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A sudden churning in her sto a mad dash for the ladies’ room She made it just in time When the violent reaction was over, she realized Keira had followed her and was silently offering her a warm, damp wad of paper towels to wipe her mouth

Still shaking, Cate used the paper towels, then rinsed out her mouth several times Keira watched her, then asked quietly, “You want to talk about it?” When Cate shook her head, Keira leaned against the sink, crossed one leg over the other and said conversationally, “You knohen Nick D’Arcy asked me to participate in this op, Cody didn’t want erous”

“Op?” Cate’s brain hadn’t focused on it before, but all at once she wondered what Keira had been doing there at the cabin Not to mention her husband and Trace McKinnon Wondered how Vishenko had knohere to find her “You askedat the cabin,” she said slowly, “but you didn’t say why you were there No one was supposed to knohere Liam and I were except Nick D’Arcy and Sheriff Callahan”

Keira drew a deep breath and exhaled slowly through pursed lips, whistling under her breath, obviously trying to decide how much to tell Cate “Baker Street—Nick D’Arcy,” she aency Anyway, D’Arcy knew the atte elseto testify, without corroborating testimony from the other witness—the one he was fairly sure Vishenko had killed—he knew there was a chance Vishenko would get off With you in safekeeping, he decided to go for a long shot”

“I don’t under—”

“Bait a trapwith you”

Chapter 18

“Only not you, if you see what I mean,” Keira was quick to add “I was supposed to be the bait, made up to look like you from a distance D’Arcy couldn’t risk you because he still needed you to testify in the conspiracy trial And besides, he has a thing about keeping witnesses safe Long story”

“I know,” Cate said “He used to be a US marshal He told me about it when hewhen he convinced me to come here”

Keira continued as if Cate hadn’t interrupted “So he set it all up toto sell you out Since your location was a closely guarded secret—no one knehere you were except the four of you, and he put out the word through channels that only the agency knehere you were—he knew Vishenko couldn’t get that information from any other source It had to come from D’Arcy Which meant Vishenko had to try to bribe him

“His plan worked beautifully D’Arcy had Vishenko dead to rights on bribery and conspiracy to commit murder In addition to the money—the serial numbers of which, by the ere recorded by the banks where Vishenko withdrew the cash fro thethe bribe and soliciting your murder”

Cate was puzzled “How did he e that? When I knew hi devices andoh, everything of that nature I can’t see hi himself be recorded by Mr D’Arcy”

Keira’s lips twitched in sudden aery on his left knee He had the brilliant idea of using that as cover for the wire Do you know that when you go through airport security screening after you’ve had a knee replaced, the replacement knee sets off the metal detector? And when they run a hand scanner over you, it’ll ping on your knee?”

Cate shook her head

“Well it does, so whenever you get a new knee, the ery, and shohat the knee looks like under X-rays It’s supposed to help you get through the airport screening Doesn’t really work that way,” she added as an aside “D’Arcy found that out the hard way But that’s the theory

“Anyway, D’Arcy knew Vishenko’s men would physically search him, use a metal detector to check for weapons and an electronic scanner to detect a wire Sure enough, the ed on his left knee But he showed theht that explanation So when they ran the electronic scanner over hi on The as hidden in a prosthesis that looked like real skin and muscle, attached to his knee”