Do You Trust Me? by Desconhecido(a) Page A

foreign countries meant other agencies should
be clued in, also. But Sully played everything close to the vest. That was the
nature of this agency.
    They hadn’t yet
touched on the book signing on the second, but he was expecting Sully to put
his foot down and none too gently. Politics and publicity be damned. That was
the worst place she could be with what was going down. And short of arresting
her, he knew he didn’t have a prayer of keeping her away. Damn it, anyway.
    He turned back to Rina,
checking her out with a critical eye. Her color was a little better, but not
much, and she still looked shell shocked. He needed to question her but wanted
to give her a little more time to catch her breath. And he had to figure out
the right approach.
    Suddenly, she jerked
out of the chair. “My den,” she said tightly. “Oh, crap.”
    Before McCall could
stop her, she raced down the hall to the room where she did all her work. When
she flung open the door and looked inside, if McCall hadn’t been behind her,
she would have fallen.
    “No. No, no, no.”
    She shook her head
back and forth as she kept repeating the word over and over. The room was a
disaster, even worse than the living room. Desk drawers had been yanked open,
papers strewn everywhere, program disks and music CDs spilled onto the floor.
There wasn’t a surface or item left untouched.
    Rina sank to her
knees, sifting her hands through the debris, a stunned look on her face at the
terrible invasion of her privacy.
    “God,” she said. “I
feel so violated. So…so…naked.”
    She didn’t protest
when McCall lifted her from the floor and put his arms around her. He saw Gage
in the doorway, watching him, one eyebrow lifted.
    The hell with him.
With everybody. This is what she needs right now. It’s just part of the job.
    Yeah, right. Keep
telling yourself that.
    “I’m sorry.” She shook
her head against his chest. “I can usually take just about anything in stride.”
    “Understandable,” he
said. “Something like this is personal. You feel robbed of all dignity and
sense of security.” He eased himself away from her and pushed her gently onto
the loveseat. “Just sit tight for a second. I want to check on something.”
    Opening the narrow
cabinet where the Central Processing Unit for her computer was, he yanked at it
and pulled it out. The side panels came away easily, and his suspicions were
confirmed. This would really send her over the edge.
    “Rina.” He sat back
down beside her, unhappy about giving her more bad news. “They’ve taken the
hard drive from your computer.”
    “What?” Her voice
sounded like a croak. “What are you talking about? My computer?” She looked
over at the dismantled unit. “Oh, hell.”
    She looked so white
he was afraid she would faint after all. He took her hands in his and rubbed
them to get circulation back into her system.
    “Do you have any
brandy in the house?” he asked her.
    She nodded. “There’s
a bottle in the bar in the living room. If they haven’t broken it.”
    “Sit right here. Don’t
move. And don’t pass out on me, okay?”
    Rina just stared
straight ahead. She was sure they were looking for the microchip in the locket,
but how did they even know about its existence? Unless someone had leaked the
information.
    Betrayed. I’ve been
betrayed.
    That’s what John had
been trying to tell her.
    You’ll know who to
trust.
    No, John, I don’t,
she cried silently.
    Come on, McCall. If
it’s you, let me know. Please don’t be the traitor.
    The control that had
been holding her together until now suddenly snapped. The tears she’d been
forcing herself to hold back overflowed and streamed down her cheeks unheeded.
Burying her face in her hands, she just let them come, swallowing the wrenching
sobs trying to break through.
    She looked up only
when she felt something prodding her hand, and a tissue was shoved into her
fingers. Blotting her face she finally looked up to see McCall standing