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Bile welled up in his throat as his stomach churned violently and he wanted to cry for her too, despite his deceased father’s long-ago strictures on crying But more than that he wanted punish the man who’d done this to her He wanted to pummel him into a bloody pulp, wait a few ain Until the man had paid for those scars, and what they had to hts about Cate by exacting two years’ worth of vengeance For her

Shaken lanced away His eyes caught those of Dave Morgan across the table, and knew the otherthe sae that Cate had been abused Bound And most likely raped—repeatedly

Guilt slainning, that he’d wondered how and why she’d become a prostitute That he’d been baffled by his attraction to a woman of the streets, even one who looked like her

Now he knew that whatever she’d done, it hadn’t been by choice She hadn’t chosen her life any more than she’d chosen to have those scars inflicted on her by Aleksandrov Vishenko Has to be him, he reasoned Who else it could be? No wonder she despises him No wonder he’s afraid of what she’ll say on the witness stand and tried to have her killed And no wonder Alec wishes he could exact a little vigilante justice I do, too

Lia hitone wasn’t his usual one, so it took him by surprise He quickly excused himself from the table to answer the call

“Yeah?”

“It’s ent you gave your cell phone to used it, on h, sonal”

“Shit”

“No kidding Doesn’t necessarilyto locate you to bring you in for routine questioning in the shooting—you’d be cleared of course, but they have to follow procedure Get your statement and match it to the statements of the other witnesses, not to un The whole nine yards Or it could be they just want to bring Caterina in for safekeeping—she’s still a key witness in the conspiracy trial On the other hand, it could be so to track down the two of youfor Vishenko”

“Yeah, I get that”

“So D’Arcy wants to change the plan a little We’ve got Alec and his wife in protective custody—and boy, the FBI was pissed about that, especially when D’Arcy refused to divulge their location to them We want to ensure the saency’s safe house in Fairfax Don’t ask how—it’s a long story So D’Arcy wants to move you to another safe house, one outside Fayetteville, North Carolina If you leave now you can be there in just under five hours”