CHAPTER SIX
Sawyer didn’t do politics. He didn’t care for the gamesmanship and relentless twenty-four-hour news cycles, and he couldn’t imagine what growing up might have been like in the Sorenson household, the inhabitants of which valued victory and power over anything else.
To Angela’s credit, Sawyer had never seen in her a shred of the manipulative, combative woman that he knew of her mother. Angela didn’t hunger for the limelight or grandiose titles. He couldn’t imagine Angela marrying someone for politics. He couldn’t imagine her doing anything that wasn’t genuine.
Then again, she thrived on controlling her surroundings. He’d always believed that was because of what had happened to her with Pham. An arranged, low-contact marriage, one even suggested out of the blue, might be more of what she wanted.
“Stop fidgeting,” Jared ordered from the other side of his oversized desk. “She’s not marrying that fuckwad.”
The two men were alone, having deposited the Senator and her political staff in an adjacent conference room. Sawyer blew out his cheeks and tried to relax. “The office would be weird if she left.”
“She’s not leaving.”
Boss Man’s confidence did little to ease the gnawing tension in Sawyer’s chest. Angela made the place run like a well-oiled machine. She’d come into their group as a woman who needed space and as a witness who needed security. She was far more than a capable administrator. She’d become Titan.
Sawyer wondered if she knew that.
He studied Jared’s office. Angela had hung his accommodations and awards on the walls. When Jared had thrown a fit, she’d laughed. It was, she said, as if he wanted people to think he had been conjured out of nowhere or was maybe a machine built for special operations.
“What are your parents like?” he asked Boss Man.
Jared snorted. “Nothing like Samantha Sorenson.” He cracked his knuckles. “The Senator is a helluva person to have on your side, but I wouldn’t call her maternal.”
“What about Angela’s dad?”
“Never met him. Lobbyist, I think. He does his thing. She does hers.” Jared shrugged. “Again, nothing like my folks.”
“That’s pretty generic,” Sawyer pushed.
Jared’s eyebrows inched up. “You want me to ask questions about your loved ones?”
Sawyer drew a quick breath. “Not particularly.”
But Jared leaned back in his chair and flashed the slightest smile. “My folks. There were times when they literally held each other up. Good people. Salt-of-the-earth-type people.”
“My parents, too. Nothing like the Sorensons.” At one time, Sawyer knew what type of family he wanted. It had looked a lot like how he’d been raised. Loving parents. Happy childhood. But he didn’t want to think about that. “You’ve known the Senator for a while?”
Jared nodded.
“Did you know Angela?”
“Not until we rescued her and Chelsea.”
“I bet the Sorenson household was a weird place for a kid.”
Boss Man nodded. “Angela grew up adjacent to the watchful eye of her mother’s protective detail. There was never any need to put Angela in her own protective detail. At least that’s what they thought.”
Congressional families didn’t receive security unless there was a threat. Then Sawyer realized that the Sorenson gaggle was missing people. “Where is Sorenson’s security detail anyway?”
“Haven’t seen much of them.” Jared shook his head. “I think this political stunt was very much under the radar.”
Someone rapped on the door. Sawyer jumped as though he’d been caught gossiping. Angela walked in, expression unreadable, as if he and Jared weren’t waiting for her personal family drama to wrap. “I’m sorry that took so long.”
Boss Man glanced at his watch. “It’s been less than ten minutes.”
She lifted her shoulders. “You gave us a countdown clock of five minutes.” Angela sat in the chair next to Sawyer. “Can we talk?”
“Sure,” Jared said.
Sawyer stood. “I’ll let you—”
“No.” She waved him back into his chair. “I’d like to talk to both of you.”
Shit. Worry pooled in the pit of his stomach. Sawyer glanced from her to Jared then reclaimed his chair. Anxiety needled through his veins. If Angela bailed on Titan to marry Paul… She wouldn’t. Would she? No… Still, nervous energy rioted in his chest like his heart wanted to escape into his throat.
Angela smoothed a hand over her skirt and took a long breath. “I want to know the details of Pham’s negotiations.”
That was not what Sawyer thought she would say. His eyes darted from Angela to Jared.
“We can get you that.” Jared rested his elbows on his desk and laced his fingers. “What else?”
Sawyer repositioned himself on the stuffy office chair. He wanted Angela to discuss the more important topics of marriage and leaving Titan.
“If there’s someone else kept captive like me…” She rolled her lips together and inhaled slowly through her nose like she didn’t want to get sick. “If Pham has someone else out there, I want to help find her.”
“We don’t know the person’s a woman,” Jared pointed out, not addressing her request.
“She’s a woman. Everyone beside me was tortured and killed. If Pham kept her, she’s a woman.” Angela paused. “Just like his daughter.”
All the FBI profilers in the world couldn’t have an inside track on Tran Pham like Angela did. But Sawyer wasn’t sure that she was correct. “Pham’s done a lot of harm to a lot of people, men and women.”
Jared nodded and leaned back in his chair. “You can’t discount that this could all be bullshit. Delay tactics until they find you.”
Her lips pressed into a thin, angry line. “Well, my mother helped Pham with that one.”
Sawyer’s molars ground. Endangering Angela’s life, trying to marry her off for political clout? That mother-daughter relationship was one he couldn’t fathom.
“Speaking of her and”—Jared thumbed toward the office wall—“her entourage…”
This was what Sawyer needed to talk about. His stomach turned. Angela wouldn’t marry Paul. She couldn’t. Sawyer was just asking her if she wanted to date the guy. Now marriage was on the table?
“Am I gonna hear wedding bells anytime soon?” Jared asked.
“No.” Irritation furrowed in her brow. “Absolutely not.”
Relief spread through Sawyer’s chest. Of course she wouldn’t do it. But the idea that she might, that there was even the slightest chance she would cut bait and head to the US, was too much.
Jared chuckled as though the proposal were low-key comedy. “How’d the kid take it?”
Sawyer ran a hand through his hair. Thank God for Boss Man asking the questions. He didn’t trust himself to remain as calm as Jared.
“For starters, we’re not together anymore.”
Another flood of relief calmed Sawyer’s nerves. The corners of his mouth lifted. This was great. She didn’t need that kind of man dragging her down.
“Paul can hash out a new political strategy with my mom. I want nothing to do with it.”
“All right, then.” Boss Man grinned. “Shall I send them packing?”
“I already said goodbye. They should be on their way out if not gone already.”
“All right, then.” Jared rubbed his hands together. “Let’s see what we can learn about Pham.” He reached for the phone. “Parker’s been working his contacts since about an hour before we arrived at the hotel.”
Her eyebrows rose. “He had been trying to find you.”
“As had everyone else. I needed time to figure out what your mother was up to.”
“How did you know?” she asked.
“Very few options made sense after you were attacked.” Then, into the phone, he said, “Hey, Parker. “Got anything good yet?” A moment later, “Hang on.” Jared put Parker on the speakerphone. “Sawyer and Angela are here.”
Greetings were exchanged. Parker began, “We’ve got a lot of unsubstantiated hot air.”
Angela retrieved a notepad and pen from her purse. “Sounds like Washington, DC.”
Parker continued, “Pham’s attorneys are negotiating for something analogous to a political prison exchange. He shares where the person is, and then he returns home.”
Sawyer glanced at Angela. “As in no jail time?”
“None other than time served,” Parker confirmed. “That’s what they’re asking for.”
“ No .” She looked from Jared to Sawyer and then leaned toward the phone. “Absolutely not.”
“I’m just the messenger,” Parker said. A keyboard clicked in the background. “Regardless of negotiations, the Feds are investigating. Their working theory is—if someone’s still out there—that person worked the military operation where his daughter died.”
“So not like me,” Angela added quietly.
“They wouldn’t rule that out. I don’t think they know much,” Parker replied.
Jared rubbed his temples. “Anything else?”
“If there is, they’re not letting me know.”
Parker had more connections and ways of discovering information than almost anyone. “Do you think your mom knows more?”
“Maybe.” Angela bit her lip. “She’s power-hungry, but she doesn’t want me dead. She wouldn’t have concocted this marry-Paul scheme if she thought I would come home and Pham was still a threat.”
“She came out here and put a bull’s-eye on you,” Sawyer pointed out.
“True…” Angela considered for a moment. “She might know more and isn’t telling. She always holds her cards close to her chest.”
Jared grabbed his cell phone and pressed it to his ear. “Samantha, have you left?”
Sawyer glanced at Angela’s unreadable face. Was she upset about Paul? The faux marriage proposal had blindsided her, but she hadn’t answered his question about wanting to date Paul.
“Leave the bozos and meet us back in the war room.” Jared tossed his phone onto the desk. “Parker, get patched into the war room, and let’s get everything on the table.”
Angela faltered. “I’ll stay here.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna work.” Jared beckoned her out of the chair. “Get up.”
“I already said my goodbye.”
“And then you marched in here and told me you wanted to help find the woman. This is how you’re going to do that.”
Angela glanced Sawyer’s way.
“I’m with Boss Man.” Sawyer held out his hand. “You can do this.”
Her wheels turned as her frown deepened.
“Don’t leave me hanging, Ange.”
Angela squeezed her eyes shut and then relented. Her hand met his. “Only because I trust you guys.”