they would remain at an impasse forever if she didn’t offer more. “A fratelli.”

Tension snapped through the room at that admission.

“What do you mean by ‘a fratelli’?” Carlos asked in a voice that doubled-stacked the chill bumps on her arm. If he sounded threatening yesterday, today he was downright lethal.

“I don’t know,” Gabrielle admitted. “It was referenced on the card.”

“The card again,” Hunter scoffed, then everyone jumped in.

“How was it referenced?” Rae wanted to know.

“Oh, please. The card is bullshit,” Hunter countered before Gabrielle could speak.

“What if it’s not?” Rae argued right back with plenty of heat. “Mandy was kidnapped. We did find her in a château in St. Gervais. The Anguis were the kidnappers.”

Gabrielle noted everything Rae said, deciding this group couldn’t know all of those details if they had not indeed saved the young girl.

Korbin jumped in with “Rae’s got a point.”

“Our people said the best they got out of the card text was gibberish,” Hunter tossed right back. “The Monster didn’t break it.”

“I can-” Gabrielle started to say she could prove the text was not gibberish, but got cut off.

“What if…our people are wrong?” Carlos asked Hunter. “What if the card is in code? We can’t pass up a chance for any lead on the Fratelli.”

Gabrielle tried to ignore how her heart jumped at the possibility that Carlos was finally supporting her position. That he might actually believe her. While the debate raged, she began to realize she had something to trade-decoding the card.

If she convinced them the card was in code, they had to believe she was not a criminal. That was logical.

Additionally, she now had a measure of belief-or call it an internal feeling she relied upon-that these people were not part of that fratelli. Logic implored that they would have feigned knowledge of the fratelli or any group they shielded, not argue over the credibility of her card that might be a lead.

The significance of how important it was that they locate this fratelli was not lost on her either. Finding the group could mean finding, and saving, Linette.

Gabrielle’s instincts had kept her alive so far. She had to rely on them now more than ever.

“If you’re not afraid of the truth, then let me prove it’s in code,” Gabrielle challenged Hunter, ready to take on all of them.

The arguing stopped as though someone had hit the pause button. When Hunter’s gaze leveled with hers, he made no effort to hide the disparaging assessment in his eyes. Weapons and blood shook her to her toes, but she’d been raised around his kind-the arrogant and the affluent-and neither fazed her.

“Go ahead, decode it,” Hunter said without a bit of concern in his voice. “And if you can’t, you’re of no value to us.”

She didn’t deserve his attitude or being held this way. Not after all she’d done to help Mandy and what she’d faced yesterday after they’d tricked her into exposing herself. “I helped you and you’re all treating me like I’m the enemy.”

Gotthard paused from typing on his laptop. “Until you give us a reason to think differently, you are.”

She needed one ally in this room and Carlos was her best hope. “I can show you how the code works.”

His gaze trapped hers and shifted from tense with impatience to an ope

Licking her dry lips, Gabrielle dove in. “It was sent to my father, Louis Saxe IV, who lives in Versailles and is president of the National Assembly in France.”

Gotthard interjected, “Correct. A powerful position in their government and he is well respected.”

Gabrielle hoped that would be enough to stop them from searching further into her background.

“How much does he know about all of this?” Rae asked.

“Nothing.” Gabrielle needed them to believe her on this point. “No one in the Saxe family knows about the Mirage or anything I’ve done.”

“Miss Sex, huh? Fits you.” The darkly handsome Korbin gri

Korbin gave her such a smoldering look she stiffened.