Layla wasn’t sure why they were playing dumb. “He’s the number two in Al-Nidal. Basically, he’s Abu Rihal’s deputy, and Rihal runs the organization from some unknown location in Syria.”

Frank leaned forward. “Do you know Assad?”

She tried not to get too impatient with this line of questioning, but she failed to understand what they were driving at. “No. I’ve studied him intensively, but I don’t know him personally.”

“So on the record today, you’ve never met?” Monty asked.

“No. Don’t you think if I’d met Assad, I would’ve immediately filed a report? That kind of thing isn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill occurrence.”

“We actually agree with you. Let me show you something else.” Frank nodded to Monty, who pulled out another photo.

As she looked at it, her stomach clenched. The photo appeared to be of her and Assad sitting at a coffee shop in Paris. A coffee shop she’d been to last year on her first field assignment. She remembered it very clearly, and she also remembered that she had never encountered Assad there.

“Does that refresh your recollection?” Frank asked.

“Don’t answer that,” Hunter said. “I need a moment to confer with my client.”

A sly smile spread across Frank’s lips. “By all means.”

Layla and Hunter stood and walked over to the corner of the room.

Hunter leaned down. “Talk to me, Layla,” he said in her ear.

She looked up at him. His face was so close to hers, but she didn’t want the IG men to hear their private conversation. “I’ve never met Assad, and I certainly didn’t have coffee with him.”

“Are you sure? Not even as an asset?” he whispered.

“No,” she shot back.

“Then someone has gone through a lot of trouble to make it look like you did. If I had to guess, there’s going to be more evidence tying you and him together.”

“This is crazy. What do you think I should do?” A million thoughts zapped through her brain, but she was having trouble formulating the best course of action.

“We could stop the interview now, but it might make more sense to keep going and see if they’ll show any more of their cards. You just keep telling the truth, and let’s try to get all we can out of them. It’s best to know what we’re up against.”

A wave of nausea threatened her. “This is bad.”

He took her hand and gave it a quick, reassuring squeeze. “We’ll get through it.”

His multiple references to we were the only thing keeping her steady at this point. She really did feel like Hunter was going to stand beside her no matter what happened. Given his act of sacrifice years ago, she had no doubts that he’d go to every length to protect her.