“He could be.”
“You call him Uncle Marv, but he’s not a relation?”
She nodded. “Mom and he came up through the ranks of the CIA together. He doesn’t have much family, and he’s never been married or had kids.”
“You think he would actually sell you out?”
“Definitely,” El said. “His whole life is his career. He would do anything—and I mean anything—to get ahead.”
Ian looked between the two of them. “There’s a history.”
Not a question. “Yep. He wouldn’t help me find El. Protocol,” she said, not able to hide her disgust. “I didn’t ask for an op, just a location. He refused to help, saying he was trying to save my career.”
“And that’s why you had to call Sam,” El said quietly. “This caused her entire life to fall apart.”
“She would kick your ass if she could hear you right now.”
El snorted, then he sobered. “Yeah, he might be considered family, but that job is his top priority. If David sent him out to find information, he would do it.”
“Now, what did he have to say about me?”
She sighed, suddenly feeling her lack of sleep. “He said not to trust you. That he’d had you checked out and that there were bad things about you.”
Ian’s face went blank. “I see.”
“But he doesn’t know we’re still in contact with Sam,” she said. “Which tells me whoever is feeding him information must be using that connection in more ways than one.”
“You mean that Scott might be telling him that Ian is a danger to you? Or possibly Dillon as a whole?”
“You know he was upset by not giving me the information I needed to find you. He didn’t show it much, but I know it did.”
“So, you have your former boss’s boss trying to get him to isolate you?” Ian said. “It’s not completely insane, but it still needs information to back it up.”
“I think if we can find out what these people have in common, we will be able to pinpoint who wanted them dead. The only other suspect we have is Gary Collins.”
Ian sighed and nodded. “I’m going to go talk to Dillon and set up a safe house for you.”
“I thought we were going to use the TFH one?”
She hated the idea of not staying at her home. Throughout her years in the CIA, she had never felt a connection to a place like Hawai’i—not even in Texas, where her parents lived. She adored her house and her neighbors.
“I figured it might be better to have more than one ready.”
“Thanks, Ian.”
“I’ll walk you out,” El said.
“You are not leaving me with all of this, El. It doesn’t work without you.”
“I’ll be back.”
“I’m a big boy,” Ian said as El walked behind him out of TFH headquarters. “I can get to my car on my own.”
The morning air hit him as they walked out to the parking lot. Hawai’i could be muggy in the morning, but he knew the afternoon heat would burn the humidity off. Honolulu was just now waking up, and rush hour hadn’t gotten started just yet. El loved this time of day, especially in Hawai’i.
“I wanted to talk to you about Marv.”
“I know you don’t like him.”
