His Captivating Confidante (Secret Sentinels) by Lisa Weaver Page B

undercover investigating a money-laundering ring. We knew there were shady dealings going on, but we weren’t having any luck pinning down the leader of the operation. One night, while Pam was off meeting with one of her contacts, I received an anonymous tip about the location of the ring’s headquarters. I was anxious to run down the lead, so I decided to check out the tip on my own.
    “When I arrived, the building was empty. It had been trashed—every piece of technology in the place had been destroyed. I called in our computer forensics unit, but even our best detectives weren’t able to recover any data from the demolished hard drives. It seemed like we were back at square one.”
    “Except . . .” she prompted.
    “Pamela was furious when she found out I hadn’t waited for her. She insisted on seeing the hard drives that were recovered. Before we arrived at the office where the equipment was being held, we got a call notifying us the drives had been stolen.”
    “So someone else was interested in them?”
    “Yeah,” he confirmed. “They were beyond interested. So interested they ambushed Pam and I and took us to an abandoned warehouse where they tortured us for hours. It turns out they’d discovered that whoever had trashed the hard drives had extracted data from them first. They thought I was the person who’d downloaded the information, and they wanted me to turn it over.
    “I didn’t have what they were looking for, of course. When I couldn’t give them what they were after, they shot Pamela in a last-ditch effort to try and get me to talk. The only reason I made it out alive is because the men who’d been holding us set fire to the building as they fled, which drew the attention of the police. The first responders found me and dragged me out before the whole place went up in smoke. The blaze was so intense that Pam’s body was charred beyond recognition.”
    “Oh, Frank. That’s horrifying. But you can’t blame yourself. Your partner knew the risks that go along with undercover assignments. What happened to her wasn’t your fault.”
    “Maybe not, but I should have bluffed my way through to buy us more time. If I’d stalled our captors, maybe I could have saved her.”
    “You’ve been in this business long enough to know that’s not how these things work. Even if you’d managed to convince them you had what they wanted, they still would have killed her—killed you both. Men like that play for keeps.”
    “Which is exactly why you are not getting involved.”
    “I deal with risk every day. This is no different.”
    “Look, you aren’t getting wrapped up in this mess. It’s already gotten ugly, and I don’t even know who I’m dealing with here. That’s what I’m trying to determine. That’s why I was so adamant about wanting to accompany you to Damon’s estate. The answers are there.”
    “I never bought in to your explanation that your eagerness to be my plus one was out of concern for me.”
    “I really am worried about you spending time with Damon. I want to be there to watch out for you while you’re a guest on his island. But this is a two-birds-with-one-stone expedition. I know Landers is involved, somehow, in the money-laundering ring. I believe he can lead me to the man who ordered the attack on Pamela and I.”
    “What makes you so sure Damon plays a part in all of this?”
    “When Pam and I were being held captive, I heard our abductors say their boss was meeting with Damon. They didn’t mention what they were getting together to discuss, nor did they refer to their ringleader by name, but I’m confident Damon holds the key to his identity. I’ll search for the answers while I’m on the island. And I’ll rest a lot easier knowing you aren’t out there by yourself without support.
    “Speaking of which,” he continued, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think I should bunk on your sofa tonight. I’m not comfortable leaving you alone. If my new