Free Lie by Night: An Out of Darkness novel (Entangled Ignite) by Cathy Marlowe

idea why they might be after you?”
    She shook her head, keeping her face carefully blank. Her heart raced with fear that the wrong people knew about the microchip.
    “I can also tell you’ve handled the letter so often that any finger prints were likely destroyed.”
    She forked another bite and nodded.
    “Well, don’t feel bad about it. If the sender went to a lot of trouble to disguise his or her handwriting, likely, there weren’t fingerprints. Okay, my turn. What were you doing on the island?” He started to eat.
    “I don’t understand. You read the note.”
    “Yes, I did. But that doesn’t explain why you would get on a plane based on nothing more than an anonymous note.” He tapped his fingers against the table and waited.
    She took a long drink of water. “A little over a week ago, Jacob disappeared.” She bit the inside of her lip. “He’d left the country the month before. I don’t know where he went. He calls me every few days when he can. The last time I talked with him was about two weeks ago. Two days ago, I received an anonymous letter in the mail. It told me to come to James Island and find the old man. It said…well, you saw it.”
    “Don’t tell anyone.”
    With a trembling sigh, she nodded. “Jacob’s life depends on it.”
    Cole’s tapping became more pronounced. “And you…what? You hopped on a plane and took off half way around the world, hitched a ride with some stranger out to an island in the middle of nowhere? Then you set off across the island with no back up?”
    “Didn’t you already give me a hard time about this?” She did not need another lecture from him.
    Strangers at nearby tables turned to stare. His ears reddened. “Yeah, well, I’m having a little trouble getting past it.” He lowered his voice. “Is it unusual for Jacob to leave for weeks at a time in his job?”
    She shook her head.
    “What made you think something was wrong? Wrong enough that you would take off on some half-baked mission to find him?”
    If she hadn’t been so busy trying to decide how much to tell him, she would have been affronted by his insults. “I…I knew something was wrong. Jacob never just disappears. He always lets me know he’ll be gone—even if he can’t tell me where he’s going.” She still had questions about Cole and his supposed friendship with Jacob. Until she knew more, she wasn’t revealing everything to a man she didn’t trust, a man who had military contacts. Treason . “I just knew.”
    He measured her words. “And why didn’t you call someone?”
    “Who would I call?” For a brief moment, he had been a person she might call. “And…” She brushed a lock of hair back behind her ear. “I was armed. I have Mace, and brains, and years of self-defense classes.”
    His infuriating silence continued.
    “Apparently, it was enough to save you.” She took her last bite of food and placed her fork neatly by her plate.
    “Who was—” He caught himself when she cast a sharp glance his way. “I’m sorry, who is Jacob working for?”
    “The government.”
    “Which agency?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t know, he couldn’t tell me. Why are you so interested in Jacob?”
    He shrugged.
    “Do you think he’s hunting the people you warned me about?”
    Face impassive, he responded, “I don’t know.”
    “What do you mean, you don’t know? What…” Warning bells sounded as an ugly suspicion took shape. “You suspect my brother?” When he failed to respond, the answer became glaringly obvious. And his betrayal of Jacob’s friendship took on darker meaning. “When did you become suspicious of Jacob?” She asked the question, but God help her, she already knew the answer.
    He’d never been Jacob’s friend at all.
    …
    Cole cursed silently as color drained from Emma’s face. Aside from her ridiculous plan to come to this island, the woman was entirely too smart, too perceptive. “What do you mean?” Sure, it was a lame response, but