Nori's Delta (Delta Team Three #1) - Lori Ryan Page 0,46

for Marcus, Heath wasn’t in charge of this interrogation.

Merlin sat across from Marcus, leaning one arm on the table next to him like they were just going to have a little chat. Merlin could go from good guy to bad guy in a heartbeat and had the ability to play out either role depending on what they were looking for with the suspect.

“We’re just talking to everybody in case you’ve seen or heard something you don’t realize might help. Sometimes that happens, you know? You overhear something but don’t realize that something is anything when it’s taken out of context.”

“Oh, okay.” Marcus was nodding now, just like Merlin wanted him to. A nodding and agreeable interviewee was one you could get information out of.

“So how about it, Marcus? Have you heard anything you thought was unusual in the last week? Or maybe somebody on your team or somebody back in the home office has been acting off? Maybe asking questions they shouldn’t be or hinting around about where you guys were going or what your assignment was?”

The nodding switched to headshaking. “I haven’t seen or heard anything. Nothing like that,” Marcus said. “Everybody on the team has been freaked out by what’s been happening. Yeah, we’re in the foreign service and all, but our jobs don’t usually put us in this much danger. We’re usually behind a desk.”

“Maybe you didn’t want to come on this assignment?” Merlin asked. “Maybe you let somebody know when Eleanor was going to get off that plane hoping that she might just be scared by what happened. Scared enough to go home instead of going through with the negotiations. Since you weren’t coming into the country until later, that little bit of information wouldn’t put you in any danger, but it would make sure you wouldn’t have to keep going with the assignment if she got scared off.”

Marcus looked like he might be sick, but he was shaking his head. “I wouldn’t do that.” Now he looked to Heath. “I like Eleanor. I mean not like that. Not like you do. But I mean I like her. I respect her. I would never put her in danger.”

He wanted to growl at even the mention of another man liking Eleanor despite the fact that Marcus was doing his best to deny that his feelings were anything similar to Heath’s feelings for her.

And it sucked that he was so damn transparent that clearly Eleanor’s team could see through him with no trouble at all.

Fantastic. He hoped like hell they didn’t look down on her or see her as anything less than professional because of him.

Duff stepped closer to Marcus. “Sometimes you can like a person, but still be willing to take a little extra cash if you were assured that person wouldn’t really be hurt. Maybe somebody told you they were just trying to scare Eleanor and you thought, what could it hurt to make a little money on the side if she’s not going to get hurt?”

Marcus turned an even darker shade of green. He continued shaking his head and seemed to be looking at Heath for help.

Heath blew out a long breath. He was more and more convinced that whoever had leaked the information about Eleanor’s flight wasn’t on this team. Wasn’t in country with them.

Eleanor had assured them that she was close to making an agreement happen with Demir. She was pretty sure they would have the release of the hostages within the next 24 hours, and she and Demir would be signing off on terms that would get the US one step closer to ridding the region of ISIS and Al Qaeda. Or at least hamstringing the organizations enough that they weren’t able to do the kind of damage they had in past years.

They all wanted to see that happen. They all wanted to see the terrorist bastards who had done so much harm and spread so much of their sick twisted message go down.

The secure sat phone lit up and he and his teammates shared a look that said they agreed this questioning was going nowhere.

“Okay Marcus,” Merlin said, standing, “we’ll let you head on back to the rest of the group. We’ll be going back to the compound soon.”

Duff walked Marcus back to the room where Eleanor and her team were waiting with Jangles and Zip watching them.

Merlin picked up the sat phone and answered while Heath tried to calm the frustration coursing through him. He hated thinking that the closer