“Not sure he has that choice. Ed…she could have handled anything, but when he walked away from her, he broke her.”
“Ah, spoken like a man who has never been in love.”
“And you have?”
“God, no. But I watched Seth almost lose Autumn.”
El frowned, then headed over to look out the windows. They were in Ian’s condo, which looked out over the Honolulu Harbor. His and Autumn’s father lived in Kailua, and he spent a lot of time over there. Tonight, though, he thought it best to stay in the city. While his father was a former spy, he didn’t want to entangle him in this mess.
“I just don’t like any of this. Other than you, we are all back in circling. Me, Ed, and Hanson.”
“Let’s start there. I looked at your research.”
“Mainly Sam’s research. She’s a fiend, always has been about research.” His voice had softened ever so slightly, and Ian ground his teeth. He didn’t like that at all. He had no idea why her friendship with El mattered, but it did.
“You know her well.”
He nodded. “Best damned analyst the CIA has ever had. Those idiots didn’t know what they lost until they burned her. I’m sure someone is trying to figure out a way to bring her back.”
“How did she get burned?”
He sighed. “One of the reasons was that she was helping us. Or that’s what Ed and I think, at least. The person responsible for killing all the agents must be fairly high up in the organization. He or she would have to have the resources and the connections to commit all those killings.”
He digested that. “Either way, we need to take a step back and look at this investigation.”
“That’s why I need to be out there.”
“No. Taking a step back means taking a break. Let your mind rest.”
He opened his mouth, but Ian held up his hand.
“I know. Don’t you think I recognize the guilt? Dad had plenty of that after he found out about Autumn. He had no idea he had a daughter, but when he found out that she had been stuck in that hellhole of a cult for her entire life, he had to work through all the guilt. So, I get it. But you or your sister shouldn’t feel guilty.”
He tossed a look at Ian over his shoulder. “You think Ed feels guilty?”
“Yeah. Eden thinks she let you down.”
“She didn’t. I let myself down.”
El turned back to look out the window, and Ian rolled his eyes. These two were such martyrs.
“Get over yourself. You need to get out of the way, or both of you could end up dead.”
He whirled around to face Ian. “I know that. I didn’t think the bastard would go after Ed. If I did, I would have made her go back to Texas.”
He snorted. “I’ve been partners with your sister for almost six months. She would not have gone back.”
El shook his head but said nothing.
“Since it seems neither of us is getting any sleep, why don’t we go over the case?”
“We could do this at my sister’s house.”
Ian remembered the look on Kap’s face, the way he seemed to twitch every time someone made a comment about how close Eden had come to being hurt. He was sure the former NCIS agent was about to pull his head out of his ass and claim his woman. That was something a brother should never experience.
“Why don’t you call Sam so we can go over some of these cases. I’ve been doing a little look?—”
“Oh, Ed is not going to be happy about that.”
