It was as good a time as any to tell them her other unfortunate news, and if Hunter was being read into all of this, then Layla couldn’t exclude him. “There’s something else I need to tell you all. I have no way of knowing if there’s any relation to the situation we find ourselves in, but you need to know that while I was in the hospital, my boss stopped by to tell me that I’m on administrative leave.”

“What?” Zane asked loudly. “For what?”

A deep frown pulled at Hunter’s lips, but he didn’t say anything.

“The IG’s office has opened an investigation in which I’m the subject. My boss had zero details, so I’m clueless as to whether it has any connection to this or whether it’s just bad timing and one more problem for me to handle.”

“Once Mason tells the Agency about the security threat, I bet they’ll reinstate you,” Cass said.

She doubted that. “Or it will just give them another reason to keep me on the sidelines.”

Zane ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t like it. What if the cartel is somehow setting you up? Making you take some sort of fall. Or worse.”

“Then why bother with the bombing if they cooked up this IG investigation?” Layla asked.

Zane shrugged. “Maybe they’re taking this on from multiple angles to cover all their bases.”

Layla looked at Hunter, who locked eyes with her. She could tell he wanted to say something but was keeping quiet. “Where do we go from here?” she asked.

Zane stood. “Cass and I are going to stick close to each other. There’s strength in numbers. You and Hunter should pair up. We’ll work this thing as a team. No solo action. You’ve already been the target of a bombing, John is dead, and Cass’s place was ransacked. We should all be on high alert.”

“Wait a minute,” Layla blurted before she could help herself. “I don’t need to buddy up with Hunter. I can take care of myself. I’m trained for this stuff.”

Hunter stood. “Maybe Layla and I should talk about this privately to make sure we’re both comfortable with the situation.”

Zane arched an eyebrow but didn’t argue. “Cass and I will leave you to it, then.”

Once it was just Layla and Hunter, he turned to her. “We really need to talk.”

Layla didn’t know how she was going to handle all these threats—most of all, the one to her heart.

Izzy looked into her boyfriend’s warm brown eyes. They’d just finished eating takeout and were now sitting on the couch in her apartment, watching cable news. She’d found out early on that they both shared a love for it, and it was an inside joke that they would do their own running commentary.