“At least he’s still alive. He was close to telling me something important, but I don’t know if I’d believe anything he had to say at this point.” Her shoulders collapsed, the weight of Porter’s betrayal a heavy burden, and it was the last thing she needed.
“Jessica provided her contact at the FBI the three locations for the missing sources. They should be dispatching teams to find them soon,” he added, hoping to offer her a glimmer of good news on such a dark night.
“Any word on Winters? What about him?” She turned her head his way, the usual sparkle in her green eyes gone, her auburn brows drawn tight.
“Natasha has people in D.C. looking for him. Winters wasn’t at his home or the office. But by now, he must have heard Porter is in surgery, and Ivan is dead. I’m sure he’ll take off. And with any luck, he’ll hightail it to the Maldives. I assume he decided to cut Porter out of the payday.” At least Luke and Knox are there waiting.
“Porter claimed he had nothing to do with the missing sources or hiring Ivan,” Ana said, her voice still soft and subdued. “Do you really think he was trying to protect me?”
“I can understand why you’d want to believe that.” A.J. squeezed her hand. “But maybe we wait and get all the facts before we determine his guilt in all of this. What do you say?”
She lightly nodded, her gaze going to the small window at her side. “I still don’t get Winters’s role in my parents’ death.”
En route to the jet, Jessica had announced she’d recovered the names of the agents in the case file from fifteen years ago. Not only was Winters not on scene that night, he wasn’t even working in D.C. at the time. He was a special agent at the Bureau in New York City. Something didn’t add up. “Winters will have to explain himself once Luke and Knox get their hands on him,” A.J. said with a firm voice, hoping if he spoke his thoughts aloud, his words would translate to reality.
Ana pinned her back to the seat but kept her hand locked with his. “And now we know why the FBI didn’t track the account to the Maldives. Winters probably blocked the agents from finding out. He wanted that payday.”
“Well, POTUS will be alerting Director Mendez about the evidence we have implicating Winters as the person who not only hired The Huntsman but is most likely working with the SVR. Hopefully, once the wheels touch ground in Budapest, you’ll have been removed from the fugitive list.”
“Once we’re wheels up, I need to talk to Anthony,” Ana said as the jet taxied down the runway of the private airstrip outside of Atlanta. “I’m just afraid his answers will prompt more questions, and quite frankly, I’m tired of speculating. Too much trusting the wrong people.” She peered A.J.’s way as the plane climbed into the air. “If it wasn’t for you, I don’t think I would have survived this.”
“I got you. Don’t worry.” He repeated what he’d said to her the night of their first kiss in the pond.
“You do, don’t you?” she whispered, and he had to read her lips when his hearing went to shit once they were in the clouds.
“I do,” he mouthed and leaned in, resting his head against hers as the plane began to level off.
He wasn’t sure how long they were in that position, but when he opened his eyes and pulled back, Roman was standing in the aisle.
“I think it’s time to talk to Anthony.” Roman cocked his head, and Ana nodded.
They unbuckled and went to the couch to sit across the aisle from Anthony’s seat. He held a bottle of water, but it looked like the guy needed a gin after what he’d just gone through. Roman had given him a change of clothes before the flight since he’d been wearing the same ones for the past two days. Apparently, he’d been living in Savannah under an alias when Porter had found him.
“I’m so sorry this happened,” Ana apologized, her hands falling to her jeaned thighs.
Aside from Harper, the rest of the team hung back, offering Ana some space to talk to Anthony. A.J. would never leave her side, though.
“I am so glad you’re alive.” His Italian accent carried through his words. “Your parents wanted you to have a good life.” Anthony chanced a look at A.J. “I see you found someone