“The guy is always asking for details on where we’ll be going and how things are going to work when we’re getting ready to move.”
Duff shook his head. “According to Eleanor, he didn’t have access to her flight information. Only Marcus and Beth had that information.”
Heath shook his head. “Marcus or Beth could have easily shared that information. They’d have had no reason to hold that back from another member of their team.”
Merlin looked at him. “You sure you’re being objective here? I’ve seen you glaring at Geoff when he asks Eleanor if she wants to join them for dinner.”
Heath probably shouldn’t have let the small growl slip from his lips, but Merlin was right. The guy really was bothering Heath. Eleanor might not see it but Geoff was hitting on her.
“He shouldn’t be making a pass at her. She’s his boss.”
Duff laughed, earning a glare from Heath.
It was Merlin who answered, though. “I’m pretty sure that pass you’re talking about is called politeness and manners, big guy. You’re seeing shit that isn’t here where Eleanor Bonham is concerned.”
Heath turned on the two men, his chest filling with anger at the accusation. They didn’t understand. Couldn’t understand.
Eleanor wasn’t just a job to him. She meant something and even if he couldn’t let that go anywhere past these next few days, he damned sure wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.
If that meant he saw danger everywhere he looked for now, so be it.
Merlin raised his hands in surrender but Heath saw amusement in his expression.
His anger dissipated. They were just razzing him. They had his back.
Duff had been tapping away on his computer but he looked up now. “Sharon has a sick mom. She requires a lot of care and I don’t see where the money is coming from for that. She’s in a high-end assisted living home in DC. It’s possible someone is paying for that care in exchange for Sharon’s help?”
Heath turned to the door, but Merlin was standing in his way.
He crossed his arms and looked at the unofficial head of their team. “We need to question her.”
Merlin put a hand up. “Take a step back from this. Let me question her while you go sit with Eleanor. You’re of no use to us like this. Let us handle looking into who might be after her and who might be feeding them information.”
Heath went hands on hips and shook his head. “I want to be in on the questioning. When we go back to the talks, we can’t go back with this leak in tow.”
He saw Merlin and Duff exchange a look but Merlin acquiesced, giving a small nod.
Merlin stood. “Duff, you stay on the research while Woof and I pull Sharon out of there and talk to her.”
Heath ignored the look Eleanor gave him when they asked Sharon to leave the brainstorming session with the team minutes later. They led Sharon down the hall to one of their empty rooms. If he had anything to do with it, when Eleanor and the team went back to the camp later that afternoon, she wouldn’t be taking the traitor with her.
“What is it?” the dark-haired woman asked, her blue eyes going wide. “Has something else happened?”
Merlin pulled out a chair and gestured to it in the small hotel room. The tight space worked well for the situation. They wanted Sharon feeling the pressure and putting her in tight quarters with two who were trained to kill with nothing more than their hands was one way to do that.
If she wasn’t their leak, he’d apologize, but until he knew for sure, he wasn’t going to pull punches and coddle Eleanor’s team.
“Tell us about your mom, Sharon,” Heath said. It wasn’t a gentle suggesting. He put menace behind the words.
Uneasy didn’t begin to describe the look that crossed her face as she glanced at the door of the room.
“My mom?” Sharon looked from Heath to Merlin and back. Then she stood suddenly. “Is my mom okay? What happened?”
She wasn’t looking like someone who was guilty of working with the enemy, but he wasn’t ready to take her off their list yet. People can be damn good liars and anyone who would be feeding information about Eleanor’s whereabouts to the people trying to take her out had to be damn good at lying to have gotten this far.
Merlin went with the good cop here, probably knowing Heath didn’t have it in him just then.
“Your mom is fine, Sharon. Have a