Jesus. He winced. “I’m sorry.”
She kept playing with her soup. “People say the dumbest things after something like that, don’t they? ‘They’re in a better place’, or ‘it’ll get easier’ or something else just as stupid.”
They did. “I guess because they don’t know what else to say.”
A slight frown creased her forehead. “It doesn’t really get easier, though, does it? You just kind of learn to…cope with it better as time goes on. It doesn’t go away, it only becomes less sharp, that’s all.” She glanced up at him, her dark eyes haunted.
Matt tightened his hold on the spoon and gripped the edge of the counter-top with his free hand to keep from reaching for hers. Holding her gaze, he nodded. “That’s exactly how it is.” She understood what he felt far better than he’d imagined.
Briar began eating, taking little mouthfuls of the soup.
“Where were your parents from?” he asked her, taking a spoonful for himself. He was amazed she’d opened up to him this much, but hoped she kept going. There was so much more he wanted to learn about her.
“Dad was from Palestine and Mom was from Venezuela. Both were refugees from the wars going on in their countries. They met in L.A. of all places, fell insanely in love and got married three weeks later.”
He smiled. “That’s fast.”
“No kidding. They had me two months before their first anniversary.”
“I like that story.”
She looked up, smiled at him with a kind of wonder, as if she was surprised by his admission. “I would never have pegged you for a romantic.”
One side of his mouth turned up. “I try not to let it show. Messes with my image.” He had a romantic streak; he just wished he’d shown it more often with Lisa.
Briar took another spoonful of soup, still smiling that mysterious smile. “You’re a very interesting man, DeLuca.”
“Matt,” he corrected. The most primal part of him didn’t want her even thinking of him by his last name, it was too impersonal. “Where’d you go after your parents died?”
The humor in her eyes vanished and she focused back on her spoon. “That’s a long story I’m gonna save for some other time.”
Whatever the answer was, he bet it was fascinating. “Okay, then what about the guy in that article last night? Jerry.” He’d been waiting to ask her about it, and now seemed like the perfect time.
For a moment he thought she was going to shut down, but then she sighed and answered. “He was an asset I’d been using to get to Ramadi.”
Matt sat up straighter, watching her carefully. If Briar was linked to Jerry personally, it made things more complicated than he’d originally thought. “Had you met with him in person?”
“Yeah, the night before the op. I met him at a bar in Boulder to get Ramadi’s location.”
Not good. “The same night he died in the accident?”
She looked up at him, her expression grim. “It wasn’t an accident.”
He blinked, part of him not wanting to believe it. “You took out an asset?”
She made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat, scowling at him as though she was insulted. “No. But I think someone wanted it to look like I did. And,” she added, looking down again, “Jerry’s the second asset I’ve been in contact with who’s died under suspicious circumstances over the past few months. The first died the night I was in Baton Rouge.”
Oh, shit. Now he understood the reason for her alarm. This was a very disturbing pattern to say the least, but he believed her. Based on what he knew of her, he was willing to bet she was innocent. “What did Janaia say about it? The first one?”
“She said she’d keep an eye on the situation. I don’t even know if she knew about Jerry until my friend sent her the message last night.” She frowned and glanced at the digital clock on the stove. “She should have been here by now.”
“Weather’s probably delayed her flight.” Wherever she was coming from.
Briar shook her head. “Then she would have found another way to get here. Something’s wrong.”
The words had just left her mouth when a sharp beep came from the back door. Briar dropped her spoon and stood up so fast her stool scraped against the wood floor. She stared at the door, her entire body tense.
Matt jumped to his feet and followed her gaze, on full alert. “What’s wrong?”
Another beep, ominous in the taut silence.
Briar didn’t move, her eyes pinned to the keypad next to the door. “The security system,” she said softly. “Someone’s breached the perimeter.”