Kat Attalla Special Edition by Kat Attalla

have taken more than a passing interest in my private life.”
    “They’re not my men. I had nothing to do with this.” DeMarco groaned. “How about you, Sanders? Care to tell me why the Boston office sent you up here to keep surveillance on my sister?”
    “Sister?” Erik and Daniels said in unison.
    “Her file was closed and sealed three years ago. Who reopened it? And why wasn’t I called?”
    Erik furrowed his brows. Victoria ’s brother was the bureau chief? No wonder he couldn’t find any information on her. What about the different last names? Did she have an ex-husband floating around somewhere? “This has nothing to do with her past. We’ve been working with the Washington office on the Becker case.”
    DeMarco lowered himself in the seat at the head of the table and twisted his hands together on top. “Fill me in.”
    Erik leaned against the china cabinet. The lingering scent of burnt cedar hung in the air. He glanced towards Victoria , seated next to her brother, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. “The man bribes or blackmails key research personnel into giving up vital new technologies for sale to foreign corporations. One of Cybertex’s employees contacted the department and agreed to help us set Becker up.”
    “And what has this got to do with Tori?”
    Daniels took a step into the room. “The courier left Mexico Sunday afternoon with the disc. A slender female, about thirty years old with brown shoulder length hair….”
    “Which describes about a million women in America ,” she muttered sarcastically.
    “With all due respect, Dr. Jansen, we double checked the security tapes and you were the only one who came off Flight 516 sporting a red Anthurium on your lapel, which was the signal to Becker.”
    Victoria twisted her fingers together until her knuckles cracked. “This is absurd. Why didn’t he approach me at the airport?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe he saw something he didn’t like,” Daniels said.
    DeMarco turned a questioning glance on his sister. “Did anyone give you anything in Mexico ? Perhaps a package they told you was a gift for family?”
    She peered up at him from under her dark lashes. “I’m not a fool, Steven. I know better than to carry packages onto airplanes for strangers.” Hurt rang in her voice. “As for the Anthurium, a woman at the hotel gave it to me because she’s allergic to flowers.”
    An awkward silence followed her announcement. That would explain a lot, Erik thought. Victoria still didn’t seem to realize what happened.
    “You were set up,” DeMarco said.
    Erik exhaled in relief. The courier used her as a pawn. In his gut, he’d known it all along. She was too warm, too giving, too damned trusting to be involved in illegal activities. Most likely, the real courier singled her out for just that reason.
    “How could I have been set up if I don’t have a disc to hand over?” Victoria asked.
    Daniels shrugged. “Becker wouldn’t know that. He never meets his couriers before a pick-up. That way, if they’re caught, they aren’t traced back to him.”
    “It doesn’t explain why. If he couldn’t identify the courier, she could have just tossed the flower in the garbage. She didn’t need to use me.”
    “Yes, she did,” Daniels said. “Didn’t that man say something about extortion? Obviously the courier hopes to get more money. You’re the one wearing the flower, so Becker would naturally come after you and when he realized he’d hit the wrong woman—”
    Erik shoved his partner in the ribs. Daniels, carried away by the sheer brilliance of the plan, forgot he hypothesized about an innocent bystander’s life. Victoria ’s life.
    DeMarco touched her trembling hand, and she immediately pulled away. “What was the woman’s name, Tori?”
    “Elaine.”
    “Elaine what?”
    She raked her fingers though the silky layers of her hair. “I don’t know. We didn’t exchange histories. She was just a woman who also traveled alone.