that it had broken. Now she had a backup plan readily available.
Agent Sears patted her shoulder.
She jolted at his touch, rearing back from him. “Don’t touch me.”
“I wish things would have been different for you and your brother.”
“Don’t talk about my brother.” Years ago, when they’d first been taken and hidden away, she had trusted all bureaucrats, really believing that they wanted to help her and her brother. Not anymore.
Agent Sears dropped his hand. “Look, I’m trying.”
She glared at him.
“Listen, taking down men like Rafael Cortez is the trickiest kind of operation. He has money and family and an organization with large pockets. Good thing he’s in prison, awaiting his trial next Monday.”
“What? He’s in prison?” Angela perked up.
Agent Sears nodded. “Your country needs your testimony. Are you willing to do it?”
“No.” She stared out the window. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
“No?” he asked incredulously. “You’re not going to help take down the man who killed your brother?”
She shook her head. Her brother would only want her to get out of this Suburban.
“Hey, we finally have enough evidence to take down his whole human trafficking ring, his whole drug cartel operation. This is huge.”
She turned to face Agent Sears. “Let me go. Let me disappear.”
“Like I said, we need your testimony. The act you witnessed that fateful night will put the nail in his coffin. You may not know this, but the man Rafael killed was one of our own.”
One of their own … “What?”
“FBI.”
Her mind was reeling. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t you tell us?”
“We didn’t think it mattered. You’d witnessed it. We had to keep you safe.”
“Right.” She glared at him, fresh anger taking over. “My brother’s blood running all over the living room floor is safe, right?”
“I told you I’m sorry.” The man actually had the decency to look remorseful.
She turned away.
“I regret turning you kids over to WITSEC so easily. I should have been more involved, taken more precautions. I …” He trailed off, then swallowed. “We failed your family.”
“Yes, you did,” Angela snapped. “Let me go. I’m not testifying.”
Agent Sears grunted. “Did you see what just happened? They found you.”
Her hands shook again. She held them together, wishing Brian was still alive. Wishing she’d paid attention to her intuition and bugged out of Hidden Falls a long time ago.
“They tracked you, just like we did.” Agent Sears snorted and shook his head. “You’re just lucky we got to you before they killed you.”
Angela thought of Ryan diving on her while Charlotte and the Hardman brothers had defended her. “The Hardmans saved my life.” Tears welled up again. “Will he leave them alone? They killed two of his people.”
Agent Sears let out a long breath and texted on his phone. “Honestly, I doubt anyone cared about those two minions, but you never know.”
That did nothing to assuage her fears. She pulled out her phone and started to text Charlotte.
“Oh no.” Agent Sears ripped her phone out of her hands and then rolled down the window so he could throw it out.
“What are you doing?”
He pursed his lips. “As I said, if we tracked you, they tracked you. That phone is a liability.”
She pushed him. “How dare you!”
“Don’t touch me.” He gave her the kind of look that told her not to mess with him.
Don’t trust anyone. Don’t trust anyone.
Angela resisted the urge to punch him. She had to get out of here. “Let me go. You can’t take me against my will.”
He laughed and went back to texting. “True. Very true. You were always smart. The problem is that I can take you in for questioning.” He leveled her with an accusatory stare. “And that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
“Questioning about what?”
“The murder of Brian Fletcher.”
“What?”
Agent Sears cocked an eyebrow at her. “You fled the scene. You fled the scene and disappeared for three years, and that makes you a suspect.”
“You think I killed my brother?” Angela was seeing red now.
His eyebrows went up. “As I said, you fled the scene.”
“I found my brother murdered and a note from Rafael that I would be gutted next! Why would I stay there and get killed?”
Agent Sears gave her a look that said he didn’t believe her. “You could have called us.”
Unbelievable. This whole thing was totally unbelievable. “As you said,” she said, forcing her voice to remain steady, “you were clearly compromised. I had no one.”
Their gazes held. So many thoughts jumbled together in her head. Did they really think she would kill her own brother?
“Touché.” Agent Sears turned