“This isn’t my first choice, but I could call this in to the Agency,” she said. “They’ll probably wonder why I don’t return to the safe house anyway.”

His crystal-blue eyes locked on to hers as the Metro doors opened and they got off. “I understand your hesitation, and I’m right there with you, but I think they need to know. It also bolsters your version of the story.”

“It bolsters the truth,” she said flatly.

“Who would you call?”

“Two options. My boss or one of the IG guys.”

“You should call Frank Gibson. He’s the senior investigator, and it was clear to me that he was running the show. Tell him what’s happened. I can be your witness.”

She held back a laugh. “Hunter, I don’t think they’d take either of our words for anything right now. They have me in compromising photos with a known terrorist, and you’re acting as my attorney—and I’m sure those men know exactly who you are my from personnel file. Hopefully they’ll be able to provide some additional protection. If they bug out, we’ll call Mason to see if he can do anything.”

Hunter nodded. “Regardless, we need to let Mason know what happened. For all we know, the others could be impacted as well.”

Good point. The last thing she wanted was for something to happen to Cass and Zane. Diaz had already lost his life. Her heart hurt, thinking about his untimely death. She’d connected with him instantly on their trip to Honduras. To think that the cartel had killed him still shook her to the core.

Sensing her pain, Hunter took her hand as they walked down the Metro platform. Feeling his strong grip on her hand gave her some reassurance. At least she wasn’t alone.

She pulled out her phone and the business card from Frank Gibson to dial his cell.

“This is Gibson,” he answered.

“Frank, it’s Layla Karam.”

“I just got a report from our team that you haven’t been to the safe house since early this morning.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Things got heated.”

“How so?” Frank asked.

“We had three different cars come at us in a planned tactical assault. Finally we dumped Hunter’s SUV and got on the Metro. We believe his vehicle has a GPS tracking device on it, because there’s no way they could have located us so quickly each time we shook one of their vehicles.”

“And who, exactly, do you think is after you?”

She had to bite her tongue not to lash out. “Well, honestly, my first thought was that there was some Agency surveillance on me, but as the aggressive nature of the pursuit continued, it became clear that it probably wasn’t from Langley.”

“It’s still your contention that this is all related to the cartel?”