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“I promised to try and I am trying.”
Images haunted her—Dylan sitting alone in a jail cell, looking betrayed and hurt.
“Jace, I know you have to do what you must, but please, don’t lock him up. I don’t want him rotting in a moldy jail cell with a filthy mattress and bugs...”
For the first time, he looked impatient. “Kara, he’s not going to rot in a jail cell. Stop being dramatic.”
“He’s not your cousin.”
“He’s not your responsibility,” he shot back.
“But he is. He’s family.”
He glanced at his buzzing cell phone. “That’s all I can relay for now. If I have solid news I can share, I’ll let you know.”
Jace signaled to the agent working on a laptop. “Wayne will drive you to a hotel. My expense account.”
Hotel. Expense account. Jace dismissed her as if she was of no more use.I suppose I am not. He has what he was after—my cousin.
Kara stood and smoothed out her wrinkled trousers. “Not necessary. I’ll procure my own lodging, and transportation. Surely they have an Uber in this section of backwoods?”
He stood, rammed a hand through his hair. “Kara, we can get you a room...”
“No. I don’t want your hospitality. I’ve had quite enough.”
She consulted her cell, messaged for an Uber. “Goodbye, Jace.”
“I need to know where you’re going...”
Kara summoned the iciest look she could manage for all the hurt swirling inside her. “I’m going to find a motel and sleep, Jace, and return in the morning when my father gets here with an attorney. Dylan needs good representation since you cannot deliver on your promise.”
She couldn’t reach the door fast enough. He made no attempt to follow or stop her. In fact, by the time the young agent named Wayne opened the door for her, Jace had vanished into the back once more.
Her cell pinged a message. Kara glanced down.
Babe, I’m sorry. Let me send an agent with you, please.
Kara ignored the text and put away her phone.
When the driver appeared, she asked him to bring her to the nearest motel.
The seedy roadside motel suited her mood. Kara paid with her credit card and took the key. Inside the room, she sat on the bed, staring dully at the walls.
Jace had betrayed her. He’d made a promise and his duty to the FBI came first.
She wasn’t certain if she could ever forgive him again.
Chapter 16
The FBI field office in Georgia was functional but beginning to resemble a typical government working environment. Blue carpeting helped absorb the noise caused by agents talking on the phone and typing furiously into their computers.
A glass-walled conference room with a large screen and a whiteboard sat off to the side, with blinds for privacy. Banks of computers and keyboards lined a long table near a maze of cubicles.
Gray cubicles filled the main room, with laptops, calendars and desk lamps at each working space. Jace spent time in the small, private interrogation room interviewing Dylan.
He’d hit a brick wall.
The kid wasn’t talking. He made his one phone call—to Kara’s father. Then he shut down, saying he wasn’t speaking another word until his attorney arrived tomorrow. He wouldn’t even give them a hint about Marcus.
