Free Don't Say a Word by Rita Herron

sanctioned or not, the E-team was called in to erase it. No one was to know of their existence. Even Pace didn’t know the details of their work. And no member would ever tell.
    Tell and you die .
    â€œI’m with the bureau now,” Damon responded.
    Pace nodded, a small grin splitting his face. “Yes, that’s right. FBI.”
    Damon almost laughed. Pace didn’t believe him. The team was tight-knit and was virtually impossible to escape. But when he’d left, the three guys on the original E-team had formed a private business after they’d left the military, conducting government missions as well as taking on private cases. Max had said some of the new members were even needlessly violent, and had asked about his defection.
    Damon had opted out and left, although the others hadn’t liked it one damn bit.
    â€œI need to know any information you may have on a man named Karl Swafford.” Damon watched Pace for signs of recognition. But not so much as a blink of an eye or a twitch. Of course, the man was trained in scrutinizing body gestures and hiding them as well.
    â€œI’ve heard of him, as most of the people in New Orleans have.”
    Damon grunted. “I have reason to believe that he faked his death and disappeared. And that you helped him.”
    Pace’s eyebrow arched upward. “And where did you get this information?”
    â€œLet’s just say that the death of a certain reporter brought it to light.”
    â€œYou mean Kendra Yates, the woman your brother is accused of murdering.”
    â€œAntwaun is innocent,” Damon said. “And I need your help, Reginald. If Swafford is alive, he may have killed Miss Yates. I also think he has someone on the inside who helped frame my brother for her death.”
    â€œInteresting theory. I wish I could help you, but I can’t.”
    â€œDid Kendra Yates question you about Swafford?”
    â€œNo. And I did not perform plastic surgery on him either.”
    Damon silently cursed, then withdrew the photo of Kendra and placed it on the desk. “Look at this carefully, Reginald. Are you sure this woman didn’t approach you? She might have worn a disguise.”
    Dr. Pace made a token show of examining the photo, then exhaled and leaned back nonchalantly. “No, I’ve never seen her before in my life.”
    Damon understood the reason for Dr. Pace’s secrecy. His silence protected not only himself, but the members of the E-team, government VIPs, witnesses in the WITSEC program and current patients. Hell, his secrecy had kept Damon alive.
    But the tiny tremor in the doctor’s eyelid gave him away this time. He had seen Kendra Yates, but he didn’t want to admit to it.
    Possibilities floated through Damon’s head. What if Kendra had threatened to write about Dr. Pace in the paper?
    Perhaps he’d panicked and killed her. Or he might have reported her snooping to the military or another fed who’d decided she needed to be diposed of.
    His gut tightened. What if the insider who’d killed her and set up Antwaun wasn’t with the local police department but was one of his coworkers at the agency?
    * * *
    C RYSTAL FELT AS IF she were crawling out of her skin. She had to get out of the room.
    The sidewalk was dimly lit, the woods creating shadowy nooks that offered privacy. Surely the garden would be empty, and she wouldn’t have to worry about being seen or the pitying gossip.
    She dressed in a cotton warm-up suit and slippers, then padded down the hall and out the door. Unable to stop herself, she glanced in the window, searching for her reflection, but the frosted glass only allowed for small patches of her features to come through. The swelling had gone down. She couldn’t tell much, but she thought she looked almost normal.
    And why hadn’t Dr. Pace allowed her to see herself? Was the image distorted?
    A slight breeze ruffled the leaves of the tupelo